Headline News

Enfin: Lionel Messi no longer a player with FC Barcelona

6, August 2021

Enfin: Lionel Messi no longer a player with FC Barcelona 0

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will not sign a contract extension with Barcelona, which he is leaving at 34 after more than 20 seasons in the Blaugrana shirt, the Catalan club announced Thursday.

“Although an agreement has been reached between Barcelona and Leo Messi (…) it will not be able to be formalized due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations),” Barca said in a statement, pointing to La Liga’s salary cap rules that would prevent the Argentine’s contract from being registered.

“Faced with this situation, Lionel Messi will not remain linked to Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot be realized,” the club continued. “Barca wants to thank the player wholeheartedly for his contribution to the institution and wishes him the best for his personal and professional life.”

FC Barcelona thanking Messi

At the end of his contract last June, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner finds himself free to sign wherever he wants, a thunderous blow even as the Spanish press expected the agreement between the two parties to be concluded imminently.

– Financial difficulties –

Since the end of the disappointing 2020-2021 season, which ended with the only King’s Cup trophy on the shelf, the Catalan club has done everything to keep its jewel and chase away the Argentine’s desires for elsewhere, who had already expressed in the summer of 2020 his desires for elsewhere.

But the serious financial difficulties of Barça to stay within the limits of the financial fair play of the Spanish League, have been the reason for the operation, despite a monetary effort of the small Argentine striker, ready to divide his salary by two and to extend for five seasons according to the Spanish press.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who just won the Copa America with Argentina, had become the player with the most appearances for Barça this season, ahead of the 767 appearances of the legend Xavi.

This shocking turn of events concerning one of the greatest players in history could upset the transfer market and the specialized press, before the Argentine star’s destination is known.

Last summer, Messi’s desire to leave the club caused a long drama, but the player finally decided to stay in Catalonia, despite the interest of Paris SG and Manchester City.

Source: Africa News

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon gov’t military kills 2 fake Amba fighters

5, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon gov’t military kills 2 fake Amba fighters 0

Two criminals posing as members of the Ambazonia Restoration Force were killed today at Ndu by Cameroon government soldiers deployed to the area.

The Francophone civil administrator in Ndu was quoted as saying that the “Amba Terrorist came to kidnap workers of the Ndu Tea Plantation but were neutralized by Cameroon government forces.”

Cameroon Concord News sources in Ndu revealed that the two gunmen were local criminals who had been terrorizing the area and had nothing to do with Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups.

The two armed robbers reportedly disguised as Amba fighters and fired bullets at different locations in the tea plantation, many of them randomly. They were killed in a confrontation with BIR.

A close aide to Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government contacted by Camcordnews said today that the Ambazonia Interim Government believes there may be more Atanga Nji Boys abandoned by the Minister of Territorial Administration within Ndu who are now committing crimes.

Dr Patrick Ayuk said that the Southern Cameroons Interim Government was “on the verge” of restructuring the county-by-county self defense protocols to be able to fish out the Atanga Nji Boys.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bui Warriors destroy Cameroon gov’t military vehicles and weapons

5, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bui Warriors destroy Cameroon gov’t military vehicles and weapons 0

Ambazonia Restoration Forces providing security in Bui Division have destroyed several Cameroon government military trucks transporting security forces as well as some armored vehicles and artillery systems.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from administrative sources in Bamenda that the armored vehicles were part of a huge volume of military equipment donated or sold to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime by the French to help it crush the British Southern Cameroons resistance.

A video released by the Bui Warriors also claimed that they had seized and destroyed several trucks from Cameroon government forces.

Cameroon government soldiers deployed to the rural areas in Southern Cameroons are evaporating in the face of Ambazonia pressure—sometimes without a fight, due in part to the perception that the government is reportedly crumbling as the 88-year-old President Paul Biya smells his last days on earth.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

France, Germany to offer vaccine boosters despite WHO call to prioritise poorer nations

5, August 2021

France, Germany to offer vaccine boosters despite WHO call to prioritise poorer nations 0

Germany and France will begin offering a third COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to the most vulnerable members of their populations starting in September, disregarding a WHO appeal to delay third doses until more people in poorer countries are vaccinated.

Germany and France will go ahead with COVID-19 vaccine boosters from September, disregarding an appeal by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to hold off until more people are vaccinated across the globe.

The decision to press ahead with booster shots despite the strongest statement yet from the WHO highlights the challenge of dealing with a global pandemic while countries try to protect their own citizens from the more infectious Delta variant.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France was working on rolling out third COVID-19 vaccine doses to the elderly and vulnerable from September.

“A third dose will likely be necessary, not for everyone straightaway, but in any case for the most vulnerable and the most elderly,” Macron said on his Instagram account.

Germany intends to give boosters to immunocompromised patients, the very elderly and nursing home residents from September, the health ministry said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a halt to vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, saying it was unacceptable for rich countries to use more of the global vaccine supply.

High-income countries administered around 50 doses for every 100 people in May, and that number has since doubled, according to WHO. Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supplies.

“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it,” Tedros said.

Germany rejected those accusations, saying it would also donate at least 30 million vaccine doses to poorer countries.

“We want to provide the vulnerable groups in Germany with a precautionary third vaccination and at the same time support the vaccination of as many people in the world as possible,” the ministry said.

Macron’s government is trying to step up France’s vaccination programme as the country faces a fourth wave of the virus and street demonstrations in protest against the government’s COVID policies.

France and Germany have so far given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 64.5% and 62% of their respective populations, with 49% of the French and 53% of Germans fully-vaccinated.

(REUTERS)

Biden to set target of half of US car sales to be zero-emission by 2030

5, August 2021

Biden to set target of half of US car sales to be zero-emission by 2030 0

President Joe Biden will set a target on Thursday that half of all cars sold in the United States by 2030 will be zero-emission vehicles, the White House announced.

Biden’s plan follows the dramatic loosening of many environmental regulations and climate protections under the Donald Trump administration.

“The President will sign an Executive Order that sets an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles,” a White House statement said.

The order, due to be signed on Thursday, will position “America to drive the electric vehicle future forward, outcompete China, and tackle the climate crisis,” it added.

The three big American auto manufacturers — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — expressed their “shared aspiration to achieve sales of 40-50%” of electric vehicles including battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030.

In another statement, the manufacturers BMW, Honda, Volkswagon and Volvo — whose electric vehicles are often considered more advanced than their US competitors — applauded the initiative.

– Union support –

One of America’s largest unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), rallied behind the move.

“The members of the UAW, current and future, are ready to build these electric cars and trucks and the batteries that go in them,” President Ray Curry said in a statement released through the White House.

Electric car sales account for only two percentage of the overall US market, compared with 10 percent in Europe

Electric car sales account for only two percentage of the overall US market, compared with 10 percent in Europe Drew Angerer GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

“Our members are America’s secret weapon in winning this global race.”

Although the 50 percent figure would not exceed what many American manufacturers were already considering, it is a steep target for the United States as a whole.

The country is home to Tesla, a world leader in electric cars, but it has been slow to adopt such vehicles — especially compared with China or Europe.

While around 10 percent of European car sales are of electric vehicles, they account for less than two percent in the United States, according to the International Energy Agency in 2020.

Biden also intends to beef up fuel consumption and emission regulations, which had been dramatically rolled back under his predecessor Trump.

Car emissions are the single biggest US contributor to climate change.

The current emissions regulations, which date from March 2020, require manufacturers to improve by 1.5 percent the energy efficiency of their vehicles between 2021 and 2026 — compared with the five percent demanded by the Obama administration.

The Biden administration did not immediately unveil a new quantified objective.

Source: AFP

MSF says Biya wants NGO to act as an intelligence agency and to report Amba fighters

4, August 2021

MSF says Biya wants NGO to act as an intelligence agency and to report Amba fighters 0

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is withdrawing from Southern Cameroons after failing to reach an agreement with the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime following eight months of suspension despite extensive negotiations.

The announcement of MSF’s withdrawal was made public Tuesday, August 3, 2021, through a statement by Emmanuel Lampaert coordinator of MSF operations in Central Africa.

“We therefore have no choice but to withdraw our teams. However, we will keep a small liaison office in Bamenda, the regional capital, to continue the dialogue with the authorities,” he said.

It was in December 2020 that the international NGO was suspended from all activities in Southern Cameroons on a lame and ridiculous reason that its physicians were helping Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Hardliners in the regime including Defense Minister Beti Assomo and Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji accused the NGO of collaborating with the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces and also of treating wounded Ambazonians in the name of international humanitarian law.

The Biya French Cameroun conman Paul Atanga Nji wanted by the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé even said in a press conference in Yaoundé that weapons and ammunition were found in MSF ambulances.

Last May, MSF’s CEO visited Yaoundé and was received by the Minister of External Relations, the Minister of Defense and Paul Atanga Nji of Territorial administration.

After discussions with LeJeune Mbella Mbella (Minrex) Joseph Beti Assomo (Mindef) and Paul Atanga Nji (Minat), no compromise was reached.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the Biya regime officials want the NGO to act as an “intelligence agency and to report to Yaoundé every location where injured Ambazonia fighters are being treated.”

The Beti Ewondo gang opposed the requirements of international humanitarian law, specifically the Vienna Convention, which sets out the principles of neutrality and independence of NGOs.

MSF has been providing emergency medical care and free ambulance service in Southern Cameroons since 2018.The NGO says that since its suspension, several children have died for lack of medicine, due to the lack of means to get to hospitals.

By Fon Lawrence

 Nkotti François has died

4, August 2021

 Nkotti François has died 0

Makossa legend and leader of the renowned group “Black Styl” Nkotti François has died today August 4, 2021 in the Douala General Hospital.

Desto as he was often referred to by his colleagues and fans all over the world, celebrated his 50 years of musical career recently and published an autobiographical book that traces his long and rich musical career with the likes of Toto Guillaume, Emile Kangue, Ake Loba, and Monie Miller.

Nkotti François was one of the patriarchs of Makossa who successfully recorded several albums with more than 150 songs.

He created the national song contest which has become today “Mutzig star”. He was also an economic actor with the Musical, Artistic, Industrial and Commercial Fair of Cameroon (Fomaric) of which he was the boss for over twenty years.

A multidimensional man, Nkotti François was also a militant of the ruling CPDM party and was elected mayor in (2002-2013) of the Bonalea district, Moungo Division in the Littoral region.

By Fon Lawrence

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Where is Paul Atanga Nji?

4, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Where is Paul Atanga Nji? 0

For some time now, Cameroon’s flamboyant and noisy territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has been missing in action even as thousands of the country’s army soldiers are being killed and humiliated by a ragtag military that started off with machetes and clubs to defend the population and its territory against the invaders from East Cameroon.

The man who said there was no Southern Cameroons crisis when the problem hit the international stage and the author of many new expressions, including “the boyses in the bushes” and “burying the bereaved” has suddenly disappeared from the public’s eye and nobody is talking about him in public.

The conman par excellence had told his bosses in Yaoundé that if given the territorial administration portfolio, he would end the high level insurgency in days given that he knew the terrain and was an Anglophone.

Strangely, after more than two years in such a high position Paul Atanga Nji has not achieved much and things have gone from bad to worse despite all the tactics he has used, including killing young males and placing weapons on their corpses and creating groups pretending to be new Southern Cameroonian factions in the conflict.

Some people are also holding that he might be helping the other Paul, the one struggling for his life in Geneva, with his illnesses. It is still tough to many sound minds to understand how a person can help a sick person when illnesses are not transferable.

However, many regime insiders are warning that Paul Atanga Nji is someone who can transform sand into gold and that he could still pretend that his presence by the ailing Paul might help reduce his pain. No one should underestimate Atanga Nji, a regime baron advised.

From every indication, the territorial administration boss seems to be seeing the writing on the wall. The crisis in Southern Cameroons will not be over anytime soon and his promise to mop up the mess out there cannot be fulfilled, especially as Amba fighters have procured more sophisticated weapons and have also sharpened their hit-and-run tactics.

He may also be seeing the end of the massive scam that his government has put in place. The architect of this scheme has been pinned down in a Geneva clinic by many debilitating illnesses and the chances of him recovering are very slim. Paul Atanga Nji may just be plotting his exit strategy as he knows the next president will not be using his services which have done much to send many young soldiers to an early grave and have deeply divided the country.

Paul Atanga Nji, the man with very limited formal education, is very responsible for the killing of more than 10,000 Cameroonians in a war that could have been avoided if the right words and approaches had been used.

He strongly believes in the use of a hammer to kill a fly and holds that negotiating or talking to opponents is a sign of failure and this has plunged the country in a pretty mess. Now that things have spiralled out of control, he has gone underground. He is simply tired of “burying the bereaved” as the “boyses in the bushes” continue to put up a huge show that has left the government wondering.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Yaoundé: Vision 4 political commentator ditched over Southern Cameroons comment

4, August 2021

Yaoundé: Vision 4 political commentator ditched over Southern Cameroons comment 0

Popular French Cameroun political analyst was recently kicked off his prime time slot for pro Southern Cameroons comment.

Dieudonné Essomba has participated in the ”Club d’Elites”, broadcast every Sunday on the private television channel, Vision 4 show since its inception but was ousted over his pro Southern Cameroons statements.

Vision 4 bosses contacted by our Yaoundé city reporter insist it is due to heightened sensitivities and to avoid accusations of a conflict of interest.

His last appearance on the popular program was on July 18, 2021 in which the economist analyzed the anti-Biya demonstration organized on July 17 by Cameroonian activists, united under the banner of the Anti-Sardinard Brigade (BAS).

The French Cameroun political commentator indexed the Biya regime and accused it of being at the origin of all the ongoing crises in Cameroon particularly the war in Southern Cameroons.

Speaking to reporters in Yaoundé recently, Dieudonné Essomba said “I signed a contract with Vision 4. For now, it has not been terminated. But they have asked me not to come anymore”.

By Rita Akana

US: New York Governor Cuomo ‘sexually harassed multiple women’

4, August 2021

US: New York Governor Cuomo ‘sexually harassed multiple women’ 0

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo “sexually harassed multiple women”, including employees, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday as she announced the findings of an independent investigation into allegations against the powerful Democrat.

The explosive report, which was swiftly made public, details allegations by 11 women that paint a “deeply disturbing yet clear” picture of a pattern of abusive behavior by the governor and his senior staff, James said — allegations which Cuomo himself quickly denied.

It was not clear if he would face criminal prosecution, with James saying the investigation was “civil in nature.”

The five-month investigation “concluded that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so violated federal and state law,” James told a news conference.

She said Cuomo “sexually harassed current and former New York state employees by engaging in unwelcome and non-consensual touching and making numerous comments of a suggestive sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.”

The investigation also found that Cuomo and his senior team took retaliatory action against at least one former employee for coming forward with her story, she said.

Cuomo issued an unequivocal denial and gave no indication that he was considering his position.

“First, I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,” he said in a televised statement.

“I am 63 years old. I have lived my entire adult life in public view. That is just not who I am. And that’s not who I have ever been.”

He said that he had published a response to every allegation made by the women against him on his website, adding: “Please take the time to read the facts and decide for yourself.”

And he suggested that resignation was not on his mind, saying: “What matters to me at the end of the day is getting the most done I can for you.

“And that is what I do every day. And I will not be distracted from that job. We have a lot to do.”

In recent months multiple women have publicly denounced what they said were inappropriate words and gestures from Cuomo, who drew praise nationwide for his pandemic response early in the crisis.

In March President Joe Biden said that if the accusations against Cuomo are proven he should go.

‘Climate of fear’

Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, was one of the first to call for Cuomo to face consequences over the report.

“Governor Cuomo must resign and be arrested immediately,” she tweeted.

New York lawmakers also reacted swiftly, with state senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins saying it “should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as governor.”

Carl Heastie, speaker of the New York assembly, said the report would be examined by lawmakers but appeared to demonstrate Cuomo was “not fit for office.”

The investigators released some details of the allegations against Cuomo during the news conference.

One former employee said the charismatic, media-friendly politician slipped his hand under her blouse last year, while a trooper on Cuomo’s protective detail said he inappropriately touched her stomach and hip.

His conduct was “not just old fashioned affection and behavior as he and some of his staff would have it, but unlawful sex-based harassment,” said Anne Clark, one of the lawyers heading the investigation.

She said that Cuomo himself responded to investigators with “a mixture of admitting to certain things but putting a different spin on them and denying others.”

But none of the women welcomed his attentions, the other lawyer leading the probe, Joon Kim, said. “All of them found it disturbing, humiliating, uncomfortable and inappropriate.”

Clark detailed one incident where Cuomo prepared a letter he wanted to release to the press attacking one of the alleged victims, though he was ultimately persuaded not to.

And Kim said Cuomo and his staff fostered a “climate of fear” that kept women from speaking out. “It was a culture where you could not say no to the governor,” he said.

The investigators said that at least one report has been made to police about Cuomo’s behavior, and that their findings could be used in any criminal investigations.

The women involved can also decide whether they want to sue Cuomo, they said.

James praised the women, saying the investigation had found that all 11 were credible.

“I am inspired by all the brave women who came forward. But more importantly, I believe them,” she said.

(AFP)

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