News

Cameroon: Garbage bins deployed in cities find themselves in private homes

6, October 2016

Cameroon: Garbage bins deployed in cities find themselves in private homes 0

The general manager of HYSACAM, Ngapanoun Michel has said that the garbage bins that are deployed in our cities to ensure cleanliness find themselves unduly in private homes. In a country where people steal even what they do not need, hundreds of public bins listed in the cities of Douala and Yaounde, have been stolen by local residents, especially those with a capacity of between 120 and 360 litres.

The cities of Douala and Yaoundé, respectively economic and political capitals of Cameroon are the most concerned. These two cities have piles of garbage everywhere. Moreover, it is a significant shortfall for HYSACAM as a plastic garbage bin cost nearly 150 000 FCFA. In areas where the bins have not been carried away, they have all been destroyed by women roasting fish and maize who regularly dump hot charcoal into the bins and reduced them to ashes.

In Yaounde, the matter is more intractable as the access road to the Waste Treatment Centre including the garbage dumping areas within the site is completely blocked during the rainy season, despite the intervention of the Military Engineering Department.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

French National Front Party leader says EU, US responsible for the crisis in Syria

6, October 2016

French National Front Party leader says EU, US responsible for the crisis in Syria 0

French National Front Party Leader Marine Le Pen says the EU is responsible for the crisis in Syria, because it has been trying to bring down the government instead of battling terrorism. “You’ve done everything to bring down the government of Syria, throwing the country into a terrible civil war, while accusing Russia which is actually fighting Daesh,” she said while addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Russian air force fighters have been striking armed terrorists, including the Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terror groups, across Syria at the official request of the government of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

She stressed that the EU and US policies had directly contributed to Syria’s current crisis, which has claimed the lives of some 400,000 people since March 2011. “You cannot hide your responsibility […] for plunging this part of the world into an absolutely monstrous chaos,” noted Le Pen, who intends to run for president next year.

Le Pen also censured the EU’s “irresponsible” approach towards the refugee crisis in Europe.

A general view shows destroyed buildings in a government-held neighborhood of the western Syrian city of Homs on September 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

“No real measures are taken to curb the crisis. Your irresponsible policy, on the contrary, brings us more and more economic migrants,” she said.

Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, who are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Presstv

UN: Former Portuguese Prime Minister to succeed Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General

5, October 2016

UN: Former Portuguese Prime Minister to succeed Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General 0

Antonio Guterres will be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, following a vote by the Security Council to choose the organisation’s new leader.

Mr Guterres, 66, former prime minister of Portugal and head of the UN refugee agency, will take over from Ban Ki-moon in January. Ban has led the UN for the past 10 years. The decision was made in a straw poll, held in New York on Wednesday morning.

Mr Guterres’s candidacy was not vetoed by any of the permanent five members of the Security Council. It will now be formally approved by the General Assembly. The Portuguese politician said he was “honoured and happy.”

Culled from The Telegraph

Cameroon: CONAC Chairman calls for improve partnership with the Business Coalition against Corruption

5, October 2016

Cameroon: CONAC Chairman calls for improve partnership with the Business Coalition against Corruption 0

The Chairman of Cameroon’s anti-corruption body, CONAC, Dieudonne Massi Gams has hailed the work of the Business Coalition against Corruption (BCAC) in Cameroon. Speaking during a kind of CPDM cocktail at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Yaounde on the 4th of October 2016, Dieudonne Massi Gams thanked BCAC for training over 400 “good governance managers” in Cameroon and advocated for greater cooperation.

The Business Coalition against Corruption seeks to reinforce the respect of ethics in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises which have a key role in Africa’s economic advancement. Some members of BCAC who made the trip to Cameroon with Neil Wigan, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for Africa highlighted the importance of developing a culture of integrity and good governance in Cameroon’s business sector.

CRTV

Belgium: Stabbing attack on 2 police officers

5, October 2016

Belgium: Stabbing attack on 2 police officers 0

Belgian police have reported a stabbing attack on two officers as counter-terror investigators begin a probe into the incident, which could spark fresh public fears over terrorism in the country.

Prosecutors said a man wielding a knife stabbed the two police officers in Schaerbeek area in the north of Brussels on Wednesday before being shot in the leg.

Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said suspicions were high that the attacker had terrorist motives.

“We have elements to believe that the incident was a terrorist attack,” said Van Der Sypt, adding that the suspect was in police custody.

Other police officials said the officers, who were wearing plain clothes, were not seriously injured. They said another police officer was also injured as he tried to stop the attacker, who attempted to escape the scene.

Presstv

US internet giant Yahoo scanned hundreds of millions of users’ emails in 2015 at the request of US intelligence agencies

5, October 2016

US internet giant Yahoo scanned hundreds of millions of users’ emails in 2015 at the request of US intelligence agencies 0

A report says the US Internet giant Yahoo scanned hundreds of millions of users’ emails in 2015 at the request of US intelligence agencies. According to the report published by Reuters on Tuesday, the company secretly built a custom software program last year to search all users’ incoming emails for specific information requested by US intelligence officials.

Several former employees of the Internet company said the scanning of Yahoo Mail accounts was at the behest of the National Security Agency (NSA) or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “The request to search Yahoo Mail accounts came in the form of a classified edict sent to the company’s legal team,” they noted. The company did not reject the report and without providing any further details, said, “Yahoo is a law abiding company, and complies with the laws of the United States.”

Some experts said the move represents the first case in which a US Internet company agrees to a spy agency’s demand to search all arriving messages. “It is deeply disappointing that Yahoo declined to challenge this sweeping surveillance order, because customers are counting on technology companies to stand up to novel spying demands in court,” Patrick Toomey, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

In a separate incident last month, Yahoo said “state-sponsored” hackers had gained access to 500 million customer accounts in 2014. On several occasions, Internet companies have complained that the US government tried to force them to give away their users’ information. Yahoo reported earlier this year that some 200 million accounts may have been accessed and that hacked data was being offered for sale online.

The users of Yahoo’s online services were urged to review accounts for suspicious activity. They were also asked to change passwords. The NSA has previously come under fire for spying on Americans’ phone calls and Internet communications.  Countless leaks by American whistleblower Edward Snowden have detailed the highly sophisticated tools used by the NSA to collect data in bulk from unsuspecting people, including American citizens.

Presstv

Yaounde: Visiting British diplomat meets Prime Minister Philemon Yang

4, October 2016

Yaounde: Visiting British diplomat meets Prime Minister Philemon Yang 0

The Prime Minister and Head of Government, Philemon Yang has received the visiting British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for Africa, Neil Wigan.

Philemon Yang and his British guest reviewed relations between Cameroon and the Commonwealth. Neil Wigan reportedly reassured Cameroon of Britain’s support to the country, in spite of her exit from the European Union.

The British diplomat who is on a working visit to Cameroon is expected to launch the expansion of the business coalition against corruption. Neil Wigan had served as British ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

CRTV

 

Cameroon and Russia to sign global technology partnership agreement

4, October 2016

Cameroon and Russia to sign global technology partnership agreement 0

A cream of Russian experts have arrived the nation’s capital Yaounde to help working groups responsible for ensuring the coordination of projects identified by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development. Cameroon Concord News gathered that the projects involved covers matters such as the development of drinking water and management of water resources and is expected to strengthen cooperation between the Cameroon and the Russian Federation.

The mission of multisector experts dispatched by the Russian Federation to Cameroon was received on the 3rd of October 2016 by Abdoulaye Yaouba, Minister Delegate at the Minister of Economy, Planning and Land (MINEPAT). Led by Albert Kasparov, the Director of the Development Centre of the Hydro-Economic complex of Russia and powered by Nicolay Ratsiborinsky, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cameroon, the experts held intensive and productive discussions with Cameroon government officials on projects requiring the Russian expertise and funding.

A source at the ministry of the economy hinted that apart from drinking water development projects and the management of water resources, the Russians will help Cameroon in the construction of beaches, dams and the development of agriculture. Russia is also expected to sign with Cameroon a global technology partnership agreement. In 2012, President Putin and his administration supported Cameroon after flooding affected the northern parts of the country.

By Sama Ernest

Wikileaks cancels major announcement about Hillary Clinton

3, October 2016

Wikileaks cancels major announcement about Hillary Clinton 0

Whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has canceled a major announcement about US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, citing “security concerns.”

Julian Assange, the website’s founder who has long taken refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, was supposed to make the announcement from the embassy’s balcony on Tuesday.

However, NBC News reporter James Rodriguez said in a tweet on Sunday night that the event has been called off. “Due to security concerns at the Ecuadorian Embassy, Julian Assange’s balcony announcement on Tuesday has been canceled, per @wikiLeaks,” he said.

Assange’s group has leaked nearly 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the last months, uncovering an insider effort within the Democratic Party to rig the primary campaign against Clinton’s rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Culled from Presstv

Battle for Aleppo: Syrian government forces have advanced further

2, October 2016

Battle for Aleppo: Syrian government forces have advanced further 0

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian aerial cover, have advanced further in the northwestern city of Aleppo, tightening the noose around militants. Syrian army troops managed on Sunday to make fresh gains in the northern parts of the city and reached the outskirts of the militant-held district of Heluk after Russian warplanes pounded the militant positions overnight.

If the government troops manage to recapture Heluk and two other districts of Bustan al-Basha and Sakhur, which are militant-controlled districts in the city’s north, there will remain a small militant-held section located in the city’s southeast.

Army soldiers have already managed to fully clear Handarat refugee camp of militants and recapture nearby Kindi Hospital, which is located a few kilometers north of the city. By recapturing Handarat, Syrian troops pushed terrorists further away from Castello Road, a main artery leading to the militant-held parts of the city.

Aleppo has been divided between government forces in the west and the militants in the east since 2012. In an attempt to free the trapped people of the city, the Syrian army, backed by Russian fighter jets, began a major offensive on September 22 to end the militants’ reign of terror in the east.

Syrian government forces are seen on September 28, 2016, in Farafira district, northwest of Aleppo. (Photo by AFP)

According to a report by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), citing an unnamed military source, army troops on Sunday also managed to destroy a number of motorcycles and a car belonging to terrorists near Mahatta neighborhood in the provincial capital, Dara’a. Clashes were also reported in the town of Yadouda in the countryside of Dara’a.

Syria gives safe passage to militants in Aleppo

In another development, the Syrian army released a statement on Sunday through the country’s state media telling militants to leave the eastern parts of the city, adding that it would guarantee them safe passage and necessary aid.

“The army high command calls all armed fighters in the eastern neighborhood of Aleppo to leave these neighborhoods and let civilian residents live their normal lives,” the statement carried by state news agency SANA said.

The Syrian army added, “The Russian and Syrian military leaderships will guarantee safe passage for the fighters and will give them aid as necessary.” A ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia in Syria, expired on September 19 after being in place for only a week.

Damascus, however, refused to extend it after US-led airstrikes killed over 80 of its soldiers and wounded some 100 others at a military base in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr in violation of the truce.

Russia has criticized the US for not doing enough to rein in militants in Syria to protect the truce, saying continued violations of the ceasefire by militants have made it “senseless” for the Syrian government to stick to the agreement.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to a UN estimate.

Presstv

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