On the doorstep of Goma – the site of the UN’s biggest peacekeeping mission in the world – there are signs of surrendered soldiers and fierce battles.

As we walked on the road in front of the United Nations’ main base in Goma – the regional capital of eastern DRC – we stepped around fatigues, rounds and helmets once belonging to the Congolese army fighting the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels.

The rebels now control the strategic city after fighting for the border post with Rwanda. It sits south of the swathes of mineral-rich mining territory the rebels have been seizing through last year.

We see them packed on the back of trucks still marked by the FARDC logo of the Congolese army.

I ask one man watching from the side of the road what he makes of this extreme shift.

“This is bad!” he says to me discreetly on the side of the road, with our car as cover from the prying eyes of the junior M23 soldiers.

“My family is not good. I am not good – we don’t know what comes next.”

Small groups are meeting the rebels with cheers and clapping.

We cannot tell if it is relief from the Congolese state or a necessary precaution for many who do not want to leave their hometown on the cusp of a new administration.

But before they can settle in and set up a local authority, M23 have time to stop and humiliate their former enemy.

Not just the Congolese troops, but the Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside them.

MONUSCO, the United Nations’s peacekeeping group in the DRC, brokered an evacuation convoy for the paid fighters to go to Rwanda with trucks full of Uruguayan peacekeeping troops watching as M23 led the handover through their newly-captured border.

As the Romanian men pass through in a single file, they are chastised by M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma who taps them mockingly one by one.

“Come on soldier!” he said. “You were fighting for money – we were fighting for our life!”

Read more:
Hospitals overwhelmed as rebels complete takeover of Goma
Inside the Congolese city overrun by rebels

I corner him as he flags the buses through – could you have come this far without Rwanda’s support?

He tries to keep busy, and after the fourth time I repeat the question, he yells into my face in French:

“We are a Congolese army, we are Congolese! We fight for a fair and noble cause – we are Congolese. We are not helped by Rwanda!”

It will take more than a feverish denial to undermine the widely known support of Rwanda for M23 – one that has been condemned at the highest levels of the United Nations and senior diplomats from around the world.

As the “Welcome to Rwanda” sign gets closer, the last Romanian mercenary limps across with a wounded leg flanked by a UN security advisor and an Indian medic.

A surreal sight of a man heading home after fighting a war in a foreign country surrounded by Congolese families fleeing the war at home.

Many people are feared dead and dozens have been injured in a stampede at a Hindu festival in northern India.

Images from the scene in the city of Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh state, show bodies being stretchered away and rescuers helping those who were hurt.

Millions of people were attempting to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival when there was an initial stampede at 1am local time (1930 UK time).

Authorities said people trying to escape it were then caught in a second – and more serious – stampede at an exit.

Devotees had congregated to bathe at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

A Rapid Action Force unit, a special team deployed during crisis situations, has been sent to the scene.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to the chief minister for Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, calling for “immediate support measures”, according to the ANI news agency.

Authorities had expected a record 100 million people to visit Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh – “festival of the Sacred Pitcher” – on Wednesday for the holy dip.

It is regarded as a significant day for Hindus, due to a rare alignment of celestial bodies after 144 years.

The Maha Kumbh festival, which is held every 12 years, started on 13 January and is the world’s largest religious gathering.

Organisers had forecast that more than 400 million people would attend the pilgrimage site over the next six weeks.

Authorities have built a sprawling tent city on the riverbanks, equipped with 3,000 kitchens and 150,000 toilets and 11 hospitals.

Stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds can gather in small areas.

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Iran says Israel and America would be “crazy” to attack its nuclear facilities, adding it would spell a “very bad disaster” for the region.

The warning came in the first interview to be given by Iran’s foreign minister since its arch nemesis Donald Trump’s inauguration.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News in the Iranian capital, Abbas Araghchi also mocked the US president for proposing a “clean out” of Palestinians from Gaza. Iran’s top diplomat suggested instead that Israelis be sent to Greenland.

Mr Araghchi invited Sky News to Iran’s foreign ministry for the interview, taking the opportunity to address talk of Israel attacking Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme with US backing.

“We have made it clear,” he said, “that any attack to our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response. But I don’t think they will do that crazy thing. This is really crazy. And this would turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”

In his first term in office, Mr Trump reneged on America’s support for an internationally negotiated deal over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme, which saw uranium enrichment limited in return for sanctions being lifted.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian and peaceful purposes. However, since Mr Trump went back on the deal, Iran has returned to enriching uranium to levels that have no purpose other than building a nuclear weapon, say Western governments.

Mr Trump has hinted he would prefer a diplomatic solution, saying a new deal with Iran would be “nice”.

But Mr Araghchi said although he was prepared to listen to President Trump, it would take a lot more than that for Iran to be convinced it should begin negotiations with the US towards another deal, given what happened with the first.

“The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time,” he said. “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence… We haven’t heard anything but the ‘nice’ word, and this is obviously not enough.”

‘Take them to Greenland’

The foreign minister was also dismissive of Mr Trump’s latest comments about the Middle East. The re-elected president’s proposal that Gaza is cleaned out of Palestinians has prompted outrage across the region.

Mr Araghchi mocked the idea with one of his own: “My suggestion is something else. Instead of Palestinians, try to expel Israelis, take them to Greenland so they can kill two birds with one stone.”

Iran’s allies ‘are rebuilding themselves’

In his short term in office, Mr Araghchi has seen allies and friends assassinated and toppled from power.

He conceded Iran’s allies have been weakened, saying: “Hamas and Hezbollah have been damaged. But at the same time, they are rebuilding themselves, because as I said, this is a school of thought, this is an idea, this is a cause, this is an ideal that will always be there.”

Iranians hope deal could be done with West

Iranians we spoke to on the streets of Tehran said they hoped a deal could be done with the West if it could lead to a lifting of sanctions and an improvement in Iran’s dire economic fortunes.

Some estimates place inflation at 50%, while youth unemployment is near 20% and the currency is at an all-time low.

Trust between Iran and America is also at rock bottom levels. Making progress towards any agreement and lifting sanctions will be enormously challenging.