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15, June 2023

Football: Messi mania at fever pitch as Argentina face Australia in Beijing ⁰

Messi mania gripped a sweltering Beijing ahead of a sell-out friendly on Thursday evening between world champions Argentina and Australia in the Chinese capital.

All eyes were on Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time, who lifted the World Cup for the Albiceleste in December.

Thousands of Chinese fans braved temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius, gathering at Beijing’s newly renovated Workers’ Stadium several hours before the 8 pm (1200 GMT) kick-off.

Many came clad in replica Argentina shirts emblazoned with Messi’s name and number 10, while others had daubed their faces with sky-blue and white paint or were excitedly clasping flags.

Security guards corralled hundreds of fans behind barriers outside the western gate to the ground, where the Argentina team coach was due to enter.

Forty-year-old lawyer Zhong Xiaoqing from eastern China’s Zhejiang province told AFP that Messi was his “perfect idol”.

“Messi is the greatest player of all time,” he said. “I was completely enamoured the first time I saw him play in 2005.

“He’s a model for me -– my perfect idol.”

For 29-year-old HR worker Sun Bingxin from northern Shanxi province, the excitement had been overwhelming.

“I’ve been so pent up about it that I feel like I could cry with joy,” she told AFP before kick-off.

“Every football fan in China has wanted to be here tonight, so it’ll be a spectacular occasion.”

Liu Rui, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province, said being at the match was “really a dream come true”.

“In 40 years’ time, I can tell my grandchildren about this,” he told AFP.

Low profile

Hundreds of flag-waving fans had been camped outside the team’s luxury hotel ever since they touched down on Saturday.

Crowds have lined heavily guarded streets hoping to catch a glimpse of the 35-year-old each time the team goes for training.

The man himself has kept a low profile, but that has done little to dampen enthusiasm.

One daring fan recounted his tale of spending the night inside the Four Seasons hotel in a bid to get a close encounter with Messi and his teammates.

“I first hid in the janitor’s closet, then went up to the team’s floor through the fire escape staircase,” the man, surnamed Lin, told AFP.

He was questioned by hotel security before being released.

Another fan, Li Weihua, said he had flown from his home city of Shenzhen in southern China, heading straight to the hotel.

He does not even have a ticket for the match at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium, which had quickly sold out.

“I just want to feel the environment,” said the 29-year-old, who had never been to Beijing before.

Huang Yongming, 17, from the northeastern city of Changchun, was more successful in getting a highly coveted ticket.

“I spent around 3,000 yuan ($419) for a ticket,” Huang told AFP. “I know it’s expensive, but I thought that if I didn’t take the opportunity, I would regret it.”

Messi is set to join Inter Miami this summer, after two years at Paris Saint-Germain.

Source: AFP

14, June 2023

Grammy Awards: Africa finally gets its own category ⁰

The American music industry’s Grammy Awards announced on Tuesday that they will be awarding a gramophone to the best African music performance at their next edition, a further sign of their quest for diversity and a consecration for the genre.

The new award covers a wide range of styles, from Afrobeat and Afro-fusion to Kwassa Kwassa and Ndombolo from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana drill, Afro-House and South African hip-hop, said the Recording Academy, which brings together music industry professionals, in a press release.

The category will reward “recordings that use the unique local expressions of the African continent”, the Grammys organisers added.

Long accused of not sufficiently reflecting the diversity and evolution of the music industry, the Grammy Awards have been seeking for years to broaden the range of styles and registers of awards. The category of best soundtrack for a video game was added in 2022.

Musicians from African countries, such as French-Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo (5 wins, 14 nominations) and Nigerian singer Burna Boy (one win, 6 nominations), regularly dominate the Grammy world music categories.

At the 65th edition on 5 February in Los Angeles, a trio led by South African DJ-producer Zakes Bantwini, a pillar of local house music, won thanks to a track in Zulu in the best world music performance category.

The 2024 edition will also honour two other new categories: best alternative jazz album and best dance pop recording. In 2023, 91 awards were presented in as many categories, including pop, rock, classical, hip-hop, gospel and country.

Source: Africa News

14, June 2023

CPDM Crime Syndicate: MTN says asset seizure in Cameroon threatens operations ⁰

South African mobile operator MTN Group (MTNJ.J) said on Wednesday that its Cameroon operations were threatened by the seizure of its bank accounts in the country as part of a dispute in which it plays no part.

MTN Cameroon’s accounts with more than 14 billion CFA francs ($22 million) have been frozen by Cameroon court order since September 2022, as the company was brought into a loan dispute by a Cameroonian businessman, MTN said.

Following a court decision on June 9, the funds were to be transferred into an escrow account managed by the court registrar, MTN Cameroon CEO Mitwa Ng’ambi told a press conference in Douala on Wednesday.

“A threat to our operations is a threat to everything we have built in service to Cameroon over the last 23 years,” she said, adding that the company will use “all possible means to put an end to the imminent miscarriage of justice”.

MTN is Africa’s largest mobile carrier and its Cameroon subsidiary has one of the biggest networks in the country, with over 12 million users.

Ng’ambi said the matter has caused difficulties in paying service providers and employees and could hurt MTN’s more than 800 Cameroonian employees and an additional 200,000 people who work for suppliers and others.

The controversy stems from a dispute between Cameroonian business mogul Ahmadou Baba Danpullo and South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) (FSRJ.J) over a real estate loan, said MTN’s Ng’ambi.

After the bank liquidated a number of properties belonging to Danpullo in South Africa, the businessman retaliated by having a Cameroonian court freeze the accounts of South African companies including MTN and Chococam, owned by Tiger Brands, she said.

Melvin Akam, MTN Cameroon general manager of regulatory and corporate affairs, said the seizure of the company’s accounts was “abusive, fraudulent and unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for Danpullo’s company, the Baba Danpullo Group, declined to comment.

South Africa’s foreign ministry on Tuesday urged company executives to continue pursuing all legal avenues available.

“Unfortunately, these latest developments will challenge the extent and appetite for investments into Cameroon,” it said.

($1 = 628.7500 CFA francs)

Source: Reuters

14, June 2023

Cameroon’s internet domain name among the most popular in Africa ⁰

Cameroon’s internet domain name is “one of the most popular” in Africa, commented Ebot Ebot Enaw, MD of the National Agency for Information Technology and Communication (Antic), last week during the opening of the 3rd edition of the National Forum on the Domain Name System (DNS).

The event was held in Bertoua, in the East region of Cameroon. “The “.cm” domain is one of the best in Africa right now. It is reliable and stable, which is great news for developers and companies who want to be seen on the Internet. It is one of the top three most popular domain extensions on the whole continent,” confirms Albert Kamga, head of the standardization and cooperation division at Antic.

This success of the Cameroonian internet domain name came after the sharp reduction in registration fees. From CFA35,000, the fees were first reduced to CFA7,000 on May 26, 2015, to promote the domain name. Later, during a promotional campaign organized from July 1 to October 1, 2020, the fees were further reduced to CFA2,000 FCFA. During this short period, 21,476 new customers were attracted, Antic reported.

Source: Business in Cameroon

14, June 2023

Italy bids farewell to former PM and billionaire tycoon Silvio Berlusconi ⁰

Silvio Berlusconi was honored Wednesday with a state funeral in Milan’s Duomo cathedral and a day of national mourning, as his legacy — positive or negative — was being hotly debated among Italians.

Tens of thousands of people outside the Duomo and within erupted in applause as a sign of respect as Berlusconi’s flower-draped casket was hoisted out of the hearse and into the cathedral. His children and companion teared up as the casket was placed in front of the altar.

Most Italians identify Berlusconi, a media mogul, soccer entrepreneur and three-time former premier, as the most influential figure in Italy over recent decades. But they remain sharply divided on whether his influence was for the better or worse, extending to whether the three-time former premier merits all the fuss and ceremony.

Berlusconi died at the age of 86 on Monday in a Milan hospital where he was being treated for chronic leukemia. His family held a private wake Tuesday at one of Berlusconi’s villas near Milan, the city where he made his billions as the head of a media empire before entering politics in 1994.

Political opponents are questioning not only the decisions of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government to hold a state funeral — an honor that can be afforded all former premiers — but to also declare a national day of mourning, which is more rarely invoked. In the case of the latter, flags are flown at half-staff and all political events not involving charity are put on hold, but it is otherwise business as usual.

“Berlusconi split Italy, he insulted adversaries for 30 years, he criminalized the magistrates and he didn’t recognize laws. What are we talking about?” journalist Marco Travaglio, a long-time Berlusconi critic and co-founder of the il Fatto Quotidiano daily, told private La7 TV on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, thousands of Italians filled the piazza outside Milan’s Duomo to follow the funeral on two giant video screens while carabinieri in full ceremonial regalia awaited the arrival of the hearse bearing Berlusconi’s casket outside. Family members, political allies and opponents meanwhile were gathering inside.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, were among the highest-ranking foreign dignitaries attending.

Meloni, who got her first government experience as a minister in a Berlusconi coalition, also will attend, along with League leader Matteo Salvini, whose party has long been allied with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. Opposition politicians also are expected in a show of respect for a political figure with whom many had sparred.

Barbara Cacellari, a Forza Italia councilwoman and one-time candidate for the European Parliament, said protests over how to officially mark Berlusconi’s death showed a lack of respect.

“The person must be respected per se. He is a person who represents the history of this country,” she said outside the cathedral, adding: “No one is without stains, I think.”

Berlusconi is widely recognized as a precursor to the type of populist politics that later would bring Donald Trump to power in the United States, both using their high profile as businessmen to springboard into the political arena, upending politics as usual along the way.

Supporters of Berlusconi’s legacy cite his success in unifying the Italian center-right after the collapse of the post-war political landscape with the 1990s “Clean Hands” corruption scandal. They also see his years as leader as periods of stabilization, after years of quickly rotating governments, while admiring his bold rule-breaking and irreverence, perhaps especially in the face of other global leaders.

“He did many big and small things, while suffering a mediatic and judicial aggression that only Craxi before him had endured,’’ Stefania Craxi, a senator in Berlusconi’s party and the daughter of late Italian leader Bettino Craxi told private TV La7 on Tuesday. Her father died in exile in Tunisia in 2000 after being convicted in absentia for involvement in illegal party financing.

Berlusconi’s detractors’ list of political damage is long, including conflicts of interest relating to his media empire, dozens of trials mostly for business dealings, revelations of sex-fueled bunga-bunga parties at his villa near Milan and questionable associations, including his enduring friendship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“He is not a leader who helped us grow,’’ said Beppe Severgnini, a long-time foreign correspondent and writer for Corriere della Sera. “He tapped all of our weaknesses: moral, fiscal, sexual, everything.”

Source: AP

14, June 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima vows no retreat in dealing with La Republique ⁰

The Vice President of the exiled Ambazonia Interim Government has insisted that the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not back down from ensuring that English speaking Cameroonians gain their independence despite the brutal French Cameroun military operations in the Southern Cameroons homeland.

In a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief, Isong Asu on Tuesday, Vice President Dabney Yerima stated that the people of Southern Cameroons do not view surrender and retreat as the way to deal with the French Cameroun enemies.

Yerima pointed out that Southern Cameroonians can overcome the challenges posed by the Francophone dominated French Cameroun army only by means of becoming strong and building a strong restoration coalition with all genuine Ambazonia groups.

He noted that some Southern Cameroons so-called front line leaders have been involved in Yaoundé teleguided actions geared towards undermining the Ambazonia resistance and quest for an independent state.

Yerima further pointed out that the enemies in French Cameroon are slowly but surely losing their pro Yaoundé Southern Cameroons acolytes and have now resorted to spreading fear and targeting innocent civilians in the rural areas.

“Despite all the difficulties, we of the Ambazonia Interim Government are trying to stabilize the restoration ship. With trust in God as well as Ambazonia diaspora support we will definitely succeed in this path,” Dabney Yerima added.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Isong Asu

14, June 2023

Greece: Dozens drown in deadliest migrant shipwreck ⁰

At least 59 migrants drowned early on Wednesday and more were feared missing when their boat capsized and sank off Greece, the country’s coast guard said.

By midday, 104 were rescued, but it remained unclear how many were on board when the vessel went under, authorities said.

The shipwreck was the deadliest off Greece this year.

The coast guard said the boat, which was en route to Italy, was spotted in international waters late on Tuesday by an aircraft belonging to EU border agency Frontex and two nearby vessels, around 50 miles (80 km) southwest of the town of Pylos in southern Greece.

Death tolls has now raised to 59, and is expected to continue to increase throughout the day.

The survivors of the shipwreck, around 100 people, have arrived in Kalamata, they had been picked up by a Cayman Islands registered yacht named Mayan Queen IV.

It said those on board had refused assistance offered by Greek authorities late on Tuesday. A few hours later the boat capsized and sank, triggering a search and rescue operation.

State broadcaster ERT said it had sailed from the Libyan town of Tobruk, which lies south of the Greek island of Crete, with most on board being young men in their 20s. Their nationalities, as well as where the boat had sailed from, were not immediately confirmed by Greek authorities.

Survivors were taken to the town of Kalamata, the authorities said.

Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Most cross to Greek islands from nearby Turkey, but a growing number of boats also undertake a longer, and more dangerous journey from Turkey to Italy via Greece.

About 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived so far this years in Europe’s frontline countries Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and Cyprus, according to United Nations data, with the majority landing in Italy.

Source: Reuters

13, June 2023

Cameroon mourns the loss of opposition leader John Fru Ndi ⁰

The founder and long-standing leader of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), John Fru Ndi, passed away last night in Yaoundé. His death comes as a great loss to the country’s political landscape and marks the end of an era.

In a statement released early this Tuesday, June 13, Joshua Osih, the party’s first vice-president, announced with deep sadness, “It is with sadness that we announce the transition into eternal glory of the national president of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), Ni John Fru Ndi, on June 12 at 11:30 p.m. in Yaoundé, after a prolonged illness.”

Fru Ndi, a prominent figure and a historical opponent of President Paul Biya, had repeatedly contested against him in the electoral arena. At the age of 82, Fru Ndi had been battling health issues, and concerns about his well-being had been circulating in recent months. He underwent surgery in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, and during his absence, Joshua Osih had assumed leadership of the SDF.

Born on July 7, 1941, in Bamenda, in the North-West region of Cameroon, an anglophone area plagued by a deadly conflict since 2016, Fru Ndi, affectionately known as “the chairman,” led the SDF since its establishment in 1990. In 2018, he made the decision not to run for the presidential election and announced his intention to step down as the leader of the SDF during the congress scheduled from July 27 to 29.

In the first multiparty presidential election in Cameroon in 1992, Fru Ndi secured second place with 36% of the votes, trailing behind President Paul Biya, who had held power since 1982, with 40% of the votes.

The opposition leader had vehemently denounced widespread electoral fraud and proclaimed himself the rightful winner. As a result, his residence, the Ntarikon Palace in Bamenda, was placed under surveillance for several months, reflecting the tense political climate at the time.

The passing of John Fru Ndi marks the end of an era for Cameroon’s political landscape, leaving behind a legacy of fierce opposition and tireless dedication to his party and ideals. The nation now mourns the loss of a prominent figure and ponders the implications of his departure for the future of the opposition movement.

Source: The Africa Report

13, June 2023

SDF: John Fru Ndi Dies at 81 ⁰

Veteran Cameroonian opposition leader John Fru Ndi, who for decades fought to topple long-standing president Paul Biya at the ballot box, has died aged 81, his party said.

Fru Ndi, who dominated the opposition in the Central African country for a generation and was arrested and kidnapped for his politics, had been suffering from a long illness, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) said in a statement overnight.

“It is with sadness that we announce the transition into eternal glory of John Fru Ndi on June 12, 2023, at 11:30 p.m.,” it said.

An English-speaking businessman from Cameroon’s northwest region, he formed the SDF, the first opposition party in the bilingual Central African country, which is dominated by its French-speaking majority.

He ran for president several times, including in 1992 when he narrowly lost Cameroon’s first free presidential elections. Fru Ndi said the vote had been rigged and he was placed under house arrest as riots swept opposition strongholds.

Later, as Biya’s grip on power tightened, Fru Ndi secured fewer votes, according to official figures.

In recent years, a violent separatist uprising has rocked the English-speaking western regions. Fru Ndi was kidnapped twice in 2019 by gunmen after his party refused to endorse secession.

Biya, meanwhile, has ruled the central African country since 1982. He has repeatedly secured landslide election wins amid opposition claims of fraud.

Source: Reuters

13, June 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: 14 Ambazonians receive asylum seeker status in St Kitts-Nevis ⁰

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has granted Asylum Seeker Status to fourteen Cameroonian individuals who were held in St Kitts and Nevis after being rescued at sea in March 2023.

According to the Ministry of National Security, the UNHCR granted this to Cameroonian people on June 8, 2023. As defined by the UNHCR, an asylum seeker is “someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed.”

According to the Ministry, in addition to being safeguarded against forced repatriation to their home country, Cameroonian nationals are entitled to ongoing humanitarian treatment while their asylum applications to UNHCR are being considered.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to work closely with UNHCR to offer basic humanitarian services to Cameroon people.

The formal Asylum Seeker Certificates were hand-delivered to Cameroonian nationals at noon on June 10, 2023, and the extended humanitarian provisions agreed to by the government were also clearly stated to them.

The government’s decision to release them from custody and relocate them to an apartment complex in order to increase their comfort and autonomy is one such consideration. This agreement will last for 90 days while their asylum applications are processed.

In response, Cameroonian nationals expressed the following three demands and announced that their hunger strike, which began on June 9, 2023, would continue until they were met:

They would like to have a United Nations identification card.

They desire to communicate with the US Embassy or the US Congress.

They want to be relocated to their Cameroonian friends and family in Texas, where they claim they are legally protected.

According to the Ministry of National Security, it was informed to the Cameroonian nationals that these demands are beyond the scope and jurisdiction of the Government of St Kitts and Nevis, with the exception of giving access to contact with the US Embassy. In this regard, they have been given the necessary email addresses, phone numbers, and the physical address of the US Embassy in Barbados.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will be revisiting its asylum legislation and procedures in the near future, as the government has stated that it cannot and will not allow illegal migration in the future. As a sovereign nation, the Government of St Kitts and Nevis is emphatic that the country will not become a safe haven for human traffickers and people who enter the country illegally.

Source: St Vincent Times