The ECJ ruled today that private companies can ban the hijab at the workplace under certain conditions. A library in the German city of Cologne reaches out to refugees and the war in Afghanistan rages on. All this and more in today'1

Private firms are justified on certain grounds to bar a female employee from wearing a headscarf or veil, according to the European Court of Justice. The top court was ruling on cases in France and Belgium.

© ANSA This picture shows a monument  on Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa  that was designed by the sculptor Mimmo Paladino. It was set up in the memory of the migrants who have died at sea and is in dire need of restorati1

Is a library only a storehouse of books for visitors to borrow and read? Not for Cologne. The city library's mission is to facilitate networks of knowledge and information between its residents and newcomers - the refugees.