The Ugandan parliament has passed a law imposing a tax on people using mobile social media networks in an attempt to increase revenue, but rights groups say the levy is actually aimed at silencing dissent. Users will be charged 200 shillings ($0.0531) per day for services such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. That amounts to around $19 per year in …

Germany will retain their World Cup title in Moscow to equal Brazil’s record of five wins in the tournament, according to a Reuters poll of financial specialists more used to predicting market moves. In a May 16-31 survey of regular Reuters poll participants from across the globe, Germany’s national football team got the highest number of nods – 43 out …

The threat of terrorist attacks in France has put paid to fans’ hopes of watching the World Cup on big screens in public spaces, France’s ministry for the interior has announced. The ministry said the terrorism threat means transmissions will only be allowed if they have taken the necessary precautions. That includes showing the matches in a secured public area …

Denmark has joined several other European countries in banning the full-face veil worn by some Muslim women in public spaces. In a 75 to 30 vote on Thursday, Danish legislators passed the law presented by Denmark’s centre-right governing coalition. The law was also backed by the Social Democrats and the far-right Danish People’s Party.  “Anyone who wears a garment that …

One in four migrants who arrived in Germany to seek refuge from wars and conflicts since 2015 has since found a job. According to figures from the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, those from Pakistan have been the most successful. “If employment growth continues at this rate, half of the migrants will be employed within five years,” the …

Ziggy Marley, the son of reggae music legend Bob Marley, has released his seventh solo album, Rebellion Rises. The 49-year-old Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter is currently touring the United States and Europe. He said he took lessons from his father’s “Exodus” as he was crafting the album. “It is a rebellion of love, rebellion of more peace, the rebellion of more …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with political leaders, including Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the 25th anniversary of a neo-Nazi arson attack that killed five members of a Turkish-German family. German leaders gathered in Düsseldorf on Tuesday to honour the victims of the arson attack in the nearby community of Solingen on May 29, 1993, when right-wing extremists set …

It was thirty years ago when Dr Stefan Oschmann and Ali Schuster, two young German men, initiated the International Afro Roots Festival, popularly known as  International Africa Festival, with the aim of bringing the music and culture of Africa to Germans. The story of the event, which has meanwhile become the biggest of its kind in Europe and last year …

Radu Mazare is one of more than 3 million Romanians who work outside the country. But he’s a little different to most of them. He first started to visit the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar as an alternative to his usual holiday destination of Brazil. “I felt amazing from the first visit back in 2011,” he told Euronews. When he …

Rival Libyan factions agreed on Tuesday in Paris to create a political framework paving the way for UN-backed parliamentary and presidential elections in a secure environment by 10 December 2018. The deal aims to end the country’s seven-year-old conflict. In a joint statement, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and …

Zimbabwe will hold its general elections on July 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced, the first since the army forced 94-year-old former president Robert Mugabe to resign last November. Mnangagwa, who became president following the military take-over, has promised to deliver on free and fair elections to win over Zimbabwe’s critics at home and abroad. The vote will pit him …

Mamoudou Gassama, the 22-year-old Malian “Spiderman” celebrated for saving a child hanging from a balcony, took his first step towards French citizenship Tuesday and joined the fire brigade as accolades continued to pour in over his daring rescue. Video footage of Gassama scaling four storeys of the building with his bare hands has catapulted the young man to global fame, …

An estimated 5,000 supporters of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party demonstrated in Berlin on Sunday “for the future of Germany” in the party’s largest gathering since it became Germany’s top opposition party. AfD supporters shouting “Merkel must go” were largely outnumbered by rival demonstrations, gathering about 20,000 people, according to police estimates, however. Excerpts of  Jefferson Chase’s report …

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said she encountered sexism and racism when she took over the job, with some in soccer opposed to a “black woman” taking a senior post at the global governing body. FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said she encountered sexism and racism when she took over the job, with some in soccer opposed to a “black …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday hailed the young Malian migrant who saved a 4-year-old child hanging from a fourth-floor Paris balcony, saying his act of bravery opened the door to French citizenship. At a meeting in the Elysée presidential palace Monday, Macron praised Mamoudou Gassama, an undocumented migrant from Mali, for his “exceptional act” and added: “We’re going to …

“Global Networking & Modern Economy” was the motto of this year’s Africa Day Conference. AfricanTide Union e.V. hosted the event for the eighth year in Dortmund. From May 24 to 26 representatives of African Diaspora communities met politicians and ambassadors, entrepreneurs, creative minds and interested citizens from Germany and abroad at the Dortmund Town Hall. The economic situation in Africa …

Sixteen members of a mostly female network of Nigerian human traffickers operating forced prostitution rings in France went on trial last week in Paris, facing their accusers as the trafficked women testified to being lied to, beaten and raped. Plaintiffs at the High Court of Paris began giving testimony on May 14 against a group known as the “Authentic Sisters”, …

Ireland has voted overwhelmingly to repeal its ban on abortion in a referendum the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described as a “quiet revolution.” The result was a landslide 66.4% ‘yes’ vote against 33.6% who voted ‘no’. Voters were asked if they wished to scrap the eighth amendment, which gives an unborn child equal rights to life as a pregnant …

A recent study by the REACH initiative, funded by UNHCR, has found that European Union measures implemented in Libya since the beginning of last year have led to an increase in internal trafficking routes and that the living conditions of migrants in the country have not improved. Migration policies implemented by the EU in Libya since the beginning of 2017 …

Tanzania’s Gerald Bigurube and Madagascar’s Clovis Razafimalala have dedicated their lives to saving their countries’ natural heritage. They are the recipients of this year’s annual German Africa Prize. Forty-four years. That’s the amount of time environmentalist Gerald Bigurube has dedicated to saving Tanzania’s wildlife and natural environment. As the long-time head of Tanzania’s National Parks Authority (TANAPA), the 66-year-old has led the …