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6, February 2023

Beyoncé breaks record for the most Grammy wins ever ⁰

Beyoncé stands alone on her Grammy throne: With her fourth win Sunday night, she has become the most decorated artist in the show’s history surpassing the 26-year-old record once held by the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti.

The superstar singer has now collected 32 awards after she won for best R&B song for “Cuff It,” dance-electric music recording for “Break My Soul,” traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa” and dance-electric music for her seventh studio album “Renaissance,” which is also nominated for album of the year.

Beyoncé missed the milestone of her tying Solti’s record, which stood since 1997. Host Trevor Noah said she was on her way to the ceremony but blamed Los Angeles traffic for not being in person to accept it.

The song was written by several writers including Beyonce, The-Dream, Nile Rodgers and Raphael Saadiq.

Once Beyonce finally arrived, Noah presented her with the best R&B song award at her table which included her husband Jay-Z and The-Dream. In that category, she extended her record as the artist with most wins in the category with five wins.

Bad Bunny opened the Grammy Awards with a festive, high-energy performance that brought many of the audience including Taylor Swift who rose to her feet and danced near her table at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.

Noah introduced Bunny calling him a “global force” who is the most streamed and listened to artist in the world.

By the time the show started on CBS, Beyoncé had already won two Grammys. Beyoncé entered Sunday’s ceremony as the leading nominee including album, song and record of the year.

If she wins in any of those major categories, it’ll be her first since since she received the song of the year honor for “Single Ladies” in 2010.

Styles won the main telecast’s first award for best pop vocal album for “Harry’s House.”

The singer said recording the song was one of the “greatest experiences of my life. It’s been my greatest joy.”

Sam Smith and Kim Petras won best pop duo-group performance for their song “Unholy.”

Petras said Smith wanted Petras to make the acceptance speech because “I’m the first transgender woman to win this award.”

“I want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight,” said Petras, who made a reference to friend and Grammy-nominated musician Sophie, who died after an accidental fall in Athens, Greece in 2021.

“You told me this would happen. I always believed in me. Thank you so much for your inspiration, Sophie. I adore you, and your inspiration will forever be in my music.”

Petras thanked Madonna for being a tremendous supporter of LGBTQ rights.

“I don’t think I could be here without Madonna,” Petras said. “My mother, I grew up next to a highway in nowhere Germany. And my mother believed me that I was a girl. I wouldn’t be here without her and her support.”

During the in memoriam segment, the Grammys recognized the lives of Loretta Lynn, Migos rapper Takeoff and Christine McVie with several star-studded performers paying them homage.

The touching performances included Kacey Musgraves singing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in tribute to Lynn; Quavo and the Maverick City Music hit the stage to honor his nephew Takeoff with the song “Without You;” and Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt performed “Songbird” to remember McVie.

Kendrick Lamar won sixth career trophy for best rap performance for “The Heart Part 5” and also won best rap album for his studio offering, “Mr. Morales & The Big Steppers.”

“You know, as entertainers, we say things to provoke thoughts and feelings and emotions,” he said. “So making this record is one of my toughest. … I would like to thank the culture for allowing me to evolve in order to make this. I finally found imperfection with this album.”

Viola Davis emerged from Sunday’s show an EGOT — a term for those who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — after her win for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording.

The actor gave an emotional speech and emphatically said “I just EGOT” after she marched on stage to collect her award.

“Oh, my God,” she said. “I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola, to honor her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything,” Davis said. “It has just been such a journey.”

Tattered streetwear, T-shirts and denim mixed with blinged-out couture, wild patterns and plenty of skin on the Grammys carpet.

Lizzo wowed in a bright orange Dolce & Gabbana robe adorned with flowers and a huge hood while Taylor Swift wore a long two-piece sparkly skirt with a high-neck and long-sleeve crop top in midnight blue.

Brandi Carlile made a rare appearance during the pre-telecast for a major artist. The singer showed up after her song “Broke Horses” won for best rock performance and best rock song, a songwriter’s award, and best Americana album.

“It’s rock ‘n’ roll, man,” said a smiling Carlile, who jogged on stage with a couple of her band members. “I cannot tell you how much this means to us. We’re born and raised in Seattle.

When I met these guys 22 years ago we decided to get into a band.” Carlile co-wrote “Broken Horses” with twin brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth.

There could be many other firsts during the ceremony: If Bad Bunny wins album of the year for “Un Verano Sin Ti,” it would be the first time a Spanish-language album has taken home the top honor.

Taylor Swift, whose latest album “Midnights” wasn’t eligible for this year’s Grammys, could win her first song of the year trophy for “All Too Well.”

An Adele win for song of the year for her track “Easy on Me” would make her the most decorated artist in the category with three wins, the others coming for her megahits “Hello” and “Rolling in the Deep.”

This year’s Grammys have also introduced several new categories, including one for video game music composition, which went to the soundtrack for “Assassins Creed: Valhalla.”

This year’s show marks a return to Los Angeles after the pandemic first delayed, then forced the Grammys to move to Las Vegas last year. Noah hosted the ceremony as well, which saw Jon Batiste take home album of the year.

Source: AP

6, February 2023

50 dead in Syria after earthquake ⁰

At least 50 people have been killed across Syria as buildings collapsed after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that had its epicentre in southeastern Turkey, state media and a local hospital said.

Forty-two people were killed in government-controlled parts of Syria, state media said, while a local hospital told AFP that eight others were killed in northern areas controlled by pro-Turkish factions.

“Forty-two deaths and 200 injuries have been reported in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia as a result of the earthquake in a preliminary toll,” state news agency SANA said quoting a health ministry official.

Rescuers have been rushing to search for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings since the earthquake hit Syria at dawn.

AFP correspondents in northern Syria said terrified residents ran out of their homes after the ground shook.

SANA had reported earlier that the earthquake was felt from the western coast of Latakia to Damascus.

“This earthquake is the strongest since the National Earthquake Centre was founded in 1995,” Raed Ahmed, who heads the centre, told SANA.

In northern Syrian areas controlled by pro-Turkish factions, at least eight people were killed “in the regions of Azaz and al-Bab,” a source at a local hospital told AFP, adding that the number is likely to rise as search and rescue operations are ongoing.

In the neighbouring rebel-held Idlib region bordering Turkey, civil defence said there were “dozens of victims and hundreds of people injured and stuck under the rubble”.

“Our teams are in a state of emergency to rescue survivors,” the White Helmets rescue group said on Twitter.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey on Monday at 04:17 am local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres (11 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

The tremors were felt in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, according to AFP correspondents.

Source: AFP

4, February 2023

Another journalist shot and killed in Yaoundé ⁰

The UN Security Council should now push the Francophone Cameroun authorities to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the killing of journalist Jean Jacques Ola Bébé, who also moonlighted as a priest of the Catholic Orthodox Church, originally from Lekié Division like the late Martinez Zogo, a journalist who was kidnapped and tortured to death two weeks ago in Yaoundé.

In the evening of February 2, 2023, unidentified attackers shot and killed Jean Jacques Ola Bébé near his home in Mimboman. According to sources, the 41 year old communicator who had worked with several media houses in Yaoundé was shot dead by Cameroon government agents.

Journalist Jean Jacques Ola was found in the next morning with gunshot wounds to his chest and head.

A highly placed Cameroon government security official contacted by chief political correspondent Chi Prudence Asong, alleged that unspecified government security forces had killed Jean Jacques Ola Bébé. Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Yaoundé also cited anonymous sources saying that they believed Cameroon government security forces were responsible for the killing.

Conflicting reports on the arrest and subsequent release of media tycoon Amougou Belinga and unanswered questions about the killing of journalists Martinez Zogo and Jean Jacques Ola Bébé both from the Lekié constituency is sending a message of fear to the broader media community in Cameroon, and is entrenching impunity in attacks on the press.

It is evidently clear that these killings are linked to the succession battle currently going on deep within the ruling Beti Ewondo clans on who to take over from the ailing President Biya who will be 90 this month.

The International Community must ensure that investigations into Zogo and Ola killings and their motives are swift and credible, make their findings public, and hold those responsible to account.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

4, February 2023

Journalist Zogo Affair: Amougou Belinga out from SED but murder remains a state crime, official confesses ⁰

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has learned that many Cameroonian intelligence officers have been arrested in connection with journalist Martinez Zogo’s murder, and that a suspect who has confessed to participating in the murder has even said that it was Cameroon’s justice minister who ordered it.

More than 20 members of Cameroon’s General Directorate for External Investigations (DGRE) have been arrested in the capital in the past few days in connection with the murder of Martinez Zogo, whose mutilated body was found on 22 January. The shocking statements they have made to investigators have coincided with a political battle to succeed President Paul Biya, who will be 90 in a few days, and even attempts to destabilise the government.

Yesterday evening, DGRE boss Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, who is among those who have been arrested, was still denying that he was aware of the plan to silence Zogo, who was Radio Amplitude FM’s presenter.

But his deputy, special operations director Justin Danwe, has provided a shocking statement. In confessions that he hand-wrote during his interrogation, and which RSF has seen, he provides a detailed account of the gruesome operation to silence Zogo and he emerges as the head of the unit that carried it out. Lt. Col. Danwe recognises his involvement and says he told his superior. His account shows that Zogo’s murder was a state crime.

He provides a detailed description of how Zogo was followed for a week, in order to establish the pattern of his movements, until his abduction on the evening of 17 January by DRGE members including Danwe, who was the one in charge. Zogo was reportedly taken to a building under construction that belongs to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a powerful businessman who Zogo had accused of embezzlement.

According to Danwe’s confession, Belinga himself then beat Zogo in the basement of his building and telephoned justice minister Laurent Esso, to whom he is close, to ask him what Zogo’s fate should be. Esso, who is one of the most powerful members of the government, allegedly responded that Belinga should “finish the job” to avoid a repetition of the case of Paul Chouta, a journalist who was beaten last year by a mysterious group of assailants who were never unidentified. They left Chouta for dead at the roadside but he ended up surviving.

According to Danwe’s statement, Belinga was not present when “the job was finished,” a task that Danwe acknowledges having carried out himself together with his men. According to the information that RSF has obtained from a medical source, Zogo’s body was badly mutilated. Fingers were cut off, his arms and legs were broken in several places, and a steel rod was rammed into his anus.

The investigation, which is being led by a mixed commission of gendarmes and police officers and is being carried out on President Biya’s orders, has clearly made extraordinary progress in the past few days. How much further will it go? RSF has been told that other important persons, including several other ministers close to Belinga, could have been informed in advance of the plan to kill Zogo and could even have been involved.

The outcome of the investigations remains very uncertain as the affair’s ramifications reach up to the highest level of the state while the political environment is described by several local sources as verging on insurrectionary.

For a while last night, it was being reported that Belinga had been arrested, but he finally made an appearance at one of his companies this morning, displaying an extraordinary degree of calm given the accusations being made against him.

RSF has tried several times to reach the justice minister, without success.

Cameroon is ranked 118th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.

Culled from RSF

3, February 2023

Martinez Zogo’s death: Amougou Belinga is already talking ⁰

Many people thought that it would be a tough job to find the killers of Martinez Zogo, but it is turning out that the criminals are already talking including Amougou Belinga.

The Vision 4 CEO is already staring down the barrel of defeat. He was picked up yesterday at 10pm in his palatial residence in the presence of his wives.

The very first people – Danwe and Eko Eko – who had been picked up and taken to SED had already spilled the beans and the blame is squarely on Amougou Belinga who commandeered the killing.

After picking up Martinez Zogo, he was taken to Amougou Belinga’s skyscraper where he met face to face with Amougou Belinga who unleashed his anger on the defenseless journalist.

Mr. Belinga delivered two violent kicks to the journalist’s mouth, destroying his teeth.

The plan was not to kill the journalist, but to teach him a bitter lesson. But when Martinez Zogo refused to apologize for all the allegations he had made against Amougou Belinga and Louis Paul Motaze, the decision was altered.

Amougou Belinga had made a wrong decision. He crossed the reddest of the red lines. He allowed his money and power to get into his head. He called Laurent Esso to update him on the situation and Mr. Esso’s opinion sealed Martinez Zogo’s fate.

Mr. Esso reminded Mr. Belinga that failure to end Paul Tchouta’s life caused him a lot of stress as Mr. Tchouta’s case is causing Mr. Esso his sleep. He has been scared that he could be arrested if identified but it is Mr. Zogo’s case that is really keeping Laurent Esso awake all night.

Amougou Belinga is talking, indeed, he is singing like a magpie and he has already implicated the justice minister and Atanga Nji.

Sources at SED are updating Cameroon Concord News Group and they say this case could take many people to jail as it has opened a huge can of worms.

Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister, is in the know of what happened and SED investigators who have already decoded Amougou Belinga are already seeking ways to bring in three ministers – Louis Paul Motaze, Paul Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso – all of whom have invested with Mr. Amougou Belinga.

A source at SED is quoted as saying that Amougou Belinga was simply running a crime syndicate which included many government officials and that was why Amougou Belinga felt he was above the law.

Another source who is a BIR official has told the Cameroon Concord News Group that the country has been transformed into a massive mafia and it will take decades to clean up the mess.

He decried the situation, stressing that if Cameroon had to come out of the moral decadence that has been created by Mr. Biya and his men, a new leadership would have to emerge as the country’s current leadership lacks the moral authority to steer the country out of the mess.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, February 2023

Yaoundé: Etoudi confirms arrest of Amougou Belinga ⁰

Taking stock of the investigation opened to shed light on the assassination of the famous presenter of the program “Embouteillages” on Amplitude FM in Yaoundé, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Minister of State and Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic has issued a press release making public the position of the 89-year President Biya.

Ngoh Ngoh revealed that some suspects of the murder of Martinez Zogo have been arrested “The hearings underway and the legal proceedings that will follow, will allow circumscribing the degree of involvement of some and others and establishing the identity of all persons involved in one way or another in the murder of Martinez Zogo” Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh noted.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Amougou Belinga is one of the 22 suspects arrested by elements of the General Directorate for External Research.

“In this tragic circumstance, the Head of State wishes to pay tribute to the late journalist Martinez Zogo and reiterate his support to the entire profession,” said Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

Minister Ngoh Ngoh added that the “Head of State reiterates to the family of the deceased his most saddened condolences and assures them of the compassion of the entire nation.”

Here is the Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh communiqué

3, February 2023

Yaoundé: Government seizes 53 buildings, 39 vehicles from disgraced ex-defense minister Mebe Ngo’o ⁰

Prosecutors at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé have seized 53 buildings, 39 vehicles and disabled 11 bank accounts, mostly comprised of more than 23.9 billion FCFA from former minister of defense Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o.

The Special Criminal Court filings detailed that the Biya regime also seized a series of bank accounts belonging to his wife Bernadette Mebe Ngo’o holding millions in cash.

Most of the funds came from offenses including embezzlement of public funds, specifically the over-invoicing of public contracts, money laundering and bribery.

Furthermore, our Yaoundé city correspondent Rita Akana detail that nearly six hundred million held in four bank accounts in Douala was seized as well. Mebe Ngo’o maintains his innocence and has denied misappropriating Cameroonian tax payer’s money.

Additionally, Biya regime agents also seized heavy machinery that belonged to the Mebe Ngo’o family that was held in several locations in Yaoundé. The Biya Beti Ewondo government revealed intentions to seize the property, and the prosecutors at the Special Criminal Court initiated the process.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3, February 2023

Murder charge to be laid against media tycoon Amougou Belinga arrested over death of journalist Zogo ⁰

Amougou Belinga was arrested yesterday in Yaoundé and will be charged with murder over the death of journalist Martinez Zogo, whose body was found in a field outskirts of Yaoundé.

Yaoundé police said the late journalist was found with multiple injuries caused by several sharp-edged type weapons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that Amougou Belinga was detained by secret service agents and is currently under guard at the Secretariat of State for Defense (SED).

Our chief intelligence reporter in the nation’s capital hinted that the so-called media guru will be charged with murder.

It is understood he was arrested late in the evening and is now remanded in custody. He will face state prosecutors today.

Tributes flow after tragic death

Police were called to the field some few kilometers from Yaoundé after some passersby discovered the body of journalist Martinez Zogo.

Zogo was pronounced dead by emergency services shortly after, with colleagues, family and friends saying they believed he had been killed following statements he made against prominent government officials including business and media tycoon Amougou Belinga.

The alleged homicide of Martinez Zogo in Yaoundé has sent shockwaves through the entire nation and the media community, with friends remembering the radio host as someone who never stopped smiling.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana

2, February 2023

Increased gasoline prices trigger panic buying in Cameroon ⁰

Following the government’s announcement on Monday, January 30, that fuel prices will go up come February 2023, Cameroonians across the country rushed to filling stations to top their tanks, causing long lines at the filling stations.

Cameroonians are now faced with a fuel price rise of about 15 percent, meaning a litre of diesel that used to cost them 575 CFA francs (0.87 euros), will now go up to 720 CFA francs (1.09 euros).

The rise came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put pressure on the government to cut its fuel subsidy.

But there will be a 5.2 percent salary rise for civil service workers to help soften the blow, the prime minister’s office stated.

“They recognized the need to reduce the costly fuel subsidies, which are unsustainable under the current international oil price projections and are poorly targeted to those in need and crowd out priority spending,” the IMF, referring to the government, said in a news release on Tuesday.

“The fuel subsidies represent six times the budget allocated to agriculture, four times that to health, and over three times that to energy and water. Fuel subsidy reform would need to be accompanied by measures to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable, including cash transfers,” it added.

In March the IMF is scheduled to give 68.5 million euros in credit to the government.

By Camcordnews and Africa News

2, February 2023

Football: France defender Varane announces international retirement at 29 ⁰

France centre-back Raphael Varane, a World Cup winner in 2018 and runner-up last year, announced Thursday his retirement from international duty at the age of 29.

“I’ve been thinking about it for several months and I decided it was the right time for me to retire from international football,” Varane wrote on Instagram.

The Manchester United defender made his France debut in 2013 and won 93 caps for Les Bleus. He had been in the running to take over as captain following the retirement of Hugo Lloris last month.

“To represent our magnificent country for a decade has been one of the greatest honours of my life. Each time I wore this special blue shirt I felt immense pride,” said Varane.

Varane’s decision to call time on his France career leaves Kylian Mbappe as the frontrunner for the captaincy, with Didier Deschamps’ side set to begin Euro 2024 qualifying at the end of March with a double-header against the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.

The former Real Madrid star played every minute of his country’s triumphant 2018 World Cup campaign as France defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final.

He was one of five French players who also started the 2022 final defeat by Argentina on penalties, recovering from a leg injury that ruled him out of the start of the tournament.

“I’ll definitely miss these moments with you, but the time has come for the new generation to take over,” he said, thanking Deschamps and his coaching staff as well as the supporters.

“We have a group of talented young players who are ready to step up and who deserve their chance.”

Deschamps paid tribute to Varane and praised him for the leadership qualities he had brought to the team throughout his time with France.

“I cannot turn this page without some emotion, given the bonds we have formed,” said Deschamps, who gave Varane his international debut in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

“I respect his decision even if it may seem a bit unfortunate given everything he was able to do with the national team through to the World Cup, during which he behaved like the leader we know he is from start to finish.”

Source: AFP