Monthly Archives: May 2021

8, May 2021

Italian Football: Five-goal Inter celebrate Serie A title with record 14th home win ⁰

With thousands of fans celebrating outside the San Siro stadium and a guard of honour onto the pitch, Inter Milan celebrated their first Serie A title in over a decade with a 5-1 victory over Sampdoria giving Antonio Conte’s side a record 14th successive home win.

Saturday’s match took place behind closed doors because of coronavirus restrictions but thousands of ‘Nerazzurri’ supporters celebrated outside the San Siro.

“The satisfaction is immense,” said Conte.

“It’s natural that we and our fans are now so desperate to celebrate something that we’d been waiting for so long to do.

“We’re happy to bring this joy to them.”

Sampdoria players formed a guard of honour as the newly-crowned champions took to the pitch after sealing their 19th ‘Scudetto’ and first since 2010 last weekend.

Claudio Ranieri’s ninth-placed Sampdoria did not spoil the party with Keita Balde scoring the only goal for the visitors after 35 minutes.

“Inter played on the wings of enthusiasm,” said Ranieri. “They played a great match.”

Ranieri, who led Leicester to the 2016 Premier League title, said his Genoa side had wanted to mark the occasion with a guard of honour.

“I told the players it would be nice to celebrate as they do in England and they immediately agreed with me,” he said.

Inter’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku and other players who played a key role in the title success stayed on the bench with Conte opting to start with some players who had been less present during the season.

Roberto Gagliardini opened the scoring after just four minutes latching onto an Ashley Young cross.

Alexis Sanchez added two more in a 10-minute first half spell, either side of Balde sending scoring off a rebound.

Substitute Andrea Pinamonti added another after the hour with Lautaro Martinez completing the rout from the penalty spot with 20 minutes to go to seal victory against a side Inter had lost against earlier this season, just one of two defeats.

Since losing against Sampdoria, Inter have gone 18 games without defeat and have now won 14 games in a row at home for the first time.

The entire team celebrated under the ‘Curva Nord’ tribune usually occupied by Inter fans.

“We continue to do exceptional things, we have 85 points and haven’t lost since the away game against Sampdoria,” said Conte.

“The boys continue to impress, and it’s a real pleasure to watch them play We’ve brought back credibility to this club.”

– Napoli move second –

Napoli beat Spezia 4-1 to move second, 15 points behind Inter, and keep in the Champions League chase, but Lazio’s hopes of elite European football took a knock with a 2-0 loss at Fiorentina.

Napoli are one point ahead of three teams — Atalanta, Juventus and AC Milan — who are tied on 69 points before they play this weekend.

Lazio are sixth, five points off the top-four having played a games less.

Dusan Vlahovic scored twice for Fiorentina to bring his tally to 21 goals this campaign, and push the Tuscany side away from the relegation zone.

Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli had lost 2-1 to Spezia at home in January, but hit back against the relegation-threatened side to extend their unbeaten run to 12 consecutive games.

Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski finished off a Giovanni Di Lorenzo pull-back after 15 minutes and then provided the cross for Nigerian international Victor Osimhen to score the second eight minutes later.

Osimhen completed his first Serie A brace before the break off a Lorenzo Insigne free-kick to bring his tally to seven goals in as many games.

The 22-year-old has scored a total of 10 goals in 21 games played this campaign, having been sidelined with injury.

Roberto Piccoli pulled a goal back for Spezia after an hour but Osimhen was on hand to roll the ball across for Hirving Lozano. The goal was confirmed after a VAR viewing.

Napoli lost all-time record goalscorer Dries Mertens to an ankle injury in the second-half just seven minutes after the Belgian came off the bench.

Source: AFP

8, May 2021

Antonio Guterres lays out vision for second term as UN chief ⁰

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres laid out his vision for a second term as U.N. chief on Friday, calling for a “surge in diplomacy for peace,” urging the world’s nations to avoid a new type of Cold War, and stressing that in the 21st century everything from the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation and the pushback on human rights is inter-linked.

Guterres is the only candidate in the race so far, and he won support during a three-hour question-and-answer session in the 193-member General Assembly from two major groups — the 120-member Nonaligned Movement of mainly developing nations and the 27-member European Union — as well as smaller groups and individual countries.

In his opening presentation, Guterres painted a grim picture of a world where “more and more people live within their own echo chambers … (and) are lured by misinformation, populism, extremism, xenophobia and racism.” He called it “a kind of post-enlightenment era that has nurtured irrational, even nihilistic belief systems, spreading fear, denying science and truth.” And he reiterated his warning about “the new geostrategic divide and dysfunctional power relations, making international co-operation infinitely more difficult at a time when we need it most.”

Guterres stressed his strong belief in nations working together to solve the world’s crises and conflicts but said multilateralism “depends a lot on the establishment of trust among member states, and on making functional relationship among the biggest powers.”

“If there is no trust among member states and if the relationship among the biggest powers remains dysfunctional, then there’s not much the multilateral system can do,” he said. “If those two things are properly addressed, then I think there is a chance for multilateralism to be more effective.”

While the General Assembly elects the secretary-general, it is on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council where the five permanent members — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — have veto power. So their support is crucial.

Before Guterres was elected, the assembly adopted a resolution in 2015 that made the previously largely secretive selection of the secretary-general more open and transparent. It allowed the world body’s member states for the first time to see basic information about all candidates, including their resumes, and to meet and question them at open sessions.

Traditionally, candidates have been nominated by a U.N. member state, but that is not a requirement in the U.N. Charter or the resolution.

Guterres, whose current 5-year term ends on Dec. 31, was nominated by Portugal, his home country. But this year has also seen seven individuals submit applications to be secretary-general without backing from any government including most recently former Ecuadorean president Rosalia Arteaga.

General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir told a news conference on Tuesday “the rule” is that an applicant can only become a candidate when a letter signed jointly by the presidents of the assembly and the Security Council is sent to all member states.

“It looks like the Security Council has the opinion that, traditionally, only applicants supported by a country can become a candidate,” he said, so the only joint letter has been sent on behalf of Guterres. An email request to China, the current council president, seeking comment was not answered.

Arteaga, whose candidacy has been pushed by the global political movement Forward, indicated earlier this week that she would have support from the government of Ecuador.

Source: The Associated Press

8, May 2021

Fotso Victor: the battle among 121 children and 25 wives to inherit the wealth of a departed billionaire ⁰

Per his own autobiography, the late Cameroonian businessman, Victor Fotso, made his way through the world as an enterprising youngster selling peanuts. It was one of the popular cash crops grown in the western Cameroonian town of Bandjoun.

Soon enough, Fotso became a trader who dealt in anything that sold off the shelves and quickly. He opened a shop in Mbalmayo in central Cameroon in 1947. The business was great because by 1960, while still under 40, Fotso diversified into commercial transportation. And then Pierre Castel, the founder of Caste Group, now France’s largest producer of wine, came to town after Cameroon gained independence.

Fotso became Castel’s chief partner in Cameroon, distributing Castel’s beverages. After a decade of his relationship with Castel and other French investors, Fotso was known to have had investments in agricultural produce, petrochemicals, hospitality and electric batteries. In 1997, he would open the first private Cameroonian-owned bank, Commercial Bank of Cameroon (CBC).

Between 1996 and 2020 when he died, Fotso was the mayor of his native Badjoun. He was respected as a self-made man and President Paul Biya could count on him for reasons political and more. Fotso also had as many as 25 women with whom he birthed 121 children, according to various reports. And so when he died at the ripe old age of 94 leaving behind more than $200 million, drama was very much expected.

It has been reported that Fotso may have allocated more than $3.5 million for his own funeral. That was the first point of the family fracas that has seen factions formed among the 146 heirs. Suspicions that some of Fotso’s heirs want to pocket the money for themselves have been stated. His eldest son, Roger, had to put out a press release reminding all his relatives that the departed patriarch was a respected man whose memory could not be denigrated over this issue.

Funeral funds are not the only thing splitting Fotso’s family. There are suspicions that his last will in testament could have been forged and that matter has ended them in court. Yet, it does seem to an outsider that some among Fotso’s living relations feel the need to be heard now lest they are lost when his largesse is shared. State investigators have been combing through his offices across the country for any and all relevant documents pertaining to his estates.

Other factions, led by Yves-Michel Fotso, a man who is supposed to be serving a life sentence in Cameroon but managed to find his way to Morocco, are desperate to get down to the extent of Fotso real estate holdings. This particular angle involves a former Cameroonian soccer star who married one of Fotso’s daughters and became an administrator of the businessman’s real estate holdings.

In the meantime, the funeral of Fotso has stalled as the legal battles rage on. In Cameroon and among many international observers, eyes are firmly fixed on the intrigue in the Fotso family.

Source: Face2face Africa

8, May 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Political parties in Cameroon reach 330 as eleven others are legalised ⁰

Cameroon has created 11 new political parties, bringing the total number of legalised political parties in the Central African country to 330.

Paul Atanga Nji, Cameroon minister for Territorial Administration, announced Wednesday that he has legalised the new political parties “which will enrich political debate and encourage freedom of expression” four years to major elections in the Central African country.

He said the new political parties will “henceforth contribute to the facilitation of a contradictory but constructive political debate” in the country of 26 million people.

One of the newly legalised political parties is the Patriotic and Republican Alliance (APAR) of Celestin Djamen—a former member of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) of Ni John Fru Ndi—and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) of Prof Maurice Kamto.

Speaking at a press conference in Douala last month, Mr Djamen said he created the party to fill in a vacuum left by current opposition parties in the country. He said APAR “will be very active in the field.”

He said the political party will never boycott any election in the country, adding that it has great plans for 2025.

President Paul Biya’s current mandate will end in 2025 when the veteran leader will be 92. The mandate of current members of the National Assembly as well as local municipal authorities will also come to an end in the same year.

Mr Djamen, however, did not elaborate on the party’s plan.

But he added that APAR will have a secretariat in charge of cooperation with other political parties with whom they will discuss issues relating to the reform of the electoral law of the country.

President Biya accepted the reintroduction of multiparty politics in the country in the 90’s and in 1992 the country organised its first multi-candidate presidential election which he won and has since remained a serial election winner albeit reports of massive rigging.

Source: The East African

8, May 2021

Amba fighters attack North West governor’s convoy (Video) ⁰

At least five people were reportedly killed in the North West on Friday by a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a convoy belonging to the region’s governor Lele Afrique.

A video sent to our chief correspondent in Bamenda detailing the attack and attached to this report did not provide any information on the death toll. But a security source in the governor’s office revealed that the bomb destroyed a vehicle in the governor’s convoy killing three soldiers and two civilians.

Our source also hinted that the governor and other senior members of his delegation escaped uninjured, but it was the second time he had been attacked by Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups ever since the crisis started four years ago.

Four years ago, the country’s president, Paul Biya, erroneously declared war on the country’s English-speaking minority which was simply demonstrating to bring its sorry plight to the attention of the government and the international community and what Mr. Biya and his collaborators thought would be wrapped up in a week has now lasted four years with more than 7,000 young Cameroonians already sent to an early grave in a war that has no raison d’etre.

As the government and militia have transformed the country into an open air killing field, the country’s economy has taken a nosedive, with millions of Cameroonians seeking employment and thousands losing their jobs in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the killings are going on unabated.

The number of internally displaced person has continued to swell, while millions have fled to neighboring Nigeria where they are living rough and waiting for the fighting to end for them to return to their country, though their homes have been razed by government soldiers who are wont to inflicting collective punishment on the population each time an army soldier is killed.

By Fon Lawrence and Asu Vera Eyere

7, May 2021

Alex Song turns to construction for extra income ⁰

Former Cameroon international Alex Song has turned to the construction business to make extra money, according to reports on Wednesday.

Song is in the process of building a block of flats in his home country, having created and funded a construction company.

According to UK publication The Sun, Song already built a Canadian International School and College in Douala, in 2020.

Song confirmed the reports on his instagram page, saying “Nokay 17 Residence, number two.”

The 33-year-old defensive midfielder made 49 appearances for Cameroon from 2005 to 2014. In that time he played in the 2010 and 2014 Fifa World Cups. Song announced his retirement from international football in January 2015 at the age of 27, in a move to extend his club career.

His retirement may have been precipitated by his omission from the Cameroon squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations which was announced, in December 2014, a month before his retirement.

Song spent the majority of his career at English Premier League side Arsenal, making 133 appearances for The Gunners from 2006 to 2012. In that time he scored seven goals, and did not win any trophies.

Song signed for Spanish giants Barcelona in August 2012, on a five-year contract for a 15 million pound transfer fee. He would go on to make 39 appearances for Barcelona, and scoring one goal. With Barcelona, Song was part of the squad which won the 2012/2013 La Liga title.

Source: African News Agency (ANA)

7, May 2021

Twitter suspends multiple accounts set up to share Trump statements ⁰

Twitter has suspended multiple accounts that were set up to share statements from former US President Donald Trump’s website.

The popular microblogging site said they violated its rules against evading an account ban on the former US President.

A new page was added to Trump’s site on Tuesday, dubbed “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” where he posts messages that can be shared by his audience to both Twitter and Facebook.

“As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account,” a Twitter spokesman said in a statement.

The suspended accounts linked to the former US President who is permanently banned by Twitter include @DJTDesk, @DJTrumpDesk, @DeskofDJT and @DeskOfTrump1.

Trump was banned from Twitter, where he had more than 88 million followers, and other popular social media platforms after the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

At least five people, including a Capitol police officer, died after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress attempted to tally the Electoral College vote won by his opponent Joe Biden.

Trump, who gained notoriety for using social media platforms to whip up political violence and indulge in brazen racist rhetoric, became the first American leader to have his social media handles banned.

Twitter has maintained that the ban on the former US President is permanent even if he runs for office again. However, it says users can share content from the Trump page if it does not violate its ban evasion rules.

Pertinently, on Wednesday, Facebook’s oversight board upheld the company’s suspension, giving it six months to decide a proportionate response.

Facebook was among the first to suspend Trump’s account following the January 6 events. The unprecedented decision was later referred to the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent body vested with power to reverse Facebook content decisions and set precedent for the company.

Trump adviser Jason Miller had told Fox News in March that he expects the former US president to come out of his social media hibernation with his “own platform”.

Source: Presstv

7, May 2021

Football: Man United head to Europa League finals despite defeat to Roma ⁰

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reached a major final as Manchester United manager for the first time after a 3-2 defeat to AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico was enough to earn his side an 8-5 aggregate win in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday.

United will face Villarreal in the final in Gdansk on May 26 after the Spaniards beat Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate.

Solskjaer had lost his last four semi-finals during his Old Trafford reign and despite Thursday’s defeat in Rome, the Norwegian’s side progressed comfortably thanks to last week’s commanding 6-2 first leg win.

“It’s a great achievement to get to the final. We didn’t win the game and that’s disappointing but we did the hard work in the first leg,” United captain Harry Maguire told BT Sport.

“We started the game a bit edgy. It was end-to-end like basketball and we gave them too many chances in second half. Now we’ve got to go to the final and win it.”

Edinson Cavani fired home a powerful finish after 39 minutes to open the scoring, but Roma found the net twice in the space of three second-half minutes through Edin Dzeko and Bryan Cristante to turn the game on its head.

United had goalkeeper David de Gea to thank for not going further behind as the Spaniard produced a string of superb saves.

Cavani headed the visitors level but 19-year-old debutant Nicola Zalewski’s shot took a big deflection off Alex Telles to beat De Gea as Roma secured the win on the night—but it was United who were left celebrating at the final whistle.

“We had some great European nights this season, with some big wins. It’s a pity for that second half in Manchester,” Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante told UEFA.

“Tonight we still had a few goals to score, but we exit the competition with our heads held high.”

Solskjaer’s team had tripped up in the semi-finals of two League Cups, the FA Cup and the Europa League since he succeeded Jose Mourinho in December 2018, but another exit never looked likely in the Italian capital.

Earlier this week Mourinho, who led United to their last trophy by winning the Europa League in 2017, was surprisingly named as Roma’s new coach from next season.

Hence the hosts started like a team with a point to prove.

De Gea superbly denied Gianluca Mancini from point-blank range, Henrikh Mkhitaryan headed into the side-netting and Dzeko drew another smart save from the Spanish goalkeeper.

But United grew into the game and came close when a clever Cavani lob clipped the top of the bar, before a powerful shot from the Uruguayan was saved by Antonio Mirante.

The visitors took the lead soon after, when a Fred pass sent Cavani racing through on goal to fire home.

Roma drew level in the 57th minute when Dzeko headed in from close range, and Paulo Fonseca’s side quickly completed the comeback when Cristante scored from the edge of the area three minutes later.

De Gea produced a superb double save on a Dzeko header and Pedro shot, before blocking a Mkhitaryan effort from point-blank range.

United survived the onslaught and drew level after 68 minutes when Cavani headed home a Bruno Fernandes cross, but Roma soon threatened again as Mkhitaryan’s shot thumped the foot of the post.

Substitute Zalewski made an immediate impact when his volley caused the Roma winner on the 83rd minute, but it went down as a Telles own goal after taking a heavy deflection.

(REUTERS)

7, May 2021

2021 Budget: Understanding the Southern Cameroons quest for an independent state ⁰

Here is the breakdown of Cameroun’s Public Investment Budget (Bip) 2021 by region.

CENTER REGION – 336 Billion Fcfa – 35.6%;

SOUTH REGION- 195 billion CFA francs – 20.8%;

EXTREME – NORTH REGION – 86 billion Fcfa – 9.2%;

LITTORAL REGION -63 billion Fcfa – 6.7%;

NORTH WEST – 48 billion FCFA – 5.1%;

NORTH REGION – 46 billion CFA francs – 4.9%;

ADAMAOWA – 45 billion FCFA – 4.8%;

WEST REGION REGION – 44 billion FCFA – 4.7%;

EAST REGION – 40 billion FCFA – 4.3%;

SOUTH-WEST- 37 billion Fcfa – 3.9%.

The budget of the South Region is 195 billion FCFA (20.8%) which is over two times the budget of the war torn and their darling NORTH WEST and SOUTH WEST combined (9.0%).

The Southern Cameroons are given a meager token of 85 billion FCFA or 9% of the Investment budget even though they provide 60% of the revenue. The marginalization is not a myth, it is a reality.

6, May 2021

Biden administration backs suspending patent protections for Covid vaccines ⁰

US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced support for a global waiver on patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines, offering hope to poor nations that have struggled to access the life-saving doses.

India, where the death toll hit a new daily record amid fears the peak is still to come, has been leading the fight within the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines—a move pharma giants opposed.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that while intellectual property rights for businesses are important, Washington “supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines” in order to end the pandemic.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” she said in a statement.

Biden had been under intense pressure to waive protections for vaccine manufacturers, especially amid criticism that rich nations were hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), called the US decision “historic” and marked “a monumental moment in the fight against COVID19.”

Tai cautioned said that negotiations “will take time given the consensus-based nature” of the WTO.

The aim “is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible,” she said.

With supplies for Americans secured, the Biden administration will continue efforts “to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution,” and will work to “increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines.”

For months the WTO has been facing calls to temporarily remove the intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines, known as a TRIPS waiver in reference to the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property.

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday described as the “moral and economic issue of our time.”

But that notion has been fiercely opposed by pharmaceutical giants and their host countries, which insist the patents are not the main roadblocks to scaling up production, and warned the move could hamper innovation.

“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” the Geneva-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations lobby group said, describing the US move as “disappointing.”

Tai in recent weeks has met with executives from all the major US vaccine producers—Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson—to discuss the issue.

Devastating surge

While the United States has reached the point of offering donuts and beer to vaccine holdouts, India reported 3,780 new pandemic deaths and not enough doses to inoculate its people.

India has in recent weeks endured a devastating surge in coronavirus cases, with more than 380,000 infections reported on Wednesday.

K Vijay Raghavan, the Indian government’s principal scientific advisor, said the country of 1.3 billion people had to prepare for a new wave of infections even after beating down the current wave, which has taken the country’s caseload above 20 million infections.

In an effort to boost the country’s collapsing health system, India’s reserve bank announced $6.7 billion in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and health firms.

India’s crisis has been partly fueled by a lack of vaccines. This has in turn exacerbated the global shortage as India is the world’s biggest producer of Covid shots.

In London, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies committed to financially support the vaccine-sharing program, Covax.

But there was no immediate announcement on fresh funding.

Though his country is not a group member, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in London for the G7 talks but had to hold his meetings virtually after possible exposure to virus cases.

Vaccine inequity

The pandemic has claimed more than 3.2 million lives worldwide since it first emerged in late 2019, but many wealthy nations have made progress in suppressing the virus as mass vaccination campaigns gather steam.

More than 1.2 billion doses have been administered globally, but fewer than one percent in the least developed countries.

Vaccine shortages are not an issue in the United States, which could soon be sitting on as many as 300 million extra doses—nearly equivalent to its entire population.

Biden on Tuesday said he wanted 70 percent of US adults to have received at least one shot by the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

He also said his administration was “ready to move immediately” if regulators authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

Experts question the wisdom of devoting limited vaccine supplies to a low-risk group instead of sharing them with high-risk groups abroad.

“Vaccinating more people in the US is not going to help us if the variants in India, Nepal and South Asia get out of control and hit our shores,” said Priya Sampathkumar, chair of Infection Prevention & Control at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

UCSF physician and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad slammed the idea of vaccinating low-risk American adolescents before 70-year-olds globally as “a terrible error.”

In the Middle East, Egypt announced a partial shutdown of malls and restaurants and called off festivities for the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr to curb rising coronavirus cases.

Serbia’s president meanwhile said his country would pay each citizen around $30 to get vaccinated, in what could be the world’s first cash-for-jabs scheme.

(AFP)