Diasporas

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, says it has had to pay fees to Warner Music after several of its police forces took part in a viral dance challenge. The song Jerusalema by South Africa’s Master KG spread online last year after groups around the world choreographed it to spread …

A court in Bangladesh sentenced to death five members of an Islamist militant group on Tuesday for killing a U.S. blogger critical of religious extremism six years ago. Avijit Roy, a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death here by machete-wielding assailants in February 2015 while returning home …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow is ready to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc hits it with painful economic sanctions, according to extracts of an interview posted on the ministry’s website on Friday. Relations between Russia and the West have come under renewed pressure …

The coronavirus variant first found in the British region of Kent is a concern because it is mutating and so could undermine the protection given by vaccines against developing COVID-19, the head of the UK’s genetic surveillance programme said. The coronavirus has killed 2.35 million people and turned normal life …

China called on the United States on Wednesday to invite the World Health Organization to investigate origins of the COVID-19 outbreak there, as sparring over the pandemic continued after the WHO wrapped up its field work in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Hours after the WHO team revealed preliminary findings …

Joe Biden the new American President promised to rebuild his country’s partnership with the African Union (AU) moments after he delivered his first foreign policy speech since taking office. His predecessor, Donald Trump, sparked a row in 2018 over his alleged use of the word “shithole” to describe African nations. …

Several people have been injured after a gas explosion in Memmingen in southern Germany, daily Bild reported on Friday, citing a police spokesman. The paper said a further explosion could not be ruled out. According to the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper the explosion occurred at the offices of the German Red …

A civil disobedience movement in Myanmar is gaining momentum with teachers and students protesting against Monday’s military coup. Demonstrators at a university in the biggest city, Yangon, chanted support for jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and wore red ribbons, her party’s colour. Although Ms Suu Kyi has not been …

An American has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for abusing underage girls in a Kenyan orphanage. Christian missionary Gregory Dow set up the orphanage with his wife in 2008. “Gregory Dow was the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said the FBI’s Michael Driscoll. Last year, Dow …

The trial in Algeria of a group accused of decapitating a French mountain guide, which was due to start on Thursday in Algiers, has been put back to 18 February. The trial in the murder case of Frenchman Hervé Gourdel, has been postponed to February 18. Fourteen people are facing …