Germany’s highest court has ruled that the state must create an option for a gender that is not male or female in the nation’s birth register and certificates. The move makes Germany the first EU state that allows for parents to designate their children as intersex. “The assignment of gender is of paramount importance for individual identity,” said Germany’s Federal …

Adeola Oladele Fayehun of Sahara TV has quit her job with the medium. Created in April 2011, Sahara TV is the broadcast outlet of Sahara Reporters, the groundbreaking online news medium commonly referred to as the “Wikileaks of Africa.” Adeola who regularly hosts a satirical news show on YouTube called Keeping It Real with Adeola, which is produced and published on the …

International music star, Akon, has been announced as host of the 4th annual All Africa Music Awards (Afrima), taking place on Sunday, 12 November at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos, Nigeria. The annual All Africa Music Awards in partnership with the African Union Commission, is a celebration of Africa by rewarding the creativity and originality of African artistes and …

Edo State gets tough on people smuggling as increasing numbers of its indigenes drown in the Mediterranean. The government of Edo State, Nigeria, has announced its intention to make a law criminalizing human trafficking. The intention of the legislation, according to the state’s commissioner for justice, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, is to curb the activities of persons engaged in the irregular …

Two men, one of them an Egyptian and the other a Libyan, have been arrested and charged in Italy as investigators look into the deaths of 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the …

The African Union says it has commenced the downsizing of troops from Somalia in line with decisions taken by the AU and UN Security Council to hand over security responsibilities to the Somali Army. The head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Francisco Madeiro told the media in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday that a thousand soldiers will …

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Tuesday said democracy in the West African country was being threatened, a day after the Supreme Court put a presidential runoff on hold over fraud allegations. Former footballer George Weah was initially set to face Vice-President Joseph Boakai on Tuesday to determine who will replace the former Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A successful vote …

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has been appointed into the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation along with 17 other current and former global leaders. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutierrez, had in September announced the establishment of the board to provide him with advice on mediation initiatives and back specific mediation efforts around the world. The Board is composed …

The remains of 26 Nigerian women believed to be migrants have been recovered from a Spanish warship in the Italian coast city of Salerno. A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday said a Spanish warship, Cantabria, which docked in the city, was found to be carrying 375 rescued migrants and the dead women. According to the report, 23 …

The Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont and four associates have turned themselves into Belgian police. It follows an international arrest warrant issued by spain for sedition, rebellion, misuse of public funds and breach of trust in relation to Catalonia’s independence campaign. A spokesman for the prosecutor, Gilles Dejemeppe said the five handed themselves in to the authorities at the main police …