International

Equatorial Guinea Govt officials who appeared in leaked s3xtapes with Baltasar Ebang Engonga suspended

Equatorial Guinea’s government has commenced a probe into hundreds of leaked sex tapes allegedly involving the country’s financial crime chief, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, having sex with various women, including wives of prominent officials in his office.

The government also announced that it was suspending officials involved in the scandal, according to a statement issued by the Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office, published on the government’s website.

Vice-President Teodoro Mangue on Tuesday said any official found engaging in sex acts at work would be sanctioned as this was a “flagrant violation of the code of conduct.”

The government said the recent decisions had been taken in the wake of the widely circulated videos which had “denigrated the image of the country.”

“Among the decisions taken are the suspension of employment of the officials who appear in the homemade adult videos circulating on the networks, severe measures for the members assigned to the surveillance of the inmates for not fulfilling their duties and allowing such acts, as well as the reinforcement of security in all judicial offices in the country; in addition to the installation of surveillance cameras in the judicial and ministerial offices,” the statement said.

“The Executive has made this decision in the wake of the sexual videos that have gone viral on social media in recent days, which have denigrated the image of the country.

“And in order to correct this bad behaviour of some officials of the public and judicial administration of Equatorial Guinea, the Vice President of the Republic, concerned about this situation, has urgently summoned the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Attorney General of the Republic, and several members of the government headed by the Prime Minister, to adopt strategies to stop this type of behaviour and thus propose preventive measures,” it added.

The Equatorial Guinea’s financial crime chief and head of the National Agency for Financial Investigation (ANIF), has since been arrested over the leaked sex tapes.

The tapes, allegedly numbering over 300, depict Ebang in encounters with multiple women, some of whom are reported to be married, including the wife of the Presidential security head and his own brother’s spouse.

The videos, reportedly recorded in various locations including his office, hotels, and public spaces were found during a corruption probe.

Ebang, who is married and has six children, had initially been detained for allegations of corruption, but the investigation uncovered these recordings on his personal devices, which were subsequently leaked online.

International

Trump reacts to Joe Biden’s pardon of son Hunter for tax, gun charges

US President-elect, Donald Trump had hinted at mass pardons for defendants tied to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot just hours after President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Sunday night.

Hunter Biden, 54, is now off the hook after he was scheduled to be sentenced on separate federal gun and tax evasion cases later this month.

The first son pleaded guilty in September to nine counts tied to evading from the government $1.4 million in taxes and was convicted of three federal gun charges in June for possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine.

Biden, 82, argued on Sunday his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” — and issued a sweeping pardon that covered any offenses committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024.

He previously claimed he would not take action to help his son, telling reporters at a press conference during the G7 summit in June: “I said I’d abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

In his Sunday night statement, Biden did an about-face, saying: “There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Reacting on Truth Social, Trump said;

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump reacts to Joe Biden

The 45th president, who won back the White House last month, floated pardons during his campaign for the more than 1,500 defendants either still facing trials or those already convicted for breaching the Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Biden’s 2020 election win over Trump.

Trump’s transition also sent out a statement that blasted the Justice Department while vowing to fix the federal agency. It made no mention of Biden or his son.

“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”

International

My son was selectively, unfairly prosecuted’ – President Biden pardons his son, Hunter

President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after he was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year.

The White House made the announcement on Sunday night.

Hunter, 54, had pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case in September.

He was also found guilty of making a false statement in a gun case.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”

Fox News reports that Biden pardoning his son marks a departure from his previous remarks to the media declaring he would not pardon the first son.

International

Russia says it needs migrants to fill labour shortage

Russia needs migrants in order to develop because of its dwindling domestic workforce, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Friday, Nov. 22.

“Migrants are a necessity,” he told state news agency RIA Novosti.

“We have a tense demographic situation. We live in the largest country in the world but there aren’t that many of us,” he said.

Earlier this week, Russia’s parliament approved legislation banning “child-free propaganda”, effectively outlawing any person or organisation from encouraging others not to have children.

It was a move designed to help remedy a demographic crisis inherited from the Soviet era and which has worsened since the conflict in Ukraine.

“We need a labour force in order to have dynamic development and carry out all our development projects,” Peskov said.

He said Russian authorities welcomed migration.

Anti-migrant rhetoric is common in Russia, especially towards labourers from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia who fill key sectors of the economy.

In July, the Kremlin acknowledged the low population was “disastrous for the future of the nation”.

The country’s population has not recovered since Soviet times despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government offering generous payouts and mortgage subsidies to large families.

Recent demographic problems include a low birth rate, large numbers of Covid deaths and hundreds of thousands of men fleeing the country to avoid being mobilised to fight in Ukraine.

In 2023, the fertility rate was 1.41 births per woman of child-bearing age, according to estimates from the national statistics office Rosstat, cited by news outlet RBC.

That is under the 2.0 rate needed to replace the existing population.

Rosstat figures show 920,200 babies were born in Russia between January and September this year, a 3.4 percent drop on the same period last year.

Russian media said that was the lowest number of births since the 1990s.