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Nigeria: Troops open fire at Shia Muslims holding a demonstration

14, November 2016

Nigeria: Troops open fire at Shia Muslims holding a demonstration 0

Nigerian forces have opened fire at a group of Shia Muslims holding a demonstration in preparation for the upcoming Arba’een mourning rituals, which mark 40 days after the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam.

Soldiers blocked the road and fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse hundreds of people, including women and children, marching in the northern city of Kano on Sunday. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said that one person was killed and several others were injured during the incident. According to the IMN, the peaceful demonstration is still underway despite the government’s attempts to stop it.

Followers of the IMN have been under a heavy-handed crackdown since last year when the army attacked a religious ceremony in their stronghold of Zaria in the north. Hundreds of people were killed and more, including the movement’s leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, were thrown behind bars.

Last week, the movement said it had received information that the Nigerian army was planning to attack Arba’een processions scheduled for November 20. Meanwhile, the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission has called on Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the safety of mourners taking part in the processions.

This picture taken on November 26, 2015 shows members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) taking part in the symbolic procession commemorating Arba’een. 

Last month, at least 20 people were killed and several others injured when Nigerian forces opened fire at Shia mourners commemorating Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (Peace be upon him).  In December 2015, Nigerian forces raided the house of the IMN’s leader Sheikh Zakzaky and arrested him after killing those attempting to protect him, including one of the movement’s senior leaders and its spokesman.

The Sheikh himself was shot seven times during the attacks and blinded in one eye and still remains in custody of the army. The raid occurred a day after Nigerian soldiers attacked Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him.  On August 1, the Islamic Human Rights Commission released a report, saying the Nigerian army killed 348 Shia Muslims during the attack on the religious ceremony.

Presstv

US: FBI ran over 20 child porn websites

14, November 2016

US: FBI ran over 20 child porn websites 0

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been allowed to run child pornography websites as an attempt to track their users, court documents reveal. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has obtained an affidavit that states the bureau has run at least 23 websites in its operations to hunt down pedophiles and promoters of child abuse, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

The new revelation means that the extent of FBI’s secret sting was beyond the initial assessments. It was revealed last year that FBI agents had operated a child porn site for 13 days  and used it in an international operation. The websites were all located in the so-called dark web, meaning that special software were needed to access them. The FBI oversaw the sites via its “network investigative technique” (NIT), the document noted.

Interestingly, all of the websites were operating from a “government facility,” so that NIT could collect the users’ “request data” more easily, the affidavit added. FBI spokesman Christopher Allen told tech news website Ars Technica that it is “patently not true” to assume that the bureau is commonly running child porn websites. However, he did not deny the existence of FBI-run websites either.

The report came less than a week after a former official with the US Defense Intelligence Agency was sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography. Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Frederiksen, 42, received the term on November 8, after admitting to luring six girls, aged between 14 and 17, into producing indecent photos and videos through social media. He used his government laptop for the purpose.

According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, child pornography is one of the fastest growing underground business online, with an estimated revenue of $3 billion. The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) states that the US has the largest share of commercialized child pornography websites, hosting nearly half of world’s child porn sites.

Presstv

13, November 2016

France marks 1st anniversary of Paris attacks that left 130 people dead 0

France has marked the first anniversary of the terrorist attack that left at least 130 people dead and hundreds more injured in the country’s capital of Paris last year.

Ceremonies on Sunday gathered scores of people, including the families of the deceased and injured victims, at seven sites in the capital that had been targeted by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist elements on November 13, 2015.

The French national stadium, five bars and restaurants in eastern Paris, and a concert hall came under attack that day. French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo attended memorial ceremonies, unveiling plaques that commemorate those killed in the multiple terror attacks.

French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo unveil a commemorative plaque next to a bar and restaurant attacked by Daesh last year, in Paris, France, November 13, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Speaking on the occasion of the first anniversary of the attacks, Prime Minister Manuel Valls also announced the likelihood of extending a state of emergency imposed in the country after the raids. He said the measure was needed to “protect our democracy.”

Valls had also warned in a speech this weekend that “terrorism will strike us again,” contending, however, that, “We have all the resources to resist and all the strength to win.” Besides the November 2015 attacks, France has been targeted in other terrorist raids as well.

Terror attacks in France: A timeline

March 22, 2012: Mohammed Merah, an al-Qaeda-inspired gunman, takes the lives of seven people in the city of Toulouse in a 12-day killing spree.

January 7, 2015: Two Takfiri militants attack Charlie Hebdo magazine offices, killing 12 people, including top editorial staff.

November 13, 2015: Daesh launches a series of violent attacks targeting cafes and a concert hall in Paris and massacring a total of 130 people. On the same day, three terrorists blow themselves up and kill a bystander in a stadium in Saint-Denis.

Police and rescuers gather in front of a fast-food drive-thru restaurant outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, November 13, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

July 14, 2016: A truck driver deliberately plows through a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing 84 people and wounding 200 others. An 85th victim of the attack dies later in hospital. Daesh later claims responsibility.

July 26, 2016: Two knife-wielding men professing allegiance to Daesh take a number of people hostage at a church in Normandy. The attackers kill an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest before police shoots them dead.

Presstv

Boko Haram militants have surrendered to Chadian troops

12, November 2016

Boko Haram militants have surrendered to Chadian troops 0

A large group of militants belonging to the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group along with their families have surrendered themselves to the army troops in Chad since September. “They surrendered to our troops on the front line in Lake Chad,” said Colonel Mohammad Dole, the Chief Military Public Information Officer for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquartered in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, on Saturday.

Dole further said all these militants, some 240, mostly Chadian nationals, had been held in two detention centers along with their families in the remote town of Baga Solo. “The surrenders are taking place because of the firepower of our operations. The groups, many of them armed, have been arriving since September and their number keeps increasing,” he added.

The MNJTF is a joint force consisting of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin, tasked with ending the Boko Haram militancy in the Lake Chad region. It launched a regional operation in July against the group, which has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. Boko Haram seeks to overthrow the government and seize power in northern Nigeria. The group has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million since 2009, when it started its campaign.

The terrorist group, however, did not confine itself to the northern parts of Nigeria and has widened its attacks into neighboring countries, notably Cameroon and Chad. They have forcibly recruited young men in Chad. The terrorists have kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children in their six-year campaign. The kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls from Nigeria’s northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014 unleashed a wave of international outrage.

Presstv

Biya grants audience to the Vice President of Havas Group

12, November 2016

Biya grants audience to the Vice President of Havas Group 0

President Biya has granted audience to Stephane Fouks, Vice President of the Havas Group (a multinational advertising and public relations company) on Friday, the 11th of November 2016.  Biya and his guest evaluated the impact of the International Economic Conference, which was organized recently in Yaounde. In an exchange with journalists after the audience, Stephane Fouks said his host focused on the exploration of new channels to attract international investors to Cameroon.

The media mogul revealed that the Head of State insisted on the need to effectively implement the resolutions of the economic conference. Mr. Fouks shared President Paul Biya’s optimism that these measures shall greatly improve Cameroon’s perception internationally. “Despite its challenges, Cameroon continues to march towards development when compared to other countries in the region,” he said.

It should be noted that Cameroon hosted, in May 2016, an international investors’ conference, under the theme: “Investing in Cameroon, Land of Attractiveness”. The objective was to secure international investments in the industrialization of agricultural products, the exploitation of raw materials and the development of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

However, foreign investors are not responding due to the political situation in the country. With an 83 year old leader and a senate and house of assembly packed with men and women above 70 years of age, the issue of succession is disturbing to some economists.

CRTV

 

2 Nigerians arrested at Istanbul airport in possession of drugs concealed in their stomachs

12, November 2016

2 Nigerians arrested at Istanbul airport in possession of drugs concealed in their stomachs 0

Two Nigerians were arrested on Friday at Istanbul airport in possession of nearly 3 kg of drugs carefully concealed in their stomachs. The two Nigerian nationals were intercepted at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. The Nigerian traffickers, aged 22 and 47, went so far as to swallow about 3 kilos of cocaine and heroin concealed in condoms.

According to the Dogan news agency, police officers from the drug trafficking brigade did not find anything during the initial search and decided to accompany the two men to a hospital for submission to an X-ray and that was where the Turkish police made their big catch.

One of them had swallowed 1,290 kg of liquid cocaine and the second, 700 grams of heroin, according to Dogan. All buried meticulously in condoms inserted in their digestive tract.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Kah Walla denounces the deployment of state violence against Common Law Lawyers

11, November 2016

Kah Walla denounces the deployment of state violence against Common Law Lawyers 0

Kah Walla, the national president of the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) has declared her party’s support for the Cameroon Anglophone lawyers. The new generation opposition leader expressed displeasure over the attack by government forces against a peaceful demonstration organized by lawyers in Bamenda on the 8th of November.

The CPP leadership denounced the deployment of state violence against nonviolent protesters. As earlier reported by the Cameroon Concord News Group, the lawyers’ peaceful protest in Bamenda was greeted with tear gas and police violence that almost claimed the life of Barrister Elvis Leuma.

Cameroonians from what was previously known as British Southern Cameroons are so frustrated that many are now considering the solution of secession. Kah Walla stated that “The growth of this secessionist movement is the direct result of bad governance.”

The Cameroon Common Law Lawyers’ movement registered another massive demonstration in Buea in the Southwest region. The city witnessed a heavy deployment of security forces and troops from the gendarmerie. Our face book team received disturbing images of repression of the demonstrators.

By Sama Ernest

South Africa: Zuma survives 3rd no-confidence vote in less than a year

11, November 2016

South Africa: Zuma survives 3rd no-confidence vote in less than a year 0

South African President Jacob Zuma has survived a no-confidence vote, the third in less than a year, over what the opposition called “reckless leadership.”   “I think the no’s have it,” Deputy Speaker of Parliament Lechesa Tsenoli ruled on Thursday, after lawmakers of Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC), which controls almost two-thirds of the assembly, voted against the motion.

After a heated debate, 214 lawmakers voted against the motion and 126 voted in favor. The vote came despite opposition parties calling on ruling ANC lawmakers to remove Zuma. Earlier on Thursday, Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), urged Zuma to quit power and called on ANC lawmakers to vote him out of office. “To put it plainly, we can choose Jacob Zuma, or we can choose South Africa,” Maimane told parliament, adding, “Many of you have been speaking out against him in recent weeks … I know that there are men and women in these ANC benches who want to do the right thing.”

The no-confidence motion was tabled by the DA, which argued that Zuma had wreaked havoc on South Africa’s “infant democracy” by being involved in various corruption and influence-peddling scandals. Zuma had managed to weather two previous no-confidence votes. The 74-year-old, who has been in office since 2009, enjoys strong loyalty among ANC lawmakers and many party activists, particularly in rural areas.

The vote came days after South Africa’s top watchdog issued a report, detailing the president’s relationship with the Guptas, an Indian business family accused of wielding undue political influence. The report raised fresh allegations of misconduct in Zuma’s administration.

Zuma is already gripped in a series of corruption scandals. He was found guilty by South Africa’s highest court in March, after he refused to repay taxpayers’ money used to refurbish his private rural house. A court has also ruled that Zuma should face almost 800 corruption charges over a multi-billion dollar arms deal in the 1990s. Zuma has appealed the ruling.

Presstv

Massive demo against Donald Trump’s victory in the US

11, November 2016

Massive demo against Donald Trump’s victory in the US 1

Demonstrators have again taken to the streets in cities across the United States to protest against Republican nominee Donald Trump’s victory in the November 8 presidential election, voicing concerns that he will strike a blow against civil rights.

In the state of California, hundreds of high school and university students on Thursday walked out of classes to join other protesters who held demonstrations in the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Police arrested dozens of protesters in both cities. Similar rallies were held in Minneapolis, New York, Washington, DC, and Texas.

A number of demonstrators marched from the White House, where Trump held his first transition meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, to the Trump International Hotel some blocks away. The protesters were carrying signs against racism and in favor of unity. They were also chanting “love Trumps hate.”

Police shout at anti-Trump protesters on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles on Wednesday. (Photo by The Los Angeles Times)  

“This generation deserves better than Donald Trump,” said Lily Morton, 17, who joined classmates from the Georgetown Day School. “The queer people, colored people, women, girls, everyone that is going to be affected by this, we need to protest to help them.”

Tens of thousands of protesters, including school and college students, held demonstrations in more than a dozen major US cities, including in New York, Los Angeles and Oakland, California on Wednesday. The protesters slammed Trump’s controversial campaign rhetoric about undocumented immigrants, Muslims and other groups. They expressed their anger and sadness at the shocking victory of Trump by putting his effigies on fire in California, Philadelphia, Boston and Portland, Oregon, and Washington.

Trump took to twitter late on Thursday to hit back at protesters, calling them “professionals incited by the media.” Trump supporters say the protesters are not respecting the democratic process. This tweet also comes after The New York Times reported his aides took control of his Twitter account during his presidential campaign hoping to tame his controversial Internet presence.

Anti-Trump protesters flood the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles on Thursday. (Photo by The Los Angeles Times)

Trump stunned the world on Wednesday by defeating heavily favored Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election, sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.

Trump’s election campaign had been marred by his disparaging remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include a call to ban all Muslims from coming to America as well as stopping Mexican migrants by building a long wall along the US-Mexico border.

He has also sought for a database to track Muslims across the United States and said that the US would have “absolutely no choice” but to close down mosques.

Dozens of anti-Donald Trump protesters stand along 5th Avenue in front of Trump Tower as New Yorkers react for a second night to the election of Trump as president of the United States on November 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by AFP)

Trump’s proposal was widely condemned by Muslim and human rights groups as well as his Democratic rivals and many of his Republican proponents who describe the proposal as divisive, counterproductive and contrary to American values.

Culled from Presstv

Minister Philip Ngole Ngwese suspends 23 timber companies

10, November 2016

Minister Philip Ngole Ngwese suspends 23 timber companies 0

Philip Ngole Ngwese, the Minister of Forests has suspended for a period of 6 months 23 companies  and 2 ICG (inter Community Groups) operating in the forest sector.

Philip Ngole Ngwese signed the ministerial order on Wednesday and added that the decision shall take effect immediately. The suspended parties are accused of non-compliance with standards related to sustainable environmental management and illegal logging, in accordance with applicable laws.

Cameroon Concord News Yaoundé city reporter hinted at the time of filing this report that Minister Ngole Ngwese has also threatened to withdraw the licenses issued to the companies if they do not comply with the law.

It is estimated that Cameroon loses more than 2 billion CFA francs related to illegal logging in a sector contributing up to 10% to the GDP.

By Sama Ernest

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