19, February 2025

Football: marvellous Mbappe sends Man City crashing out of Europe ⁰

Manchester City’s Champions League campaign came to a tame conclusion at the Bernabeu as Kylian Mbappe’s brilliant hat-trick inspired holders Real Madrid to a comfortable victory and place in the last 16.

Pep Guardiola’s side were attempting to reverse a 3-2 deficit from the play-off first leg but this contest was effectively over after four minutes when Mbappe’s precise lob from Raul Asencio’s pass increased their advantage.

City, with Erling Haaland only fit enough for the bench, saw their plight worsen moments after Mbappe’s opener when they lost defender John Stones to injury.

And City’s earliest Champions League exit since they failed to get out of the group in 2012-13 edged closer when Mbappe showed brilliant close control to wrong-foot Josko Gvardiol before beating Ederson after 33 minutes.

The France forward’s third came just after the hour with a low shot as City subsided, barely laying a glove on Real all night as they were outclassed.

City pulled a goal back when Nico Gonzalez turned in his first goal for the club after Omar Marmoush’s free-kick hit the bar, but it was no consolation on a desperate night for the reigning Premier League champions.

It was a chastening experience for Guardiola, whose discomfort was particularly relished by Real’s fans because of his old Barcelona allegiances, as he faces a mammoth task to rebuild and restore City to Europe’s top table.

Source: BBC

19, February 2025

The Holy Father has pneumonia in both lungs ⁰

Pope Francis, who was admitted to hospital last week, has developed pneumonia in both of his lungs, the Vatican said Tuesday, adding that the 88-year-old was in “good spirits”.

“The laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture”, the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital last Friday for bronchitis, but the Vatican on Monday said it was changing his treatment following tests.

It said Tuesday that a “polymicrobial infection” which has come on top of “bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex”.

“The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon… demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy,” it said.

The pontiff had part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after developing pleurisy that almost killed him.

The Vatican had already cancelled a papal audience on Saturday and said he would not attend a mass on Sunday, although it has yet to announce plans for his weekly Angelus prayer, held on Sunday.

“Nevertheless, Pope Francis is in good spirits,” it added.

The pope spent his fifth day in hospital alternating rest with prayer and reading texts, the Vatican said.

Pilgrims pray

Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to hospital after struggling for several days to read his texts in public.

It is the latest of a series of health issues for the Jesuit, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021 and uses a wheelchair due to pain in his knee.

Among the pilgrims and tourists gathered in Saint Peter’s Square on Tuesday, many said they were praying for the pope’s recovery.

“I hope that he’s getting better soon,” Birgit Jungreuthmayer, a 48-year-old Austrian tourist, told AFP.

Others gathered outside the Gemelli hospital, holding candles or saying prayers.

“I came to say a prayer for the pope so that he may recover soon. I send him my best wishes”, said Jacqueline Troncoso, a Bolivian resident in Rome.

The Vatican published drawings done by children in the hospital for Francis, as well as letters from parents asking him to pray for their sick offspring.

Francis “gives thanks for the closeness he feels at this time and asks, with a grateful heart, that we continue to pray for him”, it said.

Active schedule

Despite his health troubles, Francis remains a very active pontiff, with a busy weekly schedule and regular overseas trips.

In September 2024, he completed a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy by duration and distance.

A source within the pope’s entourage had told AFP Monday that Francis was admitted after a “very busy” two weeks, during which “he was weakened” — but insisted there was no alarm.

Francis followed last Sunday’s mass on television from hospital and sent a written address for the Angelus.

“I would have liked to be among you but, as you know, I am here at the Gemelli hospital because I still need some treatment for my bronchitis,” Francis wrote.

The Jesuit has left open the option of resigning if he became unable to carry out his duties.

His predecessor, Benedict XVI, stunned the world in 2013 by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to step down, citing his ailing health.

But in a memoir published last year, Francis wrote that he did “not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning”.

Stepping down is a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”, he wrote.

In an autobiography published last month, he said that despite his ailments, “I carry on”.

“The reality is, quite simply, that I am old,” he said.

Source: AFP

19, February 2025

Trump blames Ukraine for war ⁰

US President Donald Trump has blamed Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Moscow’s invasion, and said he could meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin before the end of the month.

Trump has also increased pressure on Zelensky to hold elections – echoing one of Moscow’s key demands to strike a deal.

Odessa’s governor says a large residential area has been left without power after a “massive” Russian strike on the Ukrainian port city. One person has been hospitalised.

Russia says Ukraine has attacked an oil refinery in the city of Syzran. No casualties have been reported.

Latest developments

Trump says he could meet Putin before the end of the month

US not opposed to European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine

Russia, US to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war

Culled from France 24

19, February 2025

Russia back at the table – and appearing to call the shots ⁰

The sight of senior Russian and American officials back around a giant negotiating table is extraordinary.

For many, most of all Ukrainians, it will have been very hard to take.

In Saudi Arabia, Moscow achieved something major: after three years of all-out war on its neighbour and isolation by the West, it was back at the “top table” of global diplomacy.

Not only that, Russia looked for all the world like it was the one calling the shots.

Even as air raid sirens continue to sound across Ukraine, that’s exactly the image Moscow wants to project.

This was not a defeated Russia, forced to the negotiating table. It was more like the US inviting the aggressor to set out its terms.

True, US officials went into the process saying they wanted to feel out Russia, check whether it’s serious about peace.

But Donald Trump had already drawn his conclusions. Last week, after he spoke to Vladimir Putin by phone, he announced that the Russian leader “wants to see people stop dying”.

Trump could have responded by telling him to withdraw all his troops.

Instead, he clearly wants to cut a deal with Moscow to end the war, as he promised voters, and move on.

After more than four hours of talks in Riyadh, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerged to the press and announced the first steps towards negotiations had been agreed, with teams to be formed on both sides.

He’d concluded that Russia was ready to engage in a “serious process” to end the war.

But why was he so sure?

Across the table was Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, still under sanctions for what the US Treasury called Russia’s “brutal war of choice”.

When Lavrov met the Russian media, he told them the US had proposed a moratorium on attacking energy infrastructure.

“We explained that we have never endangered the civilian energy supply and only target what directly serves Ukraine’s military,” was the minister’s reply.

That’s not true.

I have personally walked through the ruins of civilian power plants that have been directly targeted by Russian missiles.

This is the country that the US is attempting to engage with, although there is ample evidence that it can’t be trusted.

Russia has also shown zero sign of conceding any ground: why would it, when the Trump administration has already agreed that Ukraine will never join Nato, as Moscow demands, and won’t get its occupied land back?

That’s why, for Ukraine’s allies, it won’t only be the image of US and Russian officials seated at the shiny Saudi table that jarred. It’s also how they talked.

“Laying the ground” for future investment sounds like a promise of dropping sanctions: no reckoning for Russia’s war of aggression, then, just reward.

These are, of course, the earliest of early days.

But in Moscow, officials and state media sense the start of Russia’s return to where it believes it belongs: face to face with the US, as an equal.

Source: BBC

18, February 2025

We thank the Head of State: Biya regime distributes CFAF 2Bln to rice farmers following protests ⁰

The Cameroonian government has disbursed 2 billion CFA francs to 8,750 rice farmers affiliated with the Yagoua Rice Expansion and Modernization Company (Semry) in the Far North region. The funds were distributed by Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration (Minat), who has been on a working visit to the Mayo-Danay department since February 13 to address concerns raised by farmers.

In late January, rice farmers in Yagoua, the departmental capital, held protests demanding compensation related to the Logone Valley Investment Development Project (Viva Logone), implemented by Semry. The protests turned violent, resulting in one farmer’s death and several injuries. President Paul Biya subsequently sent Atanga Nji to de-escalate the situation and oversee the payments.

“This generous gesture from the Head of State is a form of support for the beneficiaries, whose activities have been severely impacted by delays in launching the rice rehabilitation project in the Logone Valley, as well as by poor harvests during the last agricultural season,” Atanga Nji told reporters.

The first tranche of 1 billion CFA francs was distributed to 4,399 rice farmers in Toukou, Yagoua, on February 13 during a ceremony at the Tapvounda Rice Cooperative site. In addition to the financial aid, farmers also received agricultural equipment and inputs. The second phase of payments, targeting 4,351 rice farmers, is currently underway in Maga, another town in Mayo-Danay. Atanga Nji is personally supervising the distribution process.

Source: Sbbc

18, February 2025

Eyumojock Sub Division: MP Teku Tanyi puts smiles on many faces during Youth Day Celebrations ⁰

The Eyumojock Member of Parliament, Hon. Teku Tanyi, brought more excitement to the National Youth Day celebration in Eyumojock sub-division in Manyu Division by sponsoring sporting activities and awarding prizes to meritorious individuals and schools.

The festivities, presided over by the Divisional Officer for Eyumojock, Besinga Ely Etone, brought together members of the Regional House of Assembly, elites, traditional rulers, students and pupils from various schools in the sub-division to commemorate the National Youth Day which was celebrated on the theme: “Youth, Maturity and Responsibility for the Consolidated of Peace, Security, Economic Growth and Democratic Progress.”

The youths showcased their talents in various activities, including cultural displays, choral singing, ballet, and a match past. The sporting activities sponsored by the Member of Parliament were a highlight of the event, providing an opportunity for the young people to demonstrate their skills and teamwork.

In addition to the sporting activities, the MP donated essential items to support the education and well-being of the students and pupils. These included exercise books, desktop computers, laptops, and toys.

The recipients did not conceal their joy and appreciation. They thanked the MP for his sustained encouragements.

“Our MP is going above and beyond to help revive a sub-division which has been hard hit by the socio-political crisis. We truly appreciate what he is doing,” a resident of Eyumojock who elected anonymity said.

Hon. Teku Teku Tanyi, for his part, said the activities he sponsored and the prizes awarded were a demonstration of his commitment to empowering young people in his constituency.

He said that by promoting sporting activities and providing essential educational materials and resources, he was encouraging the youths to develop their physical and mental well-being, while also fostering a sense of community and social cohesion.

It is no exaggeration to note that the Youth Day celebration in Eyumojock was a resounding success thanks in great part to the MP’s generous support.

Below are the prizes awarded by the young and dynamic MP.

I.Football Boys.

A.Secondary Schools:

i. First Prize: Trophy 🏆 plus 100.000 cash prize

ii. Second Prize: Cash Prize. =75.000

iii. Third Prize: 20.000

B. Primary Schools. Football boys

i. First Prize: Trophy 🏆 plus 50.000

ii. Second Prize: =30.000 cash prize.

iii. Third Prize: 15.000

II. Handball Girls:

A. Secondary Schools.

i.First Prize: Cash Prize= 30.000

ii.Second Prize =25.000

iii.Third Prize: 15.000

B.Primary Schools:

i. First Prize =25.000

ii. Second Prize =20.000

iii. Third prize: 10.000

III.Assorted prizes to schools and students who excelled at the 2025 GCE/ Technical examinations

IV. Donation of books to school libraries.

V. YCPDM Football Match:

YCPDM boys Vs YCPDM girls.

i .Winners: Trophy 🏆 plus 75.000

ii Runners up: 50.000

VI. GCE 2024 EXCELLENCE AWARD:

APPRECIATION TO TEACHERS

i. GBHS Eyumojock: = 50.000

ii. GSS EKOK =40.000

Match officials of CPDM: 25.000

By Kingsley Betek in Eyumojock

17, February 2025

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Senator Zang Oyono is dead ⁰

Calvin Zang Oyono, a Cameroonian Senator who represented the South Region on the platform of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement is dead. CRTV, Cameroon’s state radio and television confirmed this to Cameroon Concord News on Sunday 16 February 2025.

Zang Oyono was a Francophone politician who until his death served as deputy managing director of COTCO.

Elected senator three times, in 2013, 2018 and 2023, Calvin Zang was born in Nsimi in the Zoétélé Sub Division in the Dja et Lobo Division in the South region.

The late senator was a graduate of the National School of Administration and Magistracy (Enam).

By Rita Akana

17, February 2025

Vatican: The Holy Father resting, stable after first night in hospital ⁰

After being admitted to the hospital Friday for treatment of what the Vatican initially described as bronchitis, Pope Francis is stable and has been prescribed complete rest while being treated for a respiratory infection.

He was described by a Vatican spokesman as being “serene” and “in good humor” Friday night after his admittance to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, spending the evening reading newspapers.

A statement Saturday morning said the pope had slept well during the night, and in the morning ate breakfast and read some newspapers while receiving treatment and awaiting the results of further tests.

On Saturday evening, the Vatican said Pope Francis, while admitted with a fever, no longer showed any signs of having a fever and that further testing during the day “confirmed a respiratory infection.”

His treatment, the Vatican said, was modified slightly “based on further microbiological findings.”

Laboratory exams Saturday showed “an improvement in some values,” the Vatican said, but did not offer further details.

The pope received the Eucharist Saturday morning and spent the day alternating between rest, praying and reading.

In order to facilitate a full recovery, doctors, the statement said, “have prescribed absolute rest,” meaning he will not give his scheduled Sunday, Feb. 16, Angelus address, however, the text of the speech will be distributed for publication.

Some of his events for this weekend’s Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture have been cancelled due to the pope’s hospitalization, and his Sunday Mass for the event will now be celebrated by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Francis was also updated on the many well-wishes and expressions of prayer and solidarity that have been conveyed since he was admitted and has asked that faithful continue to pray for him.

The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital Friday at the end of his regularly scheduled audiences that day, after around two weeks of struggling with a bronchitis that forced him to take his private audiences and meetings at his residence, rather than the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

This marks the fourth time he has been admitted to Gemelli, where popes traditionally go for medical treatment, following colon surgery in 2021, a stay for bronchitis in April 2023, and surgery to repair an abdominal hernia in June 2023.

He has also suffered two falls in recent months, once in December resulting in a bruised chin, and once in January that caused an injury to his arm, requiring it to be placed in a sling for several days.

It is unclear how long the pope will remain in the hospital, but it is expected that he will stay for several days.

Source: Crux

17, February 2025

Biya’s 8th term: Catholic priest says elections help build a community of love ⁰

A leading Cameroonian priest and intellectual, Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, says electing the right candidates during elections help in achieving one of the Church’s overarching goals: Building a community of love.

Speaking during his weekly sermons distributed on social media, Mbuy’s message comes at a critical time as Cameroonians prepare for the upcoming presidential election scheduled for October this year.

President Paul Biya who turned 92 on February 13 is likely to seek an 8th term in office. The world’s oldest head of state has been in power since 1982 when he took over from Cameroon’s first president.

But the president’s advanced age and failing health has raised concerns over his candidature. In any event, the ruling CPDM party candidate – whether it is Biya or not – could face a slew of opposition candidates, the most formidable being Prof. Maurice Kamto who has been endorsed by a coalition of 30 political parties known collectively as the Political Alliance for Change.

Kamto, who officially scored 14 percent of the vote in the 2018 disputed presidential election, is running on a campaign of extending health and education services and reducing the acute inequities in Cameroonian society.

With the October election expected to be an inflection point in Cameroon’s political journey, Mbuy said he believes the Church may be called to play a leading role in guiding the electorate towards making an informed choice.

“We must participate in politics because politics is one of the highest forms of charity because it seeks the common good and Christians, lay people, must work in politics,” he said, quoting Pope Francis when asked about how and what role the Church should play to ensure free and fair elections anywhere in the world.

“The role of the Church is to educate, to encourage, and to enlighten people about basic human values and moral principles involved in the process of registration, voting, counting of votes, and proclamation of elections thereafter,” the Cameroonian priest said.

He went down memory lane, explaining the contribution of the Church to the growth of democracy around the world – a history that reached a high point on April 2, 2004, when the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, then led by Cardinal Renato Martino, published a compendium of the Church’s social doctrine, endorsed by Pope Saint John Paul II.

The compendium encompasses the entire social teaching of the Church, guiding its actions in socio-economic and political matters.

Mbuy recalled that ahead of the UK’s 2024 general elections, the bishops of England used this compendium to create a Christian voter guide. Similarly, on March 28, 2022, the Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines issued a pastoral letter urging voters to consider the common good in the May 2022 general elections.

In the same way on August 24, 2018, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon addressed a pastoral letter on the presidential elections that came up that year.

And in May 2023, the Bishops’ Conference of Sierra Leone wrote a similar pastoral letter to guide the people about the elections which were to take place in June 2023.

“So, from north to south, east to west, it is common for conferences of Catholic bishops to address a pastoral letter to Christians and people of goodwill before and after elections,” Mbuy said.

Mbuy explained that a careful study of bishops’ letters about elections across Africa, Europe, Asia, and America typically reveals four common themes. The first theme, he said, is to educate people about their civic duty and moral obligation to vote. The second theme is a call for voters to choose candidates who can work for the common good. The third theme emphasizes the need for everyone involved in the electoral process, from registration to proclamation, to ensure that elections are free, fair, transparent, and honest. Lastly, the fourth theme is a plea and prayer for peace during, before, and after elections.

“The bishops usually write as pastors, as spiritual leaders and as moral guides to the people,” he said.

“Few, if any bishop at all, are interested in chaos, confusion and violence,” Mbuy said.

The priest said that citizens have “the right to know facts about the people from whom they have to choose one or more. Many citizens are hardly aware of their natural and civic right to register and cast their vote which matters. The Church has the obligation to educate them on the vital civic and moral duty.”

“The Church is and should always act as mother and teacher, martyr and magistrate because she has the moral obligation to lead society always towards that which is good, especially in free, transparent and fair elections,” he said.

“It is such free, fair and transparent elections, the cleric said, they will lead the Church to achieve one of its most cherished goals-building “communities of love,” Mbuy said.

Source: Crux

17, February 2025

Why is Biya seeking re-election? ⁰

Many Cameroonians thought that after 42 years in power and following the crash of his reputation both at home and abroad, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, will no longer run for the presidency, and especially as his health has become a cause for concern.

Biya has reigned over his country for decades and during his time in power, a lot has gone wrong with a country once considered as an earthly paradise by many. The country’s economy has collapsed, the country’s youths are frustrated and depressed, and unemployment in the country has reached record levels.

Despite Mr. Biya’s dismal performance over the last four decades, militants of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement are still pushing for their chairman to seek re-election to extend President Biya’s term after forty long and frustrating years in power.

In today’s editorial meeting in London, the Cameroon Concord News Group Paris bureau chief jokingly said that Mr. Biya needed a 7-year extension because he was looking forward to addressing a few things before leaving power at the age of 100 years.

Biya’s candidacy in the upcoming October presidential election, he said, was justified, adding that the next 7-year term would make him president for life.

The October presidential election is already shrouded in uncertainty amid restrictions on free speech imposed by the country’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, to curb the spread of anti-Biya actions.

The 92-year-old Biya said in a recent address to Cameroonian youths that he wanted the election to go ahead to guarantee his continued stay in power, advising the country’s youths to shun propaganda and misinformation that might hurt them in the long run as if they are not already hurt.

The Francophone dominated Cameroon opposition has accused the out-of-touch regime of putting political gain ahead of national progress and development in its push for Biya to contest the election.

Biya and his ruling CPDM party control everything in Cameroon including the use of condoms but are short of declaring Cameroon a kingdom.

Two prominent CPDM officials speaking on condition of anonymity told Cameroon Concord News that Cameroon as a nation was on the brink and that if appropriate measures were not taken, the country would hit rock bottom in a few months.

“Biya is running because he is ashamed and his conscience is now judging him,” one of our sources in Yaoundé said, adding that “his 42-year reign has brought untold hardship to millions of Cameroonians who once saw Biya as a youthful and effective solution to the country’s problems.”

Biya, our source added, had disappointed many and that he completely out of touch with the country’s youths who are in the majority.

“There is a massive disconnect between Biya and the youths in Cameroon. We live in a world wherein technology is being leveraged to address socio-economic issues, but Biya and his people are stuck in the past. We hope if he gets the next seven years, he will be able to correct some of the mistakes he and his government have made over the last four decades,” the source concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai