Cameroon has significantly beefed up national security ahead of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be hosted by the country, a joint security inspection mission of Confederation of African Football (CAF) and world football governing body FIFA told reporters here on Thursday.

The mission made the remarks after spending five days inspecting the security in airports, hotels, hospitals, stadiums and road infrastructures in the country.

“We have taken stock (of the security measures). We noticed that there is a great mobilization of the defense forces all over. For the moment, we have taken note,” Djibrilla Hima Hamidou, head of the mission and president of Niger Football Association, said at the close of the five-day visit.

“We have also noticed a few faults and advised that there should be adjustments.”

On Monday, Cameroon’s Minister of Defense assured the mission that “all necessary security measures” have been taken to ensure a hitch-free competition in the country next year.

AFCON 2019 will be held from June 15 to July 13, according to CAF. It will also be the first AFCON expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

Source: Xinhua

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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The fallout of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has spread even to sport, drawing rare scrutiny on a soft power tool that Gulf monarchies have brandished with zeal.

Sport has become a strategic pillar of the House of Saud’s global PR mission. So it was only a matter of time before the pressure would extend to Saudi investments in sport. Football, an immensely popular game in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, was the first to experience the fallout of the Khashoggi scandal. Last weekend, Amnesty International called on two top Italian clubs, Juventus and AC Milan, to boycott the Italian Super Cup, set to take place in Saudi Arabia in January. The deal to allow the kingdom to host three of the next five editions of the star-studded Supercoppa was only agreed over the summer.

Amnesty’s appeal followed a similar plea from Italian former sports minister Luca Lotti. On his Facebook page, the Tuscany lawmaker urged Italian football authorities to reconsider their decision to play the games in the kingdom “to ensure that Italian football does not shy away from the defence of rights and values”.

Rescinding the arrangement with Saudi Arabia, however, would come with consequences for the Italians, not least financially. According to Italian media, the deal sealed in June is worth about €7 million.

While appeals to cancel sporting events in the wake of the Saudi journalist’s killing may have elicited public soul-searching among some of the athletes involved, they are likely to be balanced against economic imperatives. Exactly a month after Khashoggi’s brutal murder, the lucrative international events on the kingdom’s sporting calendar remain, for now, largely intact.

The debate has also spread to tennis. Superstars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic couldn’t escape questions about the controversy last weekend in Paris.

“Of course I’m aware of the situation. But I had a commitment since one year ago to play there. And my team is talking to them, to analyse things,” the Spaniard said in Paris. “It’s terrible that one journalist lost [his] life. I know something happened very bad inside there. So we are looking about how evolves the situation and I hope the things will clarify as soon as possible.”

Djokovic struck a similar tone. While insisting the commitment was made more than a year ago, the Serbian star allowed that the situation is “sad”. “My team right now is in touch with the people in Saudi Arabia as well as Rafa’s and of course we are all talking to understand the situation better,” he said. “We have to get more information on what’s happening so we can make a rational decision whether it’s good to go or not.”

Bowing out of the Jeddah clash would immediately deprive each player of his promised million-dollar bonus, not to mention any medium-term knock-on effects of reneging on the agreement.

Those two high-profile competitions may be just the tip of the iceberg. Although the Argentina-Brazil football friendly held last month in the Gulf state managed to escape controversy, other major events with long-term contracts are poised to go ahead in the weeks and months to come.

First up among those is the “Crown Jewel”, a professional wrestling show organised by the all-powerful World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in Riyadh went ahead Friday even as the organising body expressed a measure of regret in its statement confirming its participation.

The decision to go ahead with the Riyadh wrestling showcase has not been met with universal approval, however. Mention of the Crown Jewel even elicited boos from a WWE audience at an event in the US, as British comedian John Oliver pointed out to laughs on his US television show.

Moreover, two of the wrestling circuit’s stars pulled out of Friday’s show. John Cena and Daniel Bryan were written out of the scripted event’s storyline and replaced by other performers. Although neither has made his reasons for withdrawing explicit, Cena’s alleged misgivings about appearing in Riyadh had been widely reported.

Other sporting competitions have, too, ruled out reconsidering their calendars, for now. Golf’s European Tour this week confirmed the addition of a first Saudi International event to its schedule – at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City from January 31 to February 3 – the first event in a three-year commitment made last spring.

The same goes for motorsport in the kingdom, with Formula E due to hold its first Riyadh race, the electric racing championship’s season opener, on December 15. “Referring to the incident, we obviously have no comment to make,” Formula E chief Alejandro Agag told the Associated Press on October 15. “At this moment, there are no plans to change the Formula E calendar this season. Of course, we are monitoring [the situation].”

Source: France 24

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Brazil’s November friendly against Cameroon will take place at the Milton Keynes Stadium, it has now been confirmed.

The CBF lined up Cameroon as opposition for their second friendly game in the November international break, but were struggling to nail down a venue near London.

Talks took place to hold the match in Paris, but France will play there during the same week, while Seville and Madrid were also touted as destinations.

But Brazil will play Cameroon at Stadium: MK in Milton Keynes, meaning they can maintain their training base at Tottenham Hotspur’s training headquarters for the duration of the fixture list.

Source: Sambafoot

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Football club Leicester City has confirmed that the club’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash on Saturday, along with four others.

The helicopter belonging to the billionaire crashed and burst into flames in the stadium carpark shortly after taking off from the club’s pitch.

The club confirmed on Sunday that none of the five people who were on board survived, and said in a statement, “In Khun Vichai, the world has lost a great man. […] Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the Club that is now his legacy.”

Leicestershire police said that no one else is believed to have been injured from the crash. Leicestershire Police named the four other victims they believe to have died in the crash. They said that two were members of Vichai’s staff: Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare. Also killed were pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

Images released after the crash showed smoke rising from the fiery wreckage in the carpark at King Power Stadium the scene of unbridled jubilation after Leicester’s against-all-odds Premier League title victory in 2016.

Freelance photographer Ryan Brown, who was covering Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham, told BBC Radio 5 Live that he saw the helicopter rise out of the stadium before it crashed.

“Literally the engine stopped and I turned around, and it made a bit of a whirring noise. It turned silent, blades started spinning and then there was a big bang,” he said.

He said he saw “a huge fireball” when he ran to the scene.

“We are assisting Leicestershire Police and the emergency services in dealing with a major incident at King Power Stadium,” the club said in a statement.

‘Heartbreaking’

As expressions of concern poured in from around the football world, England legend Gary Lineker, a former Leicester player and host of the BBC’s Match of the Day, tweeted: “That was the most difficult @BBCMOTD I’ve ever hosted… A terrible tragedy. Heartbreaking.”

Leicester footballers Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire both tweeted praying hands emojis and West Ham defender Pablo Zabaleta, who also played in Saturday’s game, tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in the helicopter accident at Leicester City.”

Vichai bought Leicester City in 2010 and became chairman the following February, pouring millions into the team and becoming a beloved figure in the club and the city a feat not always achieved by the Premier League’s foreign owners.

“Thoughts and prayers with all particularly owners who’ve done so much for Club and our City,” Leicester’s mayor Peter Soulsby tweeted.

Sky Sports said the helicopter took off from the pitch between 1930 and 1945 GMT but developed problems shortly afterwards with its tail rotor.

The local ambulance service said it was alerted at 2138 GMT.

“We sent a doctor, two paramedics in ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and our Hazardous Area Response Team, with the first resource arriving within two minutes of the call,” it tweeted.

Air crash investigators were also examining the scene.

Leicester’s miracle

It was under Vichai’s ownership that Leicester crafted one of the biggest fairy-tales in English football history by winning the 2015/16 Premier League, having started the season as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title.

Vichai made major investments in the club after his purchase, returning them to England’s Premier League from the second-tier Championship in 2014.

They initially seemed outclassed by richer and more established clubs from London, Liverpool and Manchester, languishing at the very bottom the table for most of the 2014-15 season.

The Foxes, as the team are nicknamed, then engineered what fans now fondly refer to as the “Great Escape”, winning seven of their last nine matches.

They ended up finishing 14th, securing themselves another season in Europe’s richest league in 2015/16.

But not even their most devout fans could have imagined what happened next.

Vardy, signed from non-league Fleetwood Town, scored in 11 consecutive matches, propelling the men in blue to a title without parallel in Premier League history.

The success also qualified them for the first time for the lucrative Champions League, the pinnacle of European football played by the continent’s most successful sides, including Barcelona and Real Madrid.

There, Leicester City defied the odds yet again, winning their group before eventually losing their quarter-final 2-1 over two legs to Atletico Madrid.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

Brazil will play its last friendly of the year against Cameroon in London on Nov. 20, its soccer confederation said on Thursday.

The last time the teams met was during the group stage of the 2014 World Cup when Brazil won 4-1 in Brasilia with a Neymar double.

On Nov. 16, Brazil will face Uruguay in London. Coach Tite will announce his squad for the two friendlies on Friday.

Brazil has won all four friendlies since the 2018 World Cup in Russia, against United States, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.

Tite is preparing his players for the 2019 Copa America tournament that Brazil will host.

Source: AP

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

The former Chinese owner of AC Milan has been added to China’s blacklist of untrustworthy individuals over millions of dollars in unpaid debt, according to a local court, which ordered that his passport be confiscated.

Li Yonghong emerged from obscurity to purchase one of Europe’s most high-profile and decorated football clubs from former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2017.

He was one of dozens of wealthy Chinese investing in or simply buying up some of the sport’s biggest clubs after President Xi Jinping declared he wanted to turn China into a football superpower.

But Li’s control of AC Milan was plagued from the start and this summer a creditor took over the club.

The order from the Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court in central China this autumn, made public in October, is the latest indication of Li’s declining fortunes.

Li was on the hook for 60 million yuan ($8.7 million) in unpaid debt to a Hubei province investment company, and a 12 million yuan ($1.7 million) penalty, according to the court.

But the court found no assets to seize and repay the creditor as Li had no bank deposits or cars registered in his name.

Instead, Li’s name was added to China’s national blacklist of untrustworthy individuals, which restricts people from travel by high-speed train and airplane, staying in pricey hotels, or getting a credit card.

As a Hong Kong resident, Li’s passport was ordered confiscated and he was prohibited from entering or exiting China, though his current whereabouts are unknown.

The $740 million deal for AC Milan faced payment problems, with Li’s bid secured only by a last minute, high-interest loan from a US hedge fund.

In July, Li’s group was unable to repay the loan and the hedge fund Elliot Management took control of the club.

Source: AFP

The IOC has picked its first African host of any Olympics, formally awarding the 2022 Youth Games to Senegal.

Senegal President Macky Sall was present on Monday to see International Olympic Committee members confirm the executive board’s preference from four candidates.

Senegal will host the youth games in three places: Dakar; a new city of Diamniadio, close to the capital; and the coastal resort of Saly.

Sall said a 50,000-seat Olympic Stadium will be built for the government-backed project.

The games budget is estimated at $150 million, the IOC executive director of Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, said at a news conference.

Senegal’s games are likely to be held in late May. This would be at the end of the dry season to “greatly reduce the prevalence of tropical diseases,” IOC vice president Ugur Erdener told the membership.

Erdener pointed to Senegal’s “booming economy” and better conditions than the other bidders from Botswana, Nigeria and Tunisia.

The construction project includes a rail link and an athletes village which will become university accommodation.

“It is not required to have a detailed budget at this stage,” Erdener said, though noting that Senegal’s government has “full understanding of the magnitude” of its task.

One IOC member from Africa said the whole continent would share the responsibility of its first Olympics, comparing it to soccer’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“In Africa, when a family organizes a party all the neighbors chip in and they help organizing the event,” said Lydia Nsekera of Burundi, who also sits on FIFA’s ruling council, responding to a fellow IOC member’s question about Senegal’s economic indicators.

“It doesn’t matter, everyone will be there to help President Macky Sall organize and stage these games.”

Nsekera is a candidate to lead the African group of national Olympic bodies, ANOCA, in an election next month.

The 2022 decision was taken at a two-day IOC meeting on the sidelines of the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics.

In reports by past and future Olympic organizing committees about their work, the Pyeongchang Winter Games reported an operating profit of $55 million.

Pyeongchang organizing president Lee Hee-beom said the games in South Korea beat its target from sponsorship and donations, and raised almost $1 billion.

The IOC executive board has agreed to give its share of the surplus to sports in South Korea.

Three Pyeongchang venues still lack a long-term plan for use, including two skating arenas and the Alpine skiing downhill course. The slope at Jeongseon was promised to be replanted with trees and restored as a forest.

“This obviously has always been a concern,” Dubi said of the legacy planning. “It has been the case for many months and it will continue to be the case.”

Organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics said they hope to propose new sports for its medal program to the IOC “early next year.”

AP

Brighton and Hove Albion player Gaetan Bong has pleaded guilty to speeding at 90mph in a 70mph zone.

Crawley magistrates heard the 30-year-old was caught breaking the limit in his Land Rover on the A27 in Shoreham, West Sussex on 29 December.

The court was told the defender, from Cameroon, was travelling back from training. His solicitor pleaded guilty on his behalf as he was not in court.

Bong was fined £667 plus costs, and given three points on his licence. He already had six points before this offence.

‘Too fast’

In court, Bong’s solicitor Mark Haslam said the footballer “offers his apologies”.

“He was travelling back from training in the middle of the day,” said Mr Haslam. “He was driving too fast – I accept that on his behalf.”

Another charge – of failing to respond to a court summons – was dropped after it emerged that while Bong had submitted paperwork to the court, the details had not been logged.

Bong joined Brighton from Wigan in July 2015 and has since made 72 league appearances. He has also played for Olympiakos and Valenciennes in Greece and France respectively.

Source: BBC

Seventeen people including 15 cyclists, one driver and one race commissioner were injured after a coaster bus transporting international cyclists, Honore Yossi, president of Cameroon Cycling Federation said on Saturday.

The accident occurred early Saturday at a place called “Memiam” on the Mbalmayo-Zoetele highway, Yossi said.

“The 17 victims were immediately transported by ambulances of the caravan to Mbalmayo District Hospital where they were placed under the care of doctors and nurses. No one died. The victims sustained minor injuries,” Yossi said.

He said, the incident will not interrupt the competition.

“The teams from Rwanda and Burkina Faso have left the hospital and are now observing in Yaounde. The Ivoirians have decided to continue the race. The competition continues for the other runners,” Yossi said.

The 18th edition of the International Cycling Tour of Cameroon dubbed Grand Prix Chantal Biya started on Wednesday. 10 teams from Europe and Africa are taking part in the competition that ends on September 30.

The tour is organized by Cameroon Cycling Federation under the supervision of International Cycling Union.

Source: Xinhuanet