Like at the beginning of every month, new legal changes enter into effect in March 2021.These affect, for example, energy labels for refrigerators, televisions or washing machines. Also, summer time starts soon and parents urgently need to pay attention to the deadline for applying for Baukindergeld. Moreover, the lockdown regulations will be relaxed. Here’s an overview of the important legal …

Almost daily, citizens including school children are abducted for ransom in Nigeria. In the past two weeks alone, two high profile abductions of hundreds of school pupils have generated global media attention. The murderous Boko Haram insurgency also continues to ravage Nigeria’s north-eastern region. In the north west, bandits invade villages killing and maiming, and displacing the original inhabitants.  More …

Following allegations of violence levelled against the police in Chemnitz by an African family, a civil society organisation has launched a campaign against police brutality. According to the accounts of Mark Kitau and Jackline Nadler, a Kenyan couple, they were brutalised by police officers on the night of 31 January in the eastern German city of Chemnitz. The media has …

GIZ and Orange launch an Orange Digital Center in Ethiopia, the 3rd in the Africa and Middle East region, to train young people in digital technology and boost their employability. Following launches in Tunisia and Senegal, Ethiopia will be home to the third Orange Digital Center in Africa and the Middle East ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, February 25, 2021/ — Today, …

The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered its first Covid-19 doses to Ghana under a programme to ensure low-income countries do not wait for years to start inoculating their populations. Ghana became the first country to receive the vaccines through the COVAX program on Wednesday, a joint statement issued by UNICEF Ghana and WHO Ghana said. An aircraft carrying 600,000 …

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, February 24, 2021/ — Digital platforms in Africa should scale up to take advantage of the continent’s surging demand for creative content, said Africa Investment Forum Senior Director Chinelo Anohu, adding that the African Development Bank flagship entity is providing advisory services and investment support to creative players. The Africa Investment Forum was working to promote content …

How an IOM frontline worker goes beyond return counselling by providing African migrants in Germany with the support they need Berlin – It is a full day for Danielle Al-Qassir at the foreign immigration office in Berlin. “I have clients calling me on my work phone, my private phone and the landline, and we have clients coming in in-person,” she …

In order to strengthen political dialogue and promote economic relations, Professor Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Togolese Abroad, held diplomatic talks on February 16, 2021 with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in St. Petersburg. According to reports, Professor Dussey’s visit was on the invitation by Moscow, and came on exactly one year after their …

The number of asylum applications in Europe fell by almost a third last year. A total of 461,300 applications, 31 per cent fewer than in 2019, were filed, according to EASO, the EU’s asylum office based in Valletta, Malta. The main reason for the decline, according to EASO, is the Corona pandemic travel restrictions. The figures cover all initial applications …

A look into the ban on cryptocurrency in Nigeria by Ibrahim Moshood and Oneyka Cindy Ojogbo, Associate and Senior Associate respectively of the international law firm Centurion Law Group In a letter dated 5 February 2021[1], the Nigerian government through its apex bank – the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) – clamped down on cryptocurrencies in Nigeria. The letter specifically …