Telecommunications, logistics and civil engineering experts from the United Nations Navy in conjunction with African Union, Cameroons Ministry of Defense and the Civil Aviation Authority have ended an evaluation mission in Douala to set up a continental logistics base for the African Union Standby Force (ASF). After visiting the sites of the potential continental logistics base including the Douala port terminal, the Military Engineering as well as the Air Force bases, the delegation leader of the 22-man US Navy, Colonel Leslie Maher disclosed the sites are conducive.

“The sites have adequate space, major roadways and have proven that they will be very conducive to communication,” she poised. Since some reasonable installations are visible in all the sites, it will be advantageous for African Union to setup the continental logistics base that will serve Cameroon and other member countries in times of crisis.

The just ended five-day evaluation mission saw the signing of the technical assessment report by the US Navy Delegation Head, the African Union Representative, Civil Aviation Authority and the Cameroon Defense Ministry represented by the Governor of Littoral. The report according to Colonel Leslie Maher will be transmitted to the African Union for approval. Before the report signing, Littoral’s Governor, Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua, prayed the forwarded report be favorable, saluted the evaluation mission and noted that the imminent logistic base will be a relief to member countries facing security challenges.

Cameroon Tribune

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receives first intelligence briefing as the Democratic presidential nominee in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The former first lady went to an FBI field office near her home in Chappaqua, New York, on Saturday to meet with a handful of officials from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The briefing came more than a week after her rival, GOP nominee Donald Trump, attended a similar meeting along with his close allies, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie and retired Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn. Unlike the real estate mogul, Clinton attended the meeting on her own ahead of a trip to the Hamptons for multiple planned fundraisers. The briefings are supposed to lay out the US intelligence community’s outlook towards the security without letting out any secrets about operations or sources.

The top two candidates running for president have been getting the briefings ahead of the elections since 1952 when former President Harry Truman began the tradition. Both the candidates’ critics have argued that their rival should not be allowed to have access to the information provided during the briefings.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama issued a warning, saying, “If they want to be president, they have got to start acting like (a) president,” he said in a clear reference to unpredictable Trump, who received his briefing at an FBI field office in Manhattan on August 17. “”That means being able to receive these briefings and not spreading them around.”

Earlier this year, US House Speaker Paul Ryan also asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to ban Clinton from a security briefing “for the duration of her candidacy for president.”

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An African American man has been shot by US police in the state of Indiana, where he remains hospitalized to fight for his life. The 48-year-old man identified as Carl Williams was shot by a senior cop, identified as Christopher Mills, who was called to his home in Indianapolis to deal with a reported car-jacking case. The police officer, who is said to have nine years of experience, opened fire on the man as he allegedly, mistook him for the assailant.

According to the dispatching team of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), Williams called 911, reporting that his wife was assaulted by a “black male in a red shirt armed with a rifle” who had demanded their car keys before stealing their black Nissan Sentra. After Mills and his colleague arrived at the spot, they found a black car with its headlights on in the front drive. As one was checking the number plate, Williams opened the garage door upon which he was shot in the abdomen by Mills.

“First and foremost this is a tragic incident, involving a homeowner attempting to protect his family and the IMPD officers trying to do the same thing,” said assistant chief Randal Taylor. “And of course our thoughts and prayers are certainly with the homeowner and the family, who was mistakenly shot by our officer and we wish him a quick recovery.” Meanwhile the true assailant was “still at large,” according to police.

“They made observations based on information known at that time. The time of day, the early morning hours and low level lighting caused vision to be limited,” Taylor said. “The officer involved was a nine-year veteran of the east district late shift. Again this was tragic and unforeseen. I don’t know of any officer who goes out wanting to get into a shootout with anyone, but especially not as in this case a homeowner.”

The use of unnecessary force by police against African Americans in cities from Ferguson to Baltimore and New York has sparked nationwide protests in the past two years, giving birth to the Black Lives Matter movement.

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The United States has deployed attack helicopters to Libya to help local forces fighting against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, a US military official says.

The Pentagon has already deployed fighter jets as well as Special Operations troops to the North African country to purportedly assist forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) to retake the coastal city of Sirte.

Marine Corps AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters recently joined the operation, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), said on Tuesday.

“The Cobras provide additional precision airstrike capability,” Stuttgart-based Falvo told AFP in a phone interview. “It gives us a little bit more flexibility.”

SuperCobra gunships are stationed on the USS Wasp, the US Navy’s multipurpose amphibious assault ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Hundreds of activists with the Black Lives Matter movement have taken into the streets of New York City to protest a surge in racist attacks and police violence against African-Americans.

The protesters marched to the downtown area of Westhampton Beach on Sunday, carrying posters that had messages of unity and peace written on them.

Outraged by the recent shooting deaths of unarmed black individuals at the hands of white police officers, the activists demanded justice and urged government officials to help end discrimination against racial minorities.

They also asked the rest of Americans to break their silence on the issue and push for a fair society. The use of excessive force by law enforcement has become the focus of national debate in America, particularly over high-profile killings of African-Americans by mainly white officers during the last several years.

Last year, US police killed over 1,150 people in 2015, with the largest police departments disproportionately killing at least 321 African-Americans.

Racist attacks against minorities in the US have also skyrocketed after a heated primary race for the White House, where nearly all candidates pledged stricter law enforcement against minorities, a policy that gave rise to white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klax Klan.

Supporters of the KKK group had threatened to violently crash Sunday’s rally, which was closely monitored by a relatively large number of police officers.

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The Turkish prime minister says more than 81,000 people have been dismissed or suspended from work over suspected links to US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the failed mid-July coup.

Binali Yildirim told reporters at Cankaya Palace in the capital, Ankara, on Saturday that a total of 76,597 people have been suspended and another 4,897 dismissed so far in the government’s post-coup crackdown. He said over 3,000 military personnel, judges and civil servants are among those sacked, adding that Turkish authorities are trying to separate those directly involved in the putsch from those caught up in the mayhem “by chance.”

“We have difficulties in detection,” he said. “What will we do? We have set certain criteria. I think we need to distinguish between the ones who were involved in this organization voluntarily and intentionally and the ones who had some connections with them by chance.”

The Turkish prime minister also criticized Western media outlets for “siding with coup plotters and offering them suggestions.” “Instead of saying ‘Turkey defeated the coup plotters and democracy won,’ they said ‘They [coup plotters] would have been successful if they hadn’t done this and that,’ discussing the mistakes of those behind the coup,” Yildirim said. Yildirim further stressed that Ankara will not compromise on its demands concerning Gulen’s extradition, stating that there is no solution but to put him on trial.

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Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has lambasted US President Barack Obama for failing to apologize to Japan during his visit to the East Asian country in May over the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Speaking at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in May, Obama offered no apology for the US bombings of the two Japanese cities but called for a world without nuclear weapons.

Prior to his visit to Japan, the US president said he would not apologize to Japan for the world’s first nuclear bombing that killed more than 140,000 people in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

“The US president’s speech in Japan lacked the words to apologize for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima, even though they (the United States) knew the effects of the bomb,” Castro said in an article published by official media late Friday.

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US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that the only way he could lose the state of Pennsylvania is that if his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton “cheated.” Speaking at a rally in the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Friday, Trump said the Republican leaders in the state “are very concerned” about the possibility of cheating in the election.

“We’re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times,” he said. “The only way we can lose, in my opinion — I really mean this, Pennsylvania — is if cheating goes on.”

Trump said GOP officials are considering calling up law enforcement to watch the election, including “the sheriffs and the police chiefs.” He claimed that he “knows the state very well” and knows Clinton “can’t beat what’s happening here.” “The only way they can beat it, in my opinion — and I mean this 100 percent — if in certain sections of the state, they cheat,” he added.

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British Special Forces have been pictured on the front line in Syria, the first photographic evidence of UK troops operating in the war-ravaged country.

The images, obtained by the BBC, show British special forces on the ground in Syria riding open-air Thalab patrol vehicles which are designed for harsh terrain.

Small numbers of UK troops have been operating in Syria in an array of capacities including surveillance, advisory and combat.

The BBC reported that the images, taken in June, appear to show British troops defending a militant base on the Syria-Iraq border which was under attack by Daesh terrorists.

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