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Europe “must take its fate into its own hands” faced with a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday. “The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” Merkel told a crowd at an election rally in Munich, …

Saturday, 29 May 2004 was the day when a big ambition became reality in the Ghanaian community in Germany. It was the realisation of a dream, of having a single organisation to represent all Ghanaians irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or ideology, or the city in which they live. It was the gathering of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Germany for …

Former US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in front of tens of thousands of people before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Thursday to discuss God, faith and the state of the world at the first day of Germany’s Protestant Church Assembly, Kirchentag. Former US President Barack Obama told an audience in Berlin on Thursday that …

A federal high court in Ethiopia on Thursday sentenced Yonatan Tesfaye to six years and six months in prison for comments he made on Facebook. The court convicted the politician for “planning, preparing and encouraging terrorism” via his Facebook page in 2015.  The authorities objected to several posts including one in which he said the government used “force against the people …

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former health minister and foreign minister of Ethiopia, was elected on Tuesday in Geneva to head the World Health Organisation (WHO). He becomes the first African to ascend to the post in the nearly 70-year existence of the global agency. He is also the first non-physician to be elected WHO’s Director-General. A jubilant Ethiopian official emerged …

Members of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) gather in the western German city of Dortmund on 26-27 May to deliberate on how to contribute to solving the socio-economic problems bedevilling their home country. The NIDOE Project Summit 2017 will discuss the role of the Diaspora in the development of Africa. The focus is, of course, Nigeria, with participants …

MoneyGram, one of the world’s leading providers of international money transfer and a multicultural company with employees from all across the world, is organizing the Europe-wide MoneyGram Cup of Nations 2017. The football tournament is designed for young footballers aged 16-17 years of all nationalities and backgrounds living in eight European countries. As sport brings people closer, the goal of MoneyGram …

Police say at least 22 people have been killed in a reported blast at a concert venue in Manchester, UK, in what is being treated as a suspected terrorist incident. Around 60 others were injured in the explosion at the Manchester Arena in northern England on Monday night. Panic and chaos followed as thousands of mainly teenage concert goers tried to …

German international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), has demanded the immediate release of its reporter who is being held by the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to DW, Antediteste Niragira, was arrested by operatives of the Congolese intelligence service (ANR) while he was reporting on Burundian refugees in the DRC. The reporter is currently being held in …

The Gambia’s former president has been accused of stealing “at least” 50 million US dollars from the state before he left the country in January, the justice minister has announced. A court has now ordered his remaining assets in The Gambia to be frozen. A court in the Gambian capital Banjul Monday ordered a temporary freeze of properties belonging to …

Mobile users travelling to other countries in the EU will be able to call, text or surf the net without paying any extra charges from June 2017. As from 15 June 2017, mobile phone users in the 28 European Union member countries will be able to call, text and download data in another EU country for the same price they …

EU should deal with its Brexit headache and leave Burundi to sort out its internal problems, the presidents of Tanzania and Uganda have said. It’s the view of the statesmen that the sanctions are compounding the efforts of regional leaders to resolve the crisis. Tanzania’s John Magufuli and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni made the call on Saturday in the Tanzanian capital, …

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of German first division side Borussia Dortmund has won the “kicker Cannon” after scoring his 30th and 31st goals of the season against Bremen on Saturday. The 27-year-old Gabon forward is the fifth Borussian player to win the award for the top goal scorer of the Bundesliga. And he becomes the second African to clinch the prestigeous title after …

Kolapo Fujah, writing from Lagos, joins issues with Frisky Larr, whose book Lost in Democracy calls for an alternative to the Western-inspired system of government in Africa because it has failed to deliver good governance in the continent. Fujah argues that the problem with democracy in Africa is not with the system itself but how it’s practiced. For starters, democracy …

“We need a day to discuss the problems that we don’t usually talk about,” said Dr RosaLyn Dressman, the chairperson of AfricanTide Union, a non-governmental organisation based in the western German city of Dortmund. These are the issues that will be discussed during the activities marking this year’s Africa Day in Dortmund on 25-27 May. Dr RosaLyn Dressman, a sociologist …

After the appointment of Senegalese-born Sibeth Ndiaye (37) as press secretary or media advisor in the French presidency, another Black woman has been named minister in the new government of President Emmanuel Macron. France’s new cabinet, which was unveiled on Wednesday, is made up of 11 women and 11 men, including Laura Flessel, as sports minister. Aged 45, she is …

Kenyan-born scholar George Ogola, writing from the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom, explains why the impartiality of the media is crucial to free and fair elections in Africa and the sustainability of peace and stability on the continent. The news media is usually one of first casualties of bungled or contested elections. From the recent US elections, …

The German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) has elected a new executive council. The body’s Annual General Meeting, which took place on Saturday (13 May) in Frankfurt, elected Kenneth Chukwudi Alaekwe as President, Dr RosaLyn Dressman (Vice President) and Prof Dr Brando Okolo (General Secretary). Other new members of the council are Dr Augustine Okeke (Assistant General …

The Ugandan human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo has won the 2017 German Africa Prize. In a statement, the German Africa Foundation which has awarded the prize since 1993, said Opiyo had been honoured for his role in protecting peace, democracy, and human rights in the east African country. Opiyo, founder of the human rights organization “Chapter Four Uganda”, has worked …

Karamba Diaby (57) represents the eastern city of Halle in the German Federal Parliament on the platform of the Social Democrats, the SPD. The election of the Senegalese-born holder of a doctorate degree in chemistry and that of the Afro-German Charles Huber (CDU) as the Bundestag’s first members of African descent in 2013 marked a watershed in the history of …