Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has opened Istanbul’s new airport, expected to become the world’s busiest. Erdogan named the new facility Istanbul Airport, ending months of speculation over its name, on Monday. “Istanbul is not only our largest city,” he said before a massive crowd of dignitaries, officials, and journalists, gathered beneath the vaulted ceiling of the airport terminal, “It …

William Ijeh, a senior official of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is vying for one of the global organisation’s top positions at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018, taking place in Dubai from 29 October-16 November. Mr Ijeh, a Nigerian national who has worked with the Geneva-based ITU for 21 years, is a candidate for the post of Director, Bureau of …

Presidents and heads of government of eleven African countries are to participate at the G-20 Compact with Africa (CwA) conference, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. The event, Investment Summit-German Business and the CwA Countries, taking place on 30-31 October brings together “reform-minded” African countries, international organizations and bilateral partners from the G20 to advertise investment opportunities in …

“I will not be seeking any political post after my tenure ends,” Angela Merkel told a news conference in Berlin on Monday. After 18 years, Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced her decision to step down as the leader of the governing CDU. Merkel made the announcement on Monday after a meeting of the party’s leadership in Berlin. “This chancellorship is …

A newly launched advocacy organisation Part Worn Africa is calling for governments and regulatory bodies across the African continent to develop and enforce stronger regulations governing the sale of part-worn and second-hand tyres. Part Worn Africa will advocate that part-worn and second tyres be universally and stringently regulated according to rigorous standards and specifications in the same vein as those …

In Europe, clocks will be set back one hour in the night from October 27 to October 28. That night, you can sleep an hour longer. Sunday, 28 October 2018, 03:00:00 clocks are turned backward 1 hour to Sunday, 28 October 2018, 02:00:00 local standard time instead. Since 1996, EU law has been moving clocks forward an hour on the …

The International Organization for Migration has reported that 1,857 irregular migrants died while trying to reach Europe by sea so far this year. The UN agency also said that 94,676 migrants and refugees reached Europe by crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, while over 13,000 were repatriated from Libya to their home countries as part of the Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) …

Kenyan superstar runner Eliud Kipchoge has been named as the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations team in Kenya. Kipchoge, 33, is regarded as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era. He set a new marathon record in September with a time of two hours one minute 39 seconds in Berlin. Kipchoge burst onto the international …

Ethiopia’s House of Peoples’ Representatives and the House of Federation, in a joint session held on Thursday (October 25) elected Ambassador Sahlework Zewde as the 4th President of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. She is the first woman to occupy what is largely a ceremonial office. Zewde’s election followed the resignation of the outgoing President, Mulatu Teshome. In her first …

Christ Wamba fled Congo Brazzaville in 2015 and arrived at the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos a few months later. There, he had only one goal: to become a professional basketball player. His gamble paid off: today he is a member of Aris Thessaloniki, a renowned Greek basketball club. Leslie Carretero reports. “I wasn’t planning to …

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest leader at 85, has easily won a seventh term, according to the Constitutional Council. Biya won 71.3 percent of the October 7 election, far ahead of opposition candidate Maurice Kamto’s 14.2 percent, council president Clement Atangana said, announcing the official results in a state television broadcast on Monday. The council, which …

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of people dependent on social assistance dropped in 2017 and, in particular, the number of recipients under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act declined sharply. The number of people in Germany who depend on minimum social assistance (Sozialhilfe) has fallen. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Friday (20 October), …

The puzzle over the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu, who has not been since 14 September 2017 when soldiers invaded his home in south-eastern city of Aba, was solved in an unexpected manner last week. Videos suddenly emerged on social media on Thursday, showing the founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group agitating for a separate country for …

Benin City in Nigeria’s south is a hub for illegal migration in West Africa. That’s why the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), within the framework of its 77 Percent youth project, held a town hall debate on 18 October. DW’s Maja Braun was there and she sums up the event. Aigbe Omoregie is one of those who made it. …

With about three weeks to the annual general meeting of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE), the body’s chairman, Hon. Kenneth Gbandi, has called on members to update their membership. Gbandi made the call on Thursday to draw the attention of members to NIDOE‘s rule which demands that only members who have paid their dues up to date would …

A young man from Gambia who had been living in Italy for two years has committed suicide. The Babele association, a refugee support group, said that his asylum request had been rejected and that ”he wanted to go back to Africa but he was afraid that he would be seen as a failure and was ashamed. He thought he had …

Bloggers from across Africa and its Diaspora will gather in Berlin on 2 November for the first “Afro-Bloggers Convention”. The event, organised by Afrobizgermany.com, an online platform that projects the Black community in Germany to the outside world, is aimed at bringing Afro-bloggers together to discuss “The impact of blogging in our community”. The one-day event features discussions, workshops and …

The Tunisian parliament approved on Tuesday (16 October) the country’s first law on the elimination of all forms of racism in a provision that organisations advocating minorities’ rights considered as “historical.” Tunisians of sub-Saharan origin have long complained that racism and discrimination are everyday occurrences for them. Unofficial estimates say 15 percent of the 11.5 million population identify as Black. …

Migrant agricultural workers in some parts of southern Italy are “enduring extreme levels of labour exploitation and coercion, and inhumane working and living conditions,” the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila Bhoola, said after a 10-day visit to Italy. The rapporteur said that she was concerned about the fact that the basic needs of workers for water, …

Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) has congratulated all the presidential candidates for their victory at the recent primary elections of their respective political parties. In the message sent to the contestants on Monday, 15 October, NIDOE expressed the concerns of Nigerians living abroad over the situation in the country. Nigerians in the Diaspora have been debating among themselves the …