EUROPE

An 18-year-old Italian woman who applied for a job at a local shop was reportedly refused the position because she is in a relationship with an African man, according to Italian media. Chiara Del Gaudio applied for the job in Torino, Piedmont region, after seeing an advert posted on the internet and was soon contacted by the shop’s owner, according …

French parliament overwhelmingly backed a new law on Wednesday to clean up politics, a campaign promise of President Emmanuel Macron following a string of scandals. A total of 412 lawmakers backed the bill, which will notably scrap cash handouts for lawmakers to spend on areas and NGOs of their choice. Parliament had last week already voted through aspects of the …

The population of people of African origin in Germany has nearly doubled in only five years, according to new figures published on Tuesday by the Federal Statistics Office. Moreover, the number of people with an immigrant background in the country reached a new high of 18.6 million in 2016, an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to the previous year. …

The Kenyan Diaspora and well-wishers of the East African country will gather in six German cities on Saturday, 5 August for Amani Kenya-Open Air Prayers for Peace and Unity.  According to the organizers, the event, which will hold in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich and Wurzburg, is to show solidarity with their compatriots at home who will go the polls …

Operation Sophia, the European Union migrant-rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea, has been extended and will now run until 31 December 2018. EU leaders reached the agreement in Brussels on Tuesday (25 July) after Italy withdrew its veto. The extension was expected to be agreed upon last Monday but Italy, discontent with other EU member states’ efforts on the migrant …

Germany’s Turkish diaspora has been assured that it is part of the fabric of the nation despite difficult relations between Berlin and Ankara. A letter by Germany’s foreign minister has been published in a newspaper. Less than 48 hours after announcing a major shift in policy towards Turkey, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday sought to calm fears among …

There’s hardly anyone more qualified to help migrants and refugees new to Germany than former newcomers themselves. This is the premise of AfricanTide, an organization that runs a refugee shelter and multiple programs for migrants and refugees in Dortmund, Germany. Mara Bierbach reports. On a small white desk by the window, two little boys are slowly but enthusiastically assembling a …

The Italy Chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) has elected a new executive council. At the end of a hotly-contested vote in Rome on Saturday (15 July), Dr Akuwudike Lawrence Ibekwe emerged Chairman and Mr Godwin Obaseki, Vice Chairman. Other officials elected at the annual general meeting of NIDO Italy are Mr Fidel O’Neil Wilson (General Secretary), …

Almost one third of the respondents in Bavaria, one of the country’s 16 federal states, say they want independence from Germany, according to a new poll published on Sunday (16 July). Thirty-two per cent of Bavarians agreed with the statement that their “state should be independent from Germany,” a survey conducted by the YouGov market research company for the popular …

In a bizarre development, a coalition of European right-wing extremists have chartered a boat and set sail for the Mediterranean. They will rescue sea-borne migrants but instead of bringing them to the Italian coast, they will take the migrants back to the Libyan coast where they set forth. Their chief aim is to stem the flow of refugees to Europe. …

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld Belgium’s ban on the Islamic full-face veil, rejecting a legal challenge by two Muslim women wearing the niqab. The court sitting in Strasbourg, France, ruled on Tuesday (11 July) that the 2011 Belgian law banning clothing that partly or totally covers the face was not discriminatory and did not violate the …

A shocking video of a Black woman falling headfirst down a narrow flight of stairs in Amsterdam is making the rounds on social media. A Dutchman had pushed an Airbnb renter, a Germany-based South African student, down a staircase in Amsterdam during an argument over check-out time on Sunday (9 July). Sibahle Nkumbi was travelling with two other women and …

German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Bernhard Schlagheck, has revealed that 13,000 Nigerians are currently seeking asylum in Germany. The reasons they gave for their applications, according to the ambassador, range from insecurity arising from Boko Haram insurgency to political persecution in Nigeria. Ambassador Schlagheck however hinted that his country was not convinced that there is political persecution in Nigeria at …

World leaders on Saturday (1 July) paid final tributes to Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor who reunited Germany and helped shape Europe as we know it. Kohl, who died on 16 June at 87, was lauded at a ceremony at the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg as a dedicated European pacifist by former US President Bill Clinton, …

Italy’s envoy to the EU has said it is unsustainable for all migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean to land on his country’s shores. Over 10,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Italy over the last few days. Italy’s ambassador to the EU, Maurizio Massari, was given a formal mandate by his government to raise the issue with European Migration and Home …

Spain is one of the countries in Europe with the lowest rate of acceptance for persons seeking refugee protection while Nigerian nationals have the highest rejection rate of asylum applications made by Africans in Europe, reports show. According to the annual report by Spanish NGO National Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR), Spain is among the European countries with the lowest …

Fingerprinting is one of the most commonly used ways of identifying asylum-seekers when they enter the European Union. Wesley Dockery reports on how the EU shares fingerprinting data and how the data is used to determine where a migrant can apply for asylum. The EU registers fingerprints of asylum-seekers in a system called the EURODAC. The system, which was established …

The big Brexit talks have kicked off in Brussels, with both sides sitting down for their first official discussions over the UK leaving the EU. At stake is how to untangle over 44 years of a complex relationship that is enshrined in thousands of pages of legal texts. It will need to be resolved in less than two years, with …

Getting an apartment which they desire and can afford could be a big problem for Africans living in Germany because of discrimination. A study has now confirmed that indeed you may not even be called for viewing, the first step in the apartment-seeking process, if your name sounds non-German. People with foreign sounding names are discriminated against when they are …

Many migrants who arrive in Germany find it difficult to navigate the country’s bureaucracy and start living a normal life. But a new organization is helping migrants find a friend who can help them settle in the country, reports Manasi Gopalakrishnan. Bassel Wali (above right) first heard about ‘Start with a Friend’ from another refugee. The 23-year-old, who withstood the …