Headline News

4, July 2017

Lake Chad Basin Intelligence Chiefs in Yaounde ⁰

Security experts and military advisers from member countries of the Lake Chad basin Commission and Benin are holding a meeting in Yaoundé ahead of the Defense Chiefs of Staff and Intelligence and Securities Chiefs forum.
The experts from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Benin are drafting proposals to be presented to the Ministers of Defense and Defense Chiefs of Staff of the respective counties during their forthcoming three day meeting in Yaoundé. The meeting will discuss inter alia, the security situation in the sub region.

The Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, reassured participants that calm has returned to the sub region after the combine forces, in conjunction with national armies flushed out all the major pockets of Boko Haram fighters. The frequency of Boko Haram attacks and suicide bombings have consequently reduced to the lowest since the Joint Multinational Force went operational.

He however stated that sporadic attacks in remote areas, with the use of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers are still reported. The experts are also examining the humanitarian situation of persons affected by the war against Boko Haram.

The Multinational Joint Task Force remains a good example of south – south military cooperation. The force is composed essentially of soldiers from member countries and has carry out joint operations across the different countries.

Source: CRTV

4, July 2017

Why won’t the Biya regime release first autopsy report on late Bishop Balla? ⁰

The Procureur General of the Centre Court of Appeal has signed a communiqué today the 4th of July 2017, updating the public on investigations relating to the death of the Bishop of Bafia. The press release states that two separate autopsies were carried out on the remains of Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala.

After health experts in Cameroon did the first part of the autopsy, international forensic experts invited by INTERPOOL performed the second. The Procureur General stated that according to findings, the most probable cause of death of the man of God was drowning.

Though investigations as to the circumstances under which the prelate died are still on-going, his remains have been handed over to the National Episcopal Council for burial. On 2nd June 2017, the Catholic Community and Cameroonians as a whole were bewildered by the disappearance of the Bishop of Bafia.

His vehicle was eventually spotted on the Ebebda bridge and the corpse retrieved from the River Sanaga two days later. After the corpse was placed in the mortuary, competent officials opened a judicial investigation as to the cause of death that was considered suspicious.

Source: CRTV

4, July 2017

London: May to decide whether to publish report about foreign funding of extremism ⁰

British Prime Minister Theresa May is yet to decide whether to publish details of a report about foreign funding of extremism in the UK with a focus on Saudi Arabia. The outcome of the Home Office investigation is not yet released, which “leaves question marks over whether their decision is influenced by our diplomatic ties,” said the Green party co-leader, Caroline Lucas, as cited in a Guardian report, published Monday.

The probe was commissioned by former Prime Minister David Cameron and approved by May in December 2015, although she demonstrated a resolve to boost ties with Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Arab states later. Lucas and the Home Office both said this week that the British premier was personally responsible about whether to make the findings public.

“The review into the funding of Islamist extremism in the UK was commissioned by the former prime minister and reported to the home secretary and the prime minister in 2016,” claimed Home Office minister Sarah Newton. “The review has improved the government’s understanding of the nature, scale and sources of funding for Islamist extremism in the UK. Publication of the review is a decision for the prime minister.”

In her parliamentary question on the review’s whereabouts, Lucas called the delay “astonishing,” asserting that “the government is sitting on this report but refusing to publish it or give any reason for their continued secrecy.” Since Saudi Arabia launched its brutal campaign against Yemen in March 2015, the UK government has approved arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia worth $4.1 billion, according to London-based Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

May’s nemeses, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, have both called for making the findings public. According to Lucas, after recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, the British public is “quite rightly asking questions about routes to radicalization, and the funding of terror is central to this. “I urge Theresa May to reveal immediately whose advice they are following as to whether or not to publish this report, and to do all they can to put the facts into the public domain if it is safe to do so.”

Cameron had committed to publishing the report by spring 2016, according to the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, but the Home Office later called its contents “very sensitive,” indicating that it would never be published. Condemning London’s efforts to “kowtow” before the monarchy, he noted, “It is a scandal that the government are suppressing this report. The only conclusion you can draw is that they are worried about what it actually says.”

Source: Presstv

4, July 2017

Nigerian National Assembly decries forceful repatriation of refugees in Cameroon ⁰

Rep. Sani Zorro, Chairman, House Committee on IDPs, Refugees and North-East Initiatives, on Monday, decried the forceful repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon. Zorro said this when Volker Turk, the United Nation Humanitarian Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, visited the Minister of Interior in Abuja. He said that Nigerians returning back from Cameroon were facing double displacement because they were presently staying at the internally displaced camps.

Zorro urged the UNHCR to investigate the reasons why the Nigerian refugees in Cameroon were repatriated back home and make this public and to make sure that Cameroon implemented the tripartite agreement. He, however, said that the national assembly was ready to support the commission and the ministry in making sure that the present challenge was resolved. “As you are aware, our refugees from Cameroon that are coming back to Nigeria continued to suffer double displacement. “In the first instance, they were displaced and dispersed when they crossed over the border and upon their return they have found themselves again in internally displaced camps.

“This calls for very urgent humanitarian protection and assistance which the UNHCR always provide the expertise to manage such situation. “We at the national assembly level, are always ready, willing and cannot wait to complement the efforts of the executive arms of government and UNHCR to resolve this case’’. The chairman, however, commended the minister and the commissioner for their efforts in bringing a lasting solution towards the issue s of refugees and IDPs in the country. “I commend the minister for hosting this session that is very crucial towards finding solutions to the refugees’ situation both in Nigeria and Cameroon. “ I also commend the efforts of UNHCR who have continued to come to this region in other to explore lasting solution toward refugees and internally displaced persons. “

Also speaking, Hajiya Saiya Farouq, Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) appealed to UNCHR to find out what was happening in Cameroon. She said that Nigeria had a signed agreement with the Cameroon government and has kept its part of the agreement, tasking Cameroon to implement their own part. Farouq said that she hoped that the visit of the commissioner to Cameroon would bring a lasting solution to the present challenges.

“What is happening to our people in Cameroon and why they are flying back to Nigeria, as we have signed the agreement? “We expect that the principle of the agreement should be respected by both parties; on our own part we have a capable leader. “We are very disturbed by the situation and we hope that by your visit there, we will see some kind of improvement on the part of the Cameroon, “ she said. A total of 19,257 Nigerians have returned from Cameroon.

Source: Vanguard

3, July 2017

Anglophone Problem: Skating on thin ice ⁰

The lull in the Anglophone problem that has rocked Cameroon for more than eight months seems to give onlookers the impression that things are gradually returning to normal in Cameroon. This is not the true picture of things. The truth can only be found out if you scratch beyond the surface. The reality is that tempers are still flaring up among Anglophones as the government dilly dallies over the issue of federalism and the pseudo-trial of Anglophone leaders and others in courts considered by the English-speaking minority as Kangaroo courts. The struggle that has been driven by the Anglophone Diaspora is considered by many back home as the only opportunity for them to emerge from the second-class citizenship that the government has imposed on them for a very long time. This feeling of failure is striking fear in many minds in West Cameroon, as a total collapse of the struggle will spell doom for those arrested and jailed for daring a government that lacks the will and ability to pull its people out of the jaws of poverty.

For many Anglophones, the arrest of Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba, Retired Chief Justice Paul Ayah Abine and Mr. Mancho Bibixy will continue to generate tensions between Anglophones and the government which has never really proven the charges it has brought against these Anglophone leaders who are determined to change the status quo and even lay down their lives just to bring federalism to a country wherein disguised dictatorship has prevailed for more than fifty years. The continuous postponement of the sentencing of these Anglophone leaders has created a lot of tension in the country. Last week’s postponement of the sentencing has angered Anglophones, with SCNC extremists declaring that the government is skating on thin ice. They say they are running out of patience with the government regarding the continuous detention of innocent Anglophones. The government’s delaying tactics are poisoning its relationship with its English-speaking minority that has displayed a developed sense of purpose and unity over the last eight months.

From every indication, the government is yet to measure the impact of the impasse on the country. Its refusal to discuss the governance structure of the state is unfortunately radicalizing even the moderates and federalists. The current situation is giving secessionists a huge opportunity for them to take their gospel of Balkanizing the country to all the nooks and crannies of the world, especially where there are high concentrations of Anglophones. And they are quietly winning hearts and minds. This situation is generating new radicals, most of whom are swearing that the next academic year will not take off, if the government does not bring the various factions to the negotiating table. It should be recalled that the last academic year had been disrupted and while the government might have hastily organized GCE Advance and Ordinary Levels exams, the issue of class sizes will surely be a challenge, as students across the Anglophone region did not write any promotion examinations. It will be more challenging in the junior classes, as new pupils look forward to moving into the primary level from nursery schools.

The issue of security is also on many minds. Over the last month, the issue of security has been a nightmare that will not go away anytime soon. The demonstrations have pushed security officers from many cities in Anglophone Cameroon. This was responsible for many parents deciding that their children should stay at home. With the government unable to provide security across the country, many cloak-and-dagger organizations have emerged, and they are acting under the cover of darkness to destroy state property and assets owned by individuals who are not complying with calls for ghost towns in West Cameroon. Though the government has announced the recruitment of more army soldiers and police officers, Anglophone groups battling the government are not bothered about the government’s plans to expand its military force. They argue that the soldiers are not well trained and are not very patriotic, as they accuse those in power of corruption and nepotism.

In remote places like Eyumojock and Akwaya, the government is conspicuously absent. The rule of the people has replaced the semblance of law and order that had existed prior to the commencement of the Anglophone problem. In Akwaya, the people have simply taken the law into their own hands. While Anglophones have been victims of marginalization, the people of Akwaya have seen the worst form of marginalization. Lack of roads, hospitals, schools and other facilities have left the people with bitter feelings, but the unlawful arrest and detention of retired Chief Justice Paul Ayah Abine, a prominent son of Akwaya, is one bitter pill the people of Akwaya cannot swallow and this is radicalizing the entire sub-division.

The detention of Anglophones in Francophone Cameroon is generating lots of tension and it has created a stalemate that is taking a toll on the government and the country’s economy that has been on life support for a very long time. The recent International Monetary Fund loan of CFAF 366 billion to Cameroon is testimony to the fact that the country’s economy has taken a turn for the worse. While declining oil prices are mainly to blame for the economic catastrophe, the Anglophone problem that has been marked by a series of long ghost town operations and a disruption of government activities has also played a significant role in bringing the economy to its knees. The government is still reeling from the blow it took to the liver as a result of the Anglophone problem. It is faced with a Hobson’s choice, as the only other option is secession. It stands to gain if it goes to the negotiating table to find long-lasting and peaceful solutions.

The IMF loan is, for sure, a shot in the economy’s arm, but its effectiveness will be tested when the government starts investing the money. Many opponents of the government hold that the government’s financial performance has been,at best, dismal. Corruption and inefficiency have become the government’s hallmarks. Under Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge, Cameroon topped the global corruption chart for two years running, stealing the show from Nigeria. Prudent management, many Anglophones say, is a foreign concept to the government of Cameroon and the country’s authorities are not repentant about the economic mess they have created for their fellow compatriots. Unemployment and inflation are blighting the lives of ordinary Cameroonians and many young graduates, especially graduates of West Cameroon descent, do not see any hope in the future.

Over the last two months, the government has been dangling the carrot as a means to display its determination to make Anglophones feel at home in Cameroon.This, in the hope that tempers will calm down for it to return to its old ways. It has decided to grant more Anglophones access to ENAM, Francophone judges and administrators are being withdrawn from West Cameroon and there will soon be a common law bench at the Supreme Court. But Anglophones are not buying into this, as they consider government efforts as a hoax. Secessionists argue that the government is closing the barn after the horse has bolted. They say all these efforts are not really reducing tensions in the country. Anglophones are hell-bent on changing the country’s governance structure. They hold that the unitary system has been an ill wind to them, robbing them of their dignity and delight. They stress that a federal system will inspire hope, as the different regions will have to manage their own resources and undertake development projects that meet the people’s need.

But the government is still forging ahead with its plan, hoping that its strategy will buy it some time. Despite advice from the Holy See that the issues be addressed amicably and very fast, the government is still trying to play the old game that has embarrassed it across the globe. The stalemate seems to be serving its purpose as it leaves it with the impression that Anglophones are running out of steam. The unsettling stalemate appears to be good news to the government whose strategy all through has been to let time do some of its heavy lifting. It is true that time is always useful in certain circumstances, but the Anglophone problem is, for sure,a more challenging issue which will not go away anytime soon, more so because five million Anglophones are on the same page and their determination to destabilize the regime is unrelenting. They have suffered marginalization for more than five decades and the current unemployment and poverty that have reduced many Cameroonians into paupers is making things worse. Anglophones have decided to close ranks to face up to a government that has portrayed itself as a Frankenstein monster.

But despite this bitterness, the government is still pursuing its agenda. Last week, it organized its own version of the Diaspora forum with many Anglophones boycotting it, especially Anglophones in North America who have a huge war chest and the wherewithal to set up huge corporations that can help reduce the country’s unemployment significantly. The meaningful Anglophone Diaspora holds that it does not need government money. Unlike those who attended the government’s version of the Diaspora forum, the Anglophone Diaspora holds that it only needs good policies and a business-friendly environment. Many members of the Anglophone Diaspora say they want to come into the country to develop the country’s real estate sector which is clearly begging for investments. Cameroon needs millions of modern homes, but the government’s poor policies and mismanagement have gone a long way in transforming the country into an open air landfill. They hold that poor town planning has reduced the country’s cities to slums, adding that huge financial injections from the Diaspora could help turn things around. Members of the Anglophone Diaspora want to bring the North American mortgage system to the country; a system that has generated a lot of wealth for Anglophone Cameroonians living in the United States and Canada. They hold that they are capable of establishing strategic alliances with banks and developers, if the current system gets changed. They argue that the unitary system cannot spin a lot of opportunities and wealth for many people, stressing that the richest countries in the world are indeed federal systems.

In many parts of the world, especially in developing countries, the Diaspora has been recognized as a key factor in efforts at attaining sustainable levels of development. In countries such as Tunisia, Zambia, Morocco and Cape Verde, the Diaspora is helping to turn things around in these countries. In today’s global economy, marked by reducing development aid, many developing countries like Cameroon have very few options to spur growth and sustain long-term socioeconomic development. Poor policies, declining foreign aid, and decreasing opportunities in the global economy have sharply reduced Cameroon’s options for growth and competitiveness. Its best option will be harnessing the Diaspora as a viable option to spur growth. But the country’s current government has been considering the Diaspora, especially the Anglophone Diaspora, as a destabilizing force. Unlike many other African governments, the government of Cameroon is still playing hard ball when it comes to dealing with the Diaspora. It is yet to approve dual nationality and the idea of letting the Diaspora vote in future elections is still a distant tomorrow affair. This is creating a lot of frustration among members of the country’s Diaspora and these hard working Cameroonians living out of their country are determined to rob the country of the peace it needs if their pleas are not heeded.

The government of Cameroon needs peace, but it hardly practices justice and this explains why the country is gradually falling apart. The government needs to understand that Cameroon’s Diaspora has come of age. The Anglophone Diaspora, in particular, has many men and women of significant financial power and they want to play a key role in their country’s political and economic space. The Anglophone Diaspora has, over the last eight months, proven that it is a force to reckon with when it comes to determining the course of politics in Cameroon. The Anglophone problem has clearly demonstrated that working with the Diaspora is an idea whose time has come, especially the Anglophone Diaspora which has shown a clear sense of purpose and unity. The Diaspora has run the struggle and it has been very effective. Its punches to the government have hit their targets, with many of them landing where it hurts the most. The government stands to gain if it starts negotiating with the Diaspora to ensure that last year’s chaos that brought about the closure of schools and courts does not rear its ugly head. While the stalemate could be sending out false signals of demonstration fatigue, the government must make sure that all the stakeholders in this dispute that has given the country a bad name are brought to the negotiating table. Without such an action, the government should be rest assured that it is skating on thin ice and with September fast approaching; Cameroon will be back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons if the issue of federalism is not laid to rest.

By Joachim Arrey, Ph.D
Contributing Editor
Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

3, July 2017

Ask A Cameroonian Farmer How To Teach Your Kids Self-Control ⁰

In the the 1960s, a Stanford psychologist ran an experiment to study children’s self-control. It’s called the marshmallow test. And it’s super simple. Kids ages 3 to 5 choose a treat — an Oreo cookie, a pretzel stick or a marshmallow. Then researchers give the child brief instructions: You can eat the treat now … but if you can wait for me to return, you’ll get two treats.

The researchers leave the room. And the child just has to sit there staring at a marshmallow — and deciding whether to exert self-control or to dig in. Psychologists have performed the experiment many times. In general, fewer than half the kids “pass” the test. Most kids can’t delay gratification: They gobble up the marshmallow.

The researchers followed these kids for decades and found that those who did wait were more likely to have better SAT scores and better jobs later on in life, the researchers reported. Now for the first time, there’s a study reporting on what happens when psychologists give the marshmallow test to kids outside Western culture, specifically 4-year-old children from the ethnic group Nso in Cameroon.

“The Nso are a community who live off subsistence farming, mainly corn and beans,” says Bettina Lamm, a psychologist at the Universitat Osnabruck, who led the study. “Most of the children live in mud brick houses without water and electricity. They have to work a lot to take care of younger siblings and help their parents on the farm.”

Guess what? These kids rocked the marshmallow test. “The difference was huge,” Lamm says. “The Cameroonian kids really behave very differently, and they were able to wait much better.” Lamm and her colleagues ran the experiment on nearly 200 Cameroonian and German kids. The Cameroonians kids were offered a puff-puff — a little doughnut popular there.

Compared to German children in the experiment, the Cameroonian kids waited, on average, twice as long for the second treat. And way more Cameroonian kids — nearly 70 percent — waited the full 10 minutes to snag the second marshmallow. Only about 30 percent of the German kids could hold out, Lamm and her team reported in the journal Child Development in early June. Lamm and colleagues watched the kids closely during the experiment and tracked their behavior. The German kids showed way more emotions during the waiting period, she says, especially negative emotions.

They whined more, cried more and squirmed more in their seats. “They were really fighting the waiting period — playing with their fingers, talking to themselves — trying any distraction they can to manage to wait,” she says. “In contrast, many of the Cameroonian kids simply sat quietly and waited,” Lamm says. “Ten percent of them even fell asleep.”

It’s almost like the kids were meditating. Lamm says they don’t know exactly why the Cameroonian kids were so good at the marshmallow test. Kid behaviors are complicated and sophisticated. But one reason may be the Nso parenting style, which is completely different than Western parenting.

“Nso children are required very early to control their emotions, especially negative emotions,” Lamm says. “Moms tell their children that they don’t expect them to cry and that they really want them to learn to control their emotions.”

This parenting style starts very early — when children are newborns. “The moms breast-feed their babies before they start to cry so they don’t need to express any negative emotion,” Lamm says. “This emotion is already regulated before it’s expressed.” Western moms spend a lot of time looking at their babies for signals to figure out what their babies needs. The Nso moms don’t do this.

“They believe they — the moms — know what is good for a baby, and they do what is good for a baby,” Lamm says. “They don’t need to look for signals from the baby.” As the children get older, this parenting style continues.
“Kids are really expected to learn to control their needs and not ask for their desires or wishes,” she says. These moms expect obedience and respect. And the kids are good at adapting to situations where they don’t get what they might want, where they have to wait.

“So they learn self-control,” Lamm says. “Maybe it’s a different type of self-control than Western kids learn. But it’s very effective.” But self-control might not be the whole picture, says Celeste Kidd, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester.

A few years ago, she and her colleagues found evidence that the marshmallow test doesn’t involve just self-control. It also measures how much a child trusts his environment — how much they trust that the researcher is really going to return with the second marshmallow.

“What also matters is kids’ expectations about whether waiting will be worth it or not,” Kidd says. Because if you think about it, if the child doesn’t believe that second marshmallow is actually going to arrive, then it makes sense to eat the first one.

“We have evidence that kids take under consideration the statistical nature of what has happened in the past,” Kidd says. “So for example, if a child is living in an environment where there’s a lot of uncertainty and instability, then they may think that waiting isn’t likely to pay off even though they have the ability to delay gratification.”
Nso parents are quite strict and consistent with their discipline. So, Kidd says, perhaps this consistent parenting boosts the kids’ trust in adults — that when the person in charge says they’re going to bring a second treat, they likely will.

Source: npr.org

3, July 2017

Man charged over plotting to kill French President Macron on Bastille Day ⁰

French prosecutors have charged a man with plotting to assassinate President Emanuel Macron during an upcoming parade in Paris. A judicial source said Monday that the 23-year-old man was charged on Monday with plotting to commit a terrorist act. He was arrested at his home in the northwest Paris suburb of Argenteuil on Wednesday.
Police was tipped off about the man after users of a chat room linked to a video game said he wanted to buy a firearm. The judicial source said the man had confessed that he wanted to kill Macron at the July 14 national day parade in Paris. The source added that the man had also planned to attack Muslims, Jews and blacks.

The source, who was close to the investigation, said the man had hidden kitchen knives in his vehicles while investigators found information on his computer showing that he had searched on the internet for potential targets.
Reports said the man had criminal records related to terrorism, which dated back to 2016 when he allegedly applauded Anders Behring Breivik, a neo-Nazi mass murderer who killed 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage in Norway in 2011. The French man was convicted for condoning terrorism at the time and was given a three-year prison sentence, 18 months of which was later suspended.

France has been reeling from a spate of terrorist attacks over the past years. Authorities introduced a state of emergency in November 2015 when 130 people were killed in a matter of a night in attacks in Paris. The measure has been extended for several times as authorities seek to cope with sporadic attacks on people and security forces in crowded places. Most of the attacks have been claimed by Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group mainly operating in Iraq and Syria.

Last month, a man drove a car laden with weapons and gas canisters into a police van stationed on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris. In April, a gunman shot dead a police officer on the Champs-Elysees days before the first round of the presidential election. On July 14, Macron is to attend the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Elysees.

Source: Presstv

3, July 2017

President Buhari’s Health: Aisha returns to London ⁰

Nigerian first lady, Aisha Buhari has reportedly traveled to the UK today Monday the 3rd of July 2017 to see her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari for the second. Rumour circulated late yesterday that Buhari had died in a London hospital.

According to a statement made public by Suleiman Haruna, Aisha Buhari’s Director of Information, Madam Buhari the wife of the President left for London, United Kingdom on Sunday, July 2, 2017 to visit her husband.

The statement also stated that Aisha Buhari will convey to the President the best wishes of the Nigerian people and their fervent prayers for his speedy recovery. Buhari’s wife will make a stopover in Addis Ababa to attend a meeting of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV / AIDS (OAFLA).

The big man himself left Nigeria on May the 7th for medical reasons. No date has so far been announced for the return of Buhari to Nigeria.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

3, July 2017

Trump disapproval rating nearing 60% again ⁰

US President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating appears to be on the path to reach 60 percent, a Gallup’s daily tracking poll shows. The 57-percent disapproval rating the president currently enjoys is slightly lower that his 60 percent record in mid-June, showed results of the Gallup poll released Sunday.

The past two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, never reached a 60 percent disapproval in the Gallup survey but Republican President George W. Bush managed to reach the 60 percent disapproval mark after almost five years in the White House.

Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed in the latest poll, said they still approve of the job Trump is doing. Having a margin of error of 3 percentage points, the poll was conducted among approximately 1,500 American adults via telephone.

According to a RealClear Politics average of polls, 54.5 percent of the Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance while 40 percent approve of it. A Gallup poll in May suggested that Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, gets less negative ratings than her father.

“Virtually all Americans are familiar with Donald Trump, with only 1% having no opinion of the president. Ivanka Trump is less familiar, though still well-known to Americans, with 16% saying they have never heard of or have no opinion of her,” Gallup said.

Source: Presstv

2, July 2017

Germany wins Confederations Cup ⁰

If Germany retain the World Cup next year, then perhaps this was the night that laid the groundwork. Chile will ask themselves how they lost this Confederations Cup final after they missed a number of chances and let in Lars Stindl for the winning goal with a defensive slip. But it was a triumphant night for Joachim Low and a group of players he opted to test run this summer ahead of the bigger challenge in 2018; he now has 11 months to sift through a more battle-hardened set of options than any other international coach has at his disposal.

Chile started at a ferocious tempo and carved Germany open within five minutes. Excellent work from Arturo Vidal freed Charles Aranguiz but, with the midfielder poised to pull the trigger, Antonio Rudiger executed a perfect tackle. The ball stayed alive and Vidal’s low drive was kept out by the legs of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The early onslaught continued, Vidal and Eduardo Vargas both trying their luck. It was near-incessant pressure and in the 19th minute Alexis Sanchez missed a glorious chance. He seemed certain to convert after Ter Stegen parried from Vidal but, perhaps taking his eye off the ball, failed to make a clean contact.

Within seconds Sanchez was made to pay. Germany had barely laid a glove on Chile but took the lead with a gift of a goal, Marcelo Diaz allowing Timo Werner to rob him of possession just outside his own box. Werner squared to Stindl for the simplest of tap-ins; nobody could say this turn of events had seemed remotely likely.

It was a shock to Chile; they began to huff and puff, and Leon Goretzka might twice have doubled Germany’s lead before half-time. First the in-form Schalke player fired across goal from Sebastian Rudy’s smart pass, then he was denied well by Claudio Bravo after Julian Draxler had capitalised on another lapse.

Draxler, surging through before a lunging Gonzalo Jara deflected his shot wide, threatened 10 minutes into the second half and Germany looked more than capable of picking off their older opponents on the counter. Chile were becoming fractious and Jara received a let-off when, after appearing to elbow Werner, a lengthy VAR review led to nothing more than a yellow card.

Tempers raised even further when, 15 minutes from time, Sanchez went down in the box after colliding with Rudy. Vidal shot over from the loose ball but Chile’s players furiously claimed a penalty and urged referee Milorad Mazic to review using the VAR. To their disgust, he failed to oblige although more conventional replays suggested Sanchez did not have a case.

Chile rallied for one last push, Ter Stegen tipping wide from Aranguiz, and then they missed their final big chance. Substitute Angelo Sagal had a gaping net to fire into when fellow replacement Edson Puch squared past a committed Ter Stegen, but he blazed over and with that wayward finish went his side’s hopes.

Source: ESPNFC