21, January 2021
As Joe Biden entered the White House as the the 46th President of the United States, he started his term by signing 17 executive orders, mainly undoing Donald Trump’s legacy. These concerned immigration, the Paris Climate Deal, the WHO, and mandating mask-wearing in places under federal authority.
20, January 2021
A “tragic” shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya’s coast killed at least 43 migrants bound for Europe, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday.
The International Organization for Migration said the shipwreck that took place a day earlier was the first maritime disaster in 2021 involving migrants seeking better lives in Europe.
The IOM said coastal security in Libya’s western town of Zuwara rescued 10 migrants and brought them to shore. It said the dead were all men from Western African nations, according to survivors.
It said the boat left the western city of Zawiya early Tuesday and capsized a few hours later after its engine stopped working amid rough seas.
Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe.
Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill-equipped and unsafe rubber boats.
Source: AP
20, January 2021
Joe Biden called on Americans to overcome divisions as he was sworn into office on Wednesday as the 46th President of the United States. Biden inherits a confluence of crises and his inauguration comes at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, two weeks after rioters opposing his election stormed the US Capitol.
At 78, Biden becomes the oldest president in US history while Harris becomes the first female vice president, the first Black woman and the first Asian-American to hold the office.
More than 25,000 National Guard troops from across the country have been deployed to the US capital, supporting federal and district agencies, for the inauguration.
The FBI has assisted the Defence Department in vetting National Guard troops deployed in Washington DC amid fears of an insider attack following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.
Trump was not present for the swearing-in. However, former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton attended with their wives, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to some restrictions. However, a number of leading performing artists, including Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Hanks took the stage during the ceremony.
Source: FRANCE 24
20, January 2021
Donald Trump is leaving office hours before his opponent Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony. In his very last moments as United States’ 45th president, Trump said goodbye to the press and boarded Marine One with Melania Trump, who was also spending her very last moments as America’s First Lady. Both will not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony and have not taken part in any of the transition procedures.
20, January 2021
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga has claimed the Head of State Paul Biya has won the long-drawn separatist conflict in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.
Cameroon has been embroiled in a separatist conflict that has gone past its fourth year with over 3000 deaths, 50000 internally displaced and over 40.000 refugees, according to United Nations figures.
However, at a security meeting in Bamenda, one of the hotbeds of the conflict, the country’s interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji told the media, the country’s President, Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 has already won the war and calm was gradually returning to the restive Anglophone regions.
Paul Atanga Nji was speaking in Bamenda on Monday, January 18 during a working visit to evaluate the security situation in the North West Region. This comes after at least five persons were killed in Momo Division, following an explosion in the convoy of the Senior Divisional Officer-an incident that has beeen attributed to separatists.
“After a thorough examination of the security situation (of the North West Region),I can conveniently say that the security situation is under control and that I have come to extend the encouragements of the Head of State to the local administrative authorities,”Paul Atanga Nji said.
Source: Journal du Cameroun
20, January 2021
The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has underlined the urgent need to implement OPERATION CAPHOT aka THE BIG RUBBER GUN plan.
Yerima revealed that the plan is simply an operation that specifically provides equipment and prepares Ambazonia Restoration Forces for the next and decisive phase of the revolution.
The Southern Cameroons Vice President noted that the plan will end the presence of foreign forces from La Republique du Cameroun in Ambazonia and he reiterated again that all French Cameroun army soldiers must leave the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News, Yerima observed that “For four years now Southern Cameroonians have proved that their country will not be submissive to anyone. We want relations with everyone including La Republique du Cameroun but ties must be anchored in dignity, respect for sovereignty and mutual interests.”
By Chi Prudence Asong
20, January 2021
On the very last day of President Donald Trump’s administration a polarised United States remains on edge over the prospect of election-related violence.
Domestically many are not just breathing a sigh of relief but screaming with happiness, and yet polls say 35% of the country believes he’s being ousted illegitimately. That illustrates just how polarising Trump has been here, and while many wonder if he’ll run for president in 2024 many others hope he is leaving public office permanently.
Trump seemed to combine Barack Obama’s skill in manipulating the media, George W. Bush’s readiness to provoke international hatred, Bill Clinton’s ability to disregard the truth and Ronald Reagan’s jingoism. He was routinely and credibly accused of conduct which degraded public service, of re-legitimising American White supremacy, of intentionally provoking societal rifts and much, much more.
Trump’s ascension provoked the greatest burst of political activity and independent journalism in the US in 50 years. Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the importance of voting and other progressive movements seem to be in direct response to Trump’s regular use of sexism, racism, jingoism and elitism.
Internationally Trump took America’s post-9/11 “you’re either with us or against us” worldview to a new extreme. He illegally tore up international agreements, banned travel from seven mostly-Muslim countries and antagonised longtime US allies.
Trump, who switched his party affiliation five times, has successfully reshaped the Republican Party. He was the first 21st century mainstream politician to be openly anti-free trade, to voice opposition to America’s “endless wars”, to admit the national decline of the US since the Great Recession, to bring attention to the role of a “Deep State” in the US and to openly question the integrity of the nation’s corporate-dominated media.
The Trump era was truly unlike any other. His legacy will be debated, but his detractors are innumerable, intense and international.
Culled from Presstv
20, January 2021
President-elect Joe Biden made a sober entrance to the nation’s capital Tuesday, ready to assume power as America reels from the coronavirus pandemic, soaring unemployment and grave concerns about more violence as he prepares to take the oath of office.
Biden, an avid fan of Amtrak, had planned to take a train into Washington ahead of Wednesday’s Inauguration Day, but scratched that plan in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
He instead flew into a military airbase just outside the capital on Tuesday afternoon and then motorcaded into fortress D.C. — a city that’s been flooded by some 25,000 National Guard troops guarding a Capitol, White House and National Mall that are wrapped in a maze of barricades and tall fencing.
Shortly before Biden departed for Washington, the U.S. reached another grim milestone in the pandemic, surpassing 400,000 deaths from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“These are dark times,” Biden told dozens of supporters in an emotional sendoff in Delaware before departing for Washington. “But there’s always light.”
Biden, who ran for the presidency as a cool head who could get things done, plans to issue a series of executive orders on Day One — including reversing President Donald Trump’s effort to leave the Paris climate accord, canceling his travel ban on visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries, and extending pandemic-era limits on evictions and student loan payments.
Trump won’t attend Biden’s inauguration, the first outgoing president to skip the ceremony since Andrew Johnson more than a century and a half ago. The White House released a farewell video from Trump just as Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews. Trump, who has repeatedly and falsely claimed widespread fraud led to his election loss, extended “best wishes” to the incoming administration in his nearly 20-minute address but did not utter Biden’s name.
Trump also spent some of his last time in the White House huddled with advisers weighing final-hour pardons and grants of clemency.
Trump plans to depart from Washington Wednesday morning in a grand airbase ceremony that he helped plan himself.
Source: France 24
19, January 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday braved temperatures well below freezing to take a bare-chested dip into icy water in an Orthodox ritual marking the baptism of Jesus.
The Russian leader shed a thick coat and boots, as temperatures hovered at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) and stepped into a pool surrounded by snow and facing a large cross made of ice outside Moscow.
The 68-year-old Russian leader immersed himself three times while crossing himself, in line with tradition.
The Kremlin said in a statement that the tradition “celebrates one of the main Christian holidays — the baptism of the Lord.”
Every year on January 19, tens of thousands of Orthodox believers mark Epiphany by dunking themselves in ponds or rivers.
Russian authorities install wooden steps to facilitate access for worshippers throughout the country wishing to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ.
While the ritual has become popular among Russian politicians and even foreign diplomats, the Orthodox Church has said the event is not actually a canonical tradition and dismiss it as a fad.
Source: AFP
Yaoundé awaits Biya’s new cabinet amid hope and skepticism 
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Southern Cameroons: Security situation worsening 
2025 is the year when Biya’s long rule finally lost its last convincing justification 
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4 Anglophone detainees killed in Yaounde
Chantal Biya says she will return to Cameroon if General Ivo Yenwo, Martin Belinga Eboutou and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh are sacked
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Largest wave of arrest by BIR in Bamenda
21, January 2021
French doctors unsure of Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness 0
Health professionals in France are concerned about the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines on their patients whose immune systems are weakened, for instance by chemotherapy since clinical trials for the vaccines did not focus on immunocompromised patients.
Like many people with immune systems weakened by disease or chemotherapy, Delphine welcomes the idea of a new Covid-19 vaccine.
Since March of last year, Delphine and her seven-year-old daughter have mostly kept to themselves, avoiding social occasions with friends and loved ones. She’s now eager to regain some measure of normalcy. “The vaccine brings hope, to protect us and protect those who are close to us,” Delphine explains.
But health professionals worry about the effectiveness of the vaccines on immunocompromised people. Specialists estimate that vaccines are only about 30% effective for cancer patients.
While the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have so far proven over 90% effective in the general population, immunocompromised patients have been overlooked in clinical trials.
Source: France 24