A series of unprovoked vigilante attacks on France’s Roma community have erupted after false reports spread online about child abductions. But police say the warnings of a “man in a white van” kidnapping children off the streets are “totally unfounded”.

Some 20 people were arrested on Monday night after attacking the Roma community with makeshift weapons. A police chief in one of the suburbs warned officers of “a psychosis that is starting to set in.” Claims of a man in a van abducting children and others – reportedly to fuel prostitution rings or the illegal organ trade – have been circulating online in recent weeks. Sometimes the van is red, or yellow, in a different region, or of Bulgarian or Romanian origin. The reports have spread rapidly on Whatsapp, Snapchat, and other social media networks. But there is no evidence of any of them.(BBC)…[+]

BEIRA, – About 1.85 million people have now been affected by Cyclone Idai and its aftermath in Mozambique alone, U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday, as aid workers raced to fathom the scale of the disaster and determine what help is most urgently needed. “Some will be in critical, life threatening situations. Some will sadly have lost their livelihoods, which whilst an appalling tragedy is not immediately life threatening,” OCHA coordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said.

Idai flattened homes and provoked widespread flooding when it made landfall near the Mozambique port city of Beira on March 14. It then ripped through neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi. At least 686 people have been killed by the storm and its aftermath across the three countries, a figure that could rise as relief workers prepare for what they say are inevitable outbreaks of diseases including malaria and cholera.(Reuters)…[+]

A sev­en-year-0ld boy play­ing with match­es ac­ci­den­tal­ly torched his fam­i­ly’s home, leav­ing 11 peo­ple home­less. With their home now de­stroyed, a Moru­ga fam­i­ly is now plan­ning a “sit down” with their chil­dren to dis­cuss fire safe­ty.

The fire that de­stroyed the Mc In­tyres’ four-apart­ment fam­i­ly home left six adults and five chil­dren with on­ly the clothes on their backs. Ac­cord­ing to re­ports, when in­ves­ti­ga­tors spoke to the child’s moth­er, she ad­mit­ted that her son was play­ing with match­es and ac­ci­den­tal­ly set the mat­tress on fire. Pat Mc In­tyre told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that most of the fam­i­ly was at home along Richard­son Street, Basse Terre on Mon­day. She was in her up­per apart­ment mak­ing a few calls and her daugh­ter, who at­tends the Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­ern Caribbean, was com­plet­ing her as­sign­ments when smoke start­ed ris­ing through the floor­boards.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]