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11, January 2020

Iran admits it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian passenger plane ⁰

Iran said on Saturday it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane killing 176 people on board due to human error, after initially denying it brought down the plane in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Wednesday’s crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States and tit-for-tat military strikes. Washington killed an Iranian general last week in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at U.S. targets.

The United States and Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, had blamed an Iranian action for bringing down the aircraft. Ottawa had told Iran that “the world is watching.”

On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the armed forces investigation showed the downing of the Boeing 737-800 was the result of “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism (that) led to disaster.”

An Iranian military statement, announcing that a missile had struck the plane and expressing condolences to the victims, said the plane had flown close to a sensitive military site belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

It said responsible parties would be referred to a judicial department within the military and held accountable.

Mobile phone footage posted and circulated by ordinary Iranians on Twitter after the crash has indicated that it came down in a ball of flames.

Iran had said on Thursday it would download the information from voice and flight data recorders, known as black boxes, to determine what had happened, although it had said that the process could take one to two months.

Tehran said it could ask Russia, Canada, France or Ukraine for help in an effort that it said could take one or two years.

Many of the victims were Iranian with dual nationality.

Iran initially dismissed the accusations that a missile was to blame for the crash, calling such suggestions “psychological warfare”.

Grief-stricken Iranians and others have posted images related to the crash. One showed a child’s red shoe in the dirt. Another was a selfie of a mother and daughter in their seats, sent to a loved one just before takeoff.

“Why were any civilian airlines flying out of Tehran airport in those conditions?” a user named Shiva Balaghi wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine had been looking at various possible causes of the crash, including an attack by a Russian-made missile, a collision, an engine explosion or terrorism.

(REUTERS)

11, January 2020

US lawmakers reject Trump’s new claim that Soleimani targeted 4 US embassies in region ⁰

Several US lawmakers and officials have dismissed President Donald Trump’s new claim the US assassinated Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani because he was planning an attack on four American embassies in the region, including the one in Iraq.

In an interview on Friday with Fox News, Trump said Iran probably had targeted the US embassy in Baghdad and was aiming to attack four US embassies when it killed Soleimani.

“We will tell you probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump claimed. “I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies.”

But two unnamed senior officials, including one in the Defense Department, told The Washington Post that they were aware only of vague intelligence about a plot against the embassy in Baghdad.

Neither official mentioned any threats against other embassies in the region.

A source told the Post that the US embassy in Baghdad was never given a warning “commensurate” with the kind of threat described by Trump, which would have been standard procedure.

US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said nothing about planned attacks on four embassies was revealed to Congress and essentially accused Trump of making up the planned attacks.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called the killing “provocative and disproportionate,” and other members of Congress said they were unconvinced after a closed-door intelligence briefing provided by administration officials.

“President Trump recklessly assassinated Qasem Soleimani,” said US Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state.

“He had no evidence of an imminent threat or attack,” she said.

“Let’s be clear — if there was evidence of imminent attacks on four embassies, the Administration would have said so at our Wednesday briefing,” he tweeted. “They didn’t. So either Fox News gets higher level briefings than Congress … or … wait for it… there was no such imminent threat.”

The Trump administration had earlier claimed it carried out the assassination to avert an “imminent attack,” which has also been met with suspicion and skepticism in the US.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad’s international airport last Friday, assassinating Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

A USA Today/Ipsos poll released Thursday found that Americans, by 55%-24%, said they believe the killing of General Soleimani has made the United States less safe, rejecting a fundamental argument the Trump administration has made that the assassination made the US safer.

Source: Presstv

10, January 2020

Queen Elizabeth demands swift response to ‘Megxit’ ⁰

Queen Elizabeth II has ordered royal courtiers to define a future role for Prince Harry and Meghan within days, following their unexpected decision to distance themselves from the royal family.

First Brexit, now Megxit.

Sources say Queen Elizabeth II has called on aides to rapidly define the new roles of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The reports come as Britain is still reeling from the couple’s announcement that they are stepping down from full-time royal duties.

Fans of the monarchy greeted the move with dismay.

“Very strange behaviour,” royals superfan John Loughery told Reuters. “And I think she is wearing the trousers, and I feel sorry for Harry. We want the golden boy back. And I think it will end up in tears.”

Many are sceptical at how the couple could stay on as part-time royals – and are upset by claims that the rest of the royal family was blindsided by the announcement.

“They’re a law unto themselves. They are just putting out statements, here, there and everywhere without consulting anybody,” said another fan.

On their new website, the Sussexes announced they will no longer take part in the Royal Rota system, which sends updates to British papers. Tabloids in particular have been heavily critical of the couple, leading Prince Harry and Meghan to speak publicly about the toll of the intense media pressure that comes with being senior royals.

From now on, they will be providing direct access only “to credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting”, and prioritising communication with “grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists”.

You might call it their own way of taking back control.

Culled from France 24

10, January 2020

Internationl Olympic Committee: Infantino takes Blatter’s empty seat ⁰

Gianni Infantino was one of three newcomers elected on to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday and belatedly succeeded his predecessor as FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

David Haggerty, an American who is President of the International Tennis Federation, and Yasuhiro Yamashita, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and an Olympic judo champion in 1984 were also elected at the IOC session in Lausanne.

Infantino succeeded fellow Swiss Blatter when he became president of football’s global governing body in February 2016 and was re-elected for a second term last June.

Blatter was an IOC member from 1999 to 2015. He is suspended from football for making a payment to Michel Platini.

Infantino’s candidacy drew some resistance. Of the 79 IOC members entitled to vote, the 49-year-old received 63 votes. Thirteen members voted against and three abstained.

One name absent from the ballot was Englishman Sebastian Coe, head of World Athletics, which, like FIFA, traditionally has its president on the IOC.

IOC president Thomas Bach had already signalled because of “the risk of a conflict of interest,” Coe would not stand.

Coe is executive chairman of a sports marketing company, CSM Sport.

“The door remains open for Sebastian Coe to join the IOC in Tokyo,” Bach said. The IOC will meet again before the Olympics start in Japan in July.

Source: AFP

10, January 2020

‘Designed by clowns,’ Boeing employees ridicule 737 MAX, regulators in internal messages ⁰

Boeing Corp. has released hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.”

The messages, disclosed on Thursday, show attempts to duck regulatory scrutiny with employees disparaging the plane, the company, the Federal Aviation Administration and foreign aviation regulators.

In an instant messaging exchange on February 8, 2018 — when the plane was in the air and eight months before the first of two fatal crashes, an employee asks another: “Would you put your family on a MAX simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t.”

The second employee responds, “No.”

The 737 MAX has been grounded since March after an Ethiopian Airlines flight nose-dived, just five months after a similar Lion Air crash. The two disasters killed 346.

In particular, some of the communications reveal efforts by Boeing to avoid making pilot simulator training – an expensive and time-consuming process — a requirement for the 737 MAX.

The aircraft manufacturer changed tack just this week, saying it would recommend pilots do simulator training before they resume flying the 737 MAX – a major shift from its long-held position that computer-based training was sufficient as the plane was similar to its predecessor, the 737 NG.

The release of the messages, which highlight an aggressive culture of cost-cutting and disrespect towards the FAA, is set to deepen the crisis at Boeing which is struggling to get its best-selling plane back in the air and restore public confidence.

Boeing scandal: Up to 50 planes grounded worldwide

The FAA said, however, that the messages do not raise new safety concerns although “the tone and content of some of the language contained in the documents is disappointing.”

Boeing said the communications “do not reflect the company we are and need to be, and they are completely unacceptable.”

Pearly gates closed

The disclosure, which Boeing said was in the interest of transparency with the FAA, prompted renewed outrage from US lawmakers and puts more pressure on Boeing’s new CEO David Calhoun to overhaul the company’s corporate culture when he takes the reins on Monday.

House Transportation Committee Chairman, Peter DeFazio, who has been investigating the 737MAX, said the messages “paint a deeply disturbing picture of the lengths Boeing was, apparently, willing to go to in order to evade scrutiny from regulators, flight crews, and the flying public, even as its own employees were sounding alarms internally.”

Senator Roger Wicker, who chairs the commerce committee leading the Senate’s probe into Boeing, also said the latest documents “raise questions about the efficacy of the FAA’s oversight of the certification process.”

The US Justice Department has an active criminal investigation underway into matters related to the 737 MAX aircraft.

Some of the messages pointed to problems with the simulators. Boeing said on Thursday it is confident “all of Boeing’s MAX simulators are functioning effectively” after repeated testing since the messages were written.

The messages, however, show Boeing was doing all it could to lobby aviation regulators to avoid the need for airlines to train pilots in a simulator on the differences between the 737 MAX and the 737 NG.

“I want to stress the importance of holding firm that there will not be any type of simulator training required to transition from NG to MAX,” Boeing’s 737 chief technical pilot said in a March 2017 email.

“Boeing will not allow that to happen. We’ll go face to face with any regulator who tries to make that a requirement.”

Before the grounding, pilot training on the differences consisted of a one-hour lesson on an iPad and no time in the simulator, according to the union representing pilots at American Airlines.

Shukor Yusof, the head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, said Boeing should get credit for disclosing the “destructive diatribes.”

“Initially the flying public will understandably have reservations but the aircraft – having been completely and responsibly resurrected – will likely be one of the safest planes around,” he said.

In other emails and instant messages, employees spoke of their frustration with the company’s culture, complaining about the drive to find the cheapest suppliers and “impossible schedules.”

“I don’t know how to fix these things…it’s systemic. It’s culture. It’s the fact we have a senior leadership team that understand very little about the business and yet are driving us to certain objectives,” said an employee in an email dated June 2018.

And in a May 2018 message, an unnamed Boeing employee said: “I still haven’t been forgiven by god for the covering up I did last year.”

Without referencing what was covered up, the employee added, “Can’t do it one more time. The Pearly gates will be closed…”

(Source: Reuters)

10, January 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mayor of Babessi in Ambazonia police drag-net ⁰

The municipal administrator of Babessi, a locality in the Ngoketunjia County in Southern Cameroons, Issa Chou and four of his councilors have been arrested by the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces, Cameroon Concord News has learnt from reliable sources.

An audio confirming the arrest of Mayor Issa Chou aired by a spokesperson for the Ambazonia Restoration Forces on Monday January 5, 2020 added that the action was ordered by the commander of the Babessi Restoration Forces known as General Man pass Man.

The Francophone civil administrator in the area declined to comment on the matter when contacted by our correspondent in Bamenda. The arrest is in line with the Ambazonia Interim Government’s decision banning French Cameroun elections in Ambazonia scheduled for February 9, 2020.

Ambazonia Communications Secretary, Comrade Milton Taka who made the Interim Government decision public via an audio in Pidgin English has also not commented on this developing story. What we do know is that the Biya regime has militarized Southern Cameroons amid reported clashes with Ambazonia fighters who have set ablaze a number of pro French Cameroun establishments centers-homes of some candidates to the twin polls and ELECAM monitor offices.

It should be recalled that during his end of year empty speech, President Paul Biya announced that security measures would be reinforced especially in Southern Cameroons to ensure the elections are held in all safety.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in the UK with files from Bamenda

10, January 2020

Trump ‘reckless’ on Iran: Poll ⁰

The vast majority of Americans say the US assassination of Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani has made America less safe and shows that President Donald Trump’s behavior with Iran is “reckless,” according to a new poll.

The USA Today/Ipsos poll found that Americans, by 55%-24%, said they believe the killing has made the United States less safe, rejecting a fundamental argument the Trump administration has made.

The poll also found that a majority of those surveyed, by 52%-34%, called Trump’s behavior with Iran “reckless.”

There was overwhelming agreement among those surveyed that Soleimani’s killing made it more likely Iran would attack American interests in the Middle East (69%), that there would be attacks on US soil (63%), and that the United States and Iran would go to war (62%).

By 47%-39%, those surveyed said Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in an attempt to divert the focus from his impeachment.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that T she does not believe Trump had made America safer by assassinating Soleimani, calling the US attack “provocative” and “disproportionate.”

“What happened, in the view of many of us, is not promoting peace, but an escalation,” Pelosi, the highest ranking Democrat in Congress, said at her weekly news conference.

House passes resolution to restrict Trump’s war powers against Iran

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution on Thursday to stop Trump from further military action against Iran, rebuking the president days after he ordered the strike that killed Soleimani and escalated tensions in the region.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 224-194, mostly along party lines, sending the war powers resolution to the Senate. The fate of the resolution is uncertain in the Senate, where Trump’s fellow Republicans hold 53 of the chamber’s 100 seats,

If passed by the House and Senate, the measure does not need Trump’s signature to go into effect.

The partisan vote reflected the deep divide in Congress over Trump’s Iran policy and how much authority lawmakers should have over the use of the military. Democrats accused Trump of acting recklessly and backed the resolution, while Trump’s fellow Republicans, who rarely vote against the president, opposed it.

Source: Presstv

9, January 2020

Football: Atletico stun Barca to set up all-Madrid Super Cup final ⁰

Atletico Madrid sprung a surprise in the Spanish Super Cup by staging a thrilling comeback to beat Barcelona 3-2 on Thursday and set up a final against Real Madrid.

Barca looked on course for a Sunday showdown against Real when they led Atletico 2-1 with nine minutes left but instead it will be a Madrid derby in Saudi Arabia to decide who lifts the trophy.

All five goals were scored during a wild second half in Jeddah that began with Koke putting Atletico in front, just 21 seconds after coming on as a substitute at the interval.

Goals from Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann turned the game on its head, only for Atletico to hit back with a late double, Alvaro Morata converting a penalty in the 81st minute before Angel Correa found a winner in the 86th.

In between, Barcelona also had two goals ruled out after VAR spotted tight offsides while Atleti were denied what looked a clear penalty at 2-2, after the ball clipped the hand of Gerard Pique.

A pulsating contest will have delighted the Spanish Football Federation, who have faced heavy criticism for taking the competition away from Spain to a different continent, and a country that has a long-condemned record on human rights.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said on Wednesday he preferred the old format but his strong team selection, that included Messi, Griezmann and Luis Suarez, suggested this was a tournament he was eager to win.

It remains to be seen how this defeat might affect the La Liga title race, with Real Madrid and Atletico now enjoying the opportunity not only to win a trophy but score a psychological boost too.

Barca dominated the first half and Griezmann had the best chance, only for his lifted finish from the angle to be saved by the excellent Jan Oblak.

Atletico survived and frustration spilled over at the break as Jordi Alba poked a finger in the face of Joao Felix, who then went head-to-head with Messi. Suarez also had to be pulled away by Stefan Savic.

A spikey end to the first period was trumped by an explosive start to the second as Koke, on for less than a minute, gave Atletico the lead. Felix started the move and Correa slipped a pass behind the scrambling Sergi Roberto for Koke to stab into the bottom corner.

Simeone chose not to celebrate and if he was worried about the amount of time left, he was right, as Barcelona scored twice in 11 minutes.

First, Messi equalised after muscling his way through both Koke and Savic on the edge of the area and then he fired in again after steering a high ball around Koke. This time, however, VAR showed his elbow had served as a cushion.

Disappointment was brief though as Alba crossed for Suarez and while his header was brilliant pawed away by Oblak, Griezmann nodded in the rebound.

Pique thought he had a third after Arturo Vidal half-volleyed Messi’s free-kick across the box but again VAR intervened.

Atletico were revived. Correa should have pulled them level but appeared keener to find Felix than shoot himself and when the rebound did fall to the Felix, Sergi Roberto made a last-ditch block.

But the floodgates had opened in the Barca defence. Vitolo was next to go clear and this time he was brought down by Neto. Morata converted the penalty.

Then, Morata skipped free down the right and his cross seemed to strike the dangling hand of Pique but after consulting VAR, the referee strangely decided against another penalty.

Yet moments later, Atletico were in again. Correa this time sprinted in behind and while Neto made a block, the ball had enough power to cross the line. Now, Simeone could celebrate.

Source: AFP

9, January 2020

UN Security Council declares commitment to ‘international law’ as tensions flare ⁰

The UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to “an international order based on international law” amid fears of armed conflict between the United States and Iran.

The 15 members said the Security Council “reaffirms its commitment to the Charter of the United Nations, including the purposes and principles of the Charter, and an international order based on international law.”

The declaration was issued at the start of a debate on the UN Charter which had been tabled before the present crisis by Vietnam, a non-permanent member of the Security Council and which assumes the rotating presidency this month.

A record 111 countries, including several ministers, had signed up for the marathon debate on peace and security that will bring US and Iranian officials into the same room for the first time since the two countries came to brink of war in the past week following the US assassination of a top Iranian general.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said this week he had been informed by UN chief Antonio Guterres that Washington has denied him a visa for his trip to the UN headquarters in New York.

Asked about Zarif’s complaint, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the State Department does not comment on visa matters.

“The United States never say ‘no.’ They just don’t respond,” a UN official told AFP, noting that the tactic allowed Washington to deny any breach of its obligations as host country to the UN headquarters.

The same source, who asked not to be named, said that if the US formally refuses a request for a visa it is obliged to notify the UN leadership, which would cast its actions in an unfavorable light.

The declaration came as the UN prepares to celebrate 75 years since its founding in October 1945.

“The Security Council reaffirms its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” it said.

In the week since tensions flared between the United States and Iran, no member nation of the Security Council has called for an emergency meeting of the body to address the crisis that has brought the Middle East to the verge of open war.

Source: AFP

9, January 2020

Ambazonia Revolution Pastors: Professing Christ and serving the devil ⁰

Ever since the abduction and extradition of the Southern Cameroons leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in Abuja, Nigeria and the emergence of Pastors Samuel Ikome, Chris Anu and Success Nkongho as front liners of the Ambazonia struggle and quest for independence, many in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia have come to the conclusion that one must first be a crook to be a pastor.

Southern Cameroonians are tired of the confusions they see on social media coming from these three so-called pastors. To be sure, it needed the intervention of the jailed leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who gave Southern Cameroonians a vice president in the person of Dabney Yerima who has successfully redressed and is now speaking-out and directing the Southern Cameroons war of independence.

Prior to the appointment of Vice President Dabney Yerima, there were three pastors running the Ambazonia Interim Government. The disgraced Ikome Sako was Acting President, Bishop John Egyawan was passing for a Defense Secretary and Chris Anu moonlighted as Communications Secretary. Judging from their time deep within the Ambazonia Interim Government and after they were replaced by the people of Southern Cameroons, we of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that these so-called men of God have all along been professing Christ and serving the devil.

It’s so unfortunate that Sako, Chris and now Pastor Success Nkongho have fallen this much. Correspondingly, it will also not be wrong to say all of the pastors are now directly or indirectly serving the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé. To be sure, they lack revolutionary message, a huge sign that they were long disconnected from God and the Ambazonia struggle.

These men of God are holding Southern Cameroons children as slaves in their Churches in Nigeria and the US and via social media. Interestingly, they expect Southern Cameroonians not to say anything. We of the Concord Group will continue to sacrifice our time to free the slaves from their Sako IG camps so that they begin to serve the living God and once again be a part of the Ambazonia revolution.

It remains a mystery how the rapid emergence of counterfeit Southern Cameroons pastors such as Samuel Ikome Sako, Chris Anu, “His Lordship Bishop John Egyawan” and Success Nkongho among the Ambazonia leadership ranks went unchecked. This trend has undermined and brought shame to the people of Southern Cameroon, the Ambazonia Interim Government and God the Almighty Father. It has hurt Southern Cameroons citizens genuinely seeking secession from French Cameroun and it is slowly but surely stifling the Ambazonia independence struggle.

Loosely defined, counterfeits are goods and services of inferior quality, packaged in another’s brand name without the brand owner’s authorization, infringing on the trademark, patent or copyright of the genuine product. The Southern Cameroons revolution is under attack in the same way with fake pastors.

The situation has left a trail of destruction in the Southern Cameroons communities both in Ground Zero and in the diaspora where unsuspecting, gullible and impressionable Ambazonians have been robbed of their hard-earned money, their dignity and are dying every day like flies.

The creation of the Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Amba Bonds Project as a means of rebuilding confidence among Southern Cameroons donors have given Southern Cameroonians all over the world something to reflect on. While Southern Cameroonians are investing in the bonds, Vice President Dabney Yerima and his cabinet cannot remain unmoved. Comrade Yerima should usher in a tough approach towards the mushrooming of false information and as Martin Luther King Jr said: “To ignore evil is to become an accomplice of it.”

At this point one of the responsible things to do is to educate Southern Cameroonians on the things to watch out for before painting someone as an Ambazonia frontline leader.

Here are a few signs to counter Sako and Chris Anu IG’s deception.

Inability to lead

Sako, Anu, Kometa and Success Nkongho who now constitute the counterfeit Southern Cameroons front liners have made a concerted effort to lead Ambazonians away from Ground Zero and their jailed leaders leaving them revolutionary malnourished with many dropping down their weapons.

‘Fake pastors must go find other jobs’

The Ambazonia Interim Government must enact laws that restrict fake pastors to hold senior cabinet positions. This will of course enable them to follow different careers and get jobs outside the struggle.

Lack of integrity

If more often than not, there are reports questioning the integrity and ways of a revolutionary leader, one has to be concerned. A leader cannot always be in the news or on social media for the wrong reasons. This is typical of Sako, Chris, Kometa and Success.

Insatiable appetite for money

If during a revolution that has claimed the lives of thousands of Southern Cameroonians the leaders who are all Men of God are the only ones living a luxurious life with financial donations from the citizens, there is a reason to be doubtful.

Southern Cameroonians cannot be living in the bushes, open fields, tents or abandoned buildings in Nigeria while the leader is living a lavish life in the USA.

Sako Ikome, Chris Anu and Kometa including Success Nkongho were leaders who presented super-hero personalities in public but are private successful failures.

When electing an Ambazonia leader in your host country in Europe, the US and Canada be sure that the individual has a corporate job, is able to lead himself and his own family well before leading you.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai