WORLD

More than 20 million people are currently threatened with starvation in Africa. The United Nations is warning of the biggest humanitarian disaster since its inception. Activists hit the streets across Germany on Friday to draw attention to the suffering of the affected. More than 23 million men, women and especially children are acutely threatened by starvation in Africa. The UN …

Former US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in front of tens of thousands of people before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Thursday to discuss God, faith and the state of the world at the first day of Germany’s Protestant Church Assembly, Kirchentag. Former US President Barack Obama told an audience in Berlin on Thursday that …

Members of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) gather in the western German city of Dortmund on 26-27 May to deliberate on how to contribute to solving the socio-economic problems bedevilling their home country. The NIDOE Project Summit 2017 will discuss the role of the Diaspora in the development of Africa. The focus is, of course, Nigeria, with participants …

“We need a day to discuss the problems that we don’t usually talk about,” said Dr RosaLyn Dressman, the chairperson of AfricanTide Union, a non-governmental organisation based in the western German city of Dortmund. These are the issues that will be discussed during the activities marking this year’s Africa Day in Dortmund on 25-27 May. Dr RosaLyn Dressman, a sociologist …

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that non-EU citizens may, as the parent of a minor child who is an EU citizen, have the right to residence in the European Union. Non-EU nationals could have the right to residence if their children are citizens of the EU, the European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday (10 May) in …

In his likely final speech as president, François Hollande, has called on France to fight hate speech and announced a new working group that will be put in charge of designing a memorial and a museum for victims of slavery. Speaking at a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday to commemorate the abolition of slavery, and accompanied by French President-elect Emmanuel …

More than 200 migrants are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean over the weekend trying to reach European shores, according to testimony from survivors. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says it recorded more than 6,000 people crossing the Mediterranean to reach Italy from Friday to Sunday. But the perilous journey in rickety, overcrowded boats means many of those risking …

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU has won a decisive victory over its Social Democrat rivals in an election in Germany’s northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday. The CDU won with 33 per cent of the vote compared to the SPD’s 26 per cent, down from 30 per cent. The result is a boost for Merkel, who is seeking a fourth …

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says setting up camps in North Africa will not solve Europe’s migrant crisis and that stabilizing African countries is a better strategy during a visit to the headquarters of the African Union on Tuesday. A deal between Italy and Libya to hold migrants in camps in the North African country ignores “catastrophic conditions” in Libya and …

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has asked the descendants of the victims of the OvaHerero and Nama genocide in Namibia during the German colonial rule of the country for forgiveness. “As the successor organisation of the former Prussian Evangelical High Church Council (Oberkirchenrat), we expressly confess our guilt today towards the entire Namibian people and before God,” says the …

Ethiopian journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, has been named the winner of a top press freedom award despite being in jail since 2011. The International Press Institute (IPI) on Tuesday (25 April) named him as the winner of the ‘World Press Freedom Hero for this year. Nega was imprisoned reportedly after criticizing his country’s abuse of anti-terror laws to silence …

A coalition of groups has written a letter to Ghana’s  President Nana Akufo-Addo on the need to act without delay on illegal mining in the country. The groups are concerned about ecocide and the damaging effect of illegal mining on human lives, animals and the environment in Ghana. A delegation representing the Ghanaians presented the letter to the acting Ghanaian …

More than 8,000 migrants trying to reach Europe were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea during the Easter weekend. The Associated Press news agency said that 8,300 people were saved, including 1,300 in 13 search-and-rescue missions by the EU’s border agency Frontex. CNN, citing the Italian coastguards, said that 8,500 people were saved. Seven people were confirmed dead on Sunday after …

Former US President Barack Obama has been named the winner of the prestigious German Media Prize 2016. The 55-year-old statesman will receive the award personally in Baden-Baden. Barack Obama is the recipient of the German Media Prize for 2016. This was announced yesterday by the German market research group Media Control, which manages the award. The former US president has accepted to …

Nigeria and the EU are working on an agreement to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians living illegally in EU countries, reveals Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Sunday in Abuja. The EU for now, he explained, was trying to have a collective agreement with Nigeria covering all the EU countries so that there can just be a one-stop-shop …

The wave of deportations of Nigerians from European countries continues unabated as 50 of them were forcibly repatriated on Thursday from Germany,  Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary. The 48 males and two females arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, in a chartered aircraft. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the deportees were sent back …

Italy announced on Sunday that it had reached an accord with dozens of tribes from southern Libya aimed at securing the country’s southern border and slowing the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean toward Europe. Experts, however, doubt how effective the patrol will be, reports Avi Davis. Sixty tribal leaders from groups including the Tuareg, the Toubou and Awlad Sulaiman …

The President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has assured his compatriots abroad that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was working assiduously to solve the myriad problems the country is confronted with. Saraki was speaking when he met representatives of the Nigerian community in Berlin. He assured the gathering that the National Assembly was well alive to its …

This year’s Anne Klein Women’s Award from Germany’s Heinrich Böll Foundation goes to South African Nomarussia Bonase, who fights for Apartheid victims still waiting for compensation. DW journalist Thuso Khumalo has met her. Nomarussia Bonase, aged 50, celebrated winning the Anne Klein Women’s Award by singing and dancing with her family and supporters, both young and old, on the street …

Germany and Tunisia have made a deal on immigration and development aid. Under the agreement reached after talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Beji Essebsi in the Tunisian capital, the North African country will take back its citizens whose asylum applications have been turned down by Germany. Berlin will reward Tunis with generous development aid. “We have agreed with …