The popular dancehall singer Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng, popularly known as Ebony Reigns, died after her car collided with a bus. She would have been 21 in a week’s time. According to police, the 20-year-old singer and two military officers were on board a Jeep from Sunyani heading towards Kumasi when it collided head-on with a VIP bus heading towards Sunyani from …

The Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup kits have been unveiled by Nike and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Nike is the official kits sponsor of Nigeria’s national teams. The sportswear manufacturer presented the kits to the NFF at a ceremony in London on Wednesday. The Super Eagles’ World Cup jersey was modelled by Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi while Sophia Omidiji …

Girls in underwear pose in squalid rooms of converted shops along the narrow streets of Saint-Josse, near Brussels Gare du Nord. African women sell their bodies for as little as 20 euros. Barely half the rate charged by European prostitutes. Outside in the streets, the rates are even lower; 5 euros for a young Nigerian. A price that shocks even …

The 68th Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale – kicks off on 15 February in the German capital city. The Berlinale is one of the biggest international film festivals alongside the Cannes and Toronto film festivals. Up to 400 films are shown every year, mostly international or European premieres, and the festival, the world’s second largest audiovisual event, sells more …

The African Union does not have any secret dossiers and nothing to spy on, a senior official said in Beijing on Thursday, rejecting a report in French newspaper Le Monde that Beijing had bugged the regional bloc’s headquarters in Addis Ababa. Le Monde, quoting anonymous AU sources, reported last month that data from computers in the Chinese-built building had been …

Lufthansa has overhauled its livery, changing the background of its iconic century-old logo from yellow to blue. The crane, remains the airline’s iconic symbol, but it has been slimmed down in this incarnation and is surrounded by a thinner ring giving it more space. The German airline officially unveiled its new brand image on Wednesday (7 February) at company events …

The Gambia was readmitted to The Commonwealth on Thursday, welcomed back into the fold after its sudden pullout in 2013. Former President Yahya Jammeh dramatically withdrew the West African nation in October 2013, branding the group an “extension of colonialism”. President Adama Barrow began the readmission process in February last year. Barrow’s formal application last month for The Gambia to …

In a new report to the UN Security Council, sanctions’ experts warn that most armed groups involved in human trafficking in Libya have links to the country’s official security institutions. They further note that militant groups, including the so-called “Islamic State” (IS), overpower authorities. Kai Dambach reports. The United Nations Security Council received a confidential report that said Libyan forces …

After protracted talks, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc reached a deal for a new coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats on Wednesday. If approved by the SPD’s 460,000 members, the deal would end Germany’s longest period without a government since the Second World War. Here are the key points agreed in the draft coalition contract: Health insurance The …

The conservatives and Social Democrats have finally managed to settle on a coalition agreement 136 days after the federal election. Negotiators from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU); their Bavarian partners, the Christian Social Union (CSU); and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) have finally hashed out a contract for a new grand coalition government — probably ensuring that Angela Merkel …

Israel has started issuing deportation orders to African migrants, giving them 60 days to return to their home countries or opt for an unnamed safe haven. Those failing to meet the deadline risk being sent to prison. Israel’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority delivered the first batch of notices Sunday, telling migrants they have to leave before 1 April. The …

Arab refugees and Germans carrying pro-immigrant and anti-fascism placards marched in Cottbus on Saturday to denounce what they say are attempts by far-right groups to stoke tension in the eastern city after two knife attacks by Syrian teenagers. The group of around 600 demonstrators in the German city of Cottbus calling for acceptance and open-mindedness were upstaged and outnumbered by …

With average temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius, Nigeria is anything but a suitable country for winter sports. Nevertheless, Nigeria will be represented at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang , South Korea (9-25 February) It is thanks to the bobsled Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, who met the Olympic standard of five finishes at official bobsled races …

Morocco is the new African Champion. The Moroccan national team of local players crushed Nigeria 4-0 in the final match of the African Nations Championship, which took place on Sunday night in Casablanca’s Mohammed V stadium. Morocco made history in the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament when they won the fifth edition. The Atlas Lions are the first nation …

At least six African immigrants were injured after an Italian gunman opened fire on them on Saturday in the city of Macerata in a racially-motivated attack, according to police. At least one is said to be in a serious condition. The gunman has been named as Luca Traini who had stood as a candidate for the anti-immigrant Northern League, which …

The United Nations says 90 people are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya, after a people smuggler’s boat capsized. The United Nations’ migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), believes just three people have survived the boat accident, in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea. The boat was carrying mostly Pakistani migrants. “At least …

The United Nations refugee agency has criticised Nigeria for breaching international treaties after forcefully deporting a Cameroonian Anglophone separatist and his supporters. UNHCR said Thursday that most of those handed over to Yaoundé authorities had applied for asylum in Nigeria. Julius Ayuk Tabe and 46 others were extradited at Cameroon’s request on 26 January. Cameroon says the 47 are “terrorists” …

A Nigerian university student was killed on 31 January reportedly by locals in the Turkish Cyprus’s province of Famagusta. Kennedy Taomwabwa Dede, 28, was an architecture student of Eastern Mediterranean University. He was reportedly abducted from the city centre by a group who kidnapped him against his will.   Dede was taken home and killed by the group of eight …

After news of Libyan slave markets went around world at the end of 2017, many migrants stuck in North Africa decided to return home voluntarily. However, those returning to Nigeria complain that they face the same problems they had left behind. Katrin Gänsler reports. Loveth Ekumabor recently returned to Benin City, the capital of Edo State and Nigeria’s epicentre of …

The police in Essen have named a suspect in the murder of a Kenyan woman whose remains were found in the western German city on 17 January. The body of the 27-year-old Mary Waithera Kamathi, popularly known in the Kenyan community as Carrie Jones, was discovered in a kiosk in the south district of the city, where she worked as …