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Garissa University welcomes back students nine months after attack with heightened police presence on campus Armed security officers guard the entrance of Garissa University on Monday. Photograph: AP Kenya’s Garissa University has reopened nine months after an al-Shabaab shooting rampage killed 142 students and six security personnel. A staff meeting was held on Monday, with students expected back for lessons ... Read More »

Channel Tunnel refugee granted UK asylum A Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50km through the Channel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the plight of migrants, has been granted asylum in Britain. The case of Abdul Haroun, who has been in prison since he was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on ... Read More »

Kyrgyz deport Brit after horse penis post A British employee of Kyrgyzstan’s biggest gold mine, detained by police after comparing a national dish to a horse penis, has been told to leave the country within 24 hours for working without an official permit. Michael Mcfeat posted a comment on Facebook saying that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their “special ... Read More »

Bahrain and Sudan have quickly followed Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic relations with Iran in the wake of a row over the execution of a leading Shia cleric by the Saudi authorities, which has provoked wide international condemnation. Sudan also says it has cut diplomatic links, while the United Arab Emirates has also downgraded ties with Tehran. Saudi Arabia also ... Read More »

Ethan Couch, 18, is shown in this handout photo provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department in Fort Worth, Texas, December 17, 2015. REUTERS/TARRANT COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPT/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS The mother of a Texas teenager, scorned for his “affluenza” defense in a trial over a deadly car crash, arrived in the United States on Thursday after deportation from Mexico, while ... Read More »

The 11 were charged with negligently causing a serious accident, over landslide on 20 December that killed at least 12 Police officer stands guard as rescuers conduct a search operation for potential survivors in Shenzhen. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP Authorities in China have arrested 11 people in connection with a landslide of construction waste that killed 12 people and left 62 ... Read More »

The Texas teenager derided for his “affluenza” defence in a deadly drunken-driving case won a weeks-long in delay in extradition from Mexico, while his mother was in a Los Angeles jail on Thursday after being deported. A court in Mexico granted fugitive 18-year-old Ethan Couch, who faces likely incarceration in Texas, a stay against deportation following his illegal entry into ... Read More »

The religious atmosphere in China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang became markedly less radical last year and the government was broadly successful in maintaining stability, the top official there was quoted as saying on Friday. Hundreds of people have been killed over the past few years in resource-rich Xinjiang, strategically located on the borders of central Asia, in violence ... Read More »

The Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball is tested atop the roof of One Times Square on the day before New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Manhattan borough of New York December 30, 2015. REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON A 25-year-old man accused of planning to attack a restaurant in upstate New York on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and charged with ... Read More »

The candidate’s numbers in opinion polls have dropped ahead of the first contest – in Iowa on 1 February – for the Republican nomination Despite the poll numbers, the retired neurosurgeon’s campaign on Wednesday announced a fourth-quarter fundraising haul of about $23m, with 600,000 unique donors. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP The campaign manager of Republican Ben Carson’s presidential run and another ... Read More »