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Diego Maradona: Argentina legend dies aged 60

25, November 2020

Diego Maradona: Argentina legend dies aged 60 0

The former Argentina attacking midfielder and manager had successful surgery on a brain blood clot earlier in November.

It was then announced he was to be treated for alcohol dependency.

One of the greatest players of all time, Maradona was captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, producing a series of sublime individual performances.

He played for Barcelona and Napoli during his club career, winning two Serie A titles with the Italian side.

Maradona scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina, representing them in four World Cups.

He led his country to the 1990 final in Italy, where they were beaten by West Germany, before captaining them again in the United States in 1994, but was sent home after failing a drugs test for ephedrine.

During the second half of his career, Maradona struggled with cocaine addiction and was banned for 15 months after testing positive for the drug in 1991.

He retired from professional football in 1997, on his 37th birthday, during his second stint at Argentine giants Boca Juniors.

Having briefly managed two sides in Argentina during his playing career, Maradona was appointed head coach of the national team in 2008 and left after the 2010 World Cup, where his side were beaten by Germany in the quarter-finals.

He subsequently managed teams in the United Arab Emirates and Mexico and was in charge of Gimnasia y Esgrima in Argentina’s top flight at the time of his death.

Source: BBC

African Union special envoy to Mali, the Sahel quits

25, November 2020

African Union special envoy to Mali, the Sahel quits 0

The special envoy of the African Union to Mali and the Sahel, Pierre Buyoya has resigned from his post.

The former Burundian simply confirmed to the AFP that he had submitted his resignation, without further details or reason for the resignation.

Buyoya was sentenced to life imprisonment in his country in October for the 1993 assassination of his predecessor Melchior Ndadaye.

He denounces a “political trial” and said he would appeal the ruling.

A senior AU official told AFP on condition of anonymity that ‘Mr. Buyoya resigned because he wants to “devote all his time and energy to his defense and wants to avoid a situation in the AU that would become embarrassing for a member state.’’

Another senior official who also spoke on condition of anonymity added that Buyoya’s resignation “was accepted with gratitude for the excellent work done in Mali on behalf of the AU.”

The African Union has not made any comment on Buyoya’s conviction since the verdict was announced on October 20 in Bujumbura.

The Burundian judiciary convicted Mr. Buyoya, along with about twenty of his relatives, for “attacking the head of state, attacking the authority of the state, and attack tending to bring about massacre and devastation”.

Mr. Buyoya’s name had already been mentioned in connection with the assassination of President Ndadaye, without any proof being provided.

Source: Africa News

Three weeks after vote still no official US president

25, November 2020

Three weeks after vote still no official US president 0

The United States presidential election remains unresolved three weeks after the vote, drastically undermining perceptions regarding the quality of their political system.

Three weeks after the US presidential election there is still no clear winner. However, incumbent Donald Trump has now permitted the government agency which handles presidential transitions to begin working with Democrat Joe Biden, and key swing states have just certified the election in favor of Biden.

Recent polls from top media such as The Economist reveal that nearly half the country wants Trump to litigate, believes fraud swung the vote in Biden’s favor, and views Biden’s victory as illegitimate. Trump has still not spoken publicly on the subject, only communicating his refusal to concede via Twitter, repeatedly. The fact of America’s intense division still remains, and many wonder how and if the nation can be united.

Even though the election was on November 3rd, many urban areas are still boarded up and resemble war zones. The political chaos continues to feed concerns that the violent protests and rebellions from earlier in the year will return.

Biden is starting to unveil his cabinet, which was described by the mainstream media site Politico, as a “team of careerists”, because not since George Bush the first have so many key positions been handed to personal loyalists and longtime Washington insiders. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party and other party factions have been almost totally excluded.

For Secretary of State Biden has tapped Antony Blinken, viewed as the architect of Barack Obama’s interventionist foreign policy and the longtime advisor to Biden who persuaded him to vote for the second war on Iraq. Blinken was a major proponent of US involvement in Libya, Syria, Ukraine, the Saudi-led war on Yemen, and is considered a major hawk on Russia. He is expected to push the US to try and rejoin the JCPOA agreement on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

Source: Presstv

Bundes: German vote to pick Merkel successor set for Sept 26, 2021

25, November 2020

Bundes: German vote to pick Merkel successor set for Sept 26, 2021 0

The German government on Wednesday agreed on September 26 next year for the general election to choose a successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, a government spokeswoman said.

Merkel has said she will not stand for a fifth term and will retire from politics next year after 16 years at the helm of Europe’s top economic power and the EU’s most populous country.

Her departure will mark a new, less certain phase in German politics and at the heart of the European Union, whose rotating presidency Merkel currently holds.

The government “proposes to the federal president the date of Sunday, September 26, 2021 for the election of the 20th Bundestag (lower house of parliament),” spokeswoman Martina Fietz told reporters.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier must still give his official approval.

The race to fill Merkel’s shoes still looks wide open, as her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party remains embroiled in an increasingly bitter leadership battle that has been extended by the pandemic.

There are currently three hopefuls for the top job in Germany’s biggest party, with a twice-delayed election for a new chief now scheduled for mid-January.

North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet, corporate lawyer Friedrich Merz and foreign affairs expert Norbert Rottgen are vying for the post.

The candidates have proposed an online congress if meeting in person were to be impossible because of restrictions to curb coronavirus transmission.

– Pandemic uncertainty –

The chief of the CDU traditionally leads it and its smaller Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union to the polls.

However given the failure of any of the Christian Democrat candidates to create real momentum at this early stage, CSU chief and Bavarian premier Markus Soeder has been the focus of ardent speculation about a possible run.

Bavaria has been among the states hardest hit by coronavirus infections and Soeder’s robust response to the outbreak has won praise and given him an intense national spotlight.

He leads opinion polls against all three CDU candidates when Germans are asked who they would like to see as their next chancellor.

Yet Germany’s complex coalition maths, the uncertainty created by the pandemic and the absence of Merkel as a foregone conclusion in a German general election could well throw up other surprises.

The Social Democrats (SPD), the country’s oldest party and junior partners in the “grand coalition” government, have haemorrhaged support as the centrist Merkel occupied and helped define the middle ground of Germany’s consensus-oriented politics during her long tenure.

However pollsters say a more conservative CDU leader could drive some Merkel voters into the arms of the SPD, or the ecologist Greens, in opposition since 2005.

The Greens have benefited from growing concern about the climate, particularly among young voters, while making lasting inroads among urban, affluent Germans.

Polls show increasing openness to a CDU-Greens coalition, which would be a first at the national level in Germany.

The pro-business Free Democrats, frequent kingmakers in German post-war politics, are currently polling in the single digits, as is the far-left Linke.

Meanwhile the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has about 10-percent support and is currently the biggest opposition force in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

But the mainstream parties have ruled out joining forces with it in government.

Source:  AFP

Cameroonian man fined after being caught in public sex act in Northern Ireland

25, November 2020

Cameroonian man fined after being caught in public sex act in Northern Ireland 0

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Fabrece Nguegoub was spotted masturbating as he walked through a housing estate on the outskirts of the city.

The 26-year-old Cameroonian national, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent behaviour.

He was arrested after police were alerted on October 15 this year.

The court was told a member of the public reported seeing a man matching his description walking through Merville Garden Village in Newtownabbey.

He was said to be masturbating with his trousers around his ankles. A photograph was taken of the suspect and the authorities notified.

Nguegoub was detained on the Antrim Road in Newtownabbey later that day. Defence solicitor Stewart Ballentine stressed his client made an immediate admission.

“He accepts his behaviour was totally unacceptable and may have caused offence, but that wasn’t his intention ,” the lawyer said.

“He suffers from mental health problems, he said he had started to urinate and then followed on from that.”

Mr Ballentine disclosed that Nguegoub had travelled from his native Cameroon to stay with his sister in the Republic of Ireland.

“He then made his way north to Belfast on this particular day,” he added.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall imposed a £150 fine, with the defendant to serve three days in custody for any non-payment.

Source: News Letter

Southern Cameroons Crisis: CPDM Begins Election Campaign amid Separatist Violence

25, November 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: CPDM Begins Election Campaign amid Separatist Violence 0

Cameroon has begun the campaign season for its December 6 regional council elections amid threats and attacks from separatists fighting to create an English-speaking state in the French-majority country. The separatists, who have vowed to disrupt the polls, attacked several military convoys dispatched to protect voters. The government is pleading with citizens to help recently deployed troops by denouncing suspects.

Councilor Emile Ngalla, 47, said he fled from Bui to Mezam, both administrative areas in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region on Saturday. He said separatist fighters came to his home and threatened to kill him if he takes part in Cameroon’s December 6 regional council elections.

“I am not sure taking [I will take] part in the elections, but all I want to beg is that the government should enforce security for those who have the courage to do it [participate]. The issue of elections is bringing a lot of fear,” he said.

Ngalla said he will stay in the English-speaking northwestern town of Bamenda, which he said is safer, until the elections are held.

Government officials in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions say councilors and traditional rulers who constitute the electoral college are increasingly receiving death threats from fighters.

A video shared on social media appears to show an armed man in his 30s threatening to kill candidates if they do not stop campaigning and resign.

“I am coming out today to make it clear to the international community that there will be no elections come December 6, 2020. I want to advise all our people. you must stay vigilant. There will be no elections,” he said.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region said besides the audios and videos shared on social media, separatists have been making anonymous phone calls threatening candidates and voters.

Speaking via telephone from Bamenda, Tchoffo said troops have been deployed to protect voters, candidates and election materials. He said separatist fighters who have intensified attacks and threats to disrupt the polls should know that they will be killed by the military if they do not surrender. He said the elections will offer special status to the English-speaking regions, as requested by residents.

Tchoffo said on Friday and Saturday there were several attacks on military convoys. He did not say if there were any deaths, but civilians said at least four troops were wounded and five military vehicles damaged in the northwestern town of Kumbo.

Friday, President Paul Biya dispatched his defense minister, police boss and defense chief of staff to the English-speaking regions to make sure the elections take place.

Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the population should cooperate with the military by denouncing separatist suspects in their community.

“I wish to highlight unequivocally that our presence here attests the government’s resolve to provide an effective and definite solution to this crisis which keeps tormenting our people. A people who are only asking for a peaceful life, that is to live in a safe stable and prosperous environment,” he said.

Assomo called on voters and candidates to brave the threats and asked those who had left the region to return.

The government says the December 6 regional election will put in place the special status for the English-speaking regions as decided during the grand national dialogue called by Biya last September 30 through October 4.

The dialogue was to propose solutions to the crisis in the country’s English-speaking regions. Separatist leaders invited to the national dialogue refused to take part and called the special status a nonevent, stating that they want nothing but total independence for the English-speaking regions.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions descended into violence in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up OK? Weapons, claiming that they were defending civilians. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced over 500,000, according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA

Burkina Faso opposition criticises presidential vote as early results favour incumbent Kaboré

24, November 2020

Burkina Faso opposition criticises presidential vote as early results favour incumbent Kaboré 0

Incumbent Burkina Faso President Roch Kaboré was leading with just 12 of around 360 voting districts declared on Monday, the electoral commission said, while opposition parties cast doubt on the credibility of the results thus far.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens were unable to cast their ballots during the presidential vote on Sunday because their polling stations remained closed for fear of Islamist violence.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group operate across swathes of Burkina Faso, part of a widening jihadist threat in West Africa’s Sahel, a semi-arid region south of the Sahara Desert.

An association of the opposition parties cast doubt on the credibility of the results on Monday, repeating allegations of irregularities and fraud during a joint news conference. Ahead of the vote, international observers said they had seen no evidence of fraud.

Analysts expect a tight race that could go to a second round if no candidate wins more than 50 percent.

Kaboré, who was first elected in 2015, led in most of the dozen voting districts whose results were announced on Monday afternoon, totalling over 53,000 votes, more than double as many as his nearest rival, Zéphirin Diabré.

The electoral commission said further results would be announced on Tuesday.

Diabré is a former finance minister and 2015 runner-up. Kaboré’s other main competitor in the field of 13 candidates is Eddie Komboigo, the head of the party of Blaise Compaoré, who was president for 27 years until a 2014 revolution.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

US: Biden to pick ex-Fed chair Yellen as first female US Treasury chief

24, November 2020

US: Biden to pick ex-Fed chair Yellen as first female US Treasury chief 0

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to head the US Treasury, a choice that, if confirmed by the Senate, would make her the first woman in the job.

The 74-year-old, whose nomination was confirmed to AFP by a financial source close to the Biden administration, would be tasked with steering the world’s largest economy as it struggles with mass layoffs and a sharp growth slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Yellen will be the next treasury secretary” and she could be formally announced as early as Tuesday, the source said, confirming news first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Yellen’s candidacy was supported by left-wing members of Biden’s Democratic Party, according to the source, and requires Senate confirmation.

Yellen broke barriers when former president Barack Obama nominated her to serve as Fed chair in 2014, a position President Donald Trump ousted her from four years later.

At the Fed, Yellen was seen as a “dove” inclined towards low interest rates to support employment.

She would succeed Steven Mnuchin, and likely be faced with breaking a months-long deadlock in Congress over passing a new stimulus spending bill for the US economy — assuming lawmakers don’t act before Biden’s inauguration in January.

Chief economist at Grant Thornton Diane Swonk called Yellen “a highly talented and gifted economist” on Twitter.

“She will make a great treasury secretary at a critical time and write yet another chapter in the history books,” she said.

‘Essential’ spending’

The United States is home to the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, and as the economy convulsed Congress rallied in March to pass the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that expanded unemployment payments, supported small businesses and allocated money to hard-hit airlines to maintain their staff.

But those provisions expired over the summer, leading to 32,000 furloughs among major airlines alone and raising fears of a renewed economic slump.

Congress has been deadlocked on passing more aid, with Democrats supporting another $2.2 trillion measure but Republicans insisting on a series of smaller bills.

Gregori Volokhine, president of Meeschaert Capital Markets, called Yellen a “friend of the markets” for supporting further spending that would boost equities, and noting her confirmation would mark a return of technocrats to the executive branch.

“After four years of political appointments, we have appointments of professionals, not only political professionals but also professionals in their professions,” he said.

Currently a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Yellen has signaled her support for more spending.

“Fiscal policy has a very important role to play now,” she said in an appearance this month. “I believe it’s essential.”

Biden, who served as vice president under Obama and defeated Trump in the November 3 election, has been moving quickly to fill key slots in his incoming cabinet.

Earlier Monday, he announced a slew of appointments to key national security roles including former Obama official Antony Blinken as secretary of state.

The Dow closed up 1.1 percent following news of Yellen’s nomination as well as another upbeat announcement concerning a Covid-19 vaccine.

Source: AFP

Dortmund’s Cameroon-born Moukoko becomes youngest ever Bundesliga player

24, November 2020

Dortmund’s Cameroon-born Moukoko becomes youngest ever Bundesliga player 0

Borussia Dortmund’s 16-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest-ever player to feature in a Bundesliga game when he came on as a second-half substitute against Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Moukoko came on in the 85th minute in the place of Erling Haaland.

Moukoko, whose sensational run through the youth teams in recent seasons has shown him to be one of the biggest talents of his generation, made his league debut a day after his 16th birthday on Friday made him eligible to play under current rules.

Former Dortmund player Nuri Sahin had held the record, having made his debut in 2006 at the age of 16 years and 11 months.

The Cameroon-born Moukoko is already a Germany youth international with the Under-20 team and regularly played above his age group throughout his youth career at Dortmund, scoring 141 goals in 81 games for the Under-17 and Under-19 teams.

In the current Under-19 season alone he has netted 10 times in three appearances.

Source: Reuters

Yaoundé: Canada’s High Commissioner visits Aims-Cameroon, learns about the next Einstein Initiative

24, November 2020

Yaoundé: Canada’s High Commissioner visits Aims-Cameroon, learns about the next Einstein Initiative 0

The High commissioner of Canada to Cameroon, His Excellency Richard Bale, on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 graced the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cameroon with his presence at exactly 9 am.
The visiting ambassador, upon arrival, had the opportunity for full exposure to AIMS and her Ecosystem of Transformation, the Academic Life at AIMS-Cameroon, and the AIMS-Cameroon Teacher Training Program, thanks to a presentation by the Institution’s Center President, Prof. Dr. Mama Foupouagnigni, the Academic Director, Prof. Marco Garuti, and the English Pedagogic Adviser of the AIMS-Cameroon Teacher Training Program, Mme. Emilia Babila.

The ambassador equally had the opportunity to meet and interact with the students, tutors, and staff of AIMS-Cameroon who welcomed him with chants of gratitude for his interest in building the African society.

H.E Richard Bale did not part ways with the students without encouraging them to work harder and seize the unique opportunity of being at AIMS to forge friendships across Africa.

After the visit, he expressed complete satisfaction to have been in the midst of the AIMS-Cameroon community.

“It was a great visit, I learned a lot about AIMS and it was a pleasure to meet all the team” he said.

Source: Aims Cameroon

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