Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon’s president.

About 250 demonstrators demanding an end to President Paul Biya’s rule squared off with dozens of police, many in riot gear, backed up by armoured vehicles.

The standoff turned violent when the crowd, many draped in Cameroon flags, started making its way towards Biya’s hotel, about 500 metres (1,600 feet) from a square outside the UN where they had gathered.

An AFP reporter witnessed police beating and kicking a protester on the ground.

Biya, 86, “has run his dictatorship for nearly half a century,” said rally co-organiser Robert Wanto, a Cameroonian national who has lived in exile for three decades.

“We are here to demand that Cameroon be allowed to enter the modern democratic era,” he told AFP outside of the UN’s European headquarters ahead of the protest.

Several hours before the rally started, about 30 protestors set up a stage with banners and graphic pictures of dead bodies apparently mangled by torture, with the message: “The people say no to Paul Biya”.

Cameroon’s embassy in Bern warned earlier this week that Cameroonian nationals living in various European countries were planning a “violent” protest against Biya on Saturday.

Geneva police told AFP it was expecting a “large” demonstration. Authorisation was granted but limited to the square outside the UN.

• ‘Ultimatum’ –

They were not granted permission to march to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel where Biya is believed to have been staying since Sunday.

But Wanto told AFP the demonstrators had given Biya an “ultimatum” to leave and if he remained at the hotel when the protest began, “we will march there”.

He pointed out that Biya had made it a habit to stay at the pricy Intercontinental during long visits to Switzerland, where he reportedly comes for medical treatment.

“He thinks it is OK to come here and spend billions of our money when our country is economically sick,” Wanto said.

Early Saturday, dozens of suit-clad men believed to be part of the president’s security detail stood around the hotel.

Several police vans were also parked outside the hotel and groups of officers had been stationed at regular intervals between the tall glass building and the UN square.

Over the past week, there have already been several scuffles with small numbers of demonstrators outside the hotel and even inside the lobby.

An attack on a Swiss journalist covering the events by men believed to be Biya’s security staff sparked a diplomatic incident, prompting the Swiss government to summon Cameroon’s ambassador in Bern on Thursday.

“The dictator must be senile to want to transport the violence he unleashes on his country on a daily basis to the soil of a democratic country,” Wanto said.

Cameroon, a former French colony, has faced a succession of crises and is wracked by a deadly conflict between separatists and government forces in its English-speaking west.

Opposition leaders have faced mass arrests, and rights groups claim detainees are tortured and many disappear.

AFP

Europe was bracing itself for a sweltering Saturday as the heat wave continued across the continent.

The Meteo-France weather service lifted its red warning but forecast a “very hot day” across a large central band of the country with the mercury expected to rise to 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts.

With France, Spain, Italy and parts of central Europe hard hit by the record-breaking temperatures, officials pleaded with people to take precautions.

France’s new record temperature of 45.9 degrees C (114.6 degrees F) was registered on Friday in Gallargues-le-Montueux, a village in the southern department of Gard near Montpellier, breaking successive records set earlier in the day, Meteo-France told AFP.

This is the same area where the previous high of 44.1 degrees Celsius was set in August 2003. Records began at the turn of the 20th century.

The weather service said the new high was comparable to August temperatures in California’s Death Valley.

Earlier Friday, the mercury rose above 44 degrees C in the southeastern French town of Carpentras. The town was deserted, with cafe owners contemplating empty terraces which would normally be packed.

“We have never seen this!” one exclaimed.

The new record makes France just the seventh European country to have recorded a plus 45-degree temperature, along with Bulgaria, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and North Macedonia, Meteo France said.

‘Avoidable deaths’

Two deaths linked to the heat wave were reported in Spain.

A Spanish teenager felt dizzy while helping harvest wheat in the southern Andalusia region, took a dip in a swimming pool, and collapsed in convulsions.

He was rushed to hospital in the town of Cordoba where he died, the regional government said.

A 93-year-old man collapsed and died on the street in the northern Spanish city of Valladolid, police said, giving heatstroke as the cause of death.

Heat-related deaths have also been reported in Italy, France and Germany, mainly among the elderly.

France remains haunted by the memory of the devastating heat wave of August 2003 which exposed the shortcomings of emergency services at the height of the summer holidays.

That year, nearly 15,000 people are estimated to have died because of the heat, many of them elderly people at home.

“I want to appeal to the sense of responsibility of citizens — there are avoidable deaths in every heat wave,” said French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

Scientists warn that global warming linked to human fossil fuel use could make such scorchers more frequent.

Germany’s national weather service said the country experienced temperatures more than four degrees higher in June than the average, on one measure.

Fire hydrants uncapped

French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn warned people tempted to plunge into cold water, both young and old, to do so only in designated public bathing areas, adding that four people have drowned since the beginning of the week.

On Thursday, Buzyn lamented that despite a barrage of public health warnings on radio, TV and on public transport, some parents were still leaving their children in hot cars and joggers were out exercising in the midday heat.

A six-year-old Syrian child was seriously injured north of Paris Thursday after being catapulted into the air by water gushing from an open fire hydrant and then crashing to the ground.

The incident occurred in the multi-ethnic Saint-Denis neighborhood, where “uncapping” hydrants has long been used as a way to cool off.

In the Italian city of Milan, a 72-year-old homeless man was found dead at the main train station Thursday after falling ill in the heat wave.

A day earlier, four people died in Germany in bathing accidents.

Spanish inferno

In Spain, firefighters managed to halt the progression of a forest fire that broke out Wednesday in the northeastern Catalonia region and had burned more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres).

Catalonia’s forest service said the fire likely began when an “improperly managed” pile of manure at a chicken farm spontaneously combusted in the extreme heat.

Hundreds of firefighters backed by troops and aerial water bombers were hampered by roasting 44-degree temperatures and very low humidity.

Spain’s north-east was on red heat wave alert denoting “extreme risk”.

The stifling temperatures have caused air quality to nosedive in some European cities, prompting local authorities to take anti-pollution measures.

In Paris, Lyon and Marseille, authorities have banned the most polluting cars from the roads in recent days.

(Source: AFP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday suffered another episode of uncontrolled trembling, a week after a similar incident that sparked questions about her health.

The latest lapse came hours before Merkel was due to board a plane for the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

The German leader began to tremble as she stood next to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was giving a speech at a ceremony to formally appoint a new justice minister.

The shaking went on for two minutes, according to a DPA photographer who was present at the event.

Merkel folded her arms visibly in a bid to stop the trembling.

She only finally brought it under control once she was able to take a few steps.

She was offered a glass of water but turned it down.

Her previous bout of shaking last Tuesday had been blamed on dehydration on a hot summer’s day.

Despite the latest incident, a German government spokesman said Merkel would not be cancelling any appointments on Thursday and Friday.

“The chancellor is well,” he said, adding that she will be flying as planned to Osaka for the G20 summit.

Merkel, frequently called the European Union’s most influential leader and the most powerful woman in the world, turns 65 next month.

She has said she will leave politics at the end of her term, in 2021.

There were brief concerns about her health in 2014 when she was taken ill during a television interview. The broadcast was briefly interrupted when she experienced a drop in blood pressure.

Her spokesman Steffen Seibert explained at the time the leader did not feel well for a moment, then ate and drank something and continued the interview.

AFP

Members of the British parliament have rejected a key move by the opposition Labour Party meant to block a potential disorderly withdrawal from the European Union. 

In a Wednesday session of the House of Commons, lawmakers voted 309 to 298 against Labour’s measure which sought to seize control of the parliamentary agenda from the government if it wants to go ahead with plans for a no-deal Brexit on October 31 this year.

Three years after Britons voted to leave the EU in a tight referendum, the government and the parliament in the country are still at odds on how to deliver on the results of the historic vote.

The Commons have rejected a Brexit deal by outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May on three occasions.

Conservative Party candidates seeking to replace May have declared their intention to implement a no-deal Brexit if the parliament fails to endorse the divorce agreement with the EU.

The Labour, however, has repeatedly vowed to block a no-deal Brexit, saying it will not allow the ruling Tories to take advantage of the political deadlock on Brexit to extend their grip on power.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said after the Wednesday vote that the party would continue with its efforts to prevent the next Tory prime minister to bring Britain out of the EU without a deal.

“Labour stands ready to use whatever mechanism it can to protect jobs, the economy and communities from the disastrous consequences of a no-deal Brexit,” said Starmer, adding, “This is just the start, not the end of our efforts to block no-deal.”

Boris Johnson, the top candidate to win the Conservative Party leadership vote in late July and replace May, repeated his promise for a no-deal Brexit as he launched his official campaign earlier on Wednesday.

Johnson said the Tories could not withstand another delay to Brexit as it would inflict a huge loss on the reputation of the ruling party.

“Delay means defeat, delay means ruin,” said Johnson, adding, “We will simply not get a result if we give the impression that we want to go on kicking the can down the road and yet more delay.”

Source: Presstv

The Austrian parliament has removed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his caretaker government from office in a no-confidence vote over a corruption scandal.

The motion was passed on Monday in the aftermath of the release of a controversial video of the vice chancellor and far-right freedom party (FPO) leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who was seen to be allegedly offering public contracts to a Russian agent in return for political support.

Social Democrats (SPO), the main proponents of the 32-year-old leader’s ouster, blamed him for forming a coalition with Strache’s party and accused the chancellor of an “uncurbed and shameless power grab.”

The two parties have a majority of 103 seats combined in the Austria’s 183-seat lower house.

“Kurz gambled away his chances and, Mr. Chancellor, you bear full responsibility,” the SPO deputy parliamentary faction head Joerg Leichtfried said in a speech before submitting the motion.

The vote, backed by more than half of MPs, came despite a surprise victory of Kruz’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) in Sunday’s European elections, which is projected to gain 34.9 percent of the vote and two extra European parliament seats.

Strache, denying all allegations, resigned from his political posts after the video release.

Austrian prosecutors said they were investigating Strache’s video “in multiple directions”, but declined to provide further details.

The Central European country will now be led by a transitional body until general elections are held in September.

Source: Presstv

A bomb attack has wounded at least 13 people in France’s southeastern city of Lyon.

The attack took place on a pedestrian street in the heart of Lyon around 5:30 pm local time on Friday, French officials said.

French Interior Ministry officials initially said eight people had been wounded, but police sources later put the number of the casualties at 13. None of the injured people were in a life-threatening condition.

French President Emmanuel Macron was starting a live address as news of the blast broke. “My thoughts are with the injured,” he said.

Police sources and local Mayor Denis Broliquier said police forces were looking for a suspected suitcase bomber.

The partially masked suspect was captured on security video arriving at the scene by bicycle before leaving a case in front of a bakery shortly before the blast took place.

The Paris anti-terrorism prosecutor launched an investigation into the incident, with police treating the blast as attempted homicide, according to law-enforcement officials.

France experienced its worst terrorist attack on November 13, 2015, when seven sites in and around the French capital of Paris were targeted. A total of 130 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in shootings and bombings.

Also in July 2016, a man deliberately plowed his truck through a Bastille Day crowd in the French city of Nice, killing 84 people and wounding 200 others. An 85th victim died later in hospital.

Source: Presstv

Britain’s defense secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked from the cabinet over a controversial leak of government discussions suggesting that Chinese telecommunication company Huawei will be a partner in UK’s future internet projects.

A government spokesperson said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Theresa May had lost confidence in Williamson after it emerged as part of an investigation that the former defense minister was the source of the Huawei leak.

“The prime minister’s decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council,” said the spokesperson, making a reference to discussions in NSC last week in which May had granted a partial role to Huawei to build Britain’s 5G network.

Firing Williamson came after the United States, which has banned Huawei from a similar 5G project in the country, became angry at UK’s decision to cooperate with the Chinese company.

US officials warned earlier this week that they would withhold sensitive intelligence from the UK if London goes ahead with its partnership with Huawei.

China, however, have been urging the British government to think of its own interests and ignore Washington’s claims that Huawei could become a spying tool at the hands of the Chinese government.

Williamson is quite known for his pro-US stances and has consistently campaigned for close defense and intelligence cooperation with the US.

He was one of five cabinet ministers suspected of leaking NSC discussions to the Daily Telegraph. The government had announced as part of its inquiry that the perpetrators could even face criminal investigation. That could force Williamson to resign his parliamentary seat and prompt a by-election in his constituency.

Williamson had denied any role in the leak while insisting that no one from his department had been involved.

Source: Presstv

Twenty-nine German tourists were killed when their bus spun off the road and tumbled down a slope before crashing into a house on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Drone footage of the aftermath of the accident showed the badly mangled wreckage of the bus resting precariously on its side against a building on a hillside, the vehicle’s roof partially crushed and front window smashed.

Rescue workers attended to injured passengers among the undergrowth where the bus came to rest, some of them bearing bloodied head bandages and bloodstained clothes, others appearing to be more seriously hurt.

Local authorities said most of the dead were in their 40s and 50s.

They were among the more than one million tourists who visit the Atlantic islands off the coast of Morocco each year, attracted by its subtropical climate and rugged volcanic terrain.

“Horrible news comes to us from Madeira,” a German government spokesman tweeted after the crash.

“Our deep sorrow goes to all those who lost their lives in the bus accident, our thoughts are with the injured,” he added.

German holidaymakers were the second largest group after British tourists to visit the islands — known as the Pearl of the Atlantic and the Floating Garden in the Atlantic — in 2017, according to Madeira’s tourism office.

The islands are home to just 270,000 inhabitants.

Filipe Sousa, mayor of Santa Cruz where the accident happened, said 17 women and 11 men were killed in the crash, with another 21 injured.

A doctor told reporters another woman died of her injuries in hospital.

“I express the sorrow and solidarity of all the Portuguese people in this tragic moment, and especially for the families of the victims who I have been told were all German,” President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told Portuguese television.

He said he would travel to Madeira overnight.

‘Profound sadness’

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa added on Twitter that he had contacted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to convey his condolences

“It is with profound sadness that I heard of the accident on Madeira,” he wrote on the government’s Twitter page.

“I took the occasion to convey my sadness to Chancellor Angela Merkel at this difficult time,” he added.

The regional protection service in Madeira confirmed 28 deaths in the accident that happened at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) Wednesday, while hospital authorities said another woman later died of her injuries.

The bus had been carrying around 50 passengers.

Regional government Vice President Pedro Calado said it was “premature” to speculate on the cause of the crash, adding that the vehicle was five years old and that “everything had apparently been going well”.

Judicial authorities had opened an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, the Madeira public prosecutor’s office told the Lusa news agency.

Medical teams were being sent from Lisbon to help local staff carry out post-mortems on the dead.

(AFP)

A new report shows genuine couples in the UK have been subjected to numerous cases of insult and harassment by police and other authorities, who suspect such marriages provide a cover for immigration fraud.

The Guardian newspaper said on Sunday that more and more registered couples across the UK had been subject to “insulting” searches by Home Office officials investigating whether their relationship was real and not one that allows the parties to remain in the country as a migrant.

The newspaper cited shocking cases of ministry officials raiding houses of couples or gatecrashing their wedding ceremonies only because they suspected they were involved in a sham marriage.

The couples are often forced to detail their sexual relationship, something many of them find deeply troublesome and insulting.

In one case, ministry officials had told a couple inside their house that their marriage could be declared sham because they were wearing pajamas in bed.

In another case, four ministry officials raided the home of a Pakistani man, identified only as Qasim, and his Portuguese wife three years ago. They interrogated the couple about their sexual behavior and then arrested the man for four months until authorities were convinced that the relationship was genuine.

“I was in a state of shock and trauma all the time I was in detention. It was very insulting that the Home Office came inside our home to check that everything was joined,” said Qasim.

Lawyers and rights activists have protested against the Home Office practice, saying it is part of the UK government’s hostile policy toward the refugees.

“You may be detained after your marriage ceremony is gatecrashed by Home Office officials. It’s very degrading,” said Poppy Firmin, an employee of a UK law agency.

“Home Office officials may come to your home early in the morning and check up on the number of toothbrushes,” said Elizabeth Ruddick, a solicitor working for major law agency.  

The UK government has repeatedly been accused of violating the rights of refugees as authorities eye a drastic reduction in the number of arrivals in the country. That comes as many migrants from the European Union countries have already left the UK fearing that the country’s withdrawal from the EU could make their lives more difficult.

Presstv