The United Nations says the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists are hindering relief operations meant for tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees living in dire conditions in northern Cameroon. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that one of its teams had earlier this month been able to visit previously inaccessible border areas of Cameroon’s Far North Region. Leo Dobbs, a UN spokesman, said the team had managed to help pre-register more than 21,000 refugees who had fled acts of terror by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria in a span of two years and had been living for months with mainly impoverished host families.

“It was the first time we have been able to visit these people and there are believed to be many more,” he said. Dobbs said the refugees in northern Cameroon “urgently need assistance.” UN figures show about 27,000 refugees are living outside of camps in areas such as Fotokol, Makary and Mogode districts in the Far North Region. Dobbs said the UNHCR “would like to help and have helped in a little way, but the continuing Boko Haram threat is a hindrance to regular access.”

The UN official said that while some of the refugees in northern Cameroon were staying with poor host families, most were sleeping outdoors in the open, in makeshift shelters or on dirt floors in classrooms. “Others were in abandoned villages whose residents had fled Boko Haram attacks earlier,” he said. The UNHCR is encouraging people to relocate to Minawao camp further from the border, which is home to nearly 60,000 refugees, Dobbs said.

Cameroon has been fighting Boko Haram since 2014. A joint regional force from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon has helped retake swathes of territory from the militants, who come from northeastern Nigeria. However, the terrorist group still poses a security threat to civilians in the four littoral countries surrounding Lake Chad.

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Turkey claims a Syrian airstrike killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 10 others overnight, raising the ante in its military invasion of the Arab country.   A military statement on Thursday said the attack occurred at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) in the course of a Turkish operation in northern Syria.

It is the first time Turkey accuses Syrian government forces of killing its soldiers since Ankara launched its incursion, dubbed Euphrates Shield, into the Syrian territory on Aug. 24.

In its invasion of Syria, the Turkish military is supporting militants, including the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), and Takfiri terrorists who are fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Hundreds of Turkish troops are taking part in the operation, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week was pushing forward with its aim of capturing the Syrian city of al-Bab.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has hailed Russia’s stance on the crisis in the Arab country, saying Moscow’s support for Damascus in different fields has helped alleviate the suffering of the nation. Assad made the remarks in a meeting with a Russian delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in Damascus on Tuesday.

Regarding global matters and the ongoing conflict in Syria, Russia has adopted policies based on commitment to the international law and respect for the sovereignty of states, consolidating its position as a great power, the Syrian leader said. Russia’s backing for Syria in various fields has tangibly contributed to soothe the suffering of the Syrian people caused by to the foreign-sponsored war on their country and economic sanctions in place for years.

Rogozin, for his part, emphasized that Moscow’s military, economic and political support for the Syrian government and people is aimed at boosting their resilience against terrorism that has affected not only Syria, but elsewhere across the world. The two sides further discussed historical bilateral relations between the two nations as well as cooperation in the fields of fighting terrorism, economy and trade.  They also agreed to bolster ties in the economic, commercial, oil, investment, gas and transport sectors.

Syria has been hit by deadly militancy it blames on some Western countries and their regional allies since March 2011. Russia has been conducting an aerial campaign against Daesh and other terror outfits in the Middle Eastern country at the Damascus government’s request since last September.

Separately on Tuesday, Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis sat down with Rogozin and his accompanying delegation. During the meeting, Khamis appreciated the support of Russian nation and leadership for the Syrians, while expressing his country’s interest in developing economic relations with Moscow and stressing that Syria will spare no efforts to remove obstacles that hinder bilateral ties.

Rogozin, for his part, referred to the Russia’s anti-terror camping in Syria, saying, “The success of the military operation in Syria will not be completed without supporting the economic life of the citizens in order to continue the work and achieve victory.”

Additionally, the Syrian-Russian Joint Committee, co-chaired by Rogozin and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, held a session on bilateral economic relations. Muallem hailed the role of Russia in empowering his country to counter terrorism, noting that the repercussions of the war were the main cause of the Syrians’ need for economic support. Elsewhere in his comments, the top Syrian diplomat said that Damascus will give priority to its friends, including the Russian companies, in reconstruction projects.

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US President Barack Obama has held a brief meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to talk about the situation in Syria and Ukraine.

Sunday’s short talk on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, was the first one the two world leaders had since Donald Trump won the US presidency and believed to be the last one to be held in person.

The US president called on Russia to be committed to the Minsk deal, aimed at controlling the crisis in eastern Ukraine, while stressing the need for continuation of talks on Syria, according to the White House.

“The president urged President Putin to uphold Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements, underscoring the US and our partners’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty,” AFP quoted a White House official as saying.

Obama also “noted the need for Secretary (John) Kerry and Foreign Minister (Sergei) Lavrov to continue pursuing initiatives, together with the broader international community, to diminish the violence and alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.”

The four-minute meeting was held during Obama’s last foreign trip as the president. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election held on November 8, Trump, the GOP nominee, called for a “very, very good relationship” with Putin, saying he is a better leader than Obama.

As Obama prepares to leave the White House, ties between Moscow and Washington remain at the lowest point since the Cold War, most notably over the situation in Syria and Ukraine.

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US President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to pay $25 million in order to settle the lawsuit against Trump University, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman made the announcement Friday, saying that the settlement amounted to “a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university.”

The settlement includes all the three lawsuits filed against the university. Trial for one of the cases was slated to begin on November 28. The money would be split among the suing students. According to Schneiderman, Trump would also pay an extra $1 million in penalties to the state of New York.

The university, which operated between 2004 and 2010, has been accused of being a sham aimed at ripping off students, who claim they were tricked into believing that the New York businessman would handpick the instructors. Apparently, the students were initially lured through free seminars, where the instructors steered them into higher cost ones.

Later on Friday, Trump’s office confirmed the announcement, saying that Trump agreed to settle the case in order to focus on his presidency. “We are pleased to announce the complete resolution of all litigation involving Trump University,” the Trump organization said. “While we have no doubt that Trump University would have prevailed at trial based on the merits of this case, resolution of these matters allows President-Elect Trump to devote his full attention to the important issues facing our great nation.”

During the presidential campaign, Trump had accused the federal judge overseeing the case of being hostile to him. “I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He is Hispanic, which is fine. And we haven’t asked for recusal, which we may do,” He said in May. “But we have a judge who is very hostile. Should’ve been thrown out. Wasn’t thrown out.”

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The remains of the former Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and President of the Cameroon Red Cross (CRC) will leave the Yaoundé General Hospital mortuary on the 24^th of November 2016 for its final resting place.

According to a program published by the Cameroon Red Cross, the late William Aurélien Eteki Mboumoua, will embark on his last journey from Yaoundé to Douala on 24 November, where he will be buried on Saturday the 26th of November at the Bois de Singes cemetery. A ceremony will be held at the Yaoundé General Hospital in the presence of numerous political figures, members of the government, the great family of the International Committee of the Red Cross including administrative, traditional and religious authorities.

William Aurélien Eteki Mboumoua had a meteoric rise in the Cameroon political system. He was Minister of National Education, Minister of Youth and Sports, Minister of Culture, Chancellor of the University of Yaoundé, Special Advisor to the President of the Republic, Minister of Missions at the Presidency of the Republic, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Member of the Executive Council and Vice-President of UNESCO, Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Member of the Advisory Committee of the United Nations for Disarmament Studies and National President of Cameroon Red Cross.

Born at the Bonadibong neighborhood in Douala, Aurélien Eteki Mboumoua died on Wednesday the 26^th of October at the age of 83.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Several Turkish soldiers at NATO’s central command in Ramstein has sought asylum in Germany in the wake of Turkey’s widespread crackdown against military personnel, journalists and political activists. According to a German official, quoted by the dpa news agency, family members of the soldiers stationed at the airbase insouthwestern Germany have also applied for asylum.

Paul Junker, a regional official in nearby Kaiserslautern, said the asylum requests had come from “more than one family,” but declined to say how many individuals were involved. German Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said last month that 35 Turkish diplomatic passport holders had formally applied for asylum in Germany. The actual figure of the asylum seekers, he said, could be higher.

Relations between Turkey and Germany have strained following the July 15 botched coup, which Ankara claims to have been organized by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier often clashed with Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara this week, reflecting tough times in their relations.

After 11 years of negotiations, Turkey’s prospects of joining the EU look more remote than ever, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu telling Steinmeier on Tuesday that Turkey was “fed up” with the European Union.  “We are truly fed up of these statements degrading Turkey. The criteria are clear but there are double standards and a two-faced approach. This is what we don’t like,” Cavusoglu told a joint news conference. Over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 others injured in the coup attempt, which Gulen has strongly condemned and denied any involvement in.

Tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, judges and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown. International rights groups argue that Ankara’s crackdown has gone far beyond the so-called Gulenists and targeted Kurds as well as government critics.

Turkey detains, suspends mayors over PKK links

On Thursday, Turkish officials arrested and suspected three mayors in the Kurdish-majority southeastern part of the country over alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.

Unnamed security sources said police detained the mayor of Van city, Bekir Kaya, and four other municipal officials early Thursday.

The sources said the mayors of Mardin and Siirt citties, identified as Ahmet Turk and Tuncer Bakirhan respectively, had also been discharged and replaced with administrators appointed by the Interior Ministry. Earlier this month, 13 legislators from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested after being accused of links to Kurdish militants.

Party leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ remain in custody along with eight others, waiting to stand trial on terrorism-related charges. A shaky ceasefire between the PKK, which has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Ever since, attacks on Turkish security forces have soared.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country’s troubled southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Syria.

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Russia has decided to withdraw its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the tribunal has failed to live up to the hopes of the international community. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it would pull out from the ICC following a decree by President Vladimir Putin, who decided for Moscow not to be “a participant in the ICC statute.”

The statement said the main reason for the withdrawal was the ICC’s way of treating Russia’s brief war with neighboring Georgia in 2008, adding that the international tribunal had ignored Georgia’s aggression against pro-Moscow civilians in the separatist region of South Ossetia. “In these conditions one cannot speak of trust in the International Criminal Court,” the ministry said, calling the ICC’s work as “one-sided and inefficient.”

The statement also slammed the ICC’s lack of independence in dealing with war cases, saying “The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it.” Russia has yet to ratify the Rome Statute that set up the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes court. The government has only been a signatory to the treaty since 2000.

The decision by Moscow to pull out from the ICC could further complicate the situation surrounding the court as several African members, such as South Africa and Burundi, have already decided to withdraw from the tribunal, saying it is biased and lacks justice. Gambia has also notified the United Nations that it would leave the ICC next week.

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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.

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