British Muslims are the most generous charity-givers, according to the UK’s Charity Commission, which says Muslims gave about £100 million to charities over the month of Ramadan alone. The news confirms Muslims’ reputation as being the most generous religious group when it comes to charitable donations. The Charity Commission’s Nick Donaldson described the £100 million as being the equivalent of …

Tom Skye, a frequent visitor to Côte d’Ivoire and the author of a travel book on the country, writes on the evolution of Ivorian music, tracing the roots of its modern expression to its very distant past. Music is everywhere in Côte d’Ivoire. It’s played and performed on buses, trains, beaches and football pitches, and in bars, restaurants, workplaces and …

How Africa can learn from Germany’s successful ongoing transition to renewable energy was the theme of the 10th German-African Energy Forum, which took place recently in Hamburg, reports Femi Awoniyi. Willi Meixner, chief executive of the Power and Gas Division of Siemens AG, has advised African countries to focus on creating an encouraging regulatory environment if they are to attract …

The journey has been an arduous one. The historian Paulette Reed-Anderson informs us that in 1682, a ship bearing slaves from Africa docked in Hamburg. Twenty-five years later (1707), African musicians are employed in Prussian military units and Mohrenstrasse is christened in Berlin. By 1877, however, the first of the dreadful Völkerschauen (‘ethnographic exhibitions’) were staged in Hamburg and Berlin.  …

Charles Mohamed Huber, MP (Bundestag)  The former TV actor (59) was born in the Bavarian city of Munich to a Senegalese father and a German mother. Huber, who represents the western city of Darmstadt in the Federal Parliament, was the first Black actor in a national TV series, “Der Alte”, where he played the inspector Henry Johnson. The member of …

As the European Union threatens to unravel in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave, the African Union is pursuing a path of closer integration through the launch of a common passport that will grant visa-free access to all 54 member states, reports Tolani Alao (NAN). The long-awaited African Union (AU) passport was launched on Sunday, 17 July at the …

Africa’s future rests in the hands of its youth – and every effort must be made to ensure they thrive, philanthropist and entrepreneur Bill Gates said in South Africa on Sunday, 17 July. Delivering the 2016 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the University of Pretoria (Mamelodi campus), Gates said he was optimistic about the future of the continent – because …

About half of Europeans fear the arrival of refugees raises the risk of attacks in their countries, a survey published on Monday found, and many, especially in the east, see them as a burden on their economy. Washington-based Pew Research Center found the share of people believing that “refugees will increase the likelihood of terrorism in our country” was, among …

Our Associate Publisher Bugs Steffen, who has been travelling to Ghana for more than 30 years, writes on the interesting places to visit in Accra and beyond. People often ask me what would be THE thing to do and what would have to be included in the must-see list of things if one were to go on a holiday to …

A number of leading Russian companies plan to invest US$4.6 billion to create an industrial zone next to the Suez Canal by 2035, Lenta.ru cites the Russian Trade Ministry in a new report. Most of the money will come from private investors. Russian companies Kamaz, GAZ, UAZ, Transmashholding, Gazprom Neft, Tatneft, Inter RAO and others will be part of the …

Berlin has officially referred to colonial-era crimes committed by German troops in today’s Namibia as genocide. The government has been criticized, however, for holding talks with Namibia without survivors’ descendants. For decades, Germany’s parliament and governments tried their level best to avoid this dark chapter of German colonial history. Daily newspaper “Frankfurter Rundschau,” reported on 12 June, however, that for …

Clashes have resumed in South Sudan’s capital Juba between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and ex-rebel leader Riek Machar. Former UN diplomat Peter Schumann tells DW the fighting may escalate into a full-scale war. South Sudan’s presidency on Friday put the death toll from the clashes at 270, although it is thought to be much higher by now. The …

The inaugural version of the Nigerian Ambassador’s Cup Germany football tournament took place on 14 May in Berlin. The trophy was contested for by the chapters of the Nigerian Community Germany (NCG) e.V. Four teams – NCG Hamburg, NCG Wolfsburg, NCG Ausburg and NCG Berlin/Cottbus – participated in the final stages. The competition was organised by the national body of …

Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings has called for a global campaign for the return of Nigeria’s stolen funds kept in developed countries. According to him, the international community should spearhead the initiative in a manner similar to that for the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls. Rawlings, who spoke to the Nigerian newspaper The Guardian in Accra recently on …

The UK Authorities charged with enforcing the EU timber regulations (EUTR), have taken action against 14 UK importers sourcing timber from Cameroon linked to illegal logging.[1] Green Peace Press Release This news was presented at a Chatham House meeting in London on June 16, following comparable action by the Netherlands in early March, demonstrating that timber from Cameroon is coming …

A new youth exchange scheme known as the German African Youth Initiative (Deutsch-Afrikanische Jugendinitiative – DAJ) was launched in Bonn on 1 July by German Development Minister Gerd Müller and the Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology at the African Union (AU) Martial De-Paul Ikounga. Dirke Köpp, head of DW’s French for Africa service, spoke to the minister about …

Stakeholders take stock of Equal Opportunity in Germany, ten years after the anti-discrimination law went into effect The General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeine Gleichbehandlungsgesetz or AGG), enacted for the purpose of preventing or stopping discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in Germany, went into force in August …

Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He was the first African writer to be honoured with the prestigious prize. Alexander Macbeth on how Soyinka’s Nobel has influenced the development of African literature 30 years on. From Negritude to Afrofuturism (via Tigritude and Afrocentricity), the empire continues to write back. Africa is constantly reshaping her own …

Remittance business undergoes silent revolution Before Western Union started offering money transfer services to Africa in 1995, the first company to do so, it used to take weeks if not months to find somebody travelling home to take the envelope along. And the brave ones among us who hid money in mails were often unlucky after post office workers in …

Because of unfavourable demographic developments, Germany is in dire need of foreign skilled workers. To persuade them to choose Germany over other countries, the Federal Republic is even reviewing its almost institutionalised reservations vis-à-vis migrants and foreigners. Migrants already living in Germany can get their professional certificates and degrees earned abroad recognised thanks to a special law, and the government …