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It is the middle of Sunday afternoon, and he has not yet finished his shift at the barbershop. “I took a break for the love of the game,” Mr. Adeshina said. Mr. Adeshina became an Arsenal fan in the late 1990s, when Nigerian cable channels first began broadcasting the Premier League. If anything, though, Mr. Adeshina says his connection to the team is even deeper now. “He’s Yoruba, I’m Yoruba,” Mr. Adeshina said, in a tone rather softer than that with which he celebrated his idol’s first-half goal against Spurs.

Persons: Mayowa, “, Mr, Adeshina, Germain, Nwankwo Kanu Organizations: Arsenal, Real, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs Locations: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Nigeria, London

☆ Niger junta repeals law aimed at slowing migration to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Niger's junta, which took power in a July coup, repealed the law on Saturday and announced it on Monday evening on state television. In return, the European Union launched the 5 billion euro Trust Fund for Africa in 2015, aimed at eradicating the root causes of migration, but many felt it was not enough. How European leaders greet the news, and the impact on migration to Europe, is yet to be seen. Andre Chani used to earn thousands of dollars a month driving migrants through the desert before police impounded his trucks in 2016. Reporting by Moussa Aksar and Edward McAllister; editing by Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yara, Andre Chani, Moussa Aksar, Edward McAllister, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, Fund, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, NIAMEY, West Africans, Europe, Niger, Africa, Agadez

[1/5] Several volunteers give Spanish classes to migrants outside the Las Raices Camp in La Laguna, Spain, November 5, 2023. The mix-up shows just how overwhelmed the Spanish archipelago is, Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo told Reuters, after a record 32,000 migrants came so far this year. At Tenerife's Las Raices adult migrants' centre in San Cristobal de La Laguna, Camara and his friend from the voyage, 16-year-old Modou Lamin Jarju from Gambia, sat around with dozens of other west Africans. Reuters GraphicsOne of the most strained of the eight Canary Islands is El Hierro, its population of 9,000 more than matched by the arrival of 11,000 migrants this year. At its largest minors' centre on a recent day, some 300 children ate breakfast on a basketball court before Spanish lessons.

Persons: Borja Suarez, Moussa Camara, Camara, Classing, Fernando Clavijo, Fran Morenilla, Salaoum Colley, Amparo Morales, Clavijo, El Hierro, Corina Pons, Horaci Garcia, Charlie Devereux, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: REUTERS, CRISTOBAL, LA LAGUNA, Reuters, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Las, Amnesty, Canaries, San Cristobal de La Laguna, Camara, Thomson Locations: La Laguna, Spain, Guinea, Europe, Islands, Spanish, Almeria, Canary, San Cristobal de La, Jarju, Gambia, El Hierro, European Union, Africa, Senegal

Unable to afford a flight to Egpyt from Guinea, he drew a map of Africa in his spiral notebook and set off on a second-hand mountain bike. Four months and seven countries later, he is in Cairo with a full scholarship to Al-Azhar University, one of the world's oldest and most renowned Sunni Muslim learning institutions. Thousands of West Africans like Barry undertake risky journeys across the Sahara desert each year, searching for a better life. Barry arrived in Cairo on Sept. 5 and days later secured a full scholarship to Al-Azhar. He intends to return to Guinea when his studies are complete, to spread the faith that has taken him so far.

Persons: Mamadou Safaiou Barry, Barry, Barry pedalled, Azhar, Cooper Inveen, Alison Williams Organizations: Al, Azhar University, International Organization for Migration, CFA, Thomson Locations: Guinea, El Marg, Cairo, Egypt, CAIRO, N'DJAMENA, Egpyt, Africa, West, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger, N'Djamena, Chadian, Sudan

☆ UAE lifts visa restrictions for Nigerians
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —The United Arab Emirates has lifted a year-long visa ban imposed on Nigerian travelers, authorities in the West African country said Monday. The restriction placed by the UAE last October was lifted following negotiations between Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu and UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Furthermore, by this historic agreement, both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria, without any further delay,” the statement added. Flights between both countries were stopped last year after Dubai’s Emirates airline suspended its operations in Nigeria citing trapped revenues. The UAE’s Dubai emirate has been a popular destination for Nigerian travelers for many years but visas to the West Africans and nationals of 19 other African states were halted last year for undisclosed reasons.

Persons: Bola Tinubu, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ajuri Ngelale Organizations: Nigeria CNN —, United Arab, UAE, Etihad Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Dubai’s Emirates, West Locations: Abuja, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, West, UAE, Abu Dhabi, Dubai

☆ Analysis: As the nation celebrates Juneteenth, it's time to get rid of these three myths about slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

It marks the moment in June of 1865 when Union troops arrived in Texas to inform enslaved African Americans that they were free by executive decree. Though it commemorates a moment when enslaved African Americans were freed, the US is still held captive by several myths about slavery and people like Cummins. 1: African Americans were ‘freed’ after the Civil War endedThere is a popular conception that the formerly enslaved were freed after the Civil War ended. It is what historians call a “Slave Bible.” It is a copy of a Bible that was used by British missionaries to convert enslaved African Americans. Kin Cheung/APThe historical record shows that enslaved African Americans revitalized Christianity in other ways, historians say.

Persons: Tempie ” Cummins stoically, Cummins, “, ‘, ’ ” Cummins, gainst, Tempie Cummins, Congress Juneteenth, ” Abraham Lincoln, ” “ There’s, ”, Tobin Miller Shearer, ” Albert J, Raboteau, ’, Clint Smith, ” Smith, Smith, Susan Merritt, …, ” Merritt, Frederick Dielman, Douglas A, Caleb McDaniel, Leslie Wilson, Wilson, ” Wilson, Bunny, Uncle Remus, Joel C, Harris, Albert Murray, ” White, ” Murray, Leon Harris, ” Malcolm X, Nat Turner, Martin Luther King Jr, ” Harris, Kin Cheung, God, ” Raboteau, Juneteenth, White, John Blake Organizations: CNN, New, Library, Congress, African American Studies, University of Montana, New York Times, Former Confederate, Rusk, District of Columbia, Colored People, Montclair State University, Getty, Museum, Biola University Locations: Jasper , Texas, eavesdrop, Texas, Antebellum, Whites, Rusk Country , Texas, Sabine, District, Washington, America, New Jersey, Southern, West Africa, United States, Washington , DC, California, Lambeth, London, Israel

☆ Scientists Unveil a More Diverse Human Genome
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Elie Dolgin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 20 years after scientists first released a draft sequence of the human genome, the book of life has been given a long-overdue rewrite. A more accurate and inclusive edition of our genetic code was published on Wednesday, marking a major step toward a deeper understanding of human biology and personalized medicine for people from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Unlike the previous reference — which was largely based on the DNA of one mixed-race man from Buffalo, with inputs from a few dozen other individuals, mostly of European descent — the new “pangenome” incorporates near-complete genetic sequences from 47 men and women of diverse origins, including African Americans, Caribbean Islanders, East Asians, West Africans and South Americans. The revamped genome map represents a crucial tool for scientists and clinicians hoping to identify genetic variations associated with disease. It also promises to deliver treatments that can benefit all people, regardless of their race, ethnicity or ancestry, researchers said.

☆ Analysis: Qatar’s lack of attacking intent puts them on World Cup precipice
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Nick Said | Anita Kobylinska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With the Dutch to come in their final group game on Tuesday, they needed a win against Senegal but from the first whistle there seemed little in the way of attacking intent. It was an issue in their opening 2-0 loss to Ecuador that Qatar coach Felix Sanchez tried to fix. On the rare occasions Qatar did mount attacks at 2-0 down, they created chances, with Ghana-born forward Mohammed Muntari scoring the country’s first ever World Cup goal that proved a consolation only. But over the 90 minutes they invited Senegal onto them instead of trying to impose themselves on the game. How Qatar approach their final game against Netherlands will be telling – will it be a case of going out in a blaze of glory, or with a whimper?

☆ Opinion: What the calls to boycott ‘The Woman King’ are really saying
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Nsenga K. Burton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Nsenga K. Burton Courtesy of Nsenga K. BurtonInspired by true events, “The Woman King” was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and produced by Academy award-winning actress Viola Davis (who also stars) and veteran actress/producer Maria Bello. But there are calls to boycott the film because, to its critics (even those not calling for a boycott), it underplays the role played by the Dahomey Kingdom in the Atlantic slave trade. Join us on Twitter and Facebook“The Woman King” is an outstanding film in the tradition of classics like “Spartacus” (1960), “Braveheart” (1995) and “The Gladiator” (2000). The difference is that Black women are at the center of the action, both on-screen and behind the camera. The effort by some to erase their work in “The Woman King” is lamentable.

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