Syria’s Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings
Bashar al-Assad’s government carried out a two-year clandestine operation to truck thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest known mass graves to a secret location more than an hour away in the remote desert, a Reuters investigation has found, Reuters reported.
The conspiracy by the then-Syrian president’s military to excavate the mass grave in Qutayfah and create an enormous second mass grave in the desert outside the town of Dhumair has not been previously reported.
To uncover the location of the Dhumair grave site and detail the vast operation, Reuters spoke to 13 people with direct knowledge of the two-year effort to move the bodies, reviewed documents produced by officials involved, and analyzed hundreds of satellite images of both grave sites taken over the course of several years, according to Reuters.
Bangladesh garment factory fire kills 16, toll may rise
A fire on Tuesday at a garment factory in Bangladesh and an adjacent chemical warehouse killed at least 16 people and injured others, and the death toll could rise, an official said, Reuters reported.
The cause of the blaze wasn't immediately known, fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said.
"Sixteen bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory," he said, adding that the number of deaths could rise as recovery operations were continuing, according to Reuters.
20 passengers burnt alive, 16 injured as bus catches fire in Jaisalmer; PM announces ex-gratia
Twenty passengers were burnt alive and 16 were critically injured when a private bus travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur caught fire on Tuesday (October 14, 2025), police said, The Hindu reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh for the next of kin of deceased.
According to police, the bus, carrying 57 passengers, left Jaisalmer around 3 pm. On the Jaisalmer-Jodhpur highway, smoke began emerging from the rear portion. The driver stopped the bus along the roadside, but within moments, the flames engulfed the vehicle, according to The Hindu.
US strikes another vessel off Venezuela coast, killing six
The US has struck another vessel off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, killing six people, President Donald Trump has said, BBC reported.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the vessel belonged to "narcoterrorists" and that it was "trafficking narcotics".
This is the fifth strike of its kind by the Trump administration on a boat accused of trafficking drugs on international waters since September. In total, 27 people have been reported killed, but the US has not provided evidence or details about identities of the vessels or those on board them, according to BBC.
Some lawyers have accused the US of breaching international law, and neighbouring nations like Colombia and Venezuela have condemned the strikes.

