24, September 2019
Thomas Cook collapse prompts biggest ‘peacetime repatriation’ 0
The collapse of the travel group Thomas Cook has triggered something akin to a political and economic crisis in Britain, with dramatic news of tens of thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad.
In what has been described as the UK’s “biggest ever peacetime repatriation”, the British government is scrambling to rescue 150,000 stranded British holiday makers.
The government-led repatriation programme, named “Operation Matterhorn”, is expected to last two weeks.
According to multiple media reports, the government has chartered 45 jets to bring stranded customers home, with 64 flights scheduled for yesterday alone.
The tour operator’s collapse has put 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, with 9,000 UK jobs directly affected.
Thomas Cook’s chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, expressed “profound regret” over the firm’s demise. Underscoring the gravity of the situation, Fankhauser was at pains to apologise to the company’s “millions of customers and thousands of employees”.
Beside its immediate economic and humanitarian impact, the collapse of the 178-year-old firm is widely viewed as a huge iconic loss.
Thomas Cook collapsed after company bosses failed to secure £200m in emergency funding from creditors and the government to keep it afloat.
Even before the firm’s official collapse, there were extreme and dramatic stories about stranded British tourists abroad.
The Guardian reported on September 22 that some Thomas Cook customers in Tunisia were being prevented from leaving their hotels.
According to the Guardian, British guests at the Les Orangers hotel in the coastal town of Hammamet had been “locked inside their resort” and effectively forced to pay a £1,680 fee, before they were allowed to leave.
Similarly, the tabloid newspaper, The Sun, quoted holiday makers in Tunisia claiming they were being held “hostage” by their hotel, before being allowed to leave once a large fee had been paid.
In view of the company’s nearly two centuries long heritage, and its popularity with millions of holidaying Britons, the demise of Thomas Cook is being widely seen as a massive blow to the UK travel industry.
Source: Presstv
24, September 2019
FECAFOOT and Toni Conceicao Contract: Another reason why Ambazonians won’t come back! 0
Cameroon hired former Portugal international Toni Conceicao as its new national team coach. Toni put pen to paper in a deal that was made public by the ministry of sports. António Conceição da Silva Oliveira, was given a two-year contract replacing Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf, who was fired after a second-round exit at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
However, a lot of tongues have been wagging following the manner in which the process was teleguided. Corruption that has eaten into the cultural, political and economic aspects of the Cameroonian life was in display.
The whole process was francophonized and undermined the pedigree of Cameroon as a football nation. Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal that no proper consultation was carried out and no vetting process took place under the direct supervision of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT).
Toni was reportedly ferried to Yaoundé on a private jet and lodged in a VIP apartment at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel from where he met with Cameroon’s corrupt football officials and signed his lucrative contract that will see him operate from Europe and only travel to Yaoundé during international football matches.
The António Conceição da Silva Oliveira deal is understood to be everything including the paying of bribes to FECAFOOT officials in return for some European favours. It also involves a wide range of commercial deals that Cameroon football CPDM bureaucrats will enrich themselves.
French Cameroun corruption in football has in itself a many-faceted phenomenon and a nasty history which includes actors, initiators and profiteers, how it is done, and to what extent it is practiced. Both FECAFOOT and Mr Toni’s team are keeping the financial engineering of the deal like a nuclear secret.
By Rita Akana in Yaounde