News

Ethiopian journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, has been named the winner of a top press freedom award despite being in jail since 2011. The International Press Institute (IPI) on Tuesday (25 April) named him as the winner of the ‘World Press Freedom Hero for this year. Nega was imprisoned reportedly after criticizing his country’s abuse of anti-terror laws to silence …

Germany's official crime statistics for 2016 have shown a rise in violent crime across the country - including among young male migrants. "There is no sugar coating here," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said at a crowded press conference in Berlin on Monday.

A graduate of Britain’s Coventry University devoted to tackling terrorism will talk about how he stopped a young man joining ISIS with just hours to spare, when he speaks in Ghana this month. Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, a graduate of Coventry’s International Terrorism masters course, has already helped at least 20 people turn away from extremism since he set up a …

Moroccans topped the list of nationals who acquired the citizenship of a European country in 2015, according to figures published by Eurostat on Friday. “The largest group acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State in 2015 was citizens of Morocco (86,100 persons, of whom 88% acquired citizenship of Italy, Spain or France), ahead of citizens of Albania (48,400, 96% acquired …

A coalition of groups has written a letter to Ghana’s  President Nana Akufo-Addo on the need to act without delay on illegal mining in the country. The groups are concerned about ecocide and the damaging effect of illegal mining on human lives, animals and the environment in Ghana. A delegation representing the Ghanaians presented the letter to the acting Ghanaian …

Brett Parker, Managing Director – SAP Africa, writes on the future of international economic relations and the potential of Africa to play a crucial role in it. What a difference a century makes. If we stepped back in time to a hundred years ago we’d find a primitive China; a Middle East that had yet to discover the riches of …

More than 8,000 migrants trying to reach Europe were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea during the Easter weekend. The Associated Press news agency said that 8,300 people were saved, including 1,300 in 13 search-and-rescue missions by the EU’s border agency Frontex. CNN, citing the Italian coastguards, said that 8,500 people were saved. Seven people were confirmed dead on Sunday after …

A Christian revival event, bringing African Christians and their German brethrens together, will take place in the south-western town of Speyer on 1 May. The one-day gathering, christened Arise Africa, is to inspire Christians to rededicate themselves to the teaching of Jesus Christ and take up the task of spreading His word in Germany. “Arise Africa calls on Africans to …

The staff of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Niger and Libya have documented shocking events on North African migrant routes, which they have described as ‘slave markets’ tormenting hundreds of young African men bound for Libya. Operations Officers with IOM’s office in Niger, reported on the rescue of a Senegalese migrant (referred to as SC to protect his …

Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan, Gambia’s Minister of Women Affairs and Overseer – Vice President’s Office, has won the top award of the New African Woman of Year. The fearless Gambian human rights and democracy activist took New African Woman magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year’ Award at a glitzy ceremony, which held in Dakar on Wednesday. Mrs Jallow-Tambajan was instrumental in unifying the …

Former US President Barack Obama has been named the winner of the prestigious German Media Prize 2016. The 55-year-old statesman will receive the award personally in Baden-Baden. Barack Obama is the recipient of the German Media Prize for 2016. This was announced yesterday by the German market research group Media Control, which manages the award. The former US president has accepted to …

Muslim migrants who refuse to embrace European values must realize there are better places for them to reside than in the EU, Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German Finance Minister has said. Muslims who don’t want to change their ways after arriving in Europe must be told, “you’ve made the wrong decision,” Schaeuble said during a round table discussion in Berlin on …

The African Network of Germany (TANG) has launched a project, christened  ‘Lost Dreams’, about the dangers of illegal migration to Europe. It’s currently being presented to young people in Cameroon. Moki Kindzeka reports. In the Nlonkak neighborhood of Cameroon’s capital Younde, the “Cameroon Center Band” is playing songs encouraging young people from rural areas to come to the capital to …

The United Nations’ migration agency says growing numbers of African migrants passing through Libya are being sold as slaves by traffickers or militia groups before being held for ransom. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has published a report based on interviews with several West African migrants who told of being bought and sold in garages and car parks in …

A Nigerian group in the UK has sharply criticized the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government over its handling of the violence perpetrated by ethnic Fulani cattle herders in the country. Herdsmen are nomadic or semi nomadic herders whose primary occupation is raising livestock. No week passes without the media reporting a massacre carried out by herdsmen in farming communities in …

  There was a time that South Africa looked very different to the rest of the world. The “rainbow nation” was seen to be exceptional, having more in common with the developed states of Europe than many countries elsewhere. But, in the wake of a series of destabilising corruption scandals, financial mismanagement and the incompetent leadership of President Jacob Zuma, …

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is trying to stop poor German men from selling paternity so that children born of foreign mothers can gain citizenship. But the Constitutional Court has some objections, reports Ben Knight. Men often claim paternity over children that are not their own for various reasons. There are six months left of Angela Merkel’s third administration, and it …

Kenya’s Paul Lonyangata won the Paris Marathon in a quick time of two hours, six minutes, 10 seconds on Sunday and Purity Rionoripo, his wife, won the women’s race in a new record time of 2:20.55. Lonyangata pulled clear when his compatriot Stephen Chebogut, who started with the best personal best of the field, cracked with 5.7km left. The 24-year-old …

The federal government is currently working on closing some of Nigeria’s 119 foreign missions, an official has said. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said though it is expensive to close a country’s embassy or consulate, it will be beneficial in the long run. Onyeama said at the News Agency of Nigeria Forum in Abuja on Sunday that the …

The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Muhammad Babandede, has announced that the Service now has standard passport booklets in sufficient quantity for issuance, and has therefore directed Passport Control Officers to clear the backlog of all outstanding applications. A statement by NIS Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, says the CG has appealed to the general public to bear with …