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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

Philemon Yang’s Francophone dominated adhoc committee to begin negotiations on Tuesday

24/12/2016

The Inter-ministerial adhoc committee set up to review and propose solutions to the problems plaguing the Anglophone system of education will begin work on Tuesday 27th December 2016 in Bamenda, the North West Regional capital.

According to a government communiqué released on Wednesday 21st December 2016 by Prime Minister Philemon Yang, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is expecting all members of the commission to display a sense of responsibility and patriotism.

The communiqué also stated that issues related to the improvement and functioning of schools and universities of the Anglophone regions will be discussed during the meeting. The adhoc committee that will be answerable to the PM, Head of Government is chaired by the Minister, Director of Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s Office, Professor Paul Ghogomu Mingho.

The commission however is dominated by Francophones who have constantly treated Anglophone leaders with contempt. The members include: the Minister of Higher Education, Minister of Secondary Education, Minister of Basic Education, coordinators and technical secretariat office.

Professor Jean Emmanuel Pondi: The son of a traitor, who grew in a tradition of betrayal, can only be a traitor

24/12/2016

Professor Jean Emmanuel Pondi, has recently been disparaging the Southern Cameroons quest for Independence with analogies that leave much to be desired. Using counterfactual arguments, Professor Pondi misrepresents the aspirations of Southern Cameroonians, and fails to acknowledge the incontrovertible fact that all English speaking countries in Africa are more democratic and more prosperous than those under the French neo-colonial yolk.

Jean Emmanuel Pondi, is the son of Ahidjo’s executioner and betrayer of the Bassa nationalist, Ruben Um Nyobe. With a father, whose job was to spy on the nationalist leader of the Cameroonian people, ending up in his assassination, by the French, Jean Emmanuel Pondi, is the fruit that does not fall far from the tree.

Professor Pondi’s father is the architect of the betrayal of the UPC nationalist movement, for which he was rewarded with numerous diplomatic appointments that took him to Congo, London and the United States, where Jean Emmanuel had the privilege of earning a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jean Emmanel Pondi, has been trained to walk in the shoes of his father. He is an ambitious Francophile whose advantage is that he is fluent in English and a connoisseur of American international relations.

Jean Emmanuel Pondi, would be the last person to put his knowledge at the service of truth. He is the quintessential careerist who uses his knowledge at the service of falsehood as his father did. After all, that is how he ended up in Washington to acquire the education that his cousins born in Ngog Mapoubi did not have the opportunity to acquire.

The son of a traitor, who grew in a tradition of betrayal, can only be a traitor.

NB Even his wife was gotten for him by has late father

South West lawyers to take legal action against the DO of Buea

23/12/2016

Lawyers in the South West region whose Wigs and gowns were seized by security forces last November during a peaceful protest in Buea have vowed to take court action against the Divisional Officer of Buea, KUOAM Wokam Paul and the police who brutalized the lawyers, seized their wigs and arrested some.

Responding to a letter earlier written in December 2,2016 by t he DO for Buea to the Lawyers through the Attorney General for South West, demanding them to come to the office to collect their wigs and gowns, Barrister Ebah Ntoko write sthat by affirming that the wigs were in the possession of the DIO was an indication that he ,Wokam Paul took poart in what he described as “prime suspect in the gruesome crimes committed on lawyers and other citizens in Buea”.

The lawyers have accused the DO and ‘His Anti Riot’ Police of carrying out crimes of torture, assault, deprivation of property rights, violation of the Chambers of lawyers, rape and other issues. The lawyers maintained that one of the principal evidence that will be used against the DO and his anti riot Police will be the wigs and gowns.

The Common Law Lawyers who are still on strike say the issue of wigs and gowns is not at stake now but that once investigations into brutal beatings on lawyers must have been completed, they will each collect their belongings. The sole condition now is the bringing to book the culprits who treated lawyers like second class citizens.

Culled from Cameroun Info.net

Convicted IMF Managing Director in Yaounde for CEMAC emergency forum

23/12/2016

The Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde convicted recently by a French court for negligence is in Cameroon for the December 23rd emergency meeting of heads of state of the CEMAC countries. President Biya received Mrs Lagarde for nearly one hour before the start of the meeting and explained in his opening remarks that he had considered it useful to invite the IMF boss.

Christine Lagarde is expected to make valuable contributions and provide useful insights into the IMF’s perception of the economic problems of the Sub region. Several African countries have recently sought support from the IMF. Benin is currently under discussion for a precautionary facility, Côte d’Ivoire, despite its strong growth has reached an agreement with the institution to contain the exogenous shocks, Egypt got $ 12 billion and Mozambique has reportedly reopened discussions with the international financial establishment.

However, the IMF direction does not seem to be popular in the opinion of all the leaders of the Sub Saharan region. The CEMAC heads of state are more favorable to the implementation of an endogenous strategy within the framework of the Program of the economic, monetary and financial reforms.

By Sonne Peter

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