Sweden took in almost 20 percent of the EU’s asylum seekers in 2013, more than any other country in the union. Despite Sweden’s relatively small population of 9.5 million people, which is 1.9 percent of the European Union’s total population, the country took in 19.5 percent of the 135,700 asylum seekers in 2013. Of the […]

Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered the release of Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Abdullah Elshamy on medical grounds, ending almost a year of imprisonment without charge.   A statement from the prosecutor’s office on Monday said Elshamy, who has been on hunger strike since January, would be set free due to “health conditions.” The statement said […]

The Liberian mission accredited near Beijing, China, has recounted with admiration the heroic services that Ambassador Jarjar Kamara  dedicated to Liberians and Liberia’s interest during his tour of duty. Speaking recently at a farewell reception for Amb. Kamara, the Charge d’ Affairs at the Liberian Embassy in Beijing Jimmy Gordon Barchue described the  two years of service […]

Civilians displaced by brutal fighting in South Sudan are ignoring calls from government officials to return to their homes, preferring the safety of squalid UN bases to the risk that conflict could again engulf towns already devastated in the six-month conflict. Amid a massive humanitarian operation, aid agencies had hoped that a cease-fire agreed in […]

Ivory Coast scored two goals in as many minutes to come from behind and get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start with victory over Japan. The Elephants trailed to a stunning Keisuke Honda strike in the first half. But the introduction of Didier Drogba as a substitute inspired the comeback, with Wilfried […]

After 96 days of legal proceedings, jurors in a Liberian criminal court Thursday slapped the rest of 13 defendants with a unanimous guilty verdict for subversive activities in Ivory Coast in 2011 and 2012. The jurors, through the foreman, informed the court that they were convinced by the number of evidence presented in court by state lawyers. They claimed that […]

Simmering civil tension and the stench of corruption threatens to sully Brazil’s global football party when the World Cup kicks off on Thursday against a backdrop of protests, unrest and alleged political graft. What was to be a football celebration is in danger of being hijacked by off-field issues as a growing furore surrounding FIFA […]

Sierra Leone shut its borders to trade with Guinea and Liberia on Wednesday and closed schools, cinemas and nightclubs in a frontier region in a bid to halt the spread of the Ebola virus. Sixteen people have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, a figure that has doubled in the last week, Ministry of Health […]

Some 60 percent of countries where malaria is endemic lack solid information about the quality of available drugs to treat the deadly disease, according to a new study. The study, published in the Malaria Journal in April, looked at 251 reports from 104-malaria endemic countries since 1946. It found that of the 43 countries that […]

Increasing investment, in which the Somali diaspora plays an important part, has strengthened interest and confidence in the region among foreign investors. The Swedish Government, together with Business Sweden, is therefore organising a trade and investment conference on 10 June in the Swedish capital, Stockholm for 150 representatives, primarily from Somali and Swedish businesses. The […]