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31, October 2017

Hollywood shaken by sex scandal involving Kevin Spacey ⁰

Sexual allegations against renowned Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey have shaken the US movie industry, which was already struggling to cover up a similar expose against powerful producer Harvey Weinstein.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said Monday that it would not “honor” Spacey by giving him the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award next month.

The move came after Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances on him more than 30 years ago.

Rapp, who was 14 at the time of the assault, said Spacey, then 26 years old, physically carried him into his bed and attempted to initiate sex with the teenaged actor.

The A-list actor claimed in response that he did not recall the incident at all and felt sorry for the effects of what would have been “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

The actor also tried to avert media attention by revealing that he has been a homosexual throughout all these years.

The allegations led video streaming platform Netflix to cancel famous political show House of Cards, which featured Spacey in the leading role.

Media Rights Capital and Netflix, who produce House of Cards, said in a joint statement that they were “deeply troubled” by the news.

“In response to last night’s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time,” the statement said.

Spacey’s fall from grace came days the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood’s de facto governing body, voted overwhelmingly to expel disgraced American film producer Harvey Weinstein amid mounting accusations of sexual harassment, assault and rape by at least 30 actresses.

The ouster was unprecedented since the academy was founded 90 years ago, turning one of the biggest Oscar players in history into a Hollywood pariah.

Weinstein’s films have received more than 81 Oscars, according to The Weinstein Company, which he co-founded with his brother Bob Weinstein in 1979 after selling Miramax.

The 65-year-old movie mogul, who was born in New York City to a Jewish family, has denied the rape allegations, while acknowledging that his behavior “caused a lot of pain.”

Source: Presstv

31, October 2017

Yaounde Military Tribunal sentences opposition leader to 25 years ⁰

A military court in Cameroon has sentenced an opposition party leader to 25 years in prison following trial that has been branded as unfair by Amnesty International.

Aboubakar Siddiki, President of the main opposition party in northern Cameroon, ‘Mouvement patriotique du salut camerounais’, has been convicted of charges including hostility against the homeland, revolution and contempt of the President.

However, Amnesty International has said Aboubakar Siddiki who was arrested in August 2014 together with Abdoulaye Harissou, has been convicted despite “no credible evidence being presented to the court”. They were accused of being involved in a conspiracy to destabilise the country.

“Aboubakar Siddiki is the latest victim of the Cameroonian authorities’ strangling of opposition voices. Alongside Abdoulaye Harissou he has already spent more than three years in detention, suffered torture and now he must face a future behind bars on the basis of a politically motivated and deeply flawed trial,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International’s Lake Chad Researcher.

In the same trial, Abdoulaye Harissou, was also sentenced to three years prison for non-denunciation. A report by Amnesty International claims that the two were held incommunicado for over 40 days in an illegal facility run by the General Directorate of External Relations and subjected to torture following their arrest in 2014.

Initially charged with complicity in murder, illegal possession of arms, hostility against the homeland, revolution, non-denunciation and contempt of the President, their trial began on 22 January 2016. On 9 October 2017, all charges except ‘non-denunciation’ were dropped against Harissou, but those against Siddiki were maintained.

The court also dropped all charges against three journalists – Baba Wame, Felix Ebole Bola and Rodrigue Tongue –who were charged in 2014 with ‘non-denunciation’ of information and sources in relation to the same affair.

Amnesty International has called on the Cameroonian authorities to release and drop all charges against Aboubakar Siddiki and Abdoulaye Harissou while advising the Central African country to refrain from ever using military courts to prosecute civilians.

The government denies the charges are political. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in a crackdown in recent months on protests in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. Residents there say they suffer social and economic marginalisation in the predominantly Francophone country. The protests have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya’s 35-year rule.

Source: Malawi 24

31, October 2017

Kenyan President Kenyatta wins 98 percent of vote in repeat election ⁰

Incumbent Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been declared the winner of the east African country’s election re-run, amid fears of further violence in flashpoint opposition strongholds.

Kenya’s electoral commission announced on Monday that Kenyatta had garnered 98.2 percent of the vote in the October 26 repeat presidential election, in which the voter turnout was almost 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters.

Wafula Chebukati, chairman of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), said the incumbent president had received 7,483,895 votes from a total of 7,616,217 cast ballots.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who had boycotted the Thursday protest-hit election, collected 73,228 votes, less than one percent of the ballots cast.

Odinga accused the IEBC of not implementing reforms to prevent widespread procedural irregularities and mismanagement that had culminated in the annulment of the initial vote in August. The opposition leader won 44.7 percent of the vote after Kenyatta in the previous round that saw a turnout of nearly 80 percent.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga stands on a car as he addresses supporters in Nairobi slum of Kawangware on October 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

In his victory speech on Monday, Kenyatta once again that his triumph in the original August 8 election was legitimate and that dialogue over political peace and stability in the future would have to wait if the opposition was going to file lawsuits again.

“My victory today is just part of a process that is likely to once again be subjected to a constitutional test through our courts … I will submit to this constitutional path regardless of the outcome,” Kenyatta said.

“Those who are going to ask me: ‘Are you going to engage in dialogue?’ … Let them (the opposition) first and foremost exhaust all their constitutional options,” he noted.

The incumbent president also reiterated that his victory was a “revalidation” of the people’s will after a vote that had already been branded by Odinga’s supporters as a farce.

Prior to the announcement of the election results, Kenyan police stepped up security in flashpoint areas in the country’s west, including the capital Nairobi’s slum of Mathare and the coastal city of Mombasa.

Shortly after the announcement, demonstrators began burning tires in the western city of Kisumu as well as in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, according to reports.

Local residents set up a roadblock after the announcement of the result of the re-election in Mathare, Nairobi, on October 30, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

At least nine people have been killed by gunshot wounds and beatings by police in the post-election violence since Thursday, taking the death toll since the first presidential election in August to 49.

The turmoil over the election has been polarizing the nation and hampering growth in East Africa’s most vibrant economy. Kenya is also considered a major regional trade hub and a key security ally for Western countries.

The European Union has called on Kenyan security forces to provide protection to all citizens and avoid the excessive use of force. A decade ago, some 1,200 Kenyans were killed in violence after another disputed poll.

Source: Presstv

31, October 2017

Yaounde: Another government likely soon, Biya to replace Philemon Yang ⁰

It has been reported that members of Government have lost sleep, since the return of President Biya from Geneva. The cause of their insomnia is the imminence of a cabinet reshuffle which some sources say Mr. Paul Biya would have carefully studied during his recent stay abroad.

The much anticipated shakeup was expected some few days after the presidential couple arrived Yaoundé. But more than a week after his return to the headquarters of institutions, doubt is already crystallizing in people’s minds. The wait has been prolonged with a trip to Chad amid rising adrenaline.

Biya continues to be the only master of time and there are under-the-table talks that his 31^st government since he came to power in 1982 will surely take into account the current socio-political context in Southern Cameroons.

A well-placed source hinted that it will not be surprising to see adjustments made to meet some of the demands of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Many within the power circles believe that it is likely Philemon Yang will be removed as the Prime Minister.

By Sonne Peter, CCN

31, October 2017

Obasanjo-Biya Comment: Nigerian High Commissioner holds talks with Senate Speaker ⁰

Nigerian High Commissioner to Cameroon, Lawan Abba Gashagar has met the so-called Speaker of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji over comments made by former Nigerian Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo on the Southern Cameroons crisis. Niat Njifenji and Ambassador Lawan Abba reportedly held a meeting on Friday, October 27, 2017.

Lawan Abba Gashagar, recalled that Cameroon hosted thousands of Nigerian refugees and that to date, the two countries are thinking about the strategy to set up a process to accompany them to their country of origin in the best conditions.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that regarding the situation in Ambazonia, Lawan Abba Gashagar said that his country encourages a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the problem. “There is no question of supporting any situation likely to create problems for our neighbors, just as we do not want our neighbors to support a situation that will be a problem to us,” he added. Many Southern Cameroonians have taken refuge in Nigeria as a result of the rapes, extra judicial killings and massive arrests including genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

In an interview on October 25, 2017 in the panafrican newspaper Jeune Afrique, Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian Head of State made public his opinion on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. OBJ said that federalism is a good system of governance, because “thanks to federalism, each party can express itself on the future of the country and move at its own pace without disturbing others.” He also made a passionate call for President Biya to leave power.

By Rita Akana, CCN

30, October 2017

Enerray to develop 30MW PV project in Cameroon ⁰

Enerray, though the company EB Solaire, is developing a 30MW PV project in Cameroon, with Enerray set to serve as EPC provider for the plant.

The first permitting steps for the solar plant have already been completed and carried out, with authorities already validating the 70-hectare site where the project will be developed. The installation will be developed in Northern Cameroon, close to the Garoua International Airport.

Once completed, the 30MW project will be connected to the electrical grid, with the installation responsible for providing energy to portions of the country without any access to electricity, along with regions that are prone to blackouts.

Source: PV-Tech

30, October 2017

Clashes in Central African Republic leave at least 2 dead, 10 wounded ⁰

Fighting between armed groups around the town of Batangafo in northern Central African Republic have left at least two dead and 10 wounded, aid workers said Monday.

Seven of the wounded were admitted to a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Batangafo and three were sent to a facility in Kabo, Sandra Smiley, with MSF in the capital Bangui, said.

UN sources said fighting broke out on October 24 between anti-Balaka militia — a group that says it is defending Christians — and another armed group, the Patriotic Movement for Central Africa (MPC).

At least two people died in the village of Saraghba, a few kilometers from Batangafo, but it was too dangerous to access the zone to get a complete toll, concurring sources said.

Batangafo is one of many hotspots in the violence that has gripped CAR over the past four years. In September, the death of a worker employed by a humanitarian group plunged the town into violence, leaving a confirmed death toll of six and 28,000 people without aid.

Mired in poverty but rich in diamonds and other minerals, CAR has been battered by a conflict between rival militias that began after then-president Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013.

Under a UN mandate, the former colonial power France intervened to push out the Muslim Seleka fighters who had taken over, and the UN launched a peacekeeping mission in 2014. But the country remains chronically prone to violence, with armed groups controlling most of the country.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who last week made a four-day visit to CAR, is calling for the UN Security Council to renew the mandate of the organization’s 10,000 peacekeepers when it expires on November 15, and add another 900 blue helmets.

(Source: AFP)

30, October 2017

Suspected Boko Haram raid kills 10 in Cameroon village ⁰

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 10 villagers in northern Cameroon on Sunday night in what army and local officials said was revenge for attacks by Cameroon’s army.

Cameroon’s semi-arid far North region has been a target of Boko Haram suicide bombings and raids for eight years as the Islamist insurgency spilled over the border from Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly three million in the Lake Chad region.

Cameroon forces have tried to beat back insurgents but have struggled to stop unpredictable attacks that have been the hallmark of Boko Haram’s bid to carve out an Islamic state. A senior army source said the attackers came to the village of Gouderi at 11 p.m. on Sunday and killed 11 people.

Two local officials told Reuters by phone that “about 10” had been killed. “It looks like revenge because the army killed Boko Haram members in this village and forced others to retreat to Nigeria,” the army source said.

Source: Vanguard

30, October 2017

Yaounde Military Court begins trial of Southern Cameroons suspects ⁰

A huge consignment of war equipment that was discovered in Mbengwi in the night of August 2nd to 3rd has been presented to the Chief state prosecutor at the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé. The equipment was presented alongside three of the six suspects arrested in connection to the discovery.

The group led by Dassi Alfred is in a French Cameroun court after the Biya regime claimed preliminary investigation had been carried out by security services. It also marks the start of a concocted legal proceedings against Southern Cameroonians accused of attempting to destabilize the country.

The weapons exhibited at the Yaoundé Military Tribunal included semi automatic fire arms, night vision equipments with laser rang finders, glasses and shielding fire episcope, bipods and tripods for precision weapons, explosives, detonator cords, chargers for sniper rifles, explosive charge containers and explosive device switches, timers.

The French Cameroun government revealed that these war arsenals were uncovered in Mbengwi, Momo State by security forces following a tipoff from intelligence services. The so-called government spokesman and Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary in a press conference granted September 2017, said the group was preparing to carry out attacks against defense, security and administrative authorities.

Source: CRTV

30, October 2017

Trump’s approval rating drops to lowest point of his presidency ⁰

Just 38 percent of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s performance as president, making the former businessman the least popular modern president at this stage of his tenure, according to a new poll.

More than half of respondents, 58 percent, disapprove of Trump’s job performance in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll released on Sunday.

The poll showed that Trump’s approval rating fell five percentage points since September to reach the lowest point of his presidency.

Similar polls found former President George W. Bush had 88 percent approval at this stage in his term, former President Barack Obama had 51 percent and former President Bill Clinton had 47 percent.

Trump has largely lost support among independent adults and white adults without a college degree.

The respondents cited the president’s handling of the NFL players’ protests, his failure to introduce health care reforms and his response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as the reasons why they put Trump in a negative light.

“This is his worst showing of his young presidency so far,” Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, who co-conducted the survey, told NBC News.

Trump is doing fairly better on the economy, with 42 percent of respondents approving and 37 percent disapproving of him in that regard.

Another poll has found that a majority of Americans believed that politics in the US have hit a “dangerous low point” under Trump.

Seventy-one percent of voters said the current political divisions were comparable to the Vietnam War era. A little more than half of the respondents thought Trump deserved “a lot” of blame for the current status.

The poll also found that dysfunction was rampant in Washington, with 70 percent deeming the Trump administration as dysfunctional and 80 percent holding a similar opinion about Congress.

Source: Presstv