Monthly Archives: December 2016

UK: Queen too ill to attend Christmas Day services

25/12/2016

The UK’s Queen Elizabeth II has missed the Christmas Day church service due to poor health, a first in nearly three decades. The royal family attended the traditional service at the church of St. Mary Magdalene, near the royal estate, on Sunday morning.

However, hundreds of people who had gathered outside the church to catch a glimpse of the monarch were disappointed when they found out that she was not partaking in the event for the first time since 1988. “The Queen continues to recover from a heavy cold and will stay indoors to assist with her recovery,” the Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Sunday, adding that Elizabeth II would “participate in the royal family Christmas celebrations during the day.” The news came after the illness forced the 90-year-old queen and 95-year-old Prince Philip to cancel a train trip to their Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Thursday and fly there on a helicopter instead.

The two were slated to leave London to King’s Lynn by train on Wednesday but that trip was also called off because of the cold. Philip was able to attend the Sunday service in the company of other members of the royal family, including Prince Charles and his wife Camilla and Prince Edward and his family. It was announced on Tuesday that the queen would no longer be the patron of 25 national organizations before her 91st birthday.

The patronages will be passed to the other members of the royal family. Elizabeth II is currently a patron of more than 600 charities, according to the Palace. She became the longest reigning monarch in the world after the October death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Meanwhile, a petition criticizing the royal family’s extravagant use of public funds for personal purposes has reached nearly 145,000 signatures. The petition was posted online after the government of Prime Minister Theresa May authorized the royal family’s use of £369 million in taxpayers’ money to repair the Buckingham Palace. The royals own 350,000 acres of land across the UK and their taxpayer-funded income was raised this year to £45.6 million– a 47-percent boost in five years.

Presstv

UN Vote: Netanyahu slams Obama

25/12/2016

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned outgoing US President Barack Obama and said he is looking forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump after the US allowed the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution against illegal Israeli settlements.

Netanyahu made the comments on Saturday, a day after the Obama administration allowed the resolution to get adopted by refusing to veto it, breaking from a long-standing practice to shield Israel from UN condemnation.

“The Obama administration conducted a shameful anti-Israel ambush at the UN,” Netanyahu said. “We are entering a new era and as the President-elect Trump said yesterday, this is going to happen much quicker than people think.”

Netanyahu said the US abstention was “in complete contrast” to US commitments not to impose conditions on Israel at the Security Council. The UN resolution, while mostly symbolic, could further isolate Israel and hinder its negotiating position in future peace talks.

Tensions have intensified between the outgoing Obama administration and Israel after the UN resolution, which is likely the final bitter chapter in the years of antagonism between Obama and Netanyahu.

The decision to abstain from the council’s 14-0 vote is one of the biggest US rebukes of its long-standing ally in recent history. The Obama administration has grown increasingly frustrated with Israel’s illegal settlement construction, describing it as an obstacle to peace and a “two-state solution.”

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, raised her hand to abstain in the chamber when the resolution was put to a vote. After the vote, she said the US chose not to veto the resolution because settlement building has “no legal validity.”

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, reacted angrily to the vote and issued a sharp rebuke at the Obama administration’s role. “It was to be expected that Israel’s greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share and that they would have vetoed this disgraceful resolution,” he said.

The vote came a day after Trump personally intervened to keep the measure from coming up for a vote. Israeli officials said they were aware of such plans by the White House and had turned to Trump for support.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Tel Aviv has defied international calls to stop the settlements expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Presstv

Far North region: 2 killed, dozens injured in Mora suicide attack

25/12/2016

Two people have been killed and several seriously wounded following a suicide attack this Sunday morning in Mora. Cameroon Intelligence Report learnt that the attack was carried out by a suspected Boko Haram militant in Mora in the Mayo-Sava division in the Far North region.

The attack was staged by a bicycle kamikaze that exploded his load some few meters from the main market. The deflagration killed the Kamikaze and a young boy and caused several injuries. A security cordon has been put in place in the town.

By Sama Ernest

President Buhari says government troops have inflicted defeat on Boko Haram

25/12/2016

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says government troops have inflicted a heavy defeat on the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group by capturing the group’s last stronghold in the country’s northeast.

“I was told by the Chief of Army Staff that the camp fell at about 1:35 p.m. [local time] on Friday, December 23, and that the terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide,” Buhari said in a statement on Saturday, calling on the army to “maintain the tempo by pursuing them and bringing them to justice.”

Buhari added that the army troops managed to crush the remnants of Boko Haram at “Camp Zero”, located deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in the volatile Borno State, without mentioning the whereabouts of the group’s ringleader Abubakar Shekau.

According to the Nigerian president, Friday’s victory marked the “final crushing” of the Takfiri group. The triumph was achieved after the army gradually tightened the noose around terrorists in the forest through a months-long counter-terrorism military campaign that was intensified in the last few weeks, covering some 13,00 square kilometers of the forest in an attempt to curb the group’s atrocities against civilians and clear the area of its presence.

Boko Haram terrorists started their reign of terror in 2009 with the aim of toppling the Nigerian government. In their heyday in early 2015, they managed to control an area in the country’s northeast as vast as Belgium, but they lost most of that territory over the last year as the Nigerian government, along with troops from some affected neighboring countries such as Chad and Cameroon, launched a joint military campaign to eradicate the militant group.

During the past several months, Boko Haram, which was mainly pushed deep inside the lush forest, a former colonial game reserve, had resorted to carrying out sporadic raids against villages and bomb attacks against civilians in urban areas, killing hundreds of people.

The group, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has pledged allegiance to Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno. About 80 of the girls managed to escape afterward or were swapped for a number of Boko Harm prisoners, but the fate of the rest remains unknown. Boko Haram terrorists have so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Culled from Presstv

Russian military aircraft crashed leaving no survivors

25/12/2016

The Russian Defense Ministry says a military aircraft has crashed over the Black Sea, leaving no survivors. The Tu-154 airliner was carrying 91 people, including 83 passengers and eight crew members, according to the ministry. Reports earlier said the plane had gone off radar shortly after takeoff from an airport in Sochi on Sunday.

Local news agencies cited the Defense Ministry as saying later that the Tu-154 plane had crashed shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler, south of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, at 5:40 local time (0240 GMT). “Fragments of the Tu-154 plane of the Russian Defense Ministry were found 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of the city of Sochi at a depth of 50 to 70 meters,” the ministry said, adding that a rescue boat had also found a body, presumably one of the passengers of the plane, about six kilometers off the coast.

Military servicemen, journalists, and musicians had been on board. Search operations continue in the Black Sea. The ministry said it was conducting a routine flight to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia. Russia has been carrying out a bombardment campaign against militants in Syria on a request from Damascus. It has two airbases in Syria. Russia’s Investigative Committee said technical personnel responsible for preparing the plane for takeoff were being questioned to determine whether safety regulations had been violated.

Some reports said piloting error was also a possibility. Tu-154 aircraft, like the one in the Sunday incident, have been involved in accidents before. In April 2010, high-ranking Polish officials, including then-president Lech Kaczynski, were killed when a Tu-154 airliner crashed while approaching the Smolensk airport in western Russia.

Presstv

Yaounde: National Commission on Human Rights releases names of Anglophone detainees

25/12/2016

Cameroon state radio and television including many CPDM sponsored news outlets have reported that calm seems to have returned to Bamenda, Buea and Kumba. These three main Southern Cameroon cities were between the 28^th of November and the 15^th of December 2016, shaken by murderous riots.

However, the strike action orchestrated by teachers and lawyers, the starting point of the popular insurrection is still on. Tension seems to be mounting following the continue arrest and detention of British Southern Cameroonians in Francophone jails.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the so-called minister of communications and government spokesman announced on December the 10th that Anglophone protesters arrested would be prosecuted. But he did not revealed the list of people in the hands of the police and the army. The identity of these Southern Cameroon citizens has now been made public through an investigation of the National Commission on Human Rights.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the commission revealed the identities of Anglophones arrested as a sign of good faith in order facilitate the work of the adhoc committee created by the Prime Minister and Head of Government. The report indicated that many Anglophone citizens are now been detained in military facilities in Yaounde. The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms released a list which some sources say is not exhaustive as several families are still searching for their loved ones whose names do not appear in the list attached to this report.

By Rita Akana with files from CIN

Chantal Biya: The people’s First Lady who loves to defy protocol

24/12/2016

First Lady, Chantal BIYA, has distributed Christmas gifts to over 1,000 vulnerable and underprivileged children in Yaounde. This was during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at the Chantal BIYA Foundation (FCB) on Thursday 22 December 2016.

Nearly 100 beneficiaries stood at the main entrance of the foundation, and waved mini flags of the FCB upon the arrival of their benefactor, who was welcomed by Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, Mr Andre Mama Fouda. This was combined with uniform dance steps in the sweet melodies of a budding artist called Ben Martins.

Mrs. Chantal BIYA, Founding President of the FCB, proceeded with the distribution of the gifts. Sick children, orphans and selected pupils received two packages each from Mrs Chantal BIYA,. This was delivered in four phases. Pupils received their presents in two groups. They were placed at the main entrance of the FCB and at the esplanade of the newly constructed Centre for Paediatric Cardiac Surgery. Sick children in each ward and orphans of the Children First Centre equally benefitted from the foundation’s benevolence.

The donation was made simultaneously with a guided tour of the principal units of the FCB, coupled with musical interludes. Traditional dance groups; popular bikutsi artist, Amah Pierrot; the “Chorale Spirit Songs de Meyomessala” choir; and the “Voix du Cénacle” choir, animated at the event.

Mrs. Chantal BIYA chaired a closed-door meeting with the Minister of Public Health. She later took group photographs, with the staff of the FCB and some CERAC members, to close the event.

Culled from the Presidency of the Republic

Brexit: Britain to pay former EU workers over 62 billion dollars in pensions

24/12/2016

Britain could be forced to pay former EU workers over 62 billion dollars in pensions as soon as Prime Minister Theresa May begins the official two-year Brexit negotiation process. According to a report titled “Brexit: Six months on,” London could still be forced to pay the pensions of former workers of the European Union until 2030 despite Brexit.

The author of the, report Professor Iain Begg, from the LSE’s European Institute, has warned that contributions to the EU will be the most “toxic” issue during upcoming Brexit talks. “…the German Finance Minister has hinted that such payments could last until 2030, although beyond 2023 any lingering payments would be small, so his warning is exaggerated. These are transitional problems which will gradually fade, although the UK could remain liable indefinitely for a proportion of the pensions of former employees of EU institutions…,” Professor Begg noted.

He described the upcoming Brexit negotiation process as “fractious”, warning that issues such as migration, trade and single market are likely to become “high-profile politically. “All these issues will be part of the Article 50 negotiations. While the implications are relatively insignificant in macroeconomic terms – the question of who pays for a few billion of pension liabilities is trivial compared to broader issues relating to the single market, trade, the City and migration – there is obvious potential for these issues to become high-profile politically, further complicating an already difficult negotiation. Moreover, in 2018 the rest of the EU will start negotiations on its next seven-year budget deal, a process that invariably becomes very fractious,” Professor Begg underscored.

Back on June 23, Britons voted to leave the European Union by a slim majority. Over half of voters in the EU referendum (51.9%) chose to leave the European Union. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to trigger Article 50 by March 2017. Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon includes the provisions for countries that want to leave the European Union. It is unclear whether May can trigger Article 50 without permission from parliament. May insists she can pull Britain out of Europe without MPs’ consent – but campaigners say it is a decision for the whole of Parliament. The UK Supreme Court case is expected to issue a verdict on the case in January 2017.

Presstv

CPDM mayor remains defiant after publication of nude photo

24/12/2016

A CPDM mayor of Douala and a prominent acolyte of the regime has refused to resign after nude photo of him circulated on social media reportedly posted by his wife. The CPDM mayor of the Douala city council got caught and the photo has created a buzz on the internet.

The local representative had a long and successful session in a hotel with one of his many concubines when his wife stormed the room and took photos of him in Adam and Eve uniform.

Internet users are wondering about the publisher’s interest in releasing on the internet a picture of a man she calls her husband. Many have questioned if is a blackmail that went wrong or an attempt to undermine the image of the deputy mayor?

This phenomenon is increasing in Cameroon despite a new penal code voted into law that prescribes severe punishment on attacks on privacy using the social networks.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap

France set to deploy 100,000 soldiers during Christmas and New Year celebrations

24/12/2016

France is set to deploy nearly 100,000 soldiers and police officers across the country to beef up security in the face of possible terror threats during Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. “For the end-of-year festivities, and especially Christmas weekend, there will be more than 91,000 members of the security forces deployed including members of the national police, national gendarmes and soldiers, as part of Operation Sentinel,” French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said Friday.

He was referring to Operation Sentinel, which was launched by France’s army after the deadly attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in January of 2015 and the later Paris assaults. Dozens of people were killed in Paris in November 2015, while 86 more lost their lives in July 2016 when a truck rammed into a crowd in a southern resort in Nice.

The minister noted that the terrorist threat “is high” and France’s response “has never been stronger.” Speaking at a meeting with the security personnel at Gare de Lyon station in Paris, Le Roux said he wanted to visit the station as it “will see a huge rise in passengers today and tomorrow.” “I wanted to show the perfect coordination between the hundreds of personnel on duty including the police, soldiers and security staff with [French rail operator] SNCF and [Paris public transport operator] RATP.”

Le Roux underlined that the measure aims to boost security in general and not a direct response to the truck attack at Berlin’s Christmas market earlier this month. France remains on high alert since January last year. The European country has witnessed terrorist attacks, mostly claimed by Takfiri terrorists based in the Middle East, over the past year. Earlier this month, French lawmakers approved an extension of the country‘s state of emergency, which has been in place since November 2015.

Presstv

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Monthly Archives: December 2016