30, November 2020

US Election Crisis: Trump asks whether Supreme Court would hear challenge as options dwindle ⁰

President Donald Trump on Sunday questioned whether the Supreme Court would ever hear a case airing his unproven allegations of widespread election fraud as senior U.S. Republicans said a transition to a Joe Biden presidency looked inevitable.

Trump’s comments in a telephone interview with Fox News Channel suggested a growing resignation to the results of the Nov. 3 election that handed the White House to his Democratic opponent Biden, and it came as the Republican president’s team was dealt another blow.

The recount of ballots in Wisconsin’s two largest counties finished on Sunday, confirming Biden won the hotly contested state by more than 20,000 votes.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, chair of the congressional inaugural committee, said the group of senior lawmakers expects Biden to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

“We’re working with the Biden administration, the likely administration on both the transition and the inauguration as if we’re moving forward,” Blunt said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” though he stopped short of acknowledging Trump lost.

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is one of a few Republicans to refer to Biden as the president-elect.

“The transition is what is important. The words of President Trump are not quite as significant,” Hutchinson told “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump used his interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” to repeat the allegations he has made without evidence about widespread electoral fraud. His campaign and legal team have lost dozens of lawsuits by failing to convince judges of election irregularities in states including Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, all critical to Biden’s victory.

Trump was not clear on what legal steps he would take next. “The problem is it’s hard to get it to the Supreme Court,” Trump said, without clarifying whether he thought the court would decline to hear an appeal or whether his campaign may not even make one.

Trump’s legal team has offered conflicting statements on their likely course following a defeat in a federal appeals court on Friday in a case they were pursuing challenging Biden’s win in Pennsylvania.

“On to SCOTUS!” Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis wrote on Twitter after the ruling, suggesting a plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Later, however, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani reportedly told One America News Network that the legal team was still weighing which case might be appropriate to pursue at the top court.

The U.S. Supreme Court has always been unlikely to tip the election in Trump’s favor, and the president finally seems to be acknowledging that reality, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Trump’s challenge to the results in Pennsylvania, rejected by the appeals court on Friday, is a particularly poor vehicle for getting to the high court because at its core it involves a procedural question about whether Trump’s campaign should have been allowed to expand the case, Levinson said.

“There is nothing for the Supreme Court to decide,” Levinson said.

Trump said he will continue to fight the results of the election, saying “my mind will not change in six months.”

His comments appeared to signal his intention to continue contesting the outcome even after he leaves office. Aides say he has discussed several media ventures, including starting a television channel or social media company to keep him in the spotlight ahead of a potential 2024 White House bid.

Biden won the presidential election with 306 Electoral College votes – many more than the 270 required – to Trump’s 232. Biden also leads Trump by more than 6 million in the popular vote tally.

Source: REUTERS

30, November 2020

US president-elect Joe Biden chooses all-female White House communications team ⁰

President-elect Joe Biden will have an all-female senior communications team at his White House, led by campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield.

Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s White House communications director, and Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will be his press secretary.

Biden also plans to name Neera Tanden, the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, as director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to a person familiar with the transition process granted anonymity to speak freely about internal deliberations.

All three are veterans of the Obama administration. Bedingfield served as communications director for Biden while he was vice president; Psaki was a White House communications director and a spokesperson at the State Department; and Tanden served as a senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

“Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a President, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House,” Biden said in a statement.

“These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better,” he added.

Karine Jean Pierre, who was Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ chief of staff, will serve as a principal deputy press secretary for the president-elect. She’s another Obama administration alum, having served as a regional political director for the White House office of political affairs.

Pili Tobar, who was communications director for coalitions on Biden’s campaign, will be his deputy White House communications director.

Source: AP

29, November 2020

Iron Mike hungry for more after comeback fight ends in draw ⁰

Mike Tyson’s return to boxing at age 54 ended in a draw with 51-year-old Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday in an eight-round exhibition battle of former heavyweight champions.

Fifteen years after retiring with a 2005 loss to journeyman Kevin McBride, Tyson made his comeback at Staples Center in Los Angeles without spectators in a pay-per-view matchup that mixed curiosity and nostalgia.

California State Athletic Commission officials required two-minute rounds instead of the usual three-minute rounds, mandated larger than normal 12-ounce gloves, said neither fighter could seek a knockout and declared there could be no official winner in safety moves for the over-50 fighters.

“Sometimes that two minutes felt like three minutes,” Tyson said. “I’m glad I got this under my belt and I’m looking forward to doing it again.”

An “unofficial” panel of former World Boxing Council champions at ringside scored the bout a draw, an outcome that Tyson applauded despite appearing to dominate.

“I’m good with that,” Tyson said, admitting he thought he had won the fight. “Yeah, but I’m good with a draw. The crowd was happy with that.”

Jones, who looked tired and grabbed Tyson much of the fight, was unhappy at a draw.

“I ain’t never happy with a draw. I don’t do draw,” Jones said, admitting that Tyson hurt him throughout the bout, particularly with body blows.

“If he hits you with his head, punches, body shots, it don’t matter, everything hurts. Body shots definitely took a toll. Body shots are what makes you exhausted.”

Tyson, who entered 50-6 with 44 knockouts, lost 100 pounds and began training again, his desire to get back in shape becoming a hunger to strap on the gloves once more.

Jones, who entered 66-9 with 47 knockouts, had not fought since a February 2018 cruiserweight victory. He hoped a solid effort against Tyson might set up a fight with 45-year-old Brazilian mixed martial arts star Anderson Silva.

‘It’s going to hurt’

Tyson came out aggressive and fast, swinging and connecting often to the body of Jones, who was able to hit and evade at times, then hugging Tyson often when all else failed.

“You came back. I hit you with good shots and you took it,” Tyson told Jones. “We have to do this again.”

A hard left to the head stung Jones in round two and he spent much of the third and fourth rounds holding and moving into clenches with Tyson.

“It’s something in there taking punches from Mike,” Jones said. “Once I go in there, I’m game. I’ll go to the end. I know when he hits me it’s going to hurt.”

Tyson landed an inside right and a hard left to the head of Jones in the fifth round, then connected to the body with a solid right and left in the sixth, Jones evading a right uppercut and tying up Tyson before he could land major combinations.

Tyson stung the midsection of Jones in round seven but was held before he could press the advantage.

In the eighth and final round, Tyson pounded a pair of left hooks to the body but Jones tied him up and they finished trading inside punches.

“I was very happy to go the eight rounds,” Tyson said. “I’m more happy with going the distance.

“I was afraid I might get hurt. Why is nobody worried about my ass? I haven’t done this in 15 years.

Tyson ruled the heavyweight division in overwhelming fashion in the late 1980s but struggled through the 1990s, losing his title, being convicted of rape and serving a ban after biting a chunk out of Evander Holyfield’s ear.

He faded from the scene after a 2002 world title loss to Lennox Lewis and has returned now to help launch his Legends Only League for over-age star athletes.

“This is bigger than fighting for championships,” Tyson declared. “I’m helping people now.”

Source: AFP

29, November 2020

Widening Gap: Yerima struggles to control Ambazonia Fighters ⁰

Ambazonia: The Infighting MUST Stop

Fellow Ambazonians,

I come today to have a candid conversation with the Ambazonian people, and specifically with our self-defence forces. A few days ago, we witnessed the senseless killing of three self-defence forces and the wounding of five civilians in Guzang, Batiboby a group that claimed to also be fighting for our flag. This is unacceptable. My heart goes out to all the fallen heroes of this struggle.

This war was declared on the people of Southern Cameroons by the president of French Cameroun on 30 November 2017. As a nation, we entered this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is clear– The people of the Ambazonia will not live at the mercy of a rogue regime that threatens its independence and freedom with unruly militias and marauding forces.

Over the last four years, we have seen images of young women raped, grandmothers burned in their homes, old men and women shot, and children executed. We have witnessed young men murdered and their bodies dumped on street corners, children killed in schools, houses and whole villages burned in all the corners of our nation.

These gruesome and sustain crimes show our enemy’s intention to prevent our independence, even if that means wiping out our whole population. Our people are being killed by a regime seeking the return of oppression and the death of our independence.

My dear restoration forces: You must STOP attacking each other!! As Southern Cameroonians, we are not at war with each other. This war is not between frontline movements and different self-defence forces. Your enemy is La Republique du Cameroun. Your task in this struggle is to free our people and to defend Ambazonia from grave danger. You MUST start fighting for the Ambazonian flag. Your utmost loyalty is to the nation above any frontline movement.

In this war for freedom, you have all chosen to bear the duty and share the honour of serving for our freedom. Your actions must be guided by a vision of unity and collaboration on the battlefield of many dangers. Ambazonia cannot afford to lose anymore lives in avoidable circumstances.Millions of Southern Cameroonians have confidence in you and are praying for you as you undertake this gigantic task to free our nation. The dangers to our country will only be defeated if we all start fighting against our common enemy.

We must guard against the corrupt and evil tactics of the enemy. We face an enemy that has no regard for conventions and morality. Our enemy has tried to sow chaos and pit us against each other, and we must be wise to spot its sinister plots. We cannot aid and abetthe enemy by fighting amongst ourselves. This war requires our sustained loyalty and self-restraint.

My dear self-defence forces, cooperation, and unity amongst you on the ground will deny the terrorists and rapists a ground of operation. Unity amongst you will narrow their path to success. Unity amongst you will give momentum to our struggle for independence. Unity amongst you will be a decisive blow to the rogue regime in Yaoundé.

Ambazonia is watching you and in you, her hope for victory lies. That trust is well placed, and you cannot afford to let your nation down. As we move closer to our goal, the regime in Yaoundé is becoming more active and brutal. There are difficult days ahead, yet we must remain strong. But above all, you at the forefront of this struggle must remain united.

Helping defeat an organised military after decades of dictatorship is a massive undertaking. Their only influence is violence, and their only agenda is death. Our agenda, in contrast, is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for our people. So, we must confront this dangerous enemy with unity and purpose.

We must now unite to defeat this evil. The rogue regime in Yaoundé must not determine the future of Ambazonia.

La Republique du Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia have two contrasting visions–one of oppression and cruelty, the other of liberty and independence. These two visions are contending for the future of our country. The failure of freedom would only mark the continuation of subjugation, violence, and executions. But my fellow Ambazonians, we will not fail. We will unite, persevere, and defeat this common enemy.

May God bless you all, God Bless our fallen heroes,

Long Live the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

29, November 2020

Ex-head of US election security calls Trump team fraud allegations ‘farcical’ ⁰

The top US cyber security official fired by Republican President Donald Trump for saying the Nov. 3 election was the most secure in American history said on Friday voter fraud allegations made by Trump and his allies are “farcical”.

Chris Krebs, the former director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency, told the CBS 60 Minutes program that allegations of U.S. voting machines being manipulated by foreign countries were baseless.

Sidney Powell, a Trump attorney cut loose by the Trump legal team this week, had put forward a conspiracy theory that election systems created in Venezuela at the behest of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez helped tip the U.S. election to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

She and others have also alleged that voting machines had flipped votes from Trump to Biden and some U.S. voting information was stored on servers in Germany.

“All votes in the Unites States of America are counted in the United States of America. Period,” Krebs said, in an excerpt broadcast on CBS Evening News. The full 60 Minutes interview will air on Sunday. Krebs was fired by Trump on Nov. 17 after calling the election the “most secure in American history.”

“There’s no evidence that any machine that I’m aware of has been manipulated by a foreign power,” Krebs said, calling such allegations “farcical claims.” He added: “The American people should have 100% confidence in their vote.”

Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. He leads Trump by over six million in the popular vote.

Trump and his lawyers continue to allege, without evidence, that the election was stolen through widespread fraud and Trump is the winner. Trump said on Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden.

(Source: Reuters)

28, November 2020

The Holy Father appoints first African American cardinal ⁰

Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals on Saturday — including the first African-American — putting his personal stamp on the body that will one day choose his successor.

Under the soaring dome of St Peter’s Basilica, the new “princes of the Church” knelt one by one at the feet of the 83-year-old pontiff, who placed the quadrangular scarlet cap, or biretta, on their heads.

The diverse group — whose members hail from Italy, Malta, the Philippines, Chile, Brunei, Mexico and the United States — reflect not only the changing face of the church of 1.3 billion faithful, but also the Jesuit pope’s belief in priests focused on the world’s poor.

The 72-year-old Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, told AFP on Friday he was a “symbolic individual” for being made the first African-American cardinal.

Since Francis’ election in 2013, the Argentine pope — the first from the Americas — has created 95 new cardinals in ceremonies known as consistories.

Those named by Francis now make up the majority of those cardinals under the age of 80 who will elect his successor.

That increases the chances that the pope’s efforts to make the Roman Catholic Church more inclusive, transparent, and more focused on defending the most vulnerable members of society, may continue after his death.

During the ceremony, Francis warned the new cardinals not to be seduced by their new “eminence” and stray from being “close to the people”.

“The scarlet of a cardinal’s robes, which is the colour of blood, can, for a worldly spirit, become the colour of a secular ’eminence’,” said Francis. “When you feel that, you will be off the road.”

– Nod to ‘peripheries’ –

Typically, all the world’s cardinals travel to Rome to welcome the newly promoted cardinals during the consistory.

This year, however, many did not attend, and coronavirus restrictions prevented travel for two new cardinals — Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of the Philippines and Cornelius Sim, the Apostolic Vicar of the Muslim-majority nation of Brunei.

Only about 40 current cardinals, all in masks, were in attendance, sitting spaced apart before a limited audience of guests.

Due to the coronavirus, the tradition of exchanging “a kiss of peace” with the pope and all the other cardinals was suspended.

Nine cardinals in the latest group are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to join a conclave to elect the next pope upon the death or resignation of Francis.

Francis’ choices reflect not only a desire to promote non-Europeans within the church, but the pontiff’s personal fight against social inequality and poverty.

The Philippines’ Advincula said he believed the pope chose him to acknowledge Catholics living in far-flung areas from Rome.

“I always thought that the Church has to be closer to the people, especially those that are in the peripheries,” Advincula told Vatican News last month after being named.

Francis also named the archbishop of Washington DC, Wilton Gregory, the first African-American to become cardinal.

– Defence of poor –

The group of cardinals also includes Mexico’s Bishop Emeritus Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, who has worked among the indigenous population of the poor region of Chiapas, and Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda, who lost most of his family in the 1994 genocide.

Francis also named the Archbishop of Santiago, Celestino Aos Braco, in a nod to the challenges ahead in restoring confidence in the Church in Chile in the aftermath of a widespread sex abuse scandal and coverup.

The group of six new Italian cardinals includes Augusto Paolo Lojudice, the current archbishop of Siena, known for his defence of Roma people, and the Franciscan priest Mauro Gambetti, guardian of the Holy Convent of Assisi, the city of Saint Francis.

On Sunday, Francis will celebrate a traditional mass with exclusively the new cardinals participating.

Source: AFP

28, November 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Religious leaders reflect on the cost of the conflict and how to resolve it ⁰

“We the Religious Leaders of Cameroon acknowledge our neutrality and impartiality while reserving our rights to point out what is right or wrong in any conflict situation, decided to make the following declarations,” they said.

Cameroon’s 27 million people have two official languages—English and French—but the people in the two linguistic groups are divided, adding to the nation’s woes and for the concerns of its church leaders. They also face another affliction—violent extremist groups such as Boko Haram.

The conference agreed that the Cameroon government should consider the possibility of “a mediated end” to the crisis in the English-speaking western provinces of the country, as the only option to end this senseless armed conflict.

They declared their readiness as religious leaders of Cameroon to use their institutions and means to “objectively, faithfully, fearfully and lovingly assist, if not play a front role to bring about a just and peaceful end to the armed conflict ravaging Anglophone Cameroon and other major national crises.”

By Haggai Fung Achuo

28, November 2020

French Cameroun: Three people killed, one abducted in Boko Haram attack ⁰

At least three people were killed and another abducted in a Boko Haram militant raid on the mainly Christian village of Gabass, Koza department, Far North Cameroon.

The heavily-armed militants struck the community as the villagers slept, in the early hours of 26 November.

Guidi village in Kolofata, Far North Cameroon, one of two villages attacked by Boko Haram in the early hours of 26 November

At the time of writing, security forces are conducting a search for the abducted villager and the perpetrators.

In a separate attack the same night on Guidi village in Kolofata, also in the Far North, Boko Haram militants set fire to five homes.

In October, authorities in Far North Cameroon had to close more than 60 schools along the northern border with Nigeria to protect children and teaching staff from repeated Boko Haram attacks, mainly by women and children used as suicide bombers.

Most of Cameroon’s Muslims, comprising around 20% of the population, live in the Far North region of this predominantly Christian country. In the Far North, rural Christian communities are frequently subjected to Boko Haram violence. Eyewitness accounts of attacks describe heavily armed militants encircling Christian villages, shouting throughout the night as they kill, loot and burn. Boko Haram has stated its aim is to establish an Islamic caliphate extending from its base in north-east Nigeria.

By Ewang Miriam Metchane

28, November 2020

Severe revenge for scientist’s assassination put on Iran’s agenda ⁰

The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned that “a severe revenge and punishment” has been put on Iran’s agenda in response to the assassination of a high-profile nuclear scientist with the Defense Ministry.

Major General Hossein Salami made the remarks in a message released on Friday after the targeted killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the Iranian Defense Ministry’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (known by its acronym as SPND), in Absard city of Damavand County, Tehran Province.

Salami hailed Fakhrizadeh as a leading scientist in the country’s strategic industries and a prominent professor at Imam Hussein University of Tehran, and strongly condemned his assassination in a “terrorist crime designed and directed by the fake, terrorist and infanticide Zionist regime.”

“Undoubtedly, the valuable efforts and endeavors of this honorable martyr in the field of the defense industry and other strategic areas of the country, as well as the field of countering the coronavirus will remain in the historical memory of this land” while inspiring students at universities and IRGC’s scientific and technology centers to make achievements in the future.

“The blind-hearted enemies of the Iranian nation, especially those who designed, perpetrated and supported this crime, should know that such crimes will not undermine the Iranians’ will and determination to continue this glorious and powerful path, and that a severe revenge and punishment is put on the agenda.”

Source: Presstv

28, November 2020

WWF Admits “Sorrow” Over Human Rights Abuses in Southern Cameroons ⁰

One of the world’s largest charities knew for years that it was funding alleged human rights abusers but repeatedly failed to address the issue, a lengthy, long-delayed report revealed on Tuesday.

A News investigation first exposed in March 2019 how WWF, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo, financed and equipped park rangers accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people. In response, WWF immediately commissioned an “independent review” led by Navi Pillay, a former United Nations commissioner for human rights.

The 160-page review, which has now been published online, corroborates problems exposed by News in Southern Cameroons, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The report claimed the panel was prevented by the Covid-19 pandemic from traveling to locations where the abuses reportedly took place.

The review found that WWF had failed again and again to follow “its own commitments to respect human rights” — commitments that are not just required by law but essential to “the conservation of nature.”

In a statement issued in response to the review, WWF expressed “deep and unreserved sorrow for those who have suffered,” and said that abuses by park rangers “horrify us and go against all the values for which we stand.” The charity acknowledged its shortcomings and welcomed the recommendations, saying “we can and will do more.”

Pillay’s review declined to address whether high-level executives, who News found were aware of “accelerating” violence at at least one wildlife park as early as January 2018, were responsible for the charity’s missteps.

Overall, WWF paid too little attention to credible abuse allegations, failed to construct a system for victims to make complaints, and painted an overly rosy picture of its anti-poaching war in public communications, the report found. “Unfortunately, WWF’s commitments to implement its social policies have not been adequately and consistently followed through,” the report’s authors wrote.

WWF has supported efforts to fight wildlife crime for decades. Although local governments officially employ and pay park rangers who patrol national parks and protected wildlife reserves, in a number of countries across Africa and Asia WWF has provided crucial funding to make their jobs possible. The charity has framed its crusade against poaching in the hardened terms of war.

In a multi-part series, News found that WWF’s war on poaching came with civilian casualties: impoverished villagers living near the parks. At the , WWF responded that many of ’s assertions did “not match our understanding of events” — yet the charity swiftly overhauled many of its human rights policies after publication.

In the US, the series spurred a bipartisan investigation and proposed legislation that would prohibit the government from awarding money to international conservation groups that fund or support human rights violations. It also prompted a freeze of funds by the Interior Department, a review by the Government Accountability Office, and separate government probes in the UK and Germany.