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 …