Monthly Archives: April 2022

14, April 2022

French Politics: Why Macron will need to work his socks off to beat Le Pen this time ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron improved on his 2017 score in Sunday’s first round of the presidential election. But he goes into the April 24 run-off with a starkly diminished reservoir of votes in what large swaths of the country have come to see as a choice of “the lesser of two evils”.

Macron trounced the same far-right candidate in a lopsided contest five years ago, but polls are pointing to a much closer race this time amid widespread dismay at a rematch voters have long said they didn’t want.

Following the first round, Macron is on course to beat Le Pen by 54% to 46%, according to a projection by pollsters Ipsos-Sopra Steria for FRANCE 24. Other polls have suggested the gap could be as narrow as two percentage points. In any case, Macron is polling well below the 66% he won in 2017 against the very same opponent.

In Sunday’s first round, the incumbent president trailed Le Pen in every age category except the over-65s, who voted massively in his favour. Without their support, he wouldn’t even be in the run-off. But the inability to generate enthusiasm among younger voters is just one of Macron’s problems after five troubled years in office and a lacklustre campaign overshadowed by the war in Ukraine.

“Macron’s reservoir of votes is extremely weak,” said Martial Foucault, head of the Cevipof institute in Paris, noting that rivals from the mainstream whose supporters are most likely to rally behind him have been all but wiped off the political map.

“The scores of the Socialist Party (1.7%) and Les Républicains (4.8%) suggest many of their supporters already voted tactically in the first round. And the more ‘Macron-compatible’ among them gave their votes to the incumbent,” Foucault told FRANCE 24. While Macron can also count on the support of voters who backed the Greens’ Yannick Jadot (4.6%) and the Communists’ Fabien Roussel (2.3%), “we’re talking about a very limited pool of voters”, Foucault added.

At the other end of the spectrum, Le Pen can reasonably expect to pick up most of the 7.1% of voters who backed her far-right rival Éric Zemmour and the 2.1% who went for nationalist right-winger Nicolas Dupont-Aignan – with both candidates throwing their support behind her on Sunday night. Their combined total brings the far right’s tally to an unprecedented 32.5% – underscoring a profound shift in the French electorate and pointing to a substantial reservoir of votes for Le Pen ahead of the April 24 run-off.

Source: France 24

14, April 2022

Football: Man City, Liverpool advance to Champions League semi-finals on aggregate wins ⁰

Manchester City produced a disciplined performance to secure a fractious 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday and reach the Champions League semi-finals 1-0 on aggregate.

Tensions boiled over in the closing stages and Atletico defender Felipe was sent off after receiving a second yellow card before the teams played out 12 minutes of added time.

The English champions dominated the first half and Ilkay Gundogan struck the post with their best chance after a flowing move down the right.

Atletico enjoyed more possession after the interval and threatened to score the goal that would have taken the game into extra time but were unable to break down the visitors’ defence.

City, bidding to win European club football’s most prestigious trophy for the first time, will play record 13-times champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Liverpool beat Benfica

Liverpool booked a semi-final showdown against Villarreal as the quadruple chasers survived a late collapse in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against Benfica.

Jurgen Klopp’s side already had one foot in the last four after winning 3-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon.

Despite two late goals from Benfica at Anfield in the second leg, Liverpool advanced 6-4 on aggregate thanks to Roberto Firmino’s double and Ibrahima Konate’s opener.

Source: REUTERS

14, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: VP Yerima tells Biya “You won’t win in Ambazonia” ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima has praised Ambazonia fighters’ bravery in countering La Republique du Cameroun’s aggression in the entire Ambaland and advised the 89-year-old French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya to end a war he well knows he cannot win.

The exiled Ambazonia leader made the comments during a zoom meeting with some county heads on the state of the Southern Cameroons resistance on Monday.

Yerima stated that the deliberate silence of French Cameroun’s Minister Paul Atanga Nji of Territorial Administration and Joseph Beti Assomo of Defense is an indication that Yaoundé is losing the war in Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonian leader wondered aloud why Biya and his criminal gang in French Cameroun were still going ahead with the war in Southern Cameroons that they already know there is no possibility to win.

Elsewhere in his comments, Vice President Dabney Yerima said there was need for the two Cameroons to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Yerima also hailed the constructive discussions going on in Europe aimed at reuniting the Southern Cameroons diaspora as a very good development.

By Chi Prudence Asong

13, April 2022

Four French, one Belgian among 10 dead in Egypt bus crash ⁰

Four French tourists and one Belgian were among 10 people killed in a bus crash Wednesday in Egypt, whose travel industry is only just emerging from years of political upheaval and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fourteen others — eight French and six Belgians — were taken to hospital with “broken bones, bruises and superficial injuries” but all were in a stable condition, the governor of the southern province of Aswan said.

The other five people killed were all Egyptian — the bus driver, his assistant and the tour guide, as well as two people in the other vehicle, a statement from the public prosecution said.

The Belgian foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that one of its citizens died and others were injured.

The accident occurred early Wednesday morning when the bus collided with a pick-up as it was transporting the tourists on the 300 kilometre (186 mile) road journey between Aswan and the famed Abu Simbel temple further south.

An AFP photographer saw what remained of the burnt-out vehicles lying by the roadside.

The prosecution ordered an “urgent investigation” to determine “the cause and circumstances of the accident and those responsible”.

Crashes are relatively common in Egypt, where many roads are in disrepair and traffic regulations frequently ignored.

Some 7,000 people died in road accidents in the country in 2020, according to official figures.

Vital tourism industry

The Abu Simbel temple was moved from its original location in the 1960s under the rule of president Gamal Abdel Nasser to make way for the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Egypt had begun reviving its vital tourism industry by promoting its ancient heritage, after the country’s 2011 revolution and ensuing unrest struck the sector.

But the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent global travel bans resulted in a plunge in tourism revenues to $4 billion, from $13 billion the previous year.

The sector employs some two million people in a country of 103 million and generates more than 10 percent of GDP.

In August 2021 Russia resumed flights to Egyptian resorts, six years after a Russian airliner crashed after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has yet again cut off much of the flow of tourists to Egypt, as the two countries accounted for about 40 percent of visitors prior to the war.

The current administration of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invested heavily in promoting tourism, and has organised major events in a bid to attract visitors.

Last year, the North African country staged a procession of floats carrying the mummified remains of 22 pharaohs, including Egypt’s most powerful ancient queen, to a new resting place in Cairo.

Since the start of April, visitors from dozens of additional countries have been permitted to obtain visas on arrival to Egypt, rather than applying in advance.

While attacks on tourists have largely ceased since they peaked in the 1990s, deadly incidents have occurred.

And in February 2019, a German woman and two Egyptian children were killed when a building collapsed in a residential neighbourhood of the southern city of Luxor.

Source: AFP

13, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Four prison officers killed in Amba attack in Bui ⁰

Four prison officers were killed on Tuesday in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region of Northwest after their convoy was attacked by gunmen, local and security sources said.

Gunmen ambushed the convoy of the prison officers in Bui, a division of the region Tuesday afternoon and killed all of them.

“They were returning from installing a new prison superintendent in another village of the region. Theodore Kiga, who is the chief prison superintendent of the region, and three other prison officers were killed in the attack,” a senior army official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

It is unclear who organized the ambush, but separatist fighters are known to be operating in the locality, the source said.

The army was in pursuit of the gunmen who escaped to the bush after the attack, according to officials in the region.

Separatist fighters have been clashing with government forces in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation in the regions they called “Ambazonia.”

Source: Xinhuanet

13, April 2022

Douala: U.S. Ambassador Visits Laquintinie Hospital to Highlight Washington’s Health Assistance ⁰

Ambassador Christopher J. Lamora visited Laquintinie Hospital in Douala, accompanied by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Country Director Dr. Emily Kainne Dokubo. In partnership with Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health, CDC provides care and treatment services through implementing partners in 308 facilities across all 10 regions of the country. Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CDC has supported clinical and laboratory services at Laquintinie Hospital since 2009. Over the past three years, CDC has invested over $975,000 (588 million FCFA) to strengthen the hospital’s HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for all people living with HIV, including children, adolescents, adults, and key and vulnerable populations.

Laquintinie Hospital recently celebrated its 90th anniversary and now serves as the reference hospital in Littoral Region. Under the leadership of Professor Noel Essomba, the hospital has approximately 910 beds managed by over 1300 staff, including 46 General Physicians and 113 Specialists, and receives more than 80,000 patients for consultations per year. Established in 1988, the HIV Treatment Center serves as a model for decentralization of antiretroviral treatment in Cameroon. Approximately, 5,400 people living with HIV receive treatment through CDC/PEPFAR support. Also, through PEPFAR, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) supports a continuum of care for key and priority populations and orphans and vulnerable children, and funds procurement and delivery of antiretroviral drugs and HIV laboratory reagents and supplies. Additionally, USAID supports community-led monitoring to ensure the hospital’s compliance with the government policy to eliminate HIV user fees at service delivery points.

Source: Tdpelmedia

13, April 2022

Champions League: Villarreal fuelled to Bayern win by Nagelsmann remark ⁰

Villarreal forward Gerard Moreno said comments by Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann inspired the Spaniards to their shock 2-1 aggregate win over the German giants in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Villarreal snatched a 1-1 draw on the night and a semi-final place through Samuel Chukwueze’s 88th-minute goal.

“Tonight they (Bayern) made the mistake of not killing us off and we took advantage of that,” Moreno said.

On Monday, Nagelsmann said Villarreal had made a mistake by winning the first leg by a slender 1-0 margin “which allowed us to survive”.

“In the first leg we made the mistake of not finishing them off. All the comments about that served as motivation,” said Moreno, whose cross set up Chukwueze’s tie-winning strike.

“What this team has done is great.”

Robert Lewandowski had put Bayern ahead on the night to level the tie.

Unai Emery’s Villarreal had already knocked out Juventus in the last 16 following a stunning 3-0 win in Turin.

“It’s an extraordinary feeling, it was not easy for us. We are a small club, from a village, like that of Asterix and Obelix,” said Emery.

“We are moving forward step by step, we had a very difficult quarter-final.”

The Spaniards face either Benfica or Liverpool in the semi-finals. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds take a 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s second leg at Anfield.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s taken a lot of hard work,” said Villarreal captain Raul Albiol, the man of the match in Munich, who at 36 is two years older than Nagelsmann.

“Our victories are as a team. We have suffered a lot in both games, but to be in the semi-finals is great for Villarreal.

“We knew it was going to be a long 90 minutes and we were going to suffer a lot.

“We want more. We see ourselves as causing problems to all our opponents.”

Emery basked in the glory of a historic result for Villarreal in his 50th Champions League match as a coach.

“We took a lot of confidence from the first leg result, but we had to defend well and we tried to create our own chances — we created five and took the final one,” he said.

Source: AFP

12, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Manyu Francophone SDO narrowly escapes death in Nchang ⁰

The Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, Oum II Joseph has narrowly escaped death in the hands of Ambazonia fighters in Nchang village some few kilometers away from Mamfe town.

The pot belly SDO was lucky after Amba fighters’ raided Nchang village during the civil administrator’s so-called Meet- The- People’s Tour visit.

An eyewitness told Cameroon Concord News Mamfe correspondent that the incident happened late today and that two Ambazonia fighters were killed by Cameroon government forces. We gathered that the SDO escaped unhurt.

A Cameroon government security source in Mamfe confirmed the incident to Cameroon Concord News. He said soldiers succeeded in rescuing the SDO from the armed Amba fighters.

By Kinsley Betek

12, April 2022

Irish Football: Bohemians Nickson Okosun still maturing in Osam’s dragnet ⁰

The young Boys in Green take on hosts Serbia tomorrow (Tuesday, April 12) in the semi-final of the Miljan Miljanić Tournament and will face either Montenegro or North Macedonia on Thursday in the final or a 3rd/4th place play-off.

Osam has called-up eight players to their first Ireland international squad: Romeo Akachukwu (Waterford), Stan Ashbee (Hull City), Rhys Bartley (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Jamie Gamble (Shelbourne), Jake Grante (Crystal Palace), Gabriel Kelly (Manchester City), Luke Nolan (Bray Wanderers) and Shaun Wade (Chelsea).

The games are another chance for Osam to monitor the progression of his squad in what is a first international season for the MU16s side.

Republic of Ireland Men’s Under-16s Squad

Goalkeepers: Jamie Gamble (Shelbourne), Jason Healy (Waterford)

Defenders: Stan Ashbee (Hull City), Jake Grante (Crystal Palace), Sean Hayden (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Sean Mackey (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Adam O’Halloran (Galway United), Cory O’Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers)

Midfielders: Rhys Bartley (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Anthony Dodd (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Luke Kehir (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Gabriel Kelly (Manchester City), Daniel Negry-McGrath (Bohemians), Luke Nolan (Bray Wanderers)

Forwards: Romeo Akachukwu (Waterford), Trent Kone-Doherty (Derry City), Taylor Mooney (St. Patrick’s Athletic) Nickson Okosun (Bohemians), Najemedine Razi (Shamrock Rovers), Shaun Wade (Chelsea)

International fixtures (kick-offs are Irish time

Tuesday, April 12 | Serbia MU16 v Republic of Ireland MU16, Sports Centre FA of Serbia, Stara Pazova, Serbia, KO 2.30pm

Thursday, April 14 | Republic of Ireland MU16 v Montenegro/North Macedonia, Sports Centre FA of Serbia, Stara Pazova, Serbia, KO 12pm (3rd/4th place play-off) / KO 3pm (final)

Source: Fai.ie

12, April 2022

US: Multiple people shot in New York subway station, explosives found ⁰

Multiple people were shot and at least 13 were injured on Tuesday in a New York City subway station, the fire department said, in the latest spasm of violence in the city’s sprawling transit system.

The shootings occurred during the morning commute at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.

CNN and other media reported that at least five people were shot, citing sources in the New York Fire Department, but Reuters could not immediately confirm the specific number. It was not immediately clear whether the number of injured people included those who were shot.

The whereabouts of the perpetrator were unclear.

Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at radio station WNYC, told local news website Gothamist that she heard shots while in an adjoining subway car.

“The reaction of the passengers was terrifying because they were trying to get into our car away from something that was happening in the back of the train,” she said. “None of us in the front of the train knew what was going on, but people were pounding and looking behind them, running, trying to get onto the train.”

She added that she heard “a lot of loud pops” and that there was smoke in another train car.

Authorities shut down a dozen or so blocks around the 36th Street subway station and another nearby station, and closed off the immediate area with yellow crime scene tape.

The New York Police Department warned people to stay away from the area, which is known for its thriving Chinatown, views of the Statue of Liberty and Industry City, a sprawling warehouse district that has become home to many creative businesses.

In recent months New York has experienced a rise in gun violence in general and a spate of attacks in the city’s transit system, one of the world’s oldest and most extensive.

Local and federal law enforcement officials gathered at the scene, watched by small crowds of people on sidewalks huddled against buildings in a drizzle. Many officers could be seen donning heavy-duty armor and helmets.

Konrad Aderer, a commuter, was in the stairwell about to enter the 36th Street station when he saw a man with bleeding legs explaining what had happened to a worker at the station booth.

“He just said that there was a lot of people bleeding,” Aderer told Fox News in a phone interview. “He took it upon himself to make sure that people were alerted, despite being injured.”

The fire department initially said that undetonated explosive devices were found at the station, but police later said in a Tweet there were no active explosive devices.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was being briefed on the situation, his press secretary said in a statement shared on Twitter. Adams recently tested positive for COVID-19.

(Source: Reuters)