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14, November 2016

US: FBI ran over 20 child porn websites ⁰

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been allowed to run child pornography websites as an attempt to track their users, court documents reveal. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has obtained an affidavit that states the bureau has run at least 23 websites in its operations to hunt down pedophiles and promoters of child abuse, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

The new revelation means that the extent of FBI’s secret sting was beyond the initial assessments. It was revealed last year that FBI agents had operated a child porn site for 13 days and used it in an international operation. The websites were all located in the so-called dark web, meaning that special software were needed to access them. The FBI oversaw the sites via its “network investigative technique” (NIT), the document noted.

Interestingly, all of the websites were operating from a “government facility,” so that NIT could collect the users’ “request data” more easily, the affidavit added. FBI spokesman Christopher Allen told tech news website Ars Technica that it is “patently not true” to assume that the bureau is commonly running child porn websites. However, he did not deny the existence of FBI-run websites either.

The report came less than a week after a former official with the US Defense Intelligence Agency was sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography. Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Frederiksen, 42, received the term on November 8, after admitting to luring six girls, aged between 14 and 17, into producing indecent photos and videos through social media. He used his government laptop for the purpose.

According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, child pornography is one of the fastest growing underground business online, with an estimated revenue of $3 billion. The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) states that the US has the largest share of commercialized child pornography websites, hosting nearly half of world’s child porn sites.

Presstv

14, November 2016

Cameroon army reopens schools in the Far North, soldiers serving as teachers ¹

The weakening of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram by the Cameroonian military made it possible to reopen some of the schools in the Far North Region for the 2016/2017 academic year. A sister publication, Cameroun-info.net has reported that many teachers who fled the war zone have refused to return.

In order to ensure the education of the abandoned pupils, some soldiers have decided to take the chalk. The army recently reopened the Madina Public School (10 km from Fotokol) which currently has 150 pupils and Cameroonian men and women in uniform are now serving as teachers.

It is good news in the avalanche of sadness that for three years has rocked the Far North Region. Last year, the departments in charge of national, primary and secondary education reported that more than five hundred teachers had dropped out of classrooms to escape the war.

By Sama Ernest

13, November 2016

France marks 1st anniversary of Paris attacks that left 130 people dead ⁰

France has marked the first anniversary of the terrorist attack that left at least 130 people dead and hundreds more injured in the country’s capital of Paris last year.

Ceremonies on Sunday gathered scores of people, including the families of the deceased and injured victims, at seven sites in the capital that had been targeted by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist elements on November 13, 2015.

The French national stadium, five bars and restaurants in eastern Paris, and a concert hall came under attack that day. French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo attended memorial ceremonies, unveiling plaques that commemorate those killed in the multiple terror attacks.

French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo unveil a commemorative plaque next to a bar and restaurant attacked by Daesh last year, in Paris, France, November 13, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Speaking on the occasion of the first anniversary of the attacks, Prime Minister Manuel Valls also announced the likelihood of extending a state of emergency imposed in the country after the raids. He said the measure was needed to “protect our democracy.”

Valls had also warned in a speech this weekend that “terrorism will strike us again,” contending, however, that, “We have all the resources to resist and all the strength to win.” Besides the November 2015 attacks, France has been targeted in other terrorist raids as well.

Terror attacks in France: A timeline

March 22, 2012: Mohammed Merah, an al-Qaeda-inspired gunman, takes the lives of seven people in the city of Toulouse in a 12-day killing spree.

January 7, 2015: Two Takfiri militants attack Charlie Hebdo magazine offices, killing 12 people, including top editorial staff.

November 13, 2015: Daesh launches a series of violent attacks targeting cafes and a concert hall in Paris and massacring a total of 130 people. On the same day, three terrorists blow themselves up and kill a bystander in a stadium in Saint-Denis.

Police and rescuers gather in front of a fast-food drive-thru restaurant outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, November 13, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

July 14, 2016: A truck driver deliberately plows through a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing 84 people and wounding 200 others. An 85th victim of the attack dies later in hospital. Daesh later claims responsibility.

July 26, 2016: Two knife-wielding men professing allegiance to Daesh take a number of people hostage at a church in Normandy. The attackers kill an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest before police shoots them dead.

Presstv

13, November 2016

“Not my president” protest continue for the fourth straight day in the US ⁰

Americans across the country continue street protests for the fourth straight day against the election of Donald Trump as president in an unprecedented show of opposition to a president-elect amid chants of “Not my president!”

The protest rallies throughout the country on Saturday took place a day after one protester was shot and wounded in city of Portland in the Western state of Oregon following a confrontation after nightfall on Friday, when instances of vandalism and assault were also reported.

In Trump’s home city of New York, where mostly peaceful protest rallies along downtown streets have continued since Wednesday – the day after he surprisingly defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by electoral votes and despite losing the popular vote count – more than 10,000 people indicated on Facebook that they would take part in a noon march from Union Square to Trump Tower, the site of the president-elect’s residence and corporate headquarters.

As the protesters first gathered at East 17th Street and Broadway, organizers estimated the turnout at 2,000 but as the march began to move, the number of participants grew closer to the 10,000 mark.

The demonstrators marched up the prestigious Fifth Avenue under heavy police presence while chanting “Not my president!” as well as “Whose streets? ‎Our streets!”

Despite severe security measures around Trump Tower, the building’s lobby and restaurants, which have become a temporary home for journalists looking for information and sightings of members of Trump’s transition team, remained open to the public.

Protesters also waged rallies across the Western state of California, including in the major city of Los Angeles, where more than 200 were detained by police a night before.

Anti-Trump protesters gather in New York on November 11, 2016. (Photo by Pacific Press)

Meanwhile, activists across the country expressed firm plans to build momentum ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration ceremonies in Washington on January 20.

Moreover, a “million-women-march” is also being planned on the nation’s capital for the inauguration day, specifically in response to Trump’s widely-reported instances of mistreating women, according to local press reports.

Additionally, online efforts are also in the works by left-wing groups to plan for protest marches during the inauguration events, which attract dignitaries of all sorts from across the US and the world.

This is while co-founder of Black Lives Matter Patrisse Cullors declared that the movement was “grieving and mourning,” vowing to build “something bigger and stronger than the hate Trump and his team have exhibited towards marginalized communities,” the UK-based Guardianreported.

Police wearing riot gear watch as demonstrators protest against Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory, at City Hall in Portland on November 11, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Anti-Trump rallies also spread to Germany with protesters gathering Saturday outside the US embassy in Berlin to censure the stated policies of the newly elected American chief executive. The German protesters further slammed what they referred to as xenophobia and racism. Civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter also took part in the Berlin rally.

The developments came as Trump blamed the persisting protest rallies against his victory on “professional protesters, incited by the media” in a tweet on Thursday, expressing concern that such efforts were tarnishing his electoral success, describing them as “very unfair.”

Following strong criticism of his online post, he stated in a second post that he appreciated the “passion for our great country” shown by protesters.

This is while Clinton and her campaign’s head of opinion research were reported to have blamed her defeat on two letters to Congress from FBI director James Comey, regarding the Democratic presidential nominee’s use of a private email server while serving as the Obama administration’s first secretary of state.

Presstv

12, November 2016

Boko Haram militants have surrendered to Chadian troops ⁰

A large group of militants belonging to the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group along with their families have surrendered themselves to the army troops in Chad since September. “They surrendered to our troops on the front line in Lake Chad,” said Colonel Mohammad Dole, the Chief Military Public Information Officer for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquartered in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, on Saturday.

Dole further said all these militants, some 240, mostly Chadian nationals, had been held in two detention centers along with their families in the remote town of Baga Solo. “The surrenders are taking place because of the firepower of our operations. The groups, many of them armed, have been arriving since September and their number keeps increasing,” he added.

The MNJTF is a joint force consisting of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin, tasked with ending the Boko Haram militancy in the Lake Chad region. It launched a regional operation in July against the group, which has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. Boko Haram seeks to overthrow the government and seize power in northern Nigeria. The group has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million since 2009, when it started its campaign.

The terrorist group, however, did not confine itself to the northern parts of Nigeria and has widened its attacks into neighboring countries, notably Cameroon and Chad. They have forcibly recruited young men in Chad. The terrorists have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their six-year campaign. The kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls from Nigeria’s northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014 unleashed a wave of international outrage.

Presstv

12, November 2016

Russia 2018: Lions hope fading away ⁰

The indomitable Lions have recorded a second draw against the Zambian national team in Limbe today Saturday the 12th of November 2016. The visitors got the opening goal to the general surprise in the 35th minute through a Collins Mbesuma free kick. Aboubakar Vincent (on penalty) allowed the indomitable Lions to equalize just before the break (45 + 2). The second half produced nothing for the Green Red Yellow boys.

Nigeria has taken the upper hand after beating Algeria 2-0. Cameroon’s hope for Russia 2018 is fading away slowly but surely. Nigeria is provisionally first in Group B with 6 points, Cameroon 2nd with 2 points, Algeria and Zambia each have a point.

Cameroon Concord Sports Desk

12, November 2016

Lagos 3rd All Africa Music Award: Stanley Enow wins again ⁰

Stanley Enow has added an additional feather on his red cap by winning the 3^rd All Africa Music Award (AFRIMA) as best rapper in a ceremony that held in Lagos, Nigeria on Monday November 7^th 2016. One year after winning the prize for best male artist in Central Africa, Stanley Enow won the AFRIMA award beating Daphne, Franko, Locko and Wax Dey.

The renowned Cameroonian artist is loved because of his African American tubes. He won the Afrima Dallas award in 2014 and has many other trophies on the national level. His famous tube “Hein Pere”, launched his career a few years ago.

Sama Ernest

12, November 2016

Biya grants audience to the Vice President of Havas Group ⁰

President Biya has granted audience to Stephane Fouks, Vice President of the Havas Group (a multinational advertising and public relations company) on Friday, the 11^th of November 2016. Biya and his guest evaluated the impact of the International Economic Conference, which was organized recently in Yaounde. In an exchange with journalists after the audience, Stephane Fouks said his host focused on the exploration of new channels to attract international investors to Cameroon.

The media mogul revealed that the Head of State insisted on the need to effectively implement the resolutions of the economic conference. Mr. Fouks shared President Paul Biya’s optimism that these measures shall greatly improve Cameroon’s perception internationally. “Despite its challenges, Cameroon continues to march towards development when compared to other countries in the region,” he said.

It should be noted that Cameroon hosted, in May 2016, an international investors’ conference, under the theme: “Investing in Cameroon, Land of Attractiveness”. The objective was to secure international investments in the industrialization of agricultural products, the exploitation of raw materials and the development of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

However, foreign investors are not responding due to the political situation in the country. With an 83 year old leader and a senate and house of assembly packed with men and women above 70 years of age, the issue of succession is disturbing to some economists.

CRTV

12, November 2016

Clinton Campaign blames FBI Director for loss to Donald Trump ⁰

Hillary Clinton’s top advisers blame FBI Director James Comey for the Democrat’s bruising loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Navin Nayak, the head of the Clinton campaign’s opinion research division, sent an email to senior staffers Thursday, outlining “early signals” as to why the candidate lost the November 8 presidential election, POLITICO reported on Friday.

“We believe that we lost this election in the last week,” said Nayak’s email, which was published by POLITICO. “Comey’s letter in the last 11 days of the election both helped depress our turnout and also drove away some of our critical support among college-educated white voters — particularly in the suburbs.”

“We also think Comey’s 2nd letter, which was intended to absolve Sec. Clinton, actually helped to bolster Trump’s turnout,” he continued. The letter also highlighted several other challenges the Clinton team faced throughout the campaign, including a desire for change after two terms by a Democratic president and the reluctance of some Americans to vote for a female candidate.

Presstv

12, November 2016

2 Nigerians arrested at Istanbul airport in possession of drugs concealed in their stomachs ⁰

Two Nigerians were arrested on Friday at Istanbul airport in possession of nearly 3 kg of drugs carefully concealed in their stomachs. The two Nigerian nationals were intercepted at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. The Nigerian traffickers, aged 22 and 47, went so far as to swallow about 3 kilos of cocaine and heroin concealed in condoms.

According to the Dogan news agency, police officers from the drug trafficking brigade did not find anything during the initial search and decided to accompany the two men to a hospital for submission to an X-ray and that was where the Turkish police made their big catch.

One of them had swallowed 1,290 kg of liquid cocaine and the second, 700 grams of heroin, according to Dogan. All buried meticulously in condoms inserted in their digestive tract.

By Chi Prudence Asong