The French National Assembly on Friday approved a package of emergency concessions first announced by President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to end the violent “yellow vest” protests. The tax cuts for low-income workers were put forward by Macron in a televised address earlier this month to help cool weeks of protests that brought major disruption to the country.

The measures provide a “quick, strong and concrete response” to the crisis, said the labour minister Muriel Penicaud in a debate which lasted into the early hours of Friday morning. The measures include the removal of a planned tax increase for a majority of pensioners and tax-free overtime pay for all workers.

Economists estimate the cuts will cost up to 15 billion euros ($17 billion). The concessions will now move to the Senate for approval. Tens of thousands of people joined rallies across France on consecutive Saturdays in a movement which sprung up over fuel tax hikes but snowballed into broader opposition to Macron.

Police this week said they would start removing barricades at roundabouts and on motorways after the demonstrations began to run out of steam.

The protests, which at times spiralled into violence, took a toll on the economy, with businesses counting the cost of supply disruptions, smashed property and a dearth of shoppers and tourists who stayed away from city centres.

On Thursday the president told critics of the fuel tax hikes “you’re right” after 1.15 million people signed a petition suggesting several other ways to fight fossil fuel pollution.

Macron called the petition a “citizens’ act”.

“Your message, I heard it. I am responding to you directly, you are right,” Macron wrote on the website Change.org.

He reminded the petition signers that his government has cancelled the planned increase in fuel tax and that no hikes in gas and electricity prices would be made during the winter.

While restating that reducing fossil fuels which contribute to climate change was a necessary action, Macron added that it “must not put the problems of the end of the world in opposition to the problems at the end of the month” alluding to the anger of the “yellow vest” protest movement about the cost of living in France and the difficulty in making ends meet.

The number of people who have been killed during the “yellow vest” protests since they began in early November rose to nine on Thursday after a 60-year-old man was hit by a lorry at a demonstration next to a motorway near Agen in southwestern France.

(AFP)

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday urged European countries to respond to US President Donald Trump’s protectionist economic policies and unilateralist diplomacy with “Europe United”. “We must find an answer to the motto ‘America First’ on this side of the Atlantic and to me and to us, it’s clear that the response can only be ‘Europe United’,” Maas told reporters in Berlin, referring to Trump’s most famous catchphrase all along his campaign trail.

“We Europeans must cooperate even more closely which also means investing more into our own ability to act. That applies when it’s about fighting back punitive tariffs and it applies to security issues or the fight against climate change,” he went on to say.

Maas also pointed to the US midterm elections, in which Democrats managed to take the House of Representatives from Republicans, and said he expected Democrats to use their newfound power to influence Trump’s policies more heavily.

“We’ll see to what extent that has an impact. We hope that this cooperation will be constructive and lead to constructive results in international politics. We will very intensively look to contact those who were newly elected,” Maas noted.

The German foreign minister has time and again warned about the consequences of Trump’s unilateralist approaches toward other countries, urging fellow EU member states to unite against the US policies.

Trump’s decision to restrict imports from the European Union and his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Climate Accord and the UN Commission on Human Rights, among others, have dealt a heavy blow to ties between Washington and European countries.

However, tensions escalated between the two sides after Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, but the EU announced it will preserve business with Iran and avoid renewed American sanctions.

In defiance of US policies, European countries have declared they would not cooperate with Washington on Iran sanctions, and promised to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports as part of efforts to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US’ withdrawal.

Source: Presstv

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French domestic intelligence forces have arrested six people linked to ultra-right movements in the country on suspicion of planning a “violent” attack against President Emmanuel Macron.

One female and five male suspects, with ages ranging from 22 to 62, were taken into custody by the agents of France’s DGSI intelligence bureau, which did not identify the detainees, AFP reported Tuesday, citing sources close to the case.

According to the report, four of the suspects were arrested in the northeastern city of Moselle, within a close distance of the city of Verdun, where Macron was on a visit on Tuesday as part of week-long memorial festivities marking the end of World War I.

The other two suspects were seized in southeast and western France.

One source said the investigation of the case — by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, which handles terrorism inquires — is dealing with “a vague and ill-defined project at this stage.”

The plot was not the first known attempt on the life of the French president. A 23-year-old man was charged in July 2017 with plotting to assassinate Macron at France’s Bastille Day military parade. Three kitchen knives were found in that suspect’s automobile, and analysis of his computer found that he had carried out internet searches as part of his scheme.

Several other suspected far-right members have been arrested since 2017 — the year Macron was elected president — after police found they might be preparing imminent attacks.

Thirteen suspects affiliated with the country’s far-right Action des Forces Operationnelles (Operational Forces Action) group were also arrested by France’s anti-terrorist forces over an alleged plot to wage attacks against Muslims.

Ten more people were also taken into custody in October 2017 over suspicions of aiming to target Muslims as well as politicians such as France’s far-left politicians Jean-Luc Melenchon and Christophe Castaner, who now serves as the country’s interior minister.

Castaner had warned on Monday that the nation remained “on alert” over what he referred to as threats posed by “extremist networks both on the right and left, which are quite active in our country.”

Macron himself warned of the threat from far-right movements across Europe in an interview earlier this week, saying complacency during the 1930s was what opened the way for the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Germany and fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Italy.

Culled from Presstv

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

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British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office has dismissed as “speculation” a newspaper report that suggests an all-UK customs deal will be written into the legally binding agreement governing Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

A spokesman at May’s office said Sunday that a report in the Sunday Times suggesting that the EU had agreed to include the entire United Kingdom in its customs union after Brexit was not entirely true.

“This is all speculation. The prime minister has been clear that we are making good progress on the future relationship and 95 percent of the withdrawal agreement is now settled and negotiations are ongoing,” said the spokesman.

The EU and Britain are at odds over how to treat the border between Ireland, an EU state, and Northern Ireland, a UK province, after Brexit so that there will be no return to a hard border on the island.

May has resisted EU’s plan for including Northern Ireland in its customs union for a two-year transition period and beyond that until a permanent solution is found for trade.

The premier says that will separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, insisting the EU could instead include the entire UK in the customs union as an interim solution.

British housing minister James Brokenshire said on Sunday that differences still remained on the Irish border, saying British and EU negotiators had yet to finalize a “backstop” arrangement.

“That very much remains our focus and attention in getting that deal,” Brokenshire told the BBC.

May relies on Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in her minority government. The DUP has threatened that it would stand against any Brexit deal that would include Northern Ireland in EU’s customs union.

Presstv

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

Bank transaction: Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Banking IBAN: GB51 BARC 2049 1103 9130 15

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lost an appeal against an earlier decision to send him to trial over charges of illegal campaign financing, and his lawyer said he would challenge the decision in France’s highest appeals court.

If Sarkozy stands trial, he would be the second French president in the dock since Jacques Chirac, who was president from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was given a suspended sentence in 2011 after being convicted of misusing public funds.

The so-called “Bygmalion” campaign financing affair centers on accusations that Sarkozy’s party, then known as the UMP, connived with a friendly public relations firm to hide the true cost of his 2012 presidential election campaign.

France sets limits on campaign spending, and prosecutors allege that the firm Bygmalion invoiced Sarkozy’s party rather than the campaign, allowing the UMP to spend almost double the amount permitted.

After five years in power, Sarkozy was defeated by Socialist Francois Hollande when he ran for a second term in 2012. He has since faced a series of investigations into alleged corruption, fraud, favouritism and campaign-funding irregularities.

Sarkozy has denied charges of wrongdoing and has vowed to have all cases dismissed. His lawyer said he would challenge the latest decision in France’s supreme Court of Appeal.

Under French law, a suspect is not formally charged with a crime unless he is sent to trial.

On Oct. 8, Sarkozy lost a first appeal against facing trial over separate influence peddling and corruption charges.

In that case, Sarkozy is suspected of helping a prosecutor get promoted in return for leaked information about a separate criminal inquiry.

Sarkozy lost presidential immunity from legal prosecution a month after he left office.

(Source: Reuters)

The European Commission rejected on Tuesday, October 23, Italy’s draft 2019 budget because the plan breaks EU rules in an “unprecedented” way and asked Rome to submit a new one within three weeks or it would face disciplinary action.

The decision by the European Union executive arm is the first time it exercises the power, obtained during the sovereign debt crisis in 2013, to send back a budget of a euro zone country that violates the rules.

Commission Vice President for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference that for the first time, the Commission is obliged to request a euro area country to revise its draft budget plan.

He said the European Commission sees no alternative than to request the Italian government to do so. It has adopted an opinion giving Italy a maximum of three weeks to provide a revised draft budgetary plan for 2019.

The Commission said that the revised budget it expected to receive from Italy should be in line with the recommendation of EU finance ministers from July 13.

Italy sent a letter to the Commission on Monday, October 22, acknowledging that its draft budget was in violation of EU rules, but insisting it would still go ahead with it.

Dombrovskis added that unless Rome changes its draft budget in the next three weeks, the Commission was ready to open a disciplinary process against the country, called the ‘excessive deficit procedure’, based on the lack of progress in cutting debt — an obligation under EU law.

Prime Minister Theresa May will tell Britain’s parliament on Monday that Brexit talk are “95 percent” complete but that she cannot accept the EU’s Northern Ireland border proposals – as she faces an increasingly mutinous faction within her party.

May has been on the receiving end of a furious backlash from Brexit hardliners in her own party after indicating at an EU summit last week that she could accept a longer post-divorce implementation phase than previously envisaged.

Her shift aimed to break an impasse in negotiations between London and Brussels over how to keep the Irish border open after Brexit, by giving the two sides more time to agree their future relationship.

But it infuriated Brexiteer colleagues who fear remaining tied to the EU for years after Britain’s formal departure next March.

Several Sunday newspapers said rebellious MPs were preparing a fresh bid to topple her leadership this week, many carrying colourful off-record quotes from the plotters.

In a bid to calm passions, May will address MPs in the House of Commons on Monday where she will say the divorce deal with Brussels is nearly done.

“Ninety-five per cent of the Withdrawal Agreement and its protocols are now settled,” she will tell parliamentarians, according to a partial transcript released by her office late Sunday.

Highlighting progress in the year-long talks, she will say agreements have now been reached across a broad range of issues including with Spain on the status of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, and with Cyprus on the UK’s military bases there. “We have broad agreement on the structure and scope of the future relationship, with important progress made on issues like security, transport and services,” she will say.

Busted backstop

But on Ireland she will seek to reassure MPs in her own party that she will not bow to the EU’s current proposals.

“As I set out last week, the original backstop proposal from the EU was one we could not accept, as it would mean creating a customs border down the Irish Sea and breaking up the integrity of the UK,” she will say.

“I do not believe that any UK Prime Minister could ever accept this. And I certainly will not.” The so-called backstop is a proposal to keep either Northern Ireland or all of Britain in a customs union should future trade talks end in deadlock.

Talks have stalled over how to stop its land frontier with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, becoming a hard border again. London believes customs and other checks can be avoided through a new trade agreement with Brussels, but accepts the need for a fallback plan until that deal is agreed.

However, the two sides have so far been unable to settle the terms of this so-called backstop. France’s Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau told the BBC Sunday that the bloc needs “definitive answers, or at least no temporary measures which disappear and we don’t know what to do afterwards”.

Despite voting in favour of a split from Europe, the British public remains deeply polarised on Brexit. On Saturday more than half a million anti-Brexit protesters hit the streets of London, the largest demonstration since 750,000 people showed up against the Iraq war in 2003.

(AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of people hit London’s streets on Saturday to join the People’s Vote march, calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal.

The protest, led by young voters and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, headed to Parliament Square, where a rally was held in the late afternoon. Organisers said around 700,000 protesters attended the event.

Among the speakers who addressed the crowds, were leading remain advocates such as Khan, Chuka Umunna, Vince Cable, Caroline Lucas and Anna Soubry. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a second referendum on Brexit.

Culled from Presstv