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Uganda imposes tax on social media use, human rights groups kick against move

The Ugandan parliament has passed a law imposing a tax on people using mobile social media networks in an attempt to increase revenue, but rights groups say the levy is actually aimed at silencing dissent. Users will be charged 200 shillings ($0.0531) per day for services such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. That amounts to around $19 per year in …

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Germany to lift FIFA World Cup again – Reuters poll

Germany will retain their World Cup title in Moscow to equal Brazil’s record of five wins in the tournament, according to a Reuters poll of financial specialists more used to predicting market moves. In a May 16-31 survey of regular Reuters poll participants from across the globe, Germany’s national football team got the highest number of nods – 43 out …

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France restricts public screenings of World Cup 2018 over terror fears

The threat of terrorist attacks in France has put paid to fans’ hopes of watching the World Cup on big screens in public spaces, France’s ministry for the interior has announced. The ministry said the terrorism threat means transmissions will only be allowed if they have taken the necessary precautions. That includes showing the matches in a secured public area …

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Denmark bans full-face veils in public

Denmark has joined several other European countries in banning the full-face veil worn by some Muslim women in public spaces. In a 75 to 30 vote on Thursday, Danish legislators passed the law presented by Denmark’s centre-right governing coalition. The law was also backed by the Social Democrats and the far-right Danish People’s Party.  “Anyone who wears a garment that …

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A quarter of migrants who arrived in Germany since 2015 have found jobs

One in four migrants who arrived in Germany to seek refuge from wars and conflicts since 2015 has since found a job. According to figures from the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, those from Pakistan have been the most successful. “If employment growth continues at this rate, half of the migrants will be employed within five years,” the …

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Reggae star Ziggy Marley releases new solo album

Ziggy Marley, the son of reggae music legend Bob Marley, has released his seventh solo album, Rebellion Rises. The 49-year-old Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter is currently touring the United States and Europe. He said he took lessons from his father’s “Exodus” as he was crafting the album. “It is a rebellion of love, rebellion of more peace, the rebellion of more …

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Angela Merkel leads memorial of Solingen racist attack victims

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with political leaders, including Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the 25th anniversary of a neo-Nazi arson attack that killed five members of a Turkish-German family. German leaders gathered in Düsseldorf on Tuesday to honour the victims of the arson attack in the nearby community of Solingen on May 29, 1993, when right-wing extremists set …

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Africa Festival Wuerzburg marks 30th anniversary

It was thirty years ago when Dr Stefan Oschmann and Ali Schuster, two young German men, initiated the International Afro Roots Festival, popularly known as  International Africa Festival, with the aim of bringing the music and culture of Africa to Germans. The story of the event, which has meanwhile become the biggest of its kind in Europe and last year …

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The Romanian who is seeking asylum in Africa

Radu Mazare is one of more than 3 million Romanians who work outside the country. But he’s a little different to most of them. He first started to visit the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar as an alternative to his usual holiday destination of Brazil. “I felt amazing from the first visit back in 2011,” he told Euronews. When he …

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Libya’s rival factions agree to hold UN-backed elections

Rival Libyan factions agreed on Tuesday in Paris to create a political framework paving the way for UN-backed parliamentary and presidential elections in a secure environment by 10 December 2018. The deal aims to end the country’s seven-year-old conflict. In a joint statement, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and …

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