Don't get fooled by Rwanda's president

This issue includes a bridge collapse in India and a FBI report that confirms Rwanda's president is a dictator. Plus, a stampede in Democratic Republic of Congo, a failed Arab League meeting, protests in Ghana, a state of emergency in Ecuador, and some good news like a new owl species discovered in São Tomé und Príncipe, a ceasefire agreement in Ethiopia and some justice served in the United States and Central African Republic, and much more.

A super old bridge in India collapsed and at least 135 people died. What now?

Last week, a bridge in the city of Morbi, Gujarat, western India collapsed. At least 134 people died and more than 100 people got injured. Many of the victims were schoolchildren on vacation and migrant workers celebrating Diwali, a Hindu festival, write Sameer Yasir, Suhasini Raj, Hari Kumar and Emily Schmall for The New York Times.

• Good to know: The Morbi bridge was kind of... special. At 1.25 meters (4 feet) wide and 233 meters (764 feet) long and known locally as the "jhoolta pool," or swinging bridge, the structure was inaugurated in 1879 during British rule. Normally, people in India hate the country's colonial past but Gujarat's official tourism website calls the bridge "a nostalgic reminder of Victorian London" and "an artistic and technological marvel of that period." (Hindustan Times)

Why this matters:
It is one of the country's worst accidents in many, many years. Now, the country is talking out loud about the safety of thousands of other colonial-era structures across India. 'No more man-made tragedies', many demand.

Tell me more:
The bridge was more than a 100 years old, and a popular tourist attraction. On the Sunday evening when it collapsed, people had bought tickets (as usual) to experience the sensation of swaying across the wide Machchhu River. Reuters has CCTV footage of that moment even. Then, suddenly, the cables snapped, and the bridge collapsed. The people standing on it either jumped into the river and drowned, while others died from the impact of falling on to the stones and boulders below.

• Quote: "The bridge collapsed in front of our eyes. People fell into the river, one on top of each other, and the debris from the bridge fell on them," said Ajay Kumar, a 32-year-old construction worker who lives in a makeshift home on the riverside. "It sounded like a mountain had broken." (Reuters) Reuters' Springer took this wow picture of the bridge afterwards.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site shortly after the collapse, and met some of the 100 people with injuries who are at Morbi government hospital. (The Times of India)

Why did the bridge collapse?
The bridge was simply too old. The Gujarat government, ruled by the Prime Minister's Bharatiya Janata party, had given the contract for repairing the 100-year-old suspension bridge to a local company called Oreva, which makes watches, mosquito racquets and electric bikes -- and not bridge repairs or infrastructure. (The Times of India) A lot of people are really angry with the government, some super skeptical, too. The opposition politician Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi party, was therefore like, 'ehm. That's corruption. Do we all agree? Congress party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala agreed, and added that 'maybe the government rushed the reopening because Gujarat is going to the polls for the state assembly in December, and BJP wanted to score some points.'

Tell me about the victims:
"Stories have emerged of a couple who lost both of their young sons, a tea seller who rescued three children from the muddy waters only to see them die in the ambulance, a toddler who survived but lost her parents, and entire families perishing. Local people have been helping to arrange the cremations and burials of the dead. In Indian tradition, the final rites have to be performed as soon as possible after the person's death. Some of the dead are believed to be migrant labourers from other states. Families who had loved ones working in Morbi are arriving from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to see if they are among the dead," writes Amrit Dhillon for The Guardian.

What now?
Nine people have been arrested. Indian media reported that two of those detained were managers with Oreva but it is not clear if they're higher-ups. The others were security guards and ticket sellers on the bridge. (The Hindu) This lack of real accountability is unfortunately very common.

Zoom out:
India has about 173,000 bridges and about 36,470 of them were built under the British rule. Almost 6,700 are even older, with some built 140 years ago. Meaning, a loooot of them need repairing ASAP.

New FBI report confirms that the president of Rwanda is going after his opponents globally

A 2015 report by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation; the intelligence agency of the United States) last week was shared with The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, short OCCRP (a global network of investigative journalists). The...