Several people were killed and cars crushed when a newly installed pedestrian bridge spanning several lanes of traffic collapsed at Florida International University on Thursday in Miami-Dade County, officials said.

“Several people were killed. I just don’t know how many,” Alejandro Camacho, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol said in a telephone interview.

There were at least five to six vehicles crushed underneath the pedestrian crosswalk, he added.

The bridge connects the university with the city of Sweetwater and was installed on Saturday in six hours over the eight-lane highway, according to a story that was posted on the university’s website. It was 174 feet (53 m) long and weighed 950 tons.

Television footage showed firefighters were walking across the flattened wreckage and medics were treating injured people. Emergency personnel appeared to be trying to work their way through a hole in the top of the bridge.

(Source : Reuters)

Cameroon’s long-ruling President Paul Biya today convoked a rare cabinet meeting and vowed to push ahead with a military crackdown on English-speaking separatists in the francophone country.

The west African country has had a tortuous colonial history that saw it pass from German rule to French and British hands and the anglophone minority complain of being marginalised by the French-speaking elite.

“The efforts (of the security forces) must be continued, especially to ensure a return of normal economic and social activity,” Biya told the first cabinet meeting held since 2015.

On October 1, separatists declared two regions as the self-proclaimed republic of “Ambazonia”, marking a turning point for the country’s English-speaking minority, which makes up around a fifth of the population.

Biya dispatched troops, combat helicopters and armoured vehicles to root out the dissidents, forcing tens of thousands to flee to neighbouring Nigeria.

At least 28 soldiers have been killed in the violence, according to an AFP tally, and two state employees have been kidnapped.

The civilian death toll remains unclear, as non-governmental organisations and independent media are barred from the area.

Though the original Ambazonia leaders have dissociated themselves from militant offshoots — they claim their struggle is peaceful — there are a growing number of attacks against the government.

The government early this month created a ministry of decentralisation and development during a cabinet reshuffle. Decentralisation has been one of the key demands of separatist moderates, while more radical.

Biya today said this was a “rapid response to recurring demands” and added that “necessary measures” would be taken to ensure that peaceful and fair elections will be held this year.

The 85-year-old Biya, in power since 1982, has not yet said whether he will stand for re-election, though his party regards him as “the natural candidate”.

Source: www.busines-standard.com

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, on Thursday held his first cabinet meeting since 2015 and on the back of a recent reshuffle. The event took place at the Unity Palace (presidency) in the capital Yaounde.

According to a statement on the website of the presidency, Biya’s address to his appointees centered around security, decentralization, upcoming elections and the hosting of the African Cup of Nations among other issues.

Reuters reports that there was no explanation of why he had called the session and no other officials were permitted to speak about what went on in the conclave.

Portions of Biya’s address focusing on security said the government was winning the fight to secure the country’s Anglophone regions and the Far North – which is riled by incessant attacks from the Boko Haram group.

“Thanks to the firm action of our defence and security forces, we have been able to drastically curb the atrocities perpetrated by criminal groups in the Far North, North-West and South-West Regions.

“Efforts in that regard need to be continued, especially to ensure that economic and social activities return to normalcy,” he added.

The president had told his cabinet that “the best way to serve the country is to do everything, to make all the sacrifices that are needed,” the prime minister said.

“There are a lot of things to do,” Biya had added, singling out the Africa Cup of Nations annual soccer tournament that Cameroon is to host next year, and the presidential election in October this year.

Biya has ruled the Central African nation since taking over from a retired predecessor in 1982 and then winning an election by 99.98 percent a year later.

The meeting came as Cameroon faces a violent separatist movement in its western Anglophone region that a military crackdown has failed to quell. The rest of Cameroon speaks French. In an apparent attempt to smooth it over, Biya appointed two officials from the region to top positions earlier this month.

The economy has been sluggish because of low prices for its main exports oil and cocoa, and falling crude oil production. It was not by helped a shutdown in the economy of its restive Western region, which before the first crackdown in 2016 was becoming an unlikely hub for start-up tech firms.

Cameroon currently ranks 153rd on the U.N. Human Development Index, and average life expectancy is 56.

At the last council in October 2015, shortly after a sweeping reshuffle, Biya was similarly pre-occupied by sport, according to local press reports. He ordered ministers to “accelerate preparations for the important sports celebrations” that Cameroon was to host, namely the men’s African Cup of Nations match next year and women’s one that was held in 2016.

Outside of such meetings, Biya often meets his ministers at the airport between private trips abroad with his wife Chantal, famed locally for her luxurious dresses and bouffant hairdo. Their favourite destination is Switzerland.

Source: Reuters

A US Navy fighter jet crashed Wednesday off the coast of Key West, Florida, killing its two crew members.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet was on approach to land at the naval air station around 4:30 pm EDT, and crashed into the water about a mile east of the runway.

The pilot and weapons system officer ejected and were recovered, but US Naval Air Forces reported late Wednesday night that both had died.

Their names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The cause of the crash is also under investigation.

The aircraft crew is based out of Naval Air Station Oceana, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Super Hornet is a twin-engine fighter jet that is larger than the single-seat F/A-18 Hornet.

(Source: AP)

Private media outlets in Cameroon are defying a ban on political programs imposed by the country’s National Communication Council. The council had ordered the ban, insisting political debates may cause conflict ahead of senatorial elections on March 25.

National Communication Council president Peter Essoka says Cameroon needs to promote peace, democracy and human rights, and needs to avoid hate speech. He says journalists may incite the population with one-sided reporting.

“Propaganda is when you go into elaborately telling about one political party and what they have done and all kinds of shouting on what they are doing. That is propaganda. Now, there must be a limitation. Let them [journalists] as much as possible be able to keep to these principles,” said Essoka.

Public broadcaster CRTV and Cameroon Tribune have respected the NCC’s order. But the Cameroon journalists’ trade union president Denis Kwebo and other private media outlets described it as an attack on press freedom. Many radio and television stations have refused to respect the NCC instructions.

At Galaxy FM 93.5, a popular radio station in Cameroon’s capital city Yaounde, heated debates on the senatorial elections to take place on March 25 are going on in a French-language political program called “Au coeur de la Republique.”

Political analyst Jean Jacques Ola Bebe says the station has defied instructions from the NCC and is ready to face the consequences.

He says as an analyst, he can not accept that someone should restrain freedom of speech in a country that says it wants to be fully democratic. He says the pillar on which any true democracy should stand is freedom of expression and that Cameroonians need to listen to and question all candidates for the senatorial election on their political plans and ask the balance sheet of out going senators.

Cameroon has more than 500 newspapers and 100 radio and television stations. NCC secretary-general Jean Tobie Hond says the outlets who ignore the instructions will be punished.

He says they are calling on such media outlets to make sure there is some balance in what they are doing, so the campaign for senatorial elections remains democratic and goes on hitch free. He says if they continue to favor or give preference to some political parties, their media organs will be suspended.

Last year, Cameroon’s National Communication Council suspended 35 journalists and media outlets, accusing them of failing to respect professional norms and ethics. Some of those punished had criticized the government’s handling of the crisis in the English-speaking regions. Others criticized senior state functionaries over the use of public funds.

Source: VOA

The UK plans to expel 23 Russian diplomats after an alleged nerveagent attack on a Russian former double spy in southern England, the biggest single expulsion in over 30 years.

British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons in Parliament on Wednesday that Russia has expressed “disdain” for Britain’s wish for an explanation into the attempted murder of former double agent his daughter.

May announced a range of economic and diplomatic measures, including a decision to cancel all high-level bilateral contacts with Moscow. She also said no ministers or members of the royal family will attend the football World Cup in Russia.

The UK premier said that the Russian diplomats have a week to leave Britain.

“We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents,” May said.

Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, have been hospitalized since they were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in the city of Salisbury on Sunday.

Both Skripal and his daughter remain unconscious in a critical but stable condition.

British police attributed the critical illness of the two to a nerve agent that British media claim only governments could have possessed.

British media and politicians previously speculated that Russia might be behind the incident. Moscow has strongly denied the allegations and expressed its readiness to help with the investigation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly denied any involvement in the poisoning of the double spy in Britain. Peskov said the fact that the attack took place in England proves Russia had no role in the incident.

“The Russian citizen you mention… worked for one of Britain’s special services, the incident took place on British territory, and it is in no way an issue for Russia, let alone for the Russian leadership,” Peskov told journalists on Monday.

May said the expulsion of the 23 diplomats, identified as undeclared intelligence officers, was the biggest single expulsion for over 30 years and would degrade Russian intelligence capabilities in Britain for years to come.

Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Britain was “acting out political drama” rather than investigating the matter seriously.

“Russia could not have had any motives” for the attack, he said, “but those who would like to continue a Russophobic campaign in absolutely all areas of human activities” could have had such motives.

Source: Presstv

Nearly 100,000 people who fled Venezuela have claimed refugee status since the start of 2017, the UN said Tuesday, as it ramped up response plans for a displacement crisis likely to worsen.

The UN refugee agency said the number of Venezuelans who have sought asylum has shot up 2,000 percent since 2014, but the most dramatic increases have occurred over the last 14 months.

With the country’s economic and political crisis intensifying, UNHCR has drawn up a “regional response plan that covers eight (surrounding) countries”, spokesperson Aikatarina Kitidi said.

“In view of the situation in Venezuela, it is crucial that people are not deported or forcibly returned there,” she added.

Asked if the UN had received reports of deportations or forced returns, Kitidi did not answer directly, saying only the agency was calling for “solidarity” among nations in the region in responding to Venezuelans in need.

An influx of Venezuelans has reportedly stirred tensions in Brazil, notably in the city of Boa Vista which has received 40,000 people, raising its population by more than 10 percent.

Hundreds of Venezuelans there have been sleeping on the ground for months, while using restrooms in gas or bus stations.

UNHCR warned that an increasing number of Venezuelans, especially those living abroad without legal protection, are “vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, violence, sexual abuse, discrimination and xenophobia”.

The UN agency does not have a precise figure for those who have fled the crisis in Venezuela.

Regarding only those who have filed refugee claims, UNHCR said the figure stood at 145,000 since 2014 — but 94 percent of those claims have been recorded since the start of 2017.

(Source: AFP)

US President Donald Trump has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, announcing he will replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, White House officials said Tuesday.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Trump praised both Pompeo and Gina Haspel the deputy director at the CIA  who will succeed Pompeo at the CIA, becoming the first woman to run the spy agency, if confirmed.

“I am proud to nominate the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, to be our new Secretary of State,” Trump said.

“Mike graduated first in his class at West Point, served with distinction in the US Army, and graduated with Honors from Harvard Law School. He went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives with a proven record of working across the aisle.”

“Gina Haspel, the Deputy Director of the CIA, will be nominated to replace Director Pompeo and she will be the CIA’s first-ever female director, a historic milestone. Mike and Gina have worked together for more than a year, and have developed a great mutual respect,” the president continued.

Source: Presstv

Governor of Cameroon’s North West region has in a press statement issued a renewal of the curfew imposed in the region.

The decision to impose a curfew months back was to contain guerilla style attacks by separatist elements on members of the security force.

A March 12 statement from the governor’s office said the regional order restricted movement of persons and property as from (Sunday) the 11th of March 2018 from 09 PM to 5 AM within the region.

The previous order a week long one was imposed between March 4 and March 11, 2018. The South West region have imposed much lengthier curfew duration – opting for a month.

The two regions are at the heart of the Anglophone crisis, where English-minority population are seeking to break off from the French-majority Cameroon. Separatists elements operating under the so-called Ambazonia defense force have killed over twenty-four soldiers.

They have kidnapped one soldier and another government official in a new leg of their operations. One of the kidnapped persons, a delegate for Social Affairs in the NorthWest appeared in a recent video begging the government to intervene in securing his release.

Meanwhile, the United Nation’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, reports that the number of Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone crisis into Nigeria has crossed the 20,000 mark.

A UNHCR report dated March 8 said a total of 20,291 people had officially been registered and were now living in Nigeria’s Benue and Cross River States. They comprised people living in nine communities.

The UN body said it needed 18 million dollars to better cater for the refugees – a request it said was based on the contingency plan. As many as 6,800 plus refugees are in Obanliku, Boki (4,664), Kwande (3,501), Akampka (2,197), Etung (1,934) etc

Source: Africa New