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25, August 2016

Italy: Death toll from powerful earthquake reached 247 ⁰

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that devastated parts of central Italy has reached 247 as rescue and search operations are underway to find possible survivors. On Thursday, Italy’s civil protection agency said a tally by local officials showed that 190 people were killed Rieti Province and 57 in the province of Ascoli Piceno.

According to local media, Italian emergency crews are vigorously searching search through the debris of collapsed houses in the affected areas to find more than 100 people missing a day after the quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale flattened scores of towns and villages in the central parts.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said many people were still trapped under the rubble, and vowed that “no family, no city, no hamlet will be left behind.” Officials in Italy’s civil protection agency also said there have been more than 300 aftershocks following the tremor, which was also felt in Rome, adding that searching for survivors is the top priority. The 2,000-population town of Amatrice, one of the areas hardest hit by the Wednesday quake, is now in ruins with only a few buildings left standing.

Presstv

25, August 2016

Biya appoints new general manager for the Port of Douala ⁰

Paul Biya has signed a decree appointing Ngo’o Cyrus as Managing Director of the Port of Douala. The Biya decree was made public on August 24, 2016, some few hours before the Cameroonian dictator left for an unknown destination in Europe.

Cameroon Concord News understands Ngo’o Cyrus was presented and immediately installed on the same Wednesday evening during a session of the Board of the Port of Douala which held in the economic capital under the direct supervision of the Minister of Transport, Alain Edgar Mebe Ngo’o.

Ngo’o Cyrus replaces Emmanuel Etoundi Oyono who died in Paris in France last month of an illness. Before his appointment, he was responsible for missions at the Prime Minister Office in Yaoundé. To be sure, he was appointed to the Prime Minister Office only on July the 4^th 2016. So this is the second presidential decree in the space of a month enjoyed by Mr Ngo’o Cyrus.

Sama Ernest with files from Cameroon-info.net

24, August 2016

Venezuelan ambassador to Cameroon meets Prime Minister Philemon Yang in the Star Building ⁰

The Ambassador of Venezuela to Cameroon, Daniel Cartaya Laya has qualified the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram as a dire enemy to the truth.

He was speaking on Tuesday 23rd August 2016 after an audience with Prime Minister Philemon Yang. The Diplomat who is resident in Malabo also handed a sealed message from President Nicolas Maduro to be forwarded to President Paul Biya.

Ambassador Daniel Cartaya observed that the relationship between Venezuela and Cameroon is excellent and historic. Even with a failed economy and high rate of unemployment, he promised his country’s support to Cameroon in the fight against terrorism.

Ambassador Daniel Cartaya Laya who is currently serving four countries in the Sub-region including Cameroon earlier presented his letter of accreditation to the Minister of External Relations Lejeune Mbella Mbella.

Venezuela is a South American country with a population of 31 million people. It has the highest petroleum reserve in the world worth 297 billion barrels.

CRTV

24, August 2016

Indomitable Lions: 4 home based players among the 7 new comers ⁰

Indomitable Lions head coach Hugo Bross has named a 23 man revolutionary squad that will play two international matches in September 2016 at the Omnisport stadium in Limbe. In the list published on Monday 22nd August 2016, some of the team’s kingpins had been side-lined while seven new players have joined the national selection.

Four home based players were among the seven new comers to the national selection. They include, Pouaty Moise, Mbimbe Aaron, Mbaizo Olivier and Boya Franc. The Indomitable Lions are expected to play on September 3rd in a match counting for day 6 of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nation’s qualifiers against Gambia.

The team is also expected to play an international friendly against Gabon three days after their AFCON qualifier encounter. The coach said his main objective is to win both matches and improve Cameroon’s position on the FIFA ranking.

CRTV

24, August 2016

US has urged its citizens to leave Gaza ⁰

The United States has urged its citizens staying in Gaza to leave the coastal enclave “as soon as possible” over the Israeli bombardments of the area.

The warning came after the Israeli military Sunday pounded targets in the Gaza Strip and injured four, including two in the town of Beit Hanun.

The State Department warned Tuesday against “all travel” to the Gaza Strip and “urges those present to depart as soon as possible when border crossings are open.”

“The security environment within Gaza and on its borders is dangerous and volatile,” the department added. It also said that Americans have been killed or wounded in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2015. However, it added that “there is no indication that US citizens were specifically targeted based on nationality.”

Presstv

24, August 2016

Hillary Clinton has taken a 12-percentage point lead over Donald Trump ⁰

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has taken a 12-percentage point lead over her Republican rival, Donald Trump, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential race, according to a new poll. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, released on Tuesday, shows the former secretary of state has 45 percent of the votes as compared to the New York billionaire having only a 33-percent support. Another 22 percent wouldn’t pick either candidate.

Clinton has led Trump throughout most of the 2016 presidential campaign. But her latest lead represents a stronger level of support than polls showed in recent editions of the poll. In the previous polls, the former First Lady’s lead over the real estate tycoon ranged between 3 and 9. One poll — McClatchy/Marist survey – conducted early August, however, found Clinton 15 points ahead of Trump.

Clinton’s lead over Trump slimmed slightly in the Reuters/Ipsos poll in a four-way match-up that included Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. She received 41 percent to his 33 percent. In that scenario, Johnson earned 7 percent, while Stein bagged 2 percent. The poll was conducted from August 18 to 22 among a national sample of 1,115 likely voters. The margin of error is 3 points.

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters at the James A. Rhodes Arena on August 22, 2016 in Akron, Ohio. (AFP photo)

The Reuters poll noted that at this point of the race four years ago, public support for candidates was higher during the presidential election between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

“Those who are wavering right now are just as likely to be thinking about supporting a third-party candidate instead, and not between Clinton and Trump,” said Tom Smith, who directs the Center for the Study of Politics and Society at the University of Chicago.

According to Pew Research Center poll, released last week, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Trump, with 55 percent saying he would make a poor or terrible president, while 45 percent saying the same about Clinton.

Thirty-one percent say Clinton would make a good or great president, while 27 percent say the same of Trump. Those who back Trump say, 81 percent to 11 percent, that life is worse now for US citizens than it was 50 years ago. However, Clinton supporters — 59 percent — say life is better than five decades ago and 19 percent say it is worse.

Presstv

23, August 2016

Cameroon lawyers have denounced a hundred sentences of capital punishment in the Far North region ⁰

Legal practitioners in Cameroon have denounced the mistreatment of people sentenced in connection with the fight against terrorism. Cameroon Concord News has gathered that between July 2015 and July 2016, the courts in the Far North Region of Cameroon have delivered over a hundred sentences of capital punishment.

Barrister Mohamad Al Amine, lawyer of the Cameroon Bar, practicing in the city of Maroua who confirmed the information also revealed that these death sentences all involved suspected Boko Haram militants. Lawyer Mohamad Al Amine who is one of only seven lawyers in the region ravaged by rampant attacks orchestrated by the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram deplored the conditions under which those convicted, including “more innocent” are judged.

A journalist reporting for Cameroon Intelligence Report recently opined that the defense of all terrorism related cases have been left to CPDM appointed lawyers for a fee of 5,000 CFA francs per accused. Cameroon-info.net noted in a story on the Boko Haram trials that most of the lawyers appointed by the state counsel cannot even gain access to case files let alone to visit their clients. The prisoners have no contact with their families, lawyers and doctors.

Cameroon government spokesman and minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma has failed to provide a detailed report on the goings-on in the Far North region. We now can reveal that our forces of law and order backed by the CPDM regime are only interested in applying the so-called new terrorism law voted by the national assembly. Calls by members of the Cameroon Bar Association for more humanity in the treatment of those sentenced to death are being ignored by the Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime.

The testimony about the poor treatment of those on the death row in the Far North Region was made public during the launching of activities by the Network of Cameroonian Lawyers against the death penalty in Cameroon (RACOPEM) that took place in Limbe . Members of the body have adopted a firm stand to abolish the death penalty. For them, this type of condemnation not only violates the constitution and international treaties signed by the government but is also not effective in deterring criminals. Barrister Eta Besong Junior, former president of the Cameroon Bar has called on his colleagues to fight this battle with courage and abnegation.

By Rita Akana with files from Cameroon-info.net

23, August 2016

Buhari-dog-naming palaver: Nigerian Head of State influencing arrest and incarceration of Joachim Chinakwe ⁰

President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of influencing the arrest and incarceration of the man, Joachim Chinakwe, who named his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari. A section of Nigerians reacting to the arrest and incarceration alleged that Buhari was masterminding the travails of the man. Joachim Iroko, was remanded on Monday, August 22, at the Ibara Prison following his arraignment at the Ota Magistrate Court 2, Ogun state. He was charged to court by the police with conduct likely to cause breach of the peace, in a case with suit number MOT/617c/2016.

According to the prosecutor, Inspector Itaita Ebibomini, the accused committed the offence on Saturday, August 13, 2016, at the Hausa section of Ketere Market in Sango-Ota in the Ota Magisterial District. But the accused, who was represented by a counsel, U. Michael, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The chief magistrate, B. J. Ojikutu, admitted Iroko to bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum, adding that the sureties must be regular tax payers in the state. The accused was subsequently taken to the Ibara Prison pending when he fulfills his bail condition.

However, the jailing of the trader has fueled the narrative that President Buhari might have masterminded the incarceration of the man to teach him a lesson. Some Nigerians have accused the president of displaying dictatorial tendencies for persecuting the man because he named his dog ‘Buhari’.

Naij.com

23, August 2016

Demands for new national identity card on the rise in Yaounde ⁰

300 demands for the new national identity cards are recorded daily at the Yaounde 10^th District Public Security Station; one of the four pilot identification posts set up in the capital city to issue national identity cards under the new identification system set up by the service provider, GEMALTO.

At 10.00 am yesterday, August 22, 2016, crowds of citizens requesting new national identity cards could be seen lined up in the courtyard of the 10^th District Public Security Station in the Bastos neighbourhood. Guided each day by officers and men of the station as from 4:00 am, those seeking the national identity card for the first time or after the loss of the former, go through stages that involve writing their names on lists as they come, submitting their documents in the secretariat and proceeding to the identification posts where two computers integrated with cameras, electronic fingerprints and signature pads as well scanner-printers record details before a receipt is delivered. Notices outlining requirements and costs are pasted on walls to guide users.

“It takes just 10 minutes when the Internet connection is at its best. Out of 300 demands recorded daily, we issue at least 60 receipts,” stated the Head of the Police Station, Senior Superintendent of Police Ze née Fouda Isabelle. Despite the huge number of requests, she said operations were going on normally since the day after the August 9 2016 launch of the new system. Besides the cost per card that stands at FCFA 2,800, instead of FCFA 5,000 under the old system, users say the procedure is shorter and police officers more welcoming. “I am very satisfied,” Bogni Brondon Richard, a high school leaver from the West Region told Cameroon Tribune after receiving his receipt for his first ever identity card.

“We no longer do fingerprints with ink but use electronic machines instead. This new system will limit fraud,” said Fridoline Elomo Mvogo, a Yaounde resident who received a receipt for a new identity card after she lost the first. According to Senior Superintendent Ze Isabelle, challenges recorded so far include users’ ignorance of requirements and influence-peddling by some personalities for their acquaintances or “protégés” to be given preferential treatment.

Cameroon Tribune

23, August 2016

Hillary Clinton says allegations about her health were part of a wacky strategy ⁰

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has jokingly asked a TV host to check her pulse and “make sure if I’m alive,” in an attempt to dismiss a series of rumors about her declining health. Recently, a series of unsubstantiated reports have questioned Clinton’s well-being, claiming that she never fully recovered from a blood clot that she suffered in her brain in late 2012.The rumors gained more momentum after Republican nominee Donald Trump questioned the former first lady’s well-being.

Clinton, 68, addressed the issue during an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel” on Monday night, saying the allegations were part of a “wacky strategy” by the GOP to gain more votes. “Back in October, the National Enquirer said I’d be dead in six months. So with every breath I take, I feel like it’s a new lease on life,” the former secretary of state joked.

She also took a jab at Trump by calling the 70-year-old “as healthy as a horse.” The New York businessman had said in Ohio on Monday that Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina” to run the country. Also on Monday, Trump’s close adviser, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, raised doubts about Clinton’s health by claiming that she was “tired” and recently “looked sick.”

Clinton’s campaign fired back by advising people to read about the former mayor withdrawal from the 2000 Senate race which, ironically, was directly related to his health. Dr. Drew Pinsky, a famous addiction medicine specialist; Sean Hannity, Fox News host and a senior Trump adviser; and the notorious pharma executive Martin Shkreli are among a long list of celebrities who have contributed to the conspiracy.

A viral video on Youtube, which has more than 3 million views, claims that Clinton is suffering from a plethora of diseases such as autism and a brain tumor. In response, Clinton’s campaign has published a medical note from her physician that concludes that she is healthy.

Presstv