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US: Medical helicopter crashes on Chicago highway, 4 injured

8, July 2018

US: Medical helicopter crashes on Chicago highway, 4 injured 0

Four people were injured when a medical helicopter crashed on a highway in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday night, with one in critical condition, officials said.

The pilot made a “mayday” radio call from a Eurocopter 135 air ambulance at about 9:15 p.m. Central Time (0215 GMT Sunday), according to a Federal Aviation Authority statement. The helicopter crashed on a ramp of the Interstate 57 highway soon after, it said.

Local media reported that a patient on the air ambulance was in critical condition, while the pilot and two others on board were listed in stable condition in Chicago hospitals.

No one on the ground was hurt and the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash.

(Source: Reuters)


2018 World Cup: Croatia beat Russia 4-3 on penalties

8, July 2018

2018 World Cup: Croatia beat Russia 4-3 on penalties 0

Croatia have ended Russia’s World Cup dream after they won 4-3 on penalties to meet England in the World Cup semifinals in Moscow on Wednesday.

Volunteers deploy giant flags during the ceremony held ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Russia’s midfielder Denis Cheryshev (R) shoots to score during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Russia’s midfielder Denis Cheryshev celebrates after scoring a goal during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)

 

Croatia were better side of the match, but Villarreal midfielder Denis Cheryshev put Russia ahead in the 31st minute with curling shot from outside of the box.

Croatia’s forward Andrej Kramaric celebrates after scoring the equaliser during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Russia’s goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev concedes the equalizer scored by Croatia’s forward Andrej Kramaric during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)

Andrej Kramaric leveled the match for Croatia before the break from a Mario Mandzukic cross. Domagoj Vida gave Croatia advantage in extra-time from a Luka Modric corner.

Russia’s forward Artem Dzyuba (L) reacts after falling with Croatia’s defender Dejan Lovren during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Croatia’s defender Domagoj Vida (L) celebrates after scoring during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Russia’s defender Mario Fernandes heads the ball to score during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)

Russia’s Defender Mario Fernandes brought his side level through a header in the 115th-minute to send the match to penalty shootout where Russians journey through their own World Cup ended in heartbreak at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

Croatia’s goalkeeper Danijel Subasic stops the ball in the penalty shootout during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. (AFP)
Croatia’s players celebrate their winning penalty during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final football match between Russia and Croatia at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi on July 7, 2018. Croatia beat Russia on penalties to set up World Cup semi against England. (AFP)

 


IMF projects 4% economic growth in Cameroon, warns against Anglophone crisis

7, July 2018

IMF projects 4% economic growth in Cameroon, warns against Anglophone crisis 0

Cameroon’s economy is expected to grow 4 percent this year, up from 3.2 percent in 2017 due to the start of natural gas production and construction work for an upcoming soccer tournament, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

Growth was slower in 2017 because of a sharp decline in oil output but new infrastructure projects and increased private investment should bring it to at least 5 percent in the medium term, the IMF said in a statement late on Friday.

Cameroon, one of central Africa’s largest economies, produces about 180,000 barrels per day of oil and is Africa’s fourth-biggest cocoa producer.

The IMF statement followed a decision by its executive board to approve the disbursement of $77.8 million as part of a three-year, $680.7-million financial aid package.

Security risks

The IMF warned, however, that the economy faces considerable risks, including deteriorating security in its English-speaking regions — cocoa and oil-producing areas where separatists are waging a deadly insurgency, and high debts.

“With significant spending pressures associated with the 2018 elections, a worsening security situation and the 2019 African Soccer Cup, any additional oil revenue should be saved,” said Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the Fund’s deputy managing director, referring to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations due to be held next June.

President Paul Biya is due to stand for re-election in the vote later this year. The 85-year-old has governed since 1982 with little tolerance for dissent.

REUTERS


Where will a trade war with China lead the US?

7, July 2018

Where will a trade war with China lead the US? 0

On Friday, US President Donald Trump carried his protectionist promises to another level and slapped tariffs on more than $34 billion worth of Chinese products. And this is just the beginning. Another $16 billion is on its way in two weeks from now, adding to a total of $50 billion of Chinese goods that would be charged a 25 percent import tax at US borders. And yet even more is to come. Trump has threatened another $500 billion worth of Chinese goods with tariffs if China retaliates. On Thursday, Trump said that initially, “34 [billion], and then you have another 16 in two weeks and then as you know we have 200 billion in abeyance and then after the 200 billion we have 300 billion in abeyance. Ok? So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300.”

Of course China has retaliated swiftly, actually very swiftly. Two hours after the Trump administration announced the first salvo of tariffs, China immediately torpedoed back by imposing its own 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of US goods – most of them strategic exports such as soybeans and automobiles, chosen by China to sting crucial US exports. The Chinese government then issued a statement declaring that the United States “has launched the biggest trade war in economic history so far.”

Vox reports, “China has deliberately targeted big US agricultural exports like soybeans that come from states in the heart of Trump country, where neither the president nor his party want to see economic instability or job losses right before the 2018 midterm elections.” So basically China is attempting to both retaliate and also discredit a “protectionist” Republican president among his staunchest supporters.

The latter goal is one that Trump is less likely to achieve when imposing his tariffs on a country where the president is selected by the Communist Party, not by popular vote, thus creating an obvious advantage for the Chinese against Trump if China’s version of tariffs manage to hurt US exports, and as a result hurt US manufacturers.

Will tariffs on China make America great again?

Trump had promised his popular base that he would “make America great again” by supporting American manufacturers, but he never substantially explained how he would manage to achieve this lofty goal in a country where the “Made in China” tag is so prevalent that if one sees another country on a label, she might once again turn around to make sure. Almost one and a half years into his presidency, it seems imposing tariffs are his solution to the demise of American production.

But tariffs have been historically a double edged sword and while they might limit buying foreign products they almost immediately draw the ire of the countries which the tariffs are imposed on, effectively suffocating exports because of the retaliatory measures.

So in a nutshell, you don’t gain much in trade wars, at least never in the past. And unless the protectionist businessman-turned president has some magical panacea, the recent tariffs of his administration will be no exception. As the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 illustrates, tariffs not only hurt US exports but destroyed global trade. World trade decreased by some 66 percent between 1929 and 1934 while the Act was in place. So basically as a consequence of trade wars, all players in the international economic system tend to incur substantial losses as overall trade plummets and prices increase.

So if there is no guarantee that the Trump imposed tariffs will make America great again, there are fewer guarantees that they would not be detrimental to the US. Actually one could both historically and theoretically argue that the possibility that the Trump tariffs would actually cause more injury to US manufacturing is much higher than the tariffs committing to production growth.

This is exactly why, back in June 14, Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), warned that the trade war sparked by unilateral US import tariffs would have no winners and that the tit-for-tat cycle of retaliation would only create “losers on both sides.” She said the outcome of such a trade conflict would have a “serious” economic impact on the US and global economies, including by causing inflation to speed up

In the case of China, if Trump imposes tariffs on all the $500 billion of goods he claims, that would represent the lion’s share of all of China’s exports to the US. This basically means inflation rates in the US would spike. For instance prices for washing machines have increased by 16 percent in recent months, and this is only the beginning of a long trade fight.

Of course there will be a positive effect on US trade imbalance with China. CBS reported yesterday that “trade imbalance with China in May totaled $43.1 billion, down from the $47.2 billion posted in March; it’s the smallest monthly deficit since October 2016 and caps the largest three-month reduction in 10 years.”

And to Trump’s relief, exports account for only 12 percent of US GDP (Compare this with Canada’s 31 percent of GDP) where a country with 320 million makes an isolationist economic policy a more viable option for Trump who views countries like China as national security threats.

So both set of economic arguments, for or against Trump’s new trade policy, have some credit to claim. Those opposed point to historical precedent, theoretical inconsistency, rising inflation and lower levels of exports as arguments against Trump’s tariffs. Those in favor of Trump’s tariffs point to US trade imbalance, relatively lower levels of exports and increased national security to justify the new policy.

What the future holds?

Indeed it is too soon to conclude how the trade war with China might conclude. One factor is whether China could rally other countries to support Beijing against the US. Again, it is too soon to see whether disgruntled traditional US allies such as the EU, Canada, Mexico and other countries that have also been hit by the Trump tariffs would support Beijing over Washington. For now this seems far-fetched, but if Trump prevails over his Democrat opponents and pro-trade mainstream Republican rivals, then, as Paul Haavardsrud puts it: “the international community will be left to reinvent a global trade order that’s not anchored by the US.” In the long term, this new global order would definitely translate to a US with less influence in the new world order.

Couple the new Trump tariffs with statements from him that threaten to withdraw from the WTO, pull out of NAFTA and other international organizations and accords and then you can see, if pursued, Trump’s policies will structure new international alliances where the US is not necessarily the dominant player and where others like China and Russia are ready to lead.

 

Culled from Presstv


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ambazonian leader says independence is only remaining option

7, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ambazonian leader says independence is only remaining option 0

A senior representative of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has warned the Biya regime that its decision to declare a war against the people of Southern Cameroons has left Ambazonians with no other choice but to fight for the creation of a sovereign Southern Cameroons state, increasing speculation that a real arm struggle could begin anytime from now.

The Ambazonian leader who is currently in Taraba in Nigeria and whose name we are withholding for security reasons said the Yaoundé government’s insistence on using military force has empowered the hands of Southern Cameroonians who want to break away from French Cameroun.

He told our senior correspondent Kingsley Betek that the Macron government in France was deceiving President Biya and that every Southern Cameroonian was working towards building a separate nation because they understand that there is a United Nations mandate to establish such a state for all English speaking Cameroonians.

He added that the recent French Cameroun army onslaught in Ossing village in the Manyu County is a justification that the Francophone government in Yaoundé is giving Ambazonians no other option than to defend their homeland using the best tools that the Interim Government institutions have.

His remarks came hours after we got intelligence that the 85 year old Cameroonian dictator was preparing to announce a truce including the release of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and hundreds of Southern Cameroonians arrested ever since the crisis in Southern Cameroons started.

Reports on Friday suggested that some members of the ruling Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government were urging Biya to end the senseless war in Southern Cameroons by calling for national dialogue, while others particularly those of the North and Far North were pressing him to step aside – a move he has so far resisted.

Tensions between the government in Yaoundé and the Ambazonian Interim Government headed by Dr. Samuel Sako Ikome have risen to new heights following the CDC and oil and gas contract with the New Age Global Energy Company.  Biya and his gang have refused to engage in dialogue with the Southern Cameroons leadership and the Francophone Cameroun leader has said that there can be no international mediation on a domestic, constitutional issue.

Cameroon Concord News Group recently called on Interpol, The Serious Crimes Unit of the British Police, The FBI, The Criminal Investigations Department of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and all Police and Intelligence Agencies worldwide to urgently step in and investigate the oil and gas contract between New Age Global Energy Company and French Cameroun that was signed recently in Britain. There are many reasons for an urgent criminal investigation of this international crime masked as a business contract.

The contract is a front for money laundering conceived for criminal purposes. The oil and gas fields which are subject of the contract are in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia over which a war and genocide declared by Paul Biya the head of the crime syndicate in French Cameroun are ongoing. The contract is directly linked to the subject of this in who the perpetration of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by one of the contracting parties, French Cameroun is ongoing.  These crimes have led to a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. The contract will directly contribute to the war efforts of French Cameroun in which international crimes are being perpetrated by French Cameroun.  Control over the mineral resources of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is among the reasons for the declaration of war by French Cameroun against Ambazonia.  This contract therefore will substantially contribute to the crimes and the humanitarian calamity.

The contract is a front for the laundering of money and resources for criminal purposes. These criminal purposes include the bankrolling of the elections of Paul Biya and members of his criminal gang in power. These elections have all elements of fraud and criminality.

The contract is illegal, null and void in every respect.   This will be the first contract where French Cameroun will be signing with a company which has no incorporation within the territory in which the oil and gas fields are located. Pursuant to the foreign imposed laws of the colonial annexationist criminal government of French Cameroun in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the foreign firm needed to comply with several OHADA treaty requirements. It has neither complied with Southern Cameroons laws nor that of the occupier.

The choice of a British firm in a French occupied economic annexed territory is intended to buy through this corrupt slave economic deal, the continuing support of Britain of the colonial occupation and criminal war and genocide.  The fact that the Secretary-General in the Presidency of French Cameroun’s crime syndicate went to England to sign the contract far away from the battlefields of Ambazonia where the intended loot is located, and far away from its own centre of French Cameroun’s criminal operations, Yaoundé, evinces an intention to shield the fine elements of criminality contained in the criminal deal from the scrutiny of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia victims.  French Cameroun has a record of signing bilateral agreements in Yaoundé and at the official locations of its partners.  This criminal contract is not a bilateral agreement but a business contract.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Brussels


The Holy Father calls for solidarity, mercy to be shown towards migrants

7, July 2018

The Holy Father calls for solidarity, mercy to be shown towards migrants 0

Pope Francis on Friday called for a greater ‘solidarity and mercy’ to be shown towards migrants. The pope was speaking at a special mass at the Vatican called to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his trip to the Italian island of Lampedusa, one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants.

Pope Francis called for countries to treat migrants in a humane manner adding that a just policy is one at the service of the person, of every person involved; a policy that provides for solutions that can ensure security, respect for the rights and dignity of all.

‘‘Before the challenges of contemporary movements of migration, the only reasonable response is one of solidarity and mercy. A response less concerned with calculations, than with the need for an equitable distribution of responsibilities, an honest and sincere assessment of the alternatives and a prudent management. A just policy is one at the service of the person, of every person involved; a policy that provides for solutions that can ensure security, respect for the rights and dignity of all; a policy concerned for the good of one’s own country, while taking into account that of others in an ever more interconnected world’‘, the Pope said.

At the end of the mass Pope Francis shook hands with some 200 migrants that attended the service.

Reuters


Doctors Without Borders says Italy’s closure of ports to worsen refugee crisis

7, July 2018

Doctors Without Borders says Italy’s closure of ports to worsen refugee crisis 0

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that Italy’s decision to close its ports to humanitarian rescue boats would entrap more refugees in Libya’s detention centers and in the hands of traffickers, where they face torture.

Christophe Biteau, the head of Doctors Without Borders mission in Libya, said everyone intercepted by the Libyan coast guard, around 10,789 people this year, has been held indefinitely in government-run detention centers.

“With fewer rescue ships and the summer surge in departures, the situation in the centers will get worse and worse,” he added.

Italy’s new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has taken a tough stance on refugees since taking office on June 1. The new coalition government in Italy has been cracking down on humanitarian groups that rescue refugees in the Mediterranean Sea and then ferry the asylum seekers to the country’s ports.

Late last month, Salvini declared that the country’s ports would be closed “all summer” to charity ships which rescue refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to the European Union.

Refugees wait onboard the NGO Proactiva Open Arms boat on July 1, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

 

The aid group further said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people are held in seven official centers in the capital Tripoli, which it described as overcrowded and unsanitary, with scabies and tuberculosis common.

There are 17 government detention facilities across Libya, amid reports of physical assaults and inhumane conditions in the centers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 700,000 refugees are estimated to be in Libya. MSF said it is not clear how many refugees are held in secret camps run by human traffickers.

“Our perception about people coming from Libya is that the violence is widespread,” said Gianfranco De Maio, MSF’s global supervisor for its treatment of torture victims.

“All of the migrants being brought back end up in detention centers and the recent increase in the number of people being intercepted is putting increasing pressure on the already overcrowded facilities,” Roberto Mignone, the UN refugee agency’s representative to Libya, said on Friday.

Source: Presstv


Cameroon to build fifth cement plant

6, July 2018

Cameroon to build fifth cement plant 0

Cameroon-based Engineering Construction Manufacturing and Trading Ltd (ECMT) has announced the construction of a cement plant in Ebolowa (south) for a cost of CFA15bn (US$26.7m), following an agreement signed with the Investment Promotion Agency (API).

The new plant will have a cement capacity of 0.5Mta and will bring the number of cement plants in Cameroon to five. These plants include the 1.5Mta Cameroon Cement works (CIMENCAM), a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, and Dangote Cement Cameroon’s (DCC) 1.5Mta plant in Douala. The other two facilities include a 0.5Mta plant operated by Ciment d’Afrique (CIMAF), owned by the Moroccan Addoha Group, and Medcem Cameroon (Eren Holding, Turkey) that has a new 0.5Mta plant in Douala.

Published under Cement News


Russia 2018: France, Looking Like a World Cup Heavyweight, Beats Uruguay

6, July 2018

Russia 2018: France, Looking Like a World Cup Heavyweight, Beats Uruguay 0

France advanced to the semifinals of the World Cup for the first time since winning it all on its home soil in 1998, clinically dispatching an undermanned Uruguay squad 2-0 at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Friday. France advances to play the winner of Brazil vs. Belgium, the other quarterfinal Friday.

Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann both scored for France, with Griezmann’s goal coming on a goalkeeper howler by Uruguay’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. Edinson Cavani, a crucial counterpart to Uruguay’s star striker Luis Suarez, missed the game because of a calf injury. France displayed a multi-faceted attack, which allowed it to overcome a stout Uruguayan defense that had only surrendered one goal all tournament long. There weren’t the gaping holes that Kylian Mbappé so viciously exploited against Argentina, so instead they worked a variety of angles. They tried through balls to Mbappé, crosses to Olivier Giroud, free kicks towards their big center backs and whatever Griezmann wanted to do. Uruguay couldn’t neutralize France because there is no single player or single strategy to neutralize.

The French defense on the other hand did have just a single player to stop and they did so successfully, taking Luis Suarez out of the match. Hugo Lloris only had to make one difficult save, a brilliant parry of a Martín Cáceres header, which came from a free kick. In open play, France shut everything down, and Uruguay didn’t manage a single shot on goal in the second half.

France got on the board in the 40th minute, when Griezmann took a free kick after a foul by Rodrigo Bentancur, who had taken down Corentin Tolisso from behind. Griezmann lofted the ball in, and Varane rocketed in a header. Uruguay kept pace with France in the first half, not in passes, but in shots, and got a great opportunity minutes later. Lucas Torreira took a free kick and got it to Martin Caceres for a close-in header sent downward. But French keeper Hugo Lloris dove right and made a beautiful one-hander. The ball dribbled loose and Diego Godin arrives, but he failed to bundle it in.

After that near miss, Uruguay struggled to create chances.

France went ahead by 2-0 in the 61st minute. Breaking as part of a four-on-four, Griezmann tried a shot from distance. It should have been be a relatively routine save for Muslera, but it hit his hands, popped up, went over his head and into the goal.

The game got ill-tempered soon after. After contact with Cristian Rodriguez of Uruguay, Kylian Mbappe went down, setting off both sides. Godin, suspecting play acting, urged Mbappe to get up. Players tangled, and there was shouting, pushing and shoving. For a moment, it calmed down, then started up again. In the end there was a yellow card for both Rodriguez and Mbappe.

France then set about killing off the game, controlling possession and not letting Uruguay get much more than a sniff of the ball.

France won’t face such an impotent offense in the semifinals, where either Neymar and Philippe Coutinho of Brazil or Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne of Belgium await. But Les Blues have no obvious holes to exploit, and there is no easy way to stifle their attack. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them lift the World Cup trophy in Moscow next Sunday.

Culled from New York Times



Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon’s top-flight football championship suspended

6, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon’s top-flight football championship suspended 0

Cameroon’s top-flight football championship and the lower league MTN Elites 2 have all been suspended indefinitely by the chief executive Retired General Pierre Semengue.  A press release made public by the Secretary General Madam Pauline Therese Manguele cited the lack of funding as one of the key reasons for the decision to suspend the championship.

Our chief football reporter revealed that the championship will not start again without a new framework agreed by all in the football business and members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.  The regime in Yaoundé is yet to open up discussions with the leadership of the Confederation of African Football, CAF which is said to be shocked by the happenings in Cameroon.

The Biya Francophone regime had “fought to clean up” Cameroon football for decades but events have now caught up with them as the crisis hit nation prepares to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Cameroon government spokesman and minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma is expected to insist that the national team and the hosting of the 2019 AFCON would not be affected. The league suspension is the latest factor signaling the end of the Biya era. It is vital to include in this report that the league’s main sponsor, MTN Cameroun is struggling financially ever since the inception of the Ambazonian resistance.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

 


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