The United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of a 4,000-strong protection force to the conflict-hit South Sudan despite Juba’s strong opposition to the move. On Friday, the Security Council approved the US-drafted resolution with 11 votes in favor, while Russia, China, Egypt and Venezuela abstained, granting extended powers to the peacekeepers present in the African country and authorizing them to exert “all necessary means” to protect UN personnel and installations there.

There will be a total of 17,500 soldiers in South Sudan after the new deployment from a number of African nations. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has been under fire during the past few weeks both for its inability to fully protect civilians when UN sites came under attack in the capital Juba last month, and for allegedly failing to intervene in cases that government forces reportedly committed sexual assaults outside UN camps in the city.

South Sudan has witnessed a new wave of conflict since early July, when gunfire erupted near the state house in Juba, where President Salva Kiir and then Vice President Riek Machar were meeting. The gunfire turned into a much heavier fighting, which involved tanks and helicopters, between the two sides during the next several days. More than 300 people were killed in the clashes. The UN resolution also calls for an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the regional force.

Presstv

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is enjoying financial support from a growing list of American billionaires who oppose Republican nominee Donald Trump.

According to a recent report by Fox News, the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign has so far received more than $42.5 million in donations from a total of 24 billionaires.

So far, movie producers Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, financiers Warren Buffett and George Soros, and Walmart heiress Alice Walton have all made contributions to the former first lady’s campaign.

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey (pictured below) has also thrown her weight behind Clinton. Haim Saban is another media magnate that will support Clinton in the battle against Trump.

Billionaire environmentalist Thomas Steyer joined the list and endorsed Clinton in early June. Some of the multimillionaires have donated millions to a top Clinton superPAC named Priorities USA Action.Saban ($10 million), Soros ($7 million), hedge fund billionaire James Simons ($7 million), Hyatt Hotel heir J.B. Pritzker and his wife Mary Kathryn Pritzker ($6.5 million), Slim-Fast founder S. Daniel Abraham ($3 million), Hedge fund billionaire David Shaw ($2.25 million), investors Jon and Pat Stryker ($1.5 million each), Spielberg ($1 million), Legendary Entertainment founder and CEO Thomas Tull ($1 million), and the list goes on.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are some of the other major figures who are siding with Clinton.

In addition to the pro-Clinton billionaires, some of the Republican-leaning tycoons have announced that that they will not support Trump as the party nominee.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, for instance, has joined industrial power-brokers Charles and David Koch in withdrawing support from fellow GOP billionaire Trump.

Whitman has pushed the envelope even further by stating that she will endorse and help fund Clinton.

In addition to Priorities USA Action, million have been paid to other Clinton funds Hillary for America and Hillary Victory Fun. Pro-Clinton such as PACs American Bridge 21st Century, Priorities USA Action 2016 and Correct the Record have also received huge donations.

Presstv

US President Barack Obama has strongly endorsed Hillary Clinton as his successor, saying she is more qualified to be president of the United States than Bill Clinton or himself. The former secretary of state is a “leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American, the next president of the United States, Hillary Clinton,” Obama said in a speech at the packed Democratic National Convention center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesday night.

“That’s the Hillary I know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that’s why I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman — not me, not Bill, nobody — more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America,” he added. He said “nothing truly prepares you for the demands of the Oval Office, but Hillary’s been in the room.”

“I know Hillary won’t relent until ISIL is destroyed. She’ll finish the job – and she’ll do it without resorting to torture, or banning entire religions from entering our country. She is fit to be the next commander in chief,” he said, referring to the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

Obama went on to say that “we’re going to carry Hillary to victory this fall, because that’s what the moment demands.” “This year, in this election, I’m asking you to join me — to reject cynicism, reject fear, to summon what’s best in us, to elect Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States,” Obama said in his concluding remarks.

Earlier commenting on Clinton’s choice for vice president, Tim Kaine, Obama said, “He will be a great vice president. And he’ll make Hillary a better president, just like my dear friend and brother Joe Biden has made me a better president.”

Obama also denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying “America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump.”

“Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled,” he stated.

“Ronald Reagan called America a shining city on a hill,” Obama recalled. “Donald Trump calls it a divided crime scene that only he can fix.”

Presstv

US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “for fanning the flames of fear and hatred” to win the November election. Speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday night, the senator from Massachusetts made a spirited case for Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for the White House, and blasted Trump’s “hate-filled America.”

“That’s Donald Trump’s America,” said Warren. “An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender — the more factions the better.”

Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, accused Trump of using the strategy of “divide and conquer” in order to further his agenda. “Dr. Martin Luther King knew it,” she said. “After his march from Selma to Montgomery, he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided… Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top.”

She argued that when Americans turn on each other, they lose, and powerful people like Trump continue to have their way in Washington. “When we turn on each other, we can’t unite to fight back against a rigged system,” she said. “Well, I’ve got news for Donald Trump: The American people are not falling for it. … We’ve seen this ugliness before, and we are not going to be Donald Trump’s hate-filled America. Not now, not ever.”

Warren has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent critics and joined a group of Democrats demanding the businessman publicly release his tax returns, implying that he is lying about his true business value. On Monday night, she described Mr. Trump as “a man who cares only for himself every minute of every day.”

Presstv

US President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, says he is deeply disappointed in America’s current Democratic administration and will vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming election. “I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart,” Malik Obama told The New York Post in an interview from his home in the rural village of Kogelo, Kenya. “’Make America Great Again’ is a great slogan. I would like to meet him.”

Obama is reportedly still registered to vote in the US state of Maryland, where he once resided. The 58-year-old, who identifies himself as a longtime Democrat, said he has switched to “the party of [former US president Abraham] Lincoln” because of his “deep disappointment” in the Obama administration.

“Honestly, I’ll be happy when my brother is out of office, and I will finally be out of the limelight and be able to live like a human being,” Malik said. The administration’s handling of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s email fiasco was what severed him from the Democratic Party, Obama said.

“She should have known better as the custodian of classified information,” said Obama. FBI Director James Comey said earlier this month that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was “extremely careless” over her use of a private email server as secretary of state but would not face criminal charges.

Obama officially endorsed Clinton in early June, saying she is the most qualified for the top job. He had on several occasions hinted at backing Clinton’s White House bid, with his administration going so far as blocking the release of significant documents in her email case.

Malik also said he was annoyed by Obama and Clinton’s way of handling Libya’s former leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Obama has described Washington’s failure to control the situation in Libya after Gaddafi’s fall as his “worst mistake.” The Republican Party’s refusal to promote same-sex marriage was another reason that Malik Obama said “appeals” to him.

Presstv

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will win the November presidential election, according to American documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore. Moore made the prediction at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, during a special edition of HBO’s program “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

“I’m sorry to have to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win,” he declared to gasps and boos from the progressive live audience. “Boo if you want.” The 62-year-old liberal filmmaker said Trump would exploit angry white voters in his favor, and Americans are likely to support him like British citizens voted in June to leave the European Union — known as Brexit.

 “I live in Michigan. Let me tell you, it’s going to be the Brexit strategy,” Moore said. “The middle of England is Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he said. “And Mitt Romney lost by 64 electoral votes. The total number of electoral votes in those states in the Rust Belt: 64. All [Trump] has to do is win those four states.”

Earlier in the day, Moore told a press conference that Trump “knows how to manipulate a dumbed-down population.” “The population of schools has been wrecked, and the news media is just insipid and stupid and doesn’t give the people the facts about what’s going on,” he stated, adding that American voters are “easily manipulated.” He added that Trump is “not as stupid as he looks. You should take [him] very seriously.”

“He knows the manipulation that’s going on here, and the use of propaganda and the way he’s doing it is just brilliant in the way that he is succeeding and has succeeded,” he continued. A new poll shows that Trump is only trailing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, with one percentage point in the run-up to the November vote.

According to the NBC News/Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking poll released on Tuesday, the former secretary of state has 46 percent of the votes as compared to Trump’s 45 percent, down from last week’s version of the poll that showed Clinton on the lead by 3 percentage points.

Presstv

A Donald Trump campaign staffer has apologized after the US Republican presidential nominee’s wife was accused of using remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama in a speech broadcast live to millions of people.

Melania Trump’s Monday address to the Republican National Convention contained similarities to a 2008 convention speech by US President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle. In a written statement on Wednesday evening, Meredith McIver admitted she made a mistake by not checking Michelle Obama’s former speeches.

The statement said McIver offered to resign but the Republican presidential nominee had rejected the offer. McIver explained that she included the parts from Michelle Obama’s speech after listening to Melania read passages from the First Lady’s 2008 speech.

“Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech,” she said.

“I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” she stated.

Donald Trump did not accept McIver’s resignation, calling her error “an innocent mistake.” “She made a mistake … we all make mistakes,” Trump told ABC News. In tweets, Trump said he was proud of the fact that his wife’s address “got more attention than any in the history of politics.” Melania Trump had claimed she wrote her speech “with as little help as possible.”

Presstv

Christine Robichon, first ever female French ambassador to Cameroon has announced that her mission to Cameroon will come to a close in September 2016. She made the announcement at her residence in Yaoundé on the 14^th of July during the celebration of the French National Day.

Said Madam Christine Robichon, “This is the third time I am celebrating July 14 with you. This is also the last because my mission has eventually come to an end. This mission was exciting. I had the chance to rely on a great team, to be supported by the French community in Cameroon and its associations”.

She was appointed to Cameroon in 2016 and experienced a stay described by many political commentators as both calm and turbulent. Christine Robichon was booed during a public demo in Yaoundé against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Ambassador Robichon further stated that ” I arrived when the crisis in neighboring Central African Republic  and Boko Haram atrocities were along the Cameroon borders, when a false and negative campaign against France was developing in the country, I have had challenges. In the next two months, I will leave Cameroon with the satisfaction of a job well done, and I want to come back here as a traveler, friend, retired and free of any professional obligation.”

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News)

Michael Stephen Hoza, Ambassador of the United States of America to Cameroon tells Cameroon Tribune that the US is proud of the strong partnership it has with Cameroon. In this soul searching conversation, he also talks of areas of bilateral cooperation and preparations of US presidential election.

What are the key areas of current bilateral cooperation between Cameroon and the United States of America ?

Ambassador Stephen Hoza: The United States of America is proud of our strong partnership, particularly on the security front with Cameroon to defeat the violent extremism of Boko Haram, to provide peacekeepers to the United Nations and bring stability back to the suffering people of the Central African Republic and to defeat pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.

Our partnership extends into the health sector where we work closely with Cameroon’s health experts to fight infectious disease, to eradicate polio, to defeat HIV/AIDS, to build health sector capacity to prevent, detect and respond to virulent pandemics like Ebola or Avian Bird Flu, and to take on the scourge of malaria. We have sponsored people to people programs that have brought Fulbright scholars, International Visitors, and Young African Leaders to America, each of them representing a beautiful thread in the fabric of our bilateral relationship.

We have partnered with Cameroonians at all levels to sustain the engagement of Peace Corps Volunteers engaging their new families in a vibrant cultural exchange. We promote private sector investment in Cameroon, like Taylor Guitars and Crelicam, who bring world class technology, create jobs for Cameroonians, and responsibly harvest the riches of Cameroon’s wonderful forests. Crelicam supplies Cameroonian ebony to all of the finest guitar makers in the world, and Bob Taylor has partnered with the University of Yaounde and UCLA to begin a program that will plant more ebony than Crelicam cuts down!  That is American corporate social responsibility at its finest.

All eyes are now almost turned towards the various parties nomination conventions ahead of the November 8, 2016 presidential election in the United States of America. How is your general appraisal of the electoral process up to this moment?

Ambassador Stephen Hoza: This is an exciting time for Americans to exercise our voice through our vote.  When George Washington was elected as the first president in 1789, only 6 percent of the U.S. population could vote. In most of the original 13 states, only landowning men over the age of 21 had the right to vote.

Today, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that all U.S. citizens over the age of 18 can vote in federal, state and local elections. In November of this year, America will hold its 57th Presidential election.  Over 218 million American citizens, every man and woman aged 18 and up, will have the right to vote, and their vote will select the chief executive of our country-peacefully.  Winners will celebrate; losers will concede graciously and plan for the next election.

It is certain that after the presidential election, the US will have a new President to pilot the affairs of the country. How do you see the American position and rule in international affairs when the new leadership will be in power?

Ambassador Stephen Hoza: We can’t predict the results of the election or what the next President’s policies will be. However, we can say that the beauty of democratic systems are in their absolute commitment to respecting the will of the people in their choice of leaders, and the constitutional processes that ensure smooth transitions from one chief executive to the next.

On the day our new President is sworn in, this Embassy, the State Department, our military and our entire government will, as required by our constitution, immediately go to work on ensuring that his or her policies are faithfully executed in a manner consistent with our laws and regulations and that The Peoples’ business continues uninterrupted.

All federal employees pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States because it is that document that sets out our responsibilities to the office of the President and the people of the United States, and it is the values embodied by the constitution that carry over from one administration to the next, regardless of specific political programs and policies presidents are elected to enact.

And those values will continue to underpin our actions and activities now and in the future. As always, we are not focused on our position and power, but on our partnerships and their potential to promote stability and better lives for all.  We are focusing on what we’re doing right now, both in Cameroon, and around the world, and our commitment to engagement in so many regions is not going to stop.

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has chosen Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his vice presidential running mate. “I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate,” Trump tweeted on Friday. Trump said he would make a formal announcement about his VP pick at a news conference on Saturday. Pence, 57, was elected as the governor of the state of Indiana in 2012. Before his current job, he spent 12 years in Washington in the US House of Representatives at the Congress. Pence’s popularity with many Republicans and religious conservatives makes him a target of Democratic opponents.

After the announcement, presumptive US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a warning about Pence, saying he favors policies that hurt minorities and favor the wealthy and powerful — people like Trump. “By picking Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump has doubled down on some of his most disturbing beliefs by choosing an incredibly divisive and unpopular running mate,” said John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman. Pence’s legislative experience in Congress as well as his position as governor of a Midwestern state could give Trump advantages in November’s presidential election.

The vast majority of Americans say they feel afraid if either Trump or Clinton is elected to the White House, a new poll shows. The Associated Press-GfK poll released Thursday found that 81 percent of US voters were worried by the idea of a Clinton or Trump presidency. On Wednesday, a poll by the Quinnipiac University showed that Trump has also overtaken Clinton in three swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

Presstv