Libya’s coast guard and an international charity ship have picked up hundreds of migrants who were travelling towards Italy off the Libyan coast on Saturday, according to press reports. Libya coast guard vessels intercepted two migrant boats, one of which was an inflatable dinghy that had broken down and was carrying 125 people, Reuters reported, citing coast guard spokesman Ayoub …

Sierra Leone’s elections body, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), on Sunday released provisional official results in respect to the presidential polls of 7 March 2018. Julius Maada Bio, the candidate of the main opposition SLPP, is leading the election with the majority of the official results released followed closely by the ruling APC candidate, Samura Kamara. With 75% of official …

Italian national footballer Mario Balotelli has harshly criticised the country’s first Black senator, Toni Chike Iwobi, who was elected on Sunday on the platform of the anti-immigration League (formerly known as Northern League) party. “Maybe I’m blind or perhaps they have not told him yet that he is Black. But shame!!!” the footballer posted on his Instagram page, which has …

The UK is to pay for a new wing in a Lagos prison to help expedite the transfer of Nigerian offenders from British jails. Up to £700,000 will be spent on a 112-bed annex in Kiri Kiri prison in the country’s largest city. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it would enable eligible Nigerian inmates serving time in the UK to …

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an agency of the UN, has opened a centre in Benin City to provide information on how to migrate legally and rehabilitate returnees from Libya or Europe. Speaking at the opening of the Migration Resource Centre (MRC) on Monday, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said Nigeria was finding it tough to …

The German capital city saw a drastic increase in far-right crime last year with more than 1,942 incidents reported, the highest in ten years. Incidents of incitement, damage to property and public calls to criminal action accounted for most of the crime. The number of politically-motivated crimes in Berlin, however, declined by ten per cent compared to 2016. A total …

Israel’s deportation of Eritrean and Sudanese citizens to third countries “violates human rights and international law on refugees,” according to UN experts, who are calling on the Israeli government to review its policy. A group of UN human rights experts has said that the new Israeli policies for deporting Eritrean and Sudanese citizens present in its territory “violates human rights …

Sixteen candidates are campaigning to become Sierra Leone’s next president. It’s the first time more than two candidates have real chances of winning and a chance for a more diversified parliament. Sierra Leone heads to the polls on Wednesday March 7 as the second of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s constitutionally mandated two terms comes to an end. The ruling All …

Timothy Weah, son of the legendary African footballer and now Liberian president, George Weah, has made his senior debut with Paris Saint-Germain, nearly 23 years since his father’s last game with the French club. The 18-year-old striker on Saturday helped PSG win two goals to nil against Troyes, a win that restored the club’s 14 point advantage at the top …

Berliners turned out on Saturday to register their protest against a public demonstration by the right-wing extremist organization “Wir für Deutschland (WFD). The alliance Bündnis für ein weltoffenes und tolerantes Berlin (Alliance for an open and tolerant Berlin), a joint effort of churches, trade unions, charities, Landessportbund Berlin and further actors of civil society, held a counter demonstration in the …

More than five months after Germans went to polls at the 24 September 2017 national election, Germany will finally be getting a new government. The final hurdle was cleared when the Social Democratic Party (SPD) members approved the coalition deal party leaders had negotiated with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU. Sixty-six percent of party members who voted supported a continuation …

Asylum seekers and activists tell Al Jazeera how government-linked translators have infiltrated the immigration system in Europe. Elaine Allaby reports. Rome, Italy – It was a warm Mediterranean day in October 2013 when Meron Estefanos got the news. A boat had sunk off the Italian island of Lampedusa and several hundred refugees had drowned. In the end, the death toll …

Zimbabwe is on the verge of new riches as it pledges to significantly increase its production of lithium used in batteries for electric vehicles. If its production potential is realized, the metal will bring the African country fabulous wealth, say analysts. Zimbabwe aims to supply 10 percent of the world’s lithium and could reach 20 percent, the mines minister from …

Nigerians are getting poorer despite the country’s slow recovery from recession, and economic reforms are urgently needed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The Fund expects the government to “muddle through” in the medium term, and any progress could also be threatened if elections next year consume political energy and resources, the …

The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says Africa must build value-added, industrialised economies with modernised agriculture, which takes full advantage of the digital revolution, if she is to create wealth and prosperity for her peoples. Akufo-Addo made this known on Tuesday, 27 February when he delivered the keynote address at the 5th German-African Economic Forum, …

Gambia’s minister of tourism, Hamat Bah, has declared sex tourists unwanted in the country. “We are not a sex destination. If you want a sex destination, you go to Thailand. The Gambia is not a sex destination. We are not, we are not and please every Gambian must sing that song,” Bah said in an interview in January. He went …

A Gambian activist, Jaha Mapenzi Dukureh, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the area of helping combat Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a Norwegian portal has reported. Jaha Dukureh is the founder and executive director of Safe Hands for Girls. She is also a regional goodwill ambassador for the United Nations women bloc. Jaha Dukureh …

Real estate agencies are refusing to rent properties to refugees and migrants in Basque Country, northern Spain, the SOS Racismo association has said in a report. It added that there had been at least about 30 cases of discrimination in Victoria. In Bilbao, a group of Moroccan women has taken part in a protest against “humiliation and for the right …

The German conservative party Christian Democrat (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel has approved the grand coalition agreement with the Social Democrats (SPD) by a wide margin, as expected. Only 27 out of 975 party delegates at the CDU party conference in Berlin on Monday voted against the plan to form a new government. However, many in the party are known …

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, will host the Holy Ghost Festival of Life in Berlin in April. The indoor, interdenominational festival of Christian music, dance, drama, prayer, prophecy and sermons, will take place on 27 April in the German capital city. Festival of Life (FOL), established in London in …