A terrorist attack on three buses carrying Egyptian Christians left at least seven dead and 19 injured on 2 November. The buses were travelling to a well-known Christian historical site near Minya. Six of the seven who died came from the same extended family. A number of news outlets reported that ‘local IS affiliates’ have claimed responsibility for the attack. In a similar attack at the same place by IS in May 2017, 29 Christians were murdered.

Crews battling a deadly wildfire in northern California have managed to hold their containment lines, the state fire service says. They have contained 30% of the fire, stretching over 125,000 acres, but do not expect to complete the process till the end of November. The official death toll in the state currently stands at 59, with another 130 not yet accounted for. In the ruined town of Paradise, forensics teams are continuing to search for human remains. Many victims in the town are believed to have been elderly residents or people with mobility issues who would have found evacuation more difficult. President Donald Trump has paid tribute to the emergency crews' ‘incredible courage in the face of danger’. He added, ‘We mourn the lives of those lost, and we pray for the victims.’

Sudanese security agents raided a house in the city of Nyala, and arrested 13 people when they admitted to being Christians. Two believers were released, but ten converts from Islam and their pastor, Tajdeen Yousif, were detained. The pastor refused to deny Christ despite being beaten by the agents, and the ten were later released after reportedly being tortured into recanting their faith. Pastor Tajdeen, also a convert from Islam,was held for several more days before being released. All eleven have now gone into hiding for their safety. Under sharia law, Muslims who abandon their religion face severe punishment. Sudan’s constitution gives judicial discretion to courts in the application of sharia.

Five Christian families in eastern India were at a service in October when they received a phone call telling them to return to their homes immediately. They rushed back, but found that the villagers had been incited by a tribal group (themselves influenced by Hindu extremists) to destroy one of their houses. The villagers were also told that they must drive out all the families. Threatened with expulsion from the village and with seizure of their farmland, three of the five families converted back to the tribal religion. This is just a sample of persecution in Hindu strongholds in India. Police appear to do little or nothing when Christians make a report.