Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was being held in police custody on Tuesday for questioning by magistrates looking into allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign, an official in the French judiciary said.

A lawyer for Sarkozy could not be reached immediately for comment.

France opened a judicial inquiry in 2013 into allegations that Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election bid benefited from illicit funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A former minister and close ally of Sarkozy, Brice Hortefeux, was also being questioned by police on Tuesday morning in relation to the Libya investigation, another source close to the probe said.

Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the Libyan allegations as “grotesque”.

In January a French businessman suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.

Sarkozy has already been ordered to stand trial in a separate matter concerning financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by Francois Hollande.

REUTERS

Hundreds of French Cameroun troops will be forced to leave the army or sent on early retirement soon because the Biya regime has run out of money to pay salaries and to feed them including paying water and electricity bills at several military bases in the Far North region and in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report was reliably informed that soldiers who are currently deployed to Southern Cameroons have been told not to speak to the media about the prevailing situation. The ministry of defense has been hit by numerous corruption scandals and financial crisis as the Francophone dominated regime tries to rein in expenditure to cope with the armed struggles in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram in the Far North and militants from the Central African Republic in the East region . It has also led to the 85 year old President Biya traveling to China to seek help.

President Biya has not stopped hiring expensive presidential jets for his lavish trips abroad but the ministry of defense has been ordered to liaise with the ministry of commerce begging hotels and business centers to encourage Cameroonians to donate in support of the military. Biya who is still embarking on unnecessary foreign trips and with huge delegations approved the measure as painted on the photo attached to this report.

Cameroon government debt levels under the ruling CPDM crime syndicate have been soaring in recent years, leading to even French investor warnings about the economic outlook of the Sub Saharan African country.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Lawmakers on the tiny French overseas territory of New Caledonia voted on Monday to hold an independence referendum on November 4, the culmination of decades of campaigning by separatists to break from their old colonial master.

Better known for its stunning lagoons, pristine Pacific beaches and diverse wildlife, New Caledonia has seen years of bitter political feuding between independence advocates and those who are determined to remain part of France.

Unrest shook the islands in the mid-1980s with as many as seventy people thought to have been killed.

An agreement was signed between France and New Caledonia in 1998 that promised greater autonomy for the archipelago and its indigenous Melanesian Kanak population.

Under the terms of that deal an independence referendum needed to be held by the end of 2018.

On Monday, the island’s legislature finally approved a referendum date — Sunday, November 4 — at a public meeting in the capital Noumea, according to an AFP journalist present, with 38 votes in favor and 14 opposed.

New Caledonia currently holds a unique position as an overseas possession that formulates its own tax, labor laws and trade policy but not defense or foreign policy.

But many of the archipelago’s inhabitants, particularly within the indigenous Kanak community, want full independence.

The territory boasts a quarter of the world’s known resources of nickel, a core component in the manufacture of stainless steel, rechargeable batteries and coins.

But wealth is not evenly spread and backers of independence want major economic reform.

(Source: AFP)

Two people have been injured in another explosion in Texas, the latest in a string of unsolved bombings in the US state this month, police said.

Residents in southwest Austin were asked to stay in their homes overnight after the explosion rocked the area Sunday.

Two men, both in their 20s, were sent to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Authorities worked to determine if the blast was caused by a package bomb similar to the three that detonated earlier this month in the Texas capital.

Police Chief Brian Manley warned residents not to touch any suspicious packages left at their homes. “What we have right now is a scene where it is obvious that an explosion has taken place.”

The latest explosion happened around 8:30 p.m. in Travis Country, a suburban neighborhood in southeast Austin, far from the previous bombings that targeted residential areas in the eastern part of the city.

It was the fourth explosion to hit Austin in less than three weeks.

The first blast was a package bomb that exploded at a northeast Austin home on March 2, killing Stephen House, 39. Two more package bombs detonated farther south on March 12, killing 17-year-old Draylen Mason and injuring two women, including his mother.

Authorities said all three of those explosions were likely related and involved packages left overnight on doorsteps.

Manley had previously suggested the blasts could have been hate crimes since all the victims were African American or Hispanic.

“We don’t have any evidence,” he said Sunday. “What we know for certain is: We have three victims that are victims of color, and we have three package bombs that have exploded on the east side of Austin,” where many of the city’s minority residents live.

The police chief said he believed the bombings were “meant to send a message,” though he did not say what that message was. Manley added authorities were hoping the bomber was watching and would “reach out to us before anyone else is injured or killed.”

Local and federal authorities have increased the reward for information leading to a conviction in the bombings to $100,000, Manley said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also offered $15,000.

Source: Presstv

Armed separatists in Cameroon are holding 40 people, including a government official. The abductions occurred as President Paul Biya dispatched a minister to the troubled English speaking regions on a peace building mission.

Cameroon businessman Angelbert Etoga has returned to his home town, Yaounde, 24 hours after he was abducted and released by armed separatist groups.

He says he and about 36 others were on a bus traveling to Lebialem in southwestern Cameroon to attend a political rally when armed men attacked and seized the vehicle.

Etoga says they were detained for several hours and some were asked to leave after being told they had to respect the territorial integrity of the English speaking regions of Cameroon, which the kidnappers said was now a state called Ambazonia.

Etoga says it is very possible there is some cooperation among some of the population, traditional rulers, and separatist groups. He says he is very certain that many people are adhering to separatist ideologies.

Etoga says he does not know how many people were freed or held back, but he found his way out of the bush and returned to Yaounde.

The most senior government official in Lebialem, Zachary Ugitoh, says Professor Ivo Leke Tambo, a former secretary general of Cameroon’s Secondary Education Ministry and now chair of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board, was also abducted.

“I call first and foremost the population of Lewo, the traditional rulers of Lewo to, in fact, put in place whatever means to ensure that Professor Leke Tambo is safe,” he said. “They should go out and look for him, he is a venerated elite of that village and if they open their hands together, I think we can be able to get those who have taken him hostage. In the meantime, security here is not going to sleep while waiting for reinforcement from hierarchy.”

Ugitoh called for the traditional rulers of Lewo to ensure Professor Tambo’s safety and work to ensure his release. He said security measures would be increased in the meantime.

In a video circulated by suspected armed separatists on social media Tambo is seen stripped almost naked in the presence of disguised gunmen.

Two other government officials were abducted last month and have not been found.

The abductions took place the day the first English speaking Cameroonian to be appointed minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, was visiting English speaking towns in northwestern Cameroon in an effort to find solutions to the separatist crisis.

Nji says President Biya is committed to win the war he declared against armed anglophone separatists.

“The head-of-state his excellency Paul Biya, commander-in-chief of armed forces told me to tell all the forces of law and order that they can count on him. That he will give them all the resources which will permit them to accomplish their mission,” he said.

The crisis in the English speaking regions of Cameroon began in late 2016 with English teachers and lawyers protesting what they called the overbearing use of French in the English speaking zones of the bilingual country and degenerated with separatists calls for independence.

The government says hundreds of people including 30 policemen and soldiers have died in violence since January, when Nigeria detained and then extradited separatist leader Ayuk Tabe Julius and 46 other alleged separatists to Cameroon.

The separatist groups are demanding the 47 detainees, who have not been seen in public, be released.

Culled from the VOA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has scored a landslide re-election victory for the fourth time with 73.9 percent of votes, according to an exit poll by state-owned pollster, VTsIOM.

According to the exit poll from 1,200 polling stations around Russia, Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin is runner-up with 11.2 percent of votes.

VTsIOM also said in a statement that over 37 percent of those polled refused to say who they voted for.

VTsIOM’s statement also gave the following exit poll results:

Putin’s new election win will extend his total time in office to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024. He won election on the promise to use his new term to beef up Russia’s defense capability against the West and to raise living standards.

According to Reuters, Putin’s loyalists argued that the election result was a vindication of his tough stance towards the West.

“I think that in the United States and Britain they’ve understood they cannot influence our elections,” Igor Morozov, a member of the upper house of parliament, said on state television, adding, “Our citizens understand what sort of situation Russian finds itself in today.”

Casting his ballot in Moscow, Putin said he would be pleased with any result giving him the right to continue as president, AFP reported.
“I am sure the program I am offering is the right one,” he said.

Most people who spoke to AFP said they voted for Putin, praising him for restoring stability and national pride after the humiliating collapse of the USSR.

“Of course I’m for Putin, he’s a leader,” said Olga Matyunina, a 65-year-old retired economist, who added, “After he brought Crimea back, he became a hero to me.”

Sunday also marked four years since Putin signed a treaty declaring Crimea to be part of Russia.

Russia’s presidential polls opened at 8 a.m. local time (2000 GMT) in the country’s far eastern regions on Saturday and will close in the exclave of Kaliningrad at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Sunday.

There were almost 109 million eligible voters inside Russia, with 94,500 polling stations across the country. An additional 1.8 million voters were abroad, and 369 polling stations were based overseas.

Official pollsters had predicted a turnout of around 65 percent in the ongoing presidential election.

The main opposition leader and Putin’s most vocal opponent, Alexei Navalny, was disqualified from the race due to a fraud conviction that he has claimed was politically motivated.

Putin has seen his approval ratings skyrocket since the last election in 2012. Many say the surge in the incumbent’s popularity is mainly because of his successful policies toward regional issues, particularly the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The 65-year-old leader was first elected in 2000 following a handover of power by then-president Boris Yeltsin, who resigned six months before the end of his tenure.

Source: Presstv