Monthly Archives: June 2021

Football: Leicester sign Salzburg striker Daka

30, June 2021

Football: Leicester sign Salzburg striker Daka 0

FA Cup holders Leicester City have signed Patson Daka from Austrian side RB Salzburg, the Premier League club announced Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Zambia striker will join the Foxes on a five-year deal, subject to Premier League and international clearance.

“I’m so, so excited to join this great, historic club,” said Daka in a Leicester statement. “It has been my dream and I’m so happy and looking forward to what’s coming next.”

No fee has been disclosed by Leicester but British media reports have valued the deal at around £23 million ($32 million, 27 million euros).

Daka had a fine record at Salzburg, with 68 goals in 125 appearances and also helped them win four succesive league titles.

A potential long-term successor to Leicester star Jamie Vardy, he scored 27 goals in just 28 league appearances last season to finish as the Austrian Bundesliga’s top scorer.

“I have followed Leicester from the time they won the league (the Midlands club were English champions in the 2015/16 season),” Daka said.

“I feel it is the perfect place for me, because it’s a team that fights for titles. I know it’s not going to be easy, but I feel ready to face this new challenge.

“I will give my best for the club each and every day, and I look forward to seeing the Leicester City fans inside the stadium soon.”

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Prof Anyangwe urges all Amba groups to support Self Defense in push to restore Ambazonia’s sovereignty

30, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Prof Anyangwe urges all Amba groups to support Self Defense in push to restore Ambazonia’s sovereignty 0

Professor Carlson Anyangwe has called on all Ambazonian Restoration Groups to throw their weight behind the resistance to restore Southern Cameroons’s sovereignty.

The prominent Southern Cameroons academic and front line leader issued the call on Monday; one week after 300 Cameroon government army soldiers were deployed to Bui by the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé.

The so-called Operation Bui Clean has seen intense fighting between Cameroon government troops and Ambazonia Restoration Forces with some residents accused of conspiring with Ambazonia fighters. According to Cameroon government army’s claims, residents, elites, traditional rulers, and church leaders have embraced the independence ideology in all areas, making it difficult for the military to fight the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Professor Carlson Anyangwe invited all the Self Defense Groups to support the resistance in restoring Southern Cameroons sovereignty and territorial integrity, and he promised the evil French Cameroun occupiers that armed resistance would have the final say on the battlefield and make Southern Cameroon-Ambazonia proud.

“Until the complete liberation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from your evil (presence), Southern Cameroonians will not retreat, Southern Cameroonians will not give up and Ambazonia Restoration Forces will respond twofold to any attack,” Professor Anyangwe warned the Biya French Cameroun regime.

He also criticized the Atanga Nji Boys who slander about pro-resistance individuals and institutions, saying, “Their prosecution will be near and heavy, and sooner or later they will be tried for their great crimes and treachery in Amba courts.”

By Isong Asu

Southern Cameroons Crisis: UN should include the French Cameroun regime in child killer’s blacklist

30, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: UN should include the French Cameroun regime in child killer’s blacklist 0

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima says the United Nations should include La Republique du Cameroun in its blacklist of parties violating minors’ rights during conflicts.

In a press briefing late on Monday, the exiled Southern Cameroons leader pointed out that there was an urgent need for the international community to start naming and shaming the Biya child-killer regime in Yaoundé.

Vice President Dabney Yerima was reacting to a recent report made public by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The report covers countries and organizations under the UN’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, which are listed as grave violators in the report’s annexes.

Dabney Yerima noted that all ingredients that could trigger inclusion in the annex and demand a UN Security Council sanction are evident in the war in Southern Cameroons. “Recruitment of child soldiers, attacks on schools and hospitals, killing and maiming, sexual assault and abduction of children are all in the Biya French Cameroun regime’s DNA” Yerima added.

For over four years into the conflict in Southern Cameroons, the occupying regime in Yaoundé has never been listed and has never been named and shamed for killing and injuring thousands of Southern Cameroons women and children.

French government support for the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé deep within UN structures is making the mechanism to list parties violating the rights of children in armed conflicts ineffective and discriminatory. “It is a source of grave concern that Cameroon government forces have never been blacklisted as violators of children’s rights in relevant reports of the secretary-general” Yerima furthered.

In its annual Children and Armed Conflict report, the UN said at least 19,379 children affected by war in 2020 were victims of grave violations, but it failed to take notice of La Republique du Cameroun crimes in Southern Cameroons.

The War in Southern Cameroons has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroon government army soldiers in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Tennis: Legendary Serena Williams retires in tears from Wimbledon first round match

29, June 2021

Tennis: Legendary Serena Williams retires in tears from Wimbledon first round match 0

American legend Serena Williams’s dreams of winning an eighth Wimbledon singles title and equalling Margaret Court’s Grand Slam singles record of 24 ended in tears on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old was leading 3-1 in the first set of her first round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus when she slipped and had to have her left ankle examined.

Williams returned from receiving medical attention but called it a day at 3-3 and walked off Centre Court in tears.

It is the first time that Williams has bowed out in the first round of Wimbledon.

The tears said it all as with the withdrawals of 2019 champion Simona Halep and of Naomi Osaka prior to the tournament the American would have fancied her chances of at last equalling the controversial Court’s landmark.

Williams was giving the Olympics a miss anyways giving her time to recover ahead of the US Open in September which she has won six times.

“Brutal for @serenawilliams but centre court is extremely slippy out there. Not easy to move out there,” tweeted British star Andy Murray.

Williams, who also had strapping on her right thigh, hasn’t won a Slam since the 2017 Australian Open.

William’s slip came at the same end of the court as that of Adrian Mannarino which brought a premature end to the Frenchman’s hard fought match with Roger Federer.

Mannarino slipped and fell late in the fourth set and pulled out at the beginning of the fifth set.

Federer remarked he felt that the surface was more slippery when the roof is in use which it had been due to rain earlier on Tuesday.

Source: AFP

Ireland limits indoor dining to fully vaccinated over Delta fears

29, June 2021

Ireland limits indoor dining to fully vaccinated over Delta fears 0

Ireland said on Tuesday it will restrict indoor drinking and eating in bars and restaurants to those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or who have previously been infected by it due to concerns about the Delta variant.

The country joins a handful of places in Europe to introduce the measure, including Austria, Denmark, and Israel, while Moscow has brought in similar restrictions.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, who announced a general slowdown of the easing of public health restrictions, said that health officials told him they thought that the variant made indoor hospitality too dangerous for the unvaccinated.

“The safest way to now proceed with a return to indoor hospitality is to limit access to those who have been fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID infection,” Martin said.

Only 41% of Ireland’s adult population has been vaccinated, with 65% having received one dose, the health minister said on Monday. A senior health official earlier this month said some in their 20s may have to wait until September for a first dose.

Indoor venues such as theatres and concert venues may also face restrictions, Martin later told journalists.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that the only other option to a vaccine verification system which had been presented to the government by Irish health officials was closing indoor hospitality for the foreseeable future.

“The alternative is not a delay of a few weeks … the alternative is a prolonged delay until we reach herd immunity, and with new variants very likely, we just cannot say when that would be,” Varadkar told a press briefing.

Varadkar said that while people would “feel it is divisive, that they are being left outside”, the government felt it was the least bad option.

Bars, restaurants, and cafes have been closed in Ireland for much of the past 16 months, with the latest national lockdown in place since late December. Outdoor dining and drinking has been allowed since June 7. The country also has some of the strictest travel restrictions in the European Union.

Ireland has the fifth highest rate of COVID-19 infections of the 31 countries monitored by the European Centre for Disease Control.

Martin said indoor dining would now not be reopened on Monday as planned but would be delayed until a new system of vaccine certification has been implemented.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the details of the verification had not been finalised but might involve a QR code readable by a smartphone.

Source: REUTERS

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Government slams global silence

29, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Government slams global silence 0

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government (IG) says it has been astonishingly shocked with EU and UN inaction toward the French Cameroun genocidal campaign going on in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia which has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia.

Military leaders loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé have been deploying soldiers to all Southern Cameroons towns and villages and currently, several hundred Southern Cameroonians have again escaped to the forest and some from the Manyu, Ndian and Bui constituencies are heading to Nigeria.

Cameroon government army attacks in recent months have resulted in numerous human rights violations.

The Biya Francophone regime also plans to open military bases in several villages in Bui, Ndian and Kupe Muanenguba divisions.

The mass killing of Southern Cameroons civilians for over four years now is emblematic of French Cameroun’s colonial regime under which, the crimes similar to apartheid and persecutions are committed.

With unflinching support from the French government of Emmanuel Macron, French Cameroun’s impunity and criminality are now untenable, Vice President Dabney Yerima said in a statement on Monday.

By Isong Asu

Blinken meets Pope Francis as US bishops campaign to deny Biden Communion

29, June 2021

Blinken meets Pope Francis as US bishops campaign to deny Biden Communion 0

Pope Francis expressed his “affection” for the American people as he met at length Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with the latter declining to delve into “domestic politics” when later asked if the two discussed a campaign by U.S. bishops to deny Communion to Catholic politicians like the U.S. president who support abortion rights.

The Vatican said the two spoke for about 40 minutes, a long time considering that Blinken isn’t the top U.S. administration leader.

The closed-door meeting in the Apostolic Palace “played out in a cordial atmosphere,” a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said. The meeting, “was, for the pope the occasion to recall his 2015 visit and to express his affection and his attention to the people of the United States of America.”

Bruni was referring to the pontiff’s U.S. pilgrimage, which included a meeting at the White House with then President Barack Obama. In recent years, the U.S. church hierarchy has been increasingly more polarized about U.S. politics and politicians.

Many of the more conservative U.S. bishops have been clamoring for a clear directive from their ranks against giving Communion to U.S. political figures who are Roman Catholics and support women’s right to abortion. Vatican teaching forbids abortion as a grave sin. This campaign puts the heat on President Joe Biden, a Catholic who has said that while he personally opposes abortion, he supports abortion rights.

Earlier this month, the U.S. churchmen decided to go ahead and craft a document about Communion. Only a month earlier, Francis’ top official on doctrinal orthodoxy had urged the bishops to think the matter through thoroughly and aim to keep divisions to the minimum.

Blinken declined to wade into the issue when he was asked at a news conference in Rome after his Vatican visit if he and Francis had discussed the divisive issue.

“One of the luxuries of my job is that I don’t do domestic politics,” said Blinken, who described his talks with the pope as ”extremely warm and very wide-ranging.”

Francis himself hasn’t weighed in publicly on the latest squabble in the long-running wrangling over the Communion issue within the U.S. Conference of Bishops.

Blinken had high praise for Francis and the opportunity to be the highest level official in the fledgling Biden administration to have a sit-down session with the pontiff.

“I was very gratified by the meeting and gratified as well by the strong leadership of His Holiness on the pandemic, on climate change, his leadership on the basic proposition that we have to stand for human dignity in whatever we do,” Blinken said.

Blinken’s spokesman, Ned Price, said the secretary had assured the pontiff about “the United States’ commitment to working closely with the Holy See to address global challengers and the needs of the world’s least fortunate and most vulnerable, including refugees and migrants.”

That would generally synch with Francis’ overarching agenda of putting those living on life’s margin at the center of attention.

Blinken also thanked Francis for “longstanding leadership” on the need to tackle climate change. Early in his papacy, Francis issued an encyclical, or formal teaching document, stressing the need to treasure and protect the environment.

Last year, when Blinken’s predecessor, Mike Pompeo, came to the Vatican, he wasn’t granted any private time with Francis. At the time, Vatican officials explained that the Holy See didn’t want to give any impression of favoritism only weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

Pompeo had blasted the Vatican for what he said was a lessening of its moral authority by signing an accord with Beijing over the nominations of Chinese bishops. Pompeo had insisted that the Holy See take a tougher stand against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom.

Biden, for his part, has criticized China for forced labor practices. Blinken’s spokesperson said the secretary and Francis discussed China as well as humanitarian crises in Lebanon, Syria, the Tigray region of Ethiopia and Venezuela, the latter nation’s economic and social plight often drawing attention by Francis, who is a South American native.

Human rights and religious freedom in China were also discussed in Blinken’s separate talks with the Holy See’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, its foreign minister.

Blinken stressed U.S. support for a return to democracy in Venezuela and “our desire to help the Venezuelan people rebuild their country,” Price said.

At the Vatican, Blinken on Monday was also given a guided, private tour of the Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo and other Renaissance masterpieces. Price tweeted that he and Blinken toured the “breathtaking Sistine Chapel.”

Blinken visited Rome before flying to southern Italy for Tuesday’s Group of 20 meeting of foreign ministers, which is focused on improving collaboration among nations on climate change, health issues and development.

 Source: AP

Switzerland knock world champions France out of Euro 2020

29, June 2021

Switzerland knock world champions France out of Euro 2020 0

Switzerland defeated world champions France 5-4 on penalties in the last 16 of Euro 2020 on Monday as Kylian Mbappe missed the decisive spot-kick in the shootout following a thrilling 3-3 draw in Bucharest.

Mario Gavranovic equalised in the 90th minute as Switzerland came from two goals down before Yann Sommer saved Mbappe’s penalty to book Switzerland a quarter-final clash against Spain.

“It was an incredible evening. I am so proud of the team,” said goalkeeper Sommer.

“At 3-1 nobody believed in us anymore, but before the match we said we’ll fight until the end whatever happens.”

Haris Seferovic had given Vladimir Petkovic’s Switzerland a shock lead on 15 minutes but Ricardo Rodriguez’s spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Hugo Lloris early in the second half.

Karim Benzema, recalled to the France squad for the tournament after a five-and-a-half-year international exile, then struck a quick-fire double to put the Euro 2016 finalists back on track.

Paul Pogba’s sensational curling effort made it 3-1, but Switzerland forced extra time as Seferovic grabbed his second of the game before Gavranovic levelled in the final minute.

Switzerland converted all five of their penalties before Sommer dived to his right to turn away Mbappe’s kick, as the Swiss won a major tournament knockout tie for first time in 83 years.

“The two goals came very quickly after the missed penalty. For normal players it’s almost impossible to come back from, but today we were a great team and everyone gave it everything,” said Petkovic.

Lloris conceded France paid the price for failing to hold on to their two-goal lead.

“It’s painful, even more so after a penalty shootout where it becomes a lottery,” said Lloris.

“The only regret we can have is that at 3-1 we need to manage the match better. We’ve been able to close it out in the past few years.”

France coach Didier Deschamps controversially switched to a 3-4-1-2 formation designed to extract the best from his attacking trio of Benzema, Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, but it was instead Seferovic who gave the Swiss a surprise lead.

Steven Zuber used the space afforded by Rodriguez’s overlapping run, clipping in a left-wing cross that Seferovic headed past Lloris after rising all too easily above Clement Lenglet.

After a dismal first half, in which France failed to test Sommer, Deschamps ditched the experiment of three at the back, hauling off Lenglet and introducing Kingsley Coman while reverting to a more familiar 4-4-2.

Lloris saves penalty

But France were indebted to Lloris for sparing them from further trouble after a lung-busting run from Zuber eventually resulted in a penalty for the Swiss when he was brought down by Benjamin Pavard.

Argentine referee Fernando Rapallini immediately pointed to the spot following a VAR review, but Lloris flung himself to his right to claw away Rodriguez’s attempt — the seventh missed penalty of 15 taken at the tournament.

The momentum soon swung sharply in France’s favour as Benzema, scorer of both goals in the 2-2 draw with Portugal in the group phase, superbly dragged a pass from Mbappe into his stride, lifting over Sommer to level.

The Real Madrid striker headed France in front two minutes later when Griezmann’s dinked effort was turned away by Sommer but only to a waiting Benzema who headed in from point-blank range.

Pogba’s magnificent 25-yard strike had France on the cusp of the last eight, but Seferovic powered in a terrific delivery from substitute Kevin Mbabu with nine minutes left to give the Swiss hope.

Gavranovic then had a goal ruled out for offside, but there was no doubting his last-minute equaliser as he skipped past Presnel Kimpembe and drove low beyond Lloris.

Remarkably, Coman nearly won the game with the final kick, rattling the crossbar right at the end of injury time.

An ailing Benzema was withdrawn at the start of extra time for Olivier Giroud, moments before Sommer tipped over superbly to deny Pavard. 

Pogba released Mbappe with a piercing pass through the Swiss defence but the Paris Saint-Germain forward sliced wide, with Sommer flying to his right to grasp Giroud’s header before his penalty heroics, which came at the expense of the star of France’s World Cup triumph in 2018.

(AFP)

Amba Boys will beat you to the punch- Dieudonné Essomba tells Biya and his gang

28, June 2021

Amba Boys will beat you to the punch- Dieudonné Essomba tells Biya and his gang 0

A senior Francophone political commentator Dieudonné Essomba says Cameroon is heading straight for secession if steps are not taken to set up a federated state.

“There is no calm in English speaking Cameroon. New abuses are recorded almost daily. In recent days, several soldiers have been killed in ambushes by pro-secessionist armed groups” Dieudonné Essomba said.

Dieudonné Essomba furthered that the Biya regime is in a weak position and does not have the political, economic, financial, diplomatic, media and strategic means to overcome the Southern Cameroons Interim Government and its majority Ambazonian following. “It is mission impossible,” Dieudonné Essomba told an audience in ”Club d’Elites” a program on Vision 4 TV.

“I have been saying for the past four years that if Cameroon persists in the unitary state, the Amba Boys will beat you to the punch. Four years ago, who could believe that the secessionists could kill 24 soldiers in a week? Who could believe it? I was the only one who believed it, because I am the only rational one… The Amba Boys have evolved, they have gained experience, they are at home and they are armed. They have come from nothing and they have managed to climb. They still have an enormous amount of room to manoeuvre while the state of Cameroon is in crisis and is no longer able to finance this war,” said the retired French Cameroun civil servant.

“For me, the only solution is to negotiate confederation. We must put an end to the unitary state, the Anglophones don’t want it anymore. We must propose a reorganised federal state. Without this, Cameroon will experience separation like Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan,” Mr Essomba warned.

By Rita Akana

UN human rights chief calls for ‘systemic racism’ against Africans to be dismantled

28, June 2021

UN human rights chief calls for ‘systemic racism’ against Africans to be dismantled 0

Racism against people of African descent remains systemic in many parts of the world, the U.N. human rights chief said on Monday, calling for states to dismantle discrimination and prosecute law enforcement officials for unlawful killings.

Michelle Bachelet, in a global report sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, said that police use of racial profiling and excessive force is entrenched in much of North America, Europe and Latin America.

Structural racism creates barriers to minorities’ access to jobs, healthcare, housing, education and justice, she said.

“I am calling on all states to stop denying, and start dismantling, racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress,” she said in the report to the Human Rights Council.

Bachelet welcomed a “promising initiative” by U.S. President Joe Biden in signing an executive order in January to address racial inequity across the United States.

Her report cited 190 deaths of Africans and people of African descent worldwide at the hands of law enforcement officials in the past decade – most in the United States.

“With the exception of the case of George Floyd, no one was held accountable,” Mona Rishmawi, head of the rule of law branch who led the report, told a news conference.

It selected seven “emblematic cases”, including that of Floyd. A judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin on Friday to 22-1/2 years for his murder, video of which galvanised the national Black Lives Matter protest movement.

Other victims include an Afro-Brazilian boy, 14, shot dead in an anti-drug police operation in Sao Paulo in May 2020 and a Frenchman of Malian origin, 24, who died in police custody in July 2016.

“One (Brazilian) mother in particular said to us ‘you always talk about George Floyd. Every day we have a George Floyd here and nobody talks about it’,” Rishmawi said. “We realised that we were only touching the tip of the iceberg.”

The scourge is most prevalent in countries with a legacy of slavery, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, or colonialism resulting in large communities of people of African descent, the report said.

“Systemic racism needs a systemic response,” Bachelet said. “There is today a momentous opportunity to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice.”

Source: REUTERS

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