A former lawyer at a powerful New York-based law firm pleads guilty to lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is probing the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.

Alex van der Zwaan was charged on February 16 with “willfully and knowingly making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to both the special counsel’s office and FBI investigators.

On Tuesday, Zwaan admitted in federal court in Washington that he had lied to prosecutors about a September 2016 conversation with Rick Gates, a former Trump aide.

The conversation the 33-year-old Dutch citizen had with Gates was about work they had done together for a Ukrainian political party aligned with Russia.

Zwaan, the son-in-law of a Russia-based billionaire, also confessed that he had deleted records of email exchanges that prosecutors had sought.

Zwaan’s decision to plead guilty could also intensify pressure on Paul Manafort, Gates’s longtime business partner and the president’s former campaign chairman.

Mueller’s team had previously accused Manafort and Gates of secretly funneling $4 million through offshore accounts to pay for a report regarding Ukraine.

In fall, both were charged with laundering money and other crimes pertaining to consultations they had with the Ukrainian political party headed by former President Viktor F. Yanukovych, but they have pleaded not guilty.

Experts say the new charge will put more pressure on Manafort and Gates to cooperate with Mueller in his probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the US 2016 presidential election.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russia has also denied the allegations. Trump has labeled Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt,” and has suggested that Russians might have meddled in favor of Clinton.

On Friday, Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities accused of interfering in elections in the United States.

The indictment alleges the goal of the Russians was to support then-candidate Trump and hurt his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Source: Presstv

The killings in the English-speaking part of Cameroon have continued unabated despite the arrest and extradition of Southern Cameroons leaders to Cameroon. It was reported yesterday that a young gendarme officer, Jean Claude Degoume,had been killed in Talangaye in Manyu Division, a small town located some 50 km from Mamfe town, the Manyu Divisional headquarters.

Members of the Amba Tigers who carried out the killing informed our Dublin office that their main target in Mamfe was Joseph Oum II, the Manyu Senior Divisional Officer, who had asked the people of Manyu to pack out of their towns to unknown destinations in a press release he issued late last year. The young fighters, who elected anonymity, said taking down Mr. Oum II “would be a great pleasure,asthe deletion of such a personality from the face of the earth would bring more credibility to our organization.”

They added that “even the South West Governor, Okala Bilal, is a fair target. He has insulted out people and he should not be allowed to get away with that. We have a price on his head and anybody who takes him down will take that price. Our sponsors in the Diaspora are doing a great job raising money for us and that is what is helping us to send strong messages to the government.”

“We know we will get him. He will surely let down his guard and we will chop him down like a piece of meat. You don’t call our people dogs and you think you will get away with that. He is in our cross hairs and we will surely get him,” they said.

Meanwhile, contrary to initial reports that the body of the kidnapped Divisional Officer (D.O) of Batibo, Mr. Namata Marcel Delong, had been found in Sabes, our source in Sabes in the Upper Bayang sub-division confirmed that a group of Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) troops currently wreaking havoc in Sabes had been brought there to arrest a group of robbers who were threatening the locals and a defected soldier who had joined Amba Tigers. There is no information yet as to whether the robbers and the defected soldier have been arrested or not.

Similarly, the family of the former D.O of Batibo who had been kidnapped by some unknown gunmen is devastated following reports that his body had been discovered.  Mr. Delong’s wife had called for the release of her husband on national TV, arguing that her husband was a good man who was simply serving his country, but opponents of the regime argue that he is part of the collateral damage insofar as he is on the side of the Yaounde government.

The discovery of her husband’s remains clearly indicate that her calls had fallen on deaf ears. This also underscores that Anglophone separatists are determined to achieve their goal, regardless of the method and he who is serving the Yaounde government is immediately considered as an enemy.

Meanwhile, the 85 year-old President, Paul Biya,last week appointed Ernest Nkwandze, as the interim Divisional Officer for Batibo in Momo Division following the abduction of Mr. Namata Marcel Diteng on February 11, 2018, by unknown gunmen.  Mr. Nkwandze was installed on February 14, 2018, by the North-West Governor, Adolphe Lélé Lafrique.

The governor reportedly held a working session with traditional authorities and security officials of the Batibo district and pleaded with the chiefs as well as the population to work in collaboration with the security forces by providing them reliable information in their effort to locate the kidnapped divisional officer.

In the meantime, there are still doubts about the whereabouts of Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya. Despite having delivered a speech on February 10, 2018, and the posting of pictures of his birthday party at the Unity Palace online, many Cameroonians are still skeptical about the whereabouts of the country’s president.

Critics of the dictator point out that the picture used to support the assertion that Mr. Biya had celebrated his birthday was photo-shopped, arguing that Mr. Biya and his government are used to manipulating Cameroonians.

The doubts about Mr. Biya’s health went up by a few notches a few days ago when it was announced that Mr. Biya had received a senior German embassy official. But many analysts said the pictures were those of 2014, a point which only goes to underscore that there is something really wrong with the 85-year-old president.

Similarly, the Southern Cameroons crisis is still playing out in the country’s English-speaking regions with armed men attacking soldiers in the rural regions.

Since October 2016 when the crisis started, more than 500 civilians have been killed, several villages torched by retaliating soldiers, and some 300 uniformed officers have been sent to an early grave.

Despite numerous calls by the international community for inclusive dialogue, Mr. Biya and his government have insisted on using military violence as their tool of choice to end the rebellion.

But their methods have only radicalized most Southern Cameroonians and has spurred the various armed groups into intensifying their attacks on soldiers and Gendarmes as a means of self-defense.

The conflict has intensified since the arrest of Southern Cameroonian leaders in Nigeria and their illegal extradition to Yaounde. The conflict has taken a huge toll on the country’s economy, as many businesses in the English-speaking regions have closed and some relocated to other regions of the country.

As the government continues to pursue its policy of violent repression in the two English regions of Cameroon, so too are Southern Cameroonian fighters seeking news way to have an impact on the government and this impact has come by way of attacks on many army soldiers.

There is every indication that there are many more scenes in this conflict and they will surely be playing out in a manner that will be far from being peaceful.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai in Dublin, with contributions from Kingsley Betek in Yaounde.

Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, speaks on the controversial deportation of the leaders of Southern Cameroun, some of whom he described as naturalised Nigerians and led by Ayuk Julius Tabe, from Nigeria. Femi Falana The Cameroon government announced recently that leaders of the Anglophone movement, led by Mr Julius Ayuk Tabe in Nigeria, were handed over to Cameroon. How did this happen? It is true that a number of Cameroonian refugees and asylum seekers, who were illegally arrested and detained by the Federal Government, were arrested and deported from Nigeria to Cameroon on Friday, January 26, 2018.

When we received information of the plan to deport them, we rushed to the Federal High Court to stop the illegal plan. We also reached out to the Comptroller-General of Immigration, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria. As soon as the Commission confirmed the information, it dispatched a letter to the Federal Government pointing out that Nigeria had a legal obligation under international law not to deport the detained Cameroonians. But in a demonstration of reckless impunity, the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (ret.) deported our clients in defiance of the intervention of the United Nations and the pending suit in court.

Out of shame, the National Security Adviser could not disclose the deportation of our clients from Nigeria but the government of Cameroon decided to celebrate the deportation and threatened to prosecute our clients for terrorism. I have protested the deportation to President Buhari and demanded that our clients be returned to Nigeria without delay. You were one the lawyers mentioned in the case. What role did you play? My learned colleague, Mr. Abdul Oroh, is handling the case with our law firm. Both of us were at the High Commission of Cameroon last (penultimate) Tuesday to demand for access to our clients who are currently held incommunicado in Cameroon. We were asked to submit a letter to that effect and we have done so.

Does Nigeria have any extradition treaty with Nigeria? What laws were respected and what laws were violated? Nigeria has no extradition treaty with Cameroon. For that reason, the Federal Government could not file extradition proceedings in any local court. Hence, the deportation was carried out outside the ambit of the Extradition Act. No law was respected whatsoever but many laws were breached by the Federal Government which has continued to exhibit authoritarian tactics and rule of might under a democratic dispensation that is supposed to be anchored on the rule of law. In deporting our clients, the Federal Government violated Section 1 of the National Commission for the Refugees Act which prohibits the expulsion, extradition or deportation of any person who is a refugee to the frontiers of any country where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his membership of a particular group or political opinion or whose life may be endangered for any reason whatsoever. The Federal Government also breached the human right of our clients to enter Nigeria, reside, seek and obtain asylum as   guaranteed by Article 12 (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act. The Act further provides that every individual shall have the right, when persecuted, to seek and obtain asylum in other countries in accordance with the laws of those countries and international conventions. Apart the violation of those laws, the Federal Government breached its legal obligations under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention on Refugees which guarantee the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Nigeria to protection. Among those said to be arrested were those having Nigerian citizenship and working here; and others with refugee status or seeking same. What does this scenario tell us about the Buhari administration? We have established that three of the deportees are naturalized citizens while others are recognized refugees and political asylum seekers in Nigeria. Twelve of our clients who are the leaders of the people of Southern Cameroon have been living in Nigeria for several years. Some are lecturers at the Ahmadu Bello University and the American University in Yola. Three of them are lawyers. Those who are not refugees among them have been granted permanent residency status in Nigeria. You can only expel a foreigner from your country if he violates the law. Even then an asylum seeker cannot be turned over to the authorities of a country that is likely to persecute him. Under no condition can a Nigerian citizen be deported from the country. The only time that a Nigerian citizen had been deported was in 1980 when the Shehu Shagari regime expelled Mr. Shugaba Abdulraman Darman and dumped him in Chad. The deportation was declared illegal by the High Court which ordered the Federal Government to bring him back to the country. The court also awarded damages in favour of the deportee.

The illegal deportation of the naturalized Nigerians and the refugees has caused a huge embarrassment to the Federal Government because there is no legal justification for it. Can you believe that the National Commission for Refugees, the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not consulted before the deportation of our clients was carried out? Some people look back from the arrest and transfer of Charles Taylor under Obasanjo, to the inaction of Jonathan when Libya was under attack and now transferring people who fear for their lives to a government they are running away from and the question of Nigerian leadership in Africa. What do you have to say? It is trite that the foreign policies of a government are dictated by its domestic policies.

The case of Charles Taylor is totally different from this one. The Special Court for Sierra Leone set up by the Security Council of the United Nations had issued a warrant for the arrest of the ex-Liberian president for crimes against humanity. Nigeria was under a duty under international law to turn him over to the court. But unknown to Nigerians and the international community, President Obasanjo did not want Mr. Taylor arrested in Nigeria. As President Obasanjo, who was then in the United States, was under pressure to hand over Mr. Taylor to the court, as a precondition for meeting President George Bush, he quickly directed the Immigration to allow the fugitive to leave the country. But as Mr. Taylor was rushing out of the country, he was arrested at Damboru border in Borno State at about 6 am on March 2009 by Mr. Sylvester Umoh, a Customs officer who was committed to his duty. Even though Mr. Taylor offered to bribe him with $500,000 cash, Mr. Umoh rejected it and arrested him. That was how Mr. Taylor was handed over to the Special Court to the embarrassment of President Obasanjo.

The Federal Government then descended on Sylvester Umoh. Instead of giving him a national award, he was dismissed from the service without ignominy. Although I succeeded in ensuring the conversion of Mr. Umoh’s dismissal to retirement in 2014, we are still battling with the payment of his entitlements. Again, the Libyan case is different from this case but it also demonstrated a failure of leadership. Both President Goodluck Jonathan and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa did not have the courage to challenge President Barrack Obama over the planned invasion of Libya. In fact, the representatives of both leading African nations voted for the invasion. Both Nigeria and South Africa betrayed Africa by endorsing the invasion of Libya. In particular, the strategic interests of Nigeria were not considered by the Jonathan administration. Hence, we have paid dearly for the barbaric invasion of Libya. Apart from the slave trade that President Gaddafi would not have allowed in Libya, the arms and ammunition looted from the armoury of Libya were bought by the Boko Haram sect to launch deadly attacks on Nigeria.   Just like the nation is messed up locally by a cabal of primitive power mongers our foreign affairs have been ruined by the same reactionary group. Luckily for the cabal, Nigerians are not aware of the extent of the manipulation of our foreign affairs. Can you believe that the cabal almost smuggled Morocco into the Economic Community of West African States? The other day, Nigeria lost an important position contested at the African Union because the cabal insisted on a candidate who was alleged not qualified for the post? With the controversial appointment of the Director-General of the new National Intelligence Agency, it has been proved beyond any shadow of doubt that the cabal will continue to expose the country to ridicule. With the international standing and experience you have. is there any role you think Nigeria can play in resolving the crisis in Cameroon? Frankly speaking, Nigeria can resolve the crisis in Southern Cameroon in the interest of regional stability.   Notwithstanding that Nigeria negligently gave out the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, Nigerians in the island are still being harassed by Cameroonian gendarmes. As far back as 2002, the Federal Government had opted for a peaceful resolution of the political crisis in Cameroon. When the people of Southern Cameroon filed a suit at the Federal High Court to determine whether they are not entitled to self-determination within their clearly defined territory separate from the Republic of Cameroun, the Federal Government decided to settle the case out of court. Hence, by a consent judgment delivered by the Court on March 5, 2002, the Federal Government agreed to file a suit at the International Court of Justice to have a judicial confirmation of the human right of the people of Southern Cameroon to self-determination.

The Federal Government also undertook to take other measures as may be necessary to place the case of the people of Southern Cameroon for self-determination before the United Nations General Assembly and other international organizations. On the basis of that judgment, which is valid and subsisting, Nigeria is estopped from colluding with the Paul Biya regime to terrorize the people of Southern Cameroon. Under Nigerian jurisprudence is it possible for people to be held without access to a lawyer? Under Section 35 of the Constitution and section 6 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act the fundamental right of every suspect or detainee to access their lawyer is guaranteed. With respect to the Cameroonians, all efforts made by their lawyers, doctors and family members to visit them in custody were frustrated. Even Mrs. Nalowa Bih who is pregnant was denied medical attention. But due to the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs a representative of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria was allowed to visit our clients before they were expelled from Nigeria. During the visit, the United Nations representative found that our clients were held in an underground cell at the headquarters of the Defence Intelligence Agency on the orders of the National Security Adviser.

From your findings, who ordered the arrest? Some people say they were arrested and taken to Cameroon long before Nigerian authorities even got wind of it. When we were refused access to our clients by the National Security Adviser, we filed an application at the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, January 25, 2018 for the purpose of securing their fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.   Barely 24 hours later, in utter disdain for due process,   the National Security Adviser deported our clients from Nigeria to Cameroon. Up till now, the National Security Adviser has not been called to justify his action since the country is run on the basis of official impunity. But as law abiding citizens we have challenged the illegal deportation and we have concluded arrangements to give our clients the best legal defence. We shall pursue the case until Nigeria returns to the community of civilized nations. The Federal Government has to be compelled to abandon its embrace of the rule of might.

www.vanguardngr.com

A passenger plane has crashed in central Iran during a flight from Tehran to the southwestern city of Yasuj, killing all 66 people on board, authorities said on Sunday.

The ATR 72, a twin-engine turboprop operated by Aseman Airlines, crashed in bad weather into Dena Mount near the town of Semirom, an official at the Iranian carrier said.

Local officials in Semirom said the crash site was hard to reach and rescue helicopters had been unable to land because of heavy fog and rain.

Spokesman for Iran’s emergency services Mojtaba Khaledi said rescue teams had traveled to the crash site by land and were trying to find the debris.

“The weather is currently cloudy and rainy and rescuers are searching for the plane but they have not sighted it yet. Despite the poor weather conditions, relief groups are continuing their search,” he said.

Air controllers said the plane went off radar screens 50 minutes after take-off from Mehrabad airport in Tehran at around 8:00 am (0430 GMT). The flight had 60 passengers, including a child, and six crew.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said the plane crashed around 23 kilometers (14 miles) from Yasuj, some 500 kilometers south of the capital.

Franco-Italian planemaker ATR  has a deal with flag carrier Iran Air for the delivery of 20 ATR 72-600 passenger planes. The company delivered eight aircraft in 2017 and plans to deliver a further 12 by the end of this year.

The 70-seat ATR planes are aimed at domestic routes, which Iran seeks to revitalize after the lifting of sanctions in early 2016.

Iran is also renovating its aging fleet for international or long-distance flights under deals signed with Airbus and Boeing to buy a total of 180 passenger jets.

The country has received three Airbus jets in 2017 – one Airbus A321 and two Airbus A33 – and was due to get another by year-end which did not come through. The first Boeing is due around May 2018.

Source: Presstv

A student from a Florida high school where yet another US mass shooting left 17 people dead has blasted President Donald Trump and many lawmakers in the country for receiving money from the powerful lobby group National Rifle Association (NRA), which fervently opposes gun control across the nation.

“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” said student Emma Gonzalez of Marjory Stohneman Douglas High School during her speech at a major gun control rally in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday.

“I already know — $30 million,” she then added. “Divided by the number of gunshot victims in the United States in the one and a half months of 2018 alone, that comes out to being $5,800.”

“Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?” she then asked as thousands of protesters at the rally started changing “shame on you” after she mentioned the NRA’s donations to Trump.

Gonzalez further told the crowd that US politicians should stop accepting political donations from the NRA.

The protesters carried anti-NRA signs and demanded changes to gun control laws in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, days after 17 people were shot and killed at the high school in the city of Parkland, some 25 miles away.

Thousands of students, parents, teachers and neighbors also chanted, “Vote them out!” as they called for gun control legislation, which has always been opposed and foiled by NRA-backed members of the US Congress.

Gonzalez further censured Trump for signing a bill last year that overturned an Obama-era regulation designed to make it more difficult for mentally ill people to purchase guns.

“The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us. And us kids seem to be the only ones who notice and our parents to call ‘B.S.,’ ” Gonzalez said. “We are prepared to call ‘B.S.’ ”

Gonzalez then condemned lawmakers who “sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA” for saying nothing can be done to prevent shootings.

“They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call ‘B.S.’ They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call ‘B.S.’ ”

“If you agree, register to vote,” she underlined. “Contact your local congresspeople. Give them a piece of your mind.”

Meanwhile, The Network for Public Education and the American Federation of Teachers called on students, teachers and administrators to organize sit-ins, walkouts and other acts of protest on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

The groups said the aim is to push lawmakers to enact gun control legislation.

You or the gun!

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the answer to school violence is to keep guns away from people who should not have them.

A number of Democratic lawmakers have renewed their call for gun control legislation after the mass carnage. Survivors of the shooting have also joined the call, demanding Republican lawmakers take action following the bloody shooting.

The development came as Florida State Legislature is struggling with what to do in the aftermath of the carnage.

Some Republican lawmakers wanted to consider a bill to put trained, armed volunteers or school employees inside the state’s public schools.

The state’s Senate Judiciary Committee was due to take up the legislation (SB 1236), but committee chairman Senator Greg Steube announced late Friday that the measure would not be taken up after all.

Steube made his decision after several top senators said they were opposed to considering the bill, AP reported.

According to local press reports, the teen accused of shooting and killing 17 people in a Florida high school is said to have left a suburban Palm Beach County mobile home in November because his benefactor gave him an ultimatum: you or the gun.

Source: Presstv

At least 13 people on the ground, including three children, were killed when a Mexican military helicopter carrying top officials surveying damages from an earthquake crashed in a small town in the southern state of Oaxaca, authorities said on Saturday.

The helicopter, which was carrying Mexico’s interior minister and the state governor, crashed on top of two vans in an open field while trying to land in Santiago Jamiltepec after a tour of damage from a powerful earthquake on Friday, officials said.

The senior officials survived but 12 people at the scene were killed and another died later in a hospital, Oaxaca’s attorney general’s office said in a statement. Fifteen more people were injured.

The 7.2 magnitude quake left nearly a million homes and businesses without power in Mexico City and the south and damaged at least 50 homes in Oaxaca.

The state, along with Mexico City, is still reeling from earthquakes that caused widespread damage in September and killed at least 471 people.

(Source: Reuters)

For the first time in his life, Victor Obi believes that the only way to win freedom in Cameroon is with a gun.

“I don’t want to die, but the only future is our independence, and they will not give it to us,” said the student, whose name has been changed for his own safety.

The 25-year-old is camped out in a small Nigerian village just kilometres from his home in Cameroon where authorities have launched a crackdown on English-speaking separatists.

“They killed my sister and my brother,” said Obi, his voice heavy with hatred. “I have nothing to lose.”

In December, Obi says soldiers invaded his hometown of Kajifu and started shooting indiscriminately at suspected separatists, said to be running a major training camp in the thick equatorial forest surrounding the village.

Kajifu is located in one of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions that have been pushing for independence from the French-speaking elite who rule the West African country.

On October 1, separatists declared the two regions as the self-proclaimed republic of “Ambazonia”, marking a turning point for the country’s English-speaking minority, which makes up around a fifth of the population.

Cameroon President Paul Biya dispatched troops, combat helicopters and armoured vehicles to root out the dissidents, forcing tens of thousands to flee to neighbouring Nigeria.

At least 26 soldiers have been killed in the violence, according to an AFP tally.

But the civilian death toll isn’t known, with non-governmental organisations and independent media barred from the area.

Though the original Ambazonia leaders have dissociated themselves from militant offshoots – they claim their struggle is peaceful – there are a growing number of attacks against the government.

‘Raise an army’ 

On Sunday, before a national youth day parade in Batibo, a town near the Nigerian border, a government official was kidnapped and his car was burnt in an attack claimed by separatists.

Lucas Cho Ayaba, leader of the Ambazonian Defence Forces (ADF), took credit for the kidnapping, declaring: “You kill my people, we will chase you to the gates of hell.”

The ADF, along with three other militias, represent the main groups which count more than 300 fighters, according to an International Crisis Group (ICG) estimate. There are also 10 much smaller but violent factions engaged in the conflict.

Few claim attacks and it’s difficult to know exactly who is responsible, said ICG researcher Hans De Marie Heungoup.

“The main issue for Ambazonian groups is that they really lack finance,” he said.

“If they had money to buy weapons, train and feed their people, they could raise an army.”

But amidst the chaos, one thing seems certain: the crackdown has radicalised many English-speakers, among them the farmers and managers who have long felt marginalised by Yaounde but have never been interested in politics – until now.

‘They are angry’ 

English-speakers in Cameroon have been marginalised for too long, said Pastor John Mbe, one of more than 33,000 refugees in Cross River State, Nigeria.

“Many people have died already, we can’t go back home,” he said, “young people may not have guns and bullets, but I can tell you they’re angry.”

A source close to the militants says they have adopted the guerilla philosophy of freedom fighters in Eritrea as well as that of Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

In Manyu, a region at the epicentre of the conflict, separatists block roads with tyres and tree trunks to ambush and attack military bases.

The militants are armed mostly with homemade rifles, some Kalashnikovs, grenades and other improvised explosive devices.

The few sophisticated weapons they possess have been stolen from police stations.

As a result of the simmering violence, thousands of refugees are arriving in Ikom, a city just over the border in a Nigeria, raising fears that the conflict is spiralling out of control.

Black magic 

No formal fighter camp has been identified, but according to several witnesses interviewed by AFP, young refugees are performing black magic rituals to prepare for war.

They gather in small groups for “juju” ceremonies, during which they cut their foreheads and rub the bleeding wound with “magic potions” to make them invincible, said a Nigerian soldier who attended one of the ceremonies.

Their presence is a growing concern for Nigeria, an ally of Cameroon, which last month arrested and extradited 47 separatist leaders and deployed soldiers along the border.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the rebels from launching attacks from Nigerian territory in recent weeks, according to security sources.

At the end of January, suspected separatists detonated an explosive device at the Cameroon border post of Ekok, partially destroying an office.

“The truth is that many militants are hiding among the refugees, and they just cross the border at will through the forest,” said Lawrence Asuquo, head of immigration at Ikom.

“They launch attacks on the Cameroonian army and they run back to Nigeria. It’s almost impossible to track them.”

AFP

A Turkish court has sentenced six journalists to life in prison over accusation of involvement in the country’s 2016 failed coup.

On Friday, the court handed the life sentences to the six defendants for “seeking to overthrow the constitutional order by force,” the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

All six, three of whom have already been imprisoned for nearly 17 months, have denied the charges.

Prominent Turkish journalists Nazli Ilicak, Mehmet Altan and his brother Ahmet are among the defendants.

Turkey’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, had previously ordered the release of Mehmet Altan, saying the detention violates his rights, but the penal court dismissed the request.

The Altan brothers were accused of giving coded messages on a television talk show a day before the coup.

“Whatever the developments were that lead to military coups in Turkey, by making the same decisions, [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is paving the same path,” Ahmet Altan had said at the TV show.

On the same program, Mehmet Altan pointed to “another structure” within the government that was monitoring the political developments in the country to “take its hand out of the bag.”

Prosecutors say the comments were coded messages to followers of US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the putsch.

“This sets a devastating precedent for scores of other journalists charged with similarly groundless charges,” said Sarah Clarke of writers organization PEN International.

The lawyer for the Altan brothers, Ergin Cinmen, told Reuters that they would appeal against the verdict, saying, “This is a trial that wiped out freedom of thought.”

“This verdict will be definitely reversed. Turkey cannot go on with this verdict,” he added.

‘Unprecedented assault on freedom of expression’

The verdict drew fierce criticism from international organizations and rights groups, including the UN, which urged Turkey to reverse the ruling.

”These harsh sentences are an unacceptable and unprecedented assault on freedom of expression and on the media in Turkey,” the UN human rights office said in a statement.

During the botched putsch in July 2016, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. Nearly 150,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

Source: Presstv

Florida Governor Rick Scott has asked the FBI director to resign after the bureau admitted it had ignored a warning about the perpetrator of the recent high school shooting in the state.

On Wednesday, Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 people and injuring at least 14 others.

Following the tragedy, the FBI admitted it had received a tip-off about the gunman yet failed to stop him.

Apparently, a person close to Cruz had contacted an FBI tip line on Jan. 5, weeks before the shooting to report concerns about him, the FBI said in a statement.

“The caller provided information about Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” it said.

“The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami field office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken,” the agency said, adding, “We have determined that these protocols were not followed.”

On Friday, Scott issued a statement, saying, “The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable,” adding, “The FBI Director needs to resign.”

“An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain,” he said.

Other Republicans including Florida Senator Marco Rubio also severely criticized the FBI.

Cruz, who has alleged ties to a white supremacist group, confessed Thursday to the shooting at his former high school.

Appearing before a judge, the troubled teen was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and was ordered to be held without bond.

Expelled from school for disciplinary reasons, Cruz was known to be fixated on firearms — and had reportedly been identified as a potential threat to his classmates.

The incident came as Americans reeled from the country’s worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago which left dead 20 children between six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members.

US President Donald Trump, who has defied calls to address gun control, went to Florida to meet with the victims of the shooting who are recovering at a hospital there.

However, some of the parents, survivors and others affected by the tragedy were more interested in firm action than a presidential visit.

“I don’t want Trump to come but we want more gun safety,” said 18-year-old Kevin Trejos, a senior at the school. “It’s a dream. It hasn’t hit me yet.”

Source: Presstv

A bipartisan group of US senators in Congress have unveiled a compromise plan to protect so-called “Dreamers” and boost border security, defying President Donald Trump’s demand to embrace his more hardline plan.

The potential breakthrough, reached Wednesday after hours of closed-door deliberations, would protect from deportation 1.8 million immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

Congress is struggling to act after Trump ordered the March 5 termination of DACA, an Obama-era program that gives young immigrants temporary legal status. Congress has tried and failed to overhaul immigration policy over the past decade.

While several Republicans are co-sponsoring the new bipartisan measure, it was not clear whether there would be enough support from Democrats to pass it in the Senate. Even if the bipartisan immigration plan passes the Senate, it faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a larger majority.

The bipartisan measure, which has eight Republican and eight Democratic sponsors, emerged from a centrist group nicknamed the “Common Sense Coalition.”

“Our legislation underscores the broad, bipartisan commitment to creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers, who were brought to this country illegally through no decision of their own, while strengthening border security to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants,” Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said in a statement announcing the measure.

The bipartisan effort would only make limited changes to family reunification, and would leave the diversity lottery visa untouched, because it is too “politically toxic,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the lawmakers who crafted the bipartisan plan.

But supporting the immigration deal would put members of Trump’s own party at odds with the president, who urged senators to oppose any plans that were different from his own.

In the midst of the showdown, Democrats stressed Trump would be to blame for any failure to reach a deal.

Americans “know this president not only created the problem, but seems to be against every solution that might pass because it isn’t 100 percent of what he wants,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York state.

“If, at the end of the week, we are unable to find a bill that can pass… the responsibility will fall entirely on the president’s shoulders and those in this body who went along with him.”

Source: Presstv