News

Berlin establishes Central Office for Hate Crimes

Last year, far more right-wing extremist and racist attacks were registered in Berlin. A new central office to prevent and respond to hate crimes in the federal capital The number of right-wing extremist and racist attacks in Berlin continued to increase in the past year. A total of 390 attacks were registered, as the victim advisory centre Reach Out announced …

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Facebook invites African applicants for sponsorship programme

Facebook is inviting applications from sub-Saharan Africa for its Community Accelerator programme. Up to $3 million in total will be awarded to 80 programme participants worldwide JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, March 10, 2020/ — In line with its mission to give people the power to build community around the world and its commitment to supporting the community leaders who drive change, …

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German court rules against lesbian Ugandan asylum-seeker’s deportation

In Uganda, LGBT+ people face life in prison as well as violence and discrimination in private and public life. Following a deportation trial, German authorities have granted refugee status to a Ugandan lesbian. A hearing at a Bavarian courthouse on Monday over the asylum application of a lesbian woman from Uganda was thrown out after she was granted her refugee …

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Nigerian pastor, wife jailed in UK for 34 years

A self-proclaimed pastor was sentenced to 34 years imprisonment in Birmingham, UK, on Friday, after he was convicted of a series of rape and sexual abuse of children and adults over a period of twenty years. Michael Oluronbi, 60, was convicted of 15 counts of rape, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault at a trial that …

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Kenyan Doctor honoured by Queen Elizabeth II

Dr Stella Bosire awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light award for her tireless championing of rights and mentorship of some of society’s most vulnerable people Dr Stella Bosire was awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light award, on 6 March at an event hosted by the British High Commission in Nairobi, focussed on empowering women. Cabinet Secretary Amb Amina Mohammed attended …

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Germany issued more visas last year – foreign ministry

Last year, Germany issued more visas for people from outside the EU than in 2018. Above all, more people were given a visa for the purposes of employment. According to Germany’s foreign ministry, the country issued around 2.29 million visas in 2019 – slightly more than in the previous year (2.17 million). The main countries of origin of the recipients …

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Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean pass 20,000 mark – new report

A tragic shipwreck off the coast of Libya last month and more than a dozen other recent fatalities elsewhere have pushed the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea to 20,014 since 2014, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. IOM stands for International Organisation for Migration, a UN agency. “The disappearance and presumed drowning of at least 91 people reported missing …

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Impact Initiative 2020: Munich hosts personal empowerment programme

The German city of Munich will on 28 March host the 5th edition of the annual Impact Initiative, a human capacity development project facilitated by Impacti.org. The event, themed “Personal Development and Social Competence” and holding at the renowned EineWeltHaus in the Bavarian capital, promotes personal empowerment by imparting knowledge and skills. “First started in 2015, the programme was conceived …

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Chancellor Merkel kicks off serious fight against racism in Germany

The 11th Federal Government Integration Summit took place on Monday at the office of the federal chancellor in Berlin. Since 2006, representatives from the worlds of politics, business, education and civil society have been meeting regularly at the summits to discuss key integration policy issues. Chancellor Merkel used the event this year to kick off a long overdue debate on …

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African victims of slavery, colonialism remembered in Berlin

About 100 participants turned out on Saturday in Berlin to commemorate the African victims of slave trade, slavery, colonialism and racist violence. The annual event, which took place for the 8th time in the German capital, demanded an official recognition of the crimes of colonialism and slavery in Africa and the racism that people of African descent suffer across the …

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Turkey blackmails Europe with ‘millions’ of refugees

Amid fighting in Syria, some 13,000 people were seeking to cross into Greece from Turkey on Saturday evening (29 February), prompting Greece to close the border and call for EU talks. Europe seems to be under the threat of new waves of irregular migration which could assume the proportion of the 2015 crisis when hundreds of thousands of migrants and …

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Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo pays state visit to Switzerland

President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, paid a 2-day State Visit to the Swiss Confederation on 28-29 February. It’s the third time in history that Switzerland organised a State Visit for a leader from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Ghanaian leader and his delegation were received by Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga and her ministers, and both parties held talks on a …

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Nigeria confirms first case of coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, confirmed the country’s first case of coronavirus in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday, 28 February. It’s also the first case of the disease registered in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the statement, the case involves an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and just returned from Milan, Italy on 25 …

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Togo’s president wins re-election amid opposition’s claims of vote rigging

Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé has won a fourth term in power, the national electoral commission declared on Monday. According to preliminary results, he received 72% of the vote, defeating six other candidates. Gnassingbé’s closest rival and main opposition leader, Agbéyomé Kodjo, clinched only 18% of the popular vote cast in the election. The final results are expected to be announced …

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Brussels summit to re-boot Africa’s relations with Europe

On 4 March 2020 in Brussels, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group will host the ECR-Africa Summit to discuss policy options about governance, participation of women, foreign direct investment and the digital economy to develop a stronger relationship between the EU and Africa. Guest speaker is the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo. The ECR’s co-chair Ryszard Legutko MEP, who …

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EU scheme for the academic integration of refugees into higher education launched

On 14 February 2020, the Council of Europe´s Education Department launched a toolkit aimed at integrating refugees as teaching staff or visiting experts into higher education institutions. The “CoLAB Toolkit” presents inclusive practices on how to best integrate refugees based on their competences and qualifications into the academic environment. The toolkit is based on the lessons learned from the project CoLAB implemented …

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