Bayelsa state government reiterates commitment to public service reforms

Blaming South Africa for the new COVID-19 variant is wrong. A global crisis needs a global response, says DW's Sertan Sanderson. Instead of finger-pointing and isolation, there should be more solidarity.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7,216 people have died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between 1998 and 2017. In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.–Mexico border. The number of yearly border crossing deaths doubled from 1995 to 2005, before declining.

DW's Biresh Banerjee spoke to Nalin Kohli, spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), about coronavirus-related Islamophobia in India and allegations that the Indian government is exploiting the crisis to ramp up suppression of Muslims.

France's small business minister is to outline details of compensation for the nightclub and events industries, after the announcement that clubs would be forced to close for four weeks from this Friday due to rising coronavirus cases. French nightclub owners have said they feel unfairly targeted by the measures, after already having to shut for 16 months until July of this year. Also today, we look at the latest twist in the debt troubles facing the Chinese property developer Evergrande.

Chinese private investment in Uganda is growing while Westerners are losing appetite to put money to work in the country, President Yoweri Museveni told Reuters, pledging to step up efforts to tackle corruption which has made slow progress. Museveni, in power since 1986 and one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, said Uganda was working to sign a number of deals with Chinese private sector lenders in sectors from agro- and fertilizer-processing, minerals processing or textiles.

For almost a decade, international forces in Mali have been trying to help fight Islamist groups that threatened to take over the country in 2012. But today, the government still only controls the capital and a small area around it. DW's Fred Muvunyi reports.