EUROPE

The German parliament has voted to allow the use of the drug for medical purposes. The issue had been a point of heated discussion in the country for a long time. Members of Germany’s parliament Bundestag voted unanimously on Thursday 19 January to legalize the use of medical marijuana. Seriously ill patients will qualify for medical marijuana if they have …

The number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany last year has dropped by two-thirds to about 280,000. Berlin said the decrease signals that measures to reduce migration are working. Some 280,000 migrants arrived in Germany last year, a stark reversal in numbers after the country received nearly 890,000 refugees during the 2015 migration crisis, according to year-end government figures released …

Germany is set to launch tougher security measures for asylum seekers and refugees who are not properly documented or deemed to pose a security threat. The new measures, agreed upon on Tuesday, 10 January will make it easier for the authorities to electronically tag immigrants considered a security risk, as well as those required to leave Germany but who have …

Muslim girls at Swiss schools must attend swimming lessons including both boys and girls, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled, rejecting a case filed by two parents who wanted their daughters exempted from the classes on religious grounds. The court found on Tuesday, 10 January that, although the Basel school had “interfered with” religious freedom by insisting …

The northern German city of Braunschweig has launched a special commission to investigate more than 300 cases of welfare fraud by asylum seekers. One fraudster is believed to have used as many as 12 different identities. Regional German broadcaster NDR reported on New Year day that the majority of more than 300 cases of welfare fraud in the northern city …

For many the current position of Britain’s Black population is one that is mired between achievement and marginalisation, reports Alasdair Soussi Glasgow, United Kingdom – They are one of Britain’s most dynamic and enduring communities whose presence in the UK dates back hundreds of years. From serving Britain with distinction in the first and second world wars to their modern-day …

In her New Year’s speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on citizens to go into 2017 with optimism and defy terrorism. But to guarantee “security in freedom,” she said new security measures may be necessary. With Germany still reeling from the deadly Berlin truck attack, Angela Merkel has used her annual New Year’s message to insist the country and …

Black people often experience prejudice from landlords or estate agents when they look for an apartment in Europe. However, most times they’re not able to prove that racism is responsible for why they’re not able to rent an apartment. Landlords always emphatically reject any accusation of bias. Now a case in France has shown that indeed landlords do specifically discriminate …

Dr Adebisi Laja, one of the oldest members of the Nigerian community in Germany, has passed on. According to his associates, the retired medical doctor died peacefully at home in the western German town of Lindenfels on 12 December at the age of 84. Laja arrived in Europe in June 1954 to study in Glasgow. He moved to Germany in …

Anis Amri, the chief suspect in Monday’s truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market, has been shot dead by police in Milan. Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told a news conference on Friday morning that Amri was killed during a shootout with police at 3am. Amri opened fire during a routine check when he was asked for his identity documents …

More details have been released about the man all Europe’s police are now looking for. It appears the main suspect in the Berlin truck attack was previously known to German police, and a 100,000 euro reward is being offered for his capture. He has been identified as Tunisian-born 24-year-old Anis Amri, who had previously served four years in an Italian …

The news of Delali Afiwoa Assigbley’s death in a horrific manner went round the world. It’s a death that would shake the most hard-hearted human being. On Wednesday, 7 December Delali’s husband, Koffi W., poured petrol on her in the streets of Kronshagen, near the northern German city of Kiel, and set her ablaze. Before the fire could be put …

The study, covering 14 federal ministries, the federal armed forces and eight federal agencies, showed that 14.8 per cent of all public servants are of migrant origin. A similar study conducted in 2013 discovered that only 6.7 per cent of federal employees had a migration background.

Passers-by describe the scene as horrific as an African man poured petrol on his wife in broad daylight in the northern German town of Kronshagen, near Kiel on Wednesday. The Kieler Nachrichten, a daily newspaper, reports that the man poured fuel over his wife, both originally from Togo, as she left a clinic in the town before setting her ablaze. …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a ban on the burka in public life “wherever possible” during her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party congress in Essen, officially launching her election campaign to hold on to Germany’s Chancellery. Speaking to sustained applause from her CDU delegates, Merkel said the full-face veil worn by some Muslim women in Germany was …

Gambians make up the third largest group of African refugees in Germany. With Gambia on the road to democracy and Germany’s goverment getting tough on immigration, will they be allowed to stay?

Lawmakers in the lower house of the Dutch parliament have backed a partial ban on “face-covering clothing”, including Islamic veils and robes such as the burqa and niqab. The legislation still requires Senate approval before it becomes law. Studies suggest that only a few hundred women in the Netherlands wear such clothes, but successive governments have attempted to ban the …

Refugees that were accepted by Germany over the past years have shown a deeper devotion to European democratic principles in a whole range of aspects than their host citizens.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced she will stand in next year’s elections for a fourth term. She made the announcement in Berlin on Sunday evening. Addressing the media from a platform with the word “The Center” (Die Mitte) written on it in Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party colours, Merkel said on 20 November that her decision to stand was not a trivial …

Kenneth Gbandi has been elected the new chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE). The election took place at the weekend in Athens, Greece, during the annual general meeting of the body. The event was graced by, among others, Hon. Rita Odichimma Orji, Chairperson of the Federal House of Representatives’ Committee on Diaspora …