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Aguila Saleh, Libya’s parliament president, speaks during the first session at parliament headquarters in Benghazi, Libya April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
April 13, 2019
By Ayman al-Warfalli
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Eastern Libyan forces will pursue their advance on the capital Tripoli, the head of the eastern parliament in the divided country said on Saturday, despite international calls for a halt in an offensive that risks causing many civilian casualties.
His comments came as more clashes rocked the southern outskirts of Tripoli, where eastern forces have been confronted by groups allied to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s internationally recognized government.
The European Union last week urged the eastern Libya National Army (LNA) to stop its attacks, having agreed on a statement after France and Italy sparred over how to handle the conflict.
But the eastern parliament head said they would press an offensive launched a week ago under military commander Khalifa Haftar, the latest outbreak of a cycle of conflict since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
“We need to get rid of militias and terrorist groups,” Aguila Saleh, head of the House of Representatives allied to Haftar, said using a reference eastern officials often make to describe forces allied to the Tripoli government, which relies on support from several armed groups.
“We assure the residents of Tripoli that the campaign to liberate Tripoli will be limited and not violate any freedoms but restore security and fight terrorism,” Saleh told lawmakers in a session in the main eastern city of Benghazi.
Forces loyal to al-Serraj’s government have so far kept the eastern offensive at bay. Fierce fighting has broken out around a disused former airport about 11 km (7 miles) from the center and an eastern military source said a warplane belonging to the LNA had struck a military camp in an eastern Tripoli suburb.
Saley also said the United Nations mission to Libya and Serraj’s government had been controlled by armed groups and had failed to expel them from the capital, and promised Libya would hold long-delayed elections after the Tripoli operation ends.
Haftar’s offensive had surprised the United Nations, which had been planning to hold a national conference on April 14 to prepare Libya for elections.
The latest battle had by Friday killed 75 people, mainly fighters but including 17 civilians, and wounded another 323, according to U.N. tallies. Some 13,625 people have been forced out of their homes.
As well as the humanitarian cost, the conflict threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration to Europe, scupper a U.N. peace plan, and allow Islamist militants to exploit the chaos.
Haftar, 75, a former general in Gaddafi’s army who later joined the revolt against him, moved his troops out of their eastern stronghold to take the oil-rich desert south earlier this year, before sweeping up to Tripoli at the start of April.
(Writing by Ahmed Elumami and Ulf Laessing; Editing by David Holmes)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, who was a suspect in the murder case of North Korean leader’s half brother Kim Jong Nam, reacts as she leaves the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
April 13, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – A Vietnamese woman who had been accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea’s leader will be freed from a Malaysian prison on May 3, her lawyer said, a day earlier than previously expected.
Doan Thi Huong, 30, was charged along with an Indonesian woman of poisoning Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with a banned chemical weapon at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.
Malaysian prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Huong earlier this month, after she plead guilty to an alternate charge of causing harm.
She was sentenced to more than three years in jail, but the term was later reduced as Malaysian law can allow a one-third remission off prison sentences.
Huong, who had been expected to be freed on May 4, will be released a day earlier as the original date fell on a weekend, her lawyer, Salim Bashir, told Reuters.
“We were informed by the prison authorities that she would be released on May 3, and it is likely she will be flown back to Hanoi on the same date,” he said, when contacted.
Huong’s co-accused, Siti Aisyah, was freed in March, after prosecutors also dropped the murder charge against her.
South Korean and U.S. officials have said the North Korean regime had ordered the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, who had been critical of his family’s dynastic rule. Pyongyang has denied the allegation.
Defense lawyers have maintained the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents. The women said they thought they were part of a reality prank show and did not know they were poisoning Kim.
Four North Korean men were also charged, but they left Malaysia hours after the murder and remain at large.
Malaysia had come under criticism for charging the two women with murder – which carries a mandatory death penalty in the country – when the key perpetrators were still being sought.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A318-100 airplane of Avianca Brazil prepares to land at Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes
April 12, 2019
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Struggling carrier Avianca Brasil said on Friday it had canceled 153 flights scheduled to take place between Monday and Wednesday of next week as it risked losing 30 percent of its fleet over the weekend.
A representative said the carrier was operating with 35 planes but could lose 9 of them by Sunday, due to a claim by lessor Aircastle. Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy protection in December after falling behind on lease payments.
(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
April 12, 2019
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration met for three hours on Friday with representatives from the three major U.S. airlines that fly now grounded Boeing 737 MAX airplanes and their pilots’ unions to discuss two fatal crashes and the path forward.
More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after 346 people died in two crashes, one in Indonesia in October and one in Ethiopia last month.
Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell told participants “he wanted to know what operators and pilots of the 737 MAX think as the agency evaluates what needs to be done before the FAA makes a decision to return the aircraft to service,” the agency said in a statement.
At the meeting with American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co, the FAA discussed the preliminary reports from both crashes and Boeing’s proposals for a software upgrade and new pilot training, said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association which represents American’s pilots.
American Airlines said in a statement it was “confident in the direction the FAA is heading. We’ll continue to work collaboratively with the FAA, Boeing and the Allied Pilots Association in this process.”
Tajer said pilots were pleased with the “very good briefing” and said pilots need to be satisfied in the training and software upgrade. He said the FAA sought pilots’ input.
“We have to unground the confidence in this airplane,” Tajer told reporters outside FAA headquarters.
American and United have canceled flights through early June, while Southwest said Thursday it would remove its 34 737 MAX jets from its flying schedule through Aug. 5, leading to around 160 daily flight cancellations during the revised summer schedule.
Tajer said everyone is focused on getting the plane back in service safely. “We take off out watches and put the calendars in the drawer,” he said.
Boeing said it has reprogrammed software on the 737 MAX to prevent erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system that is under mounting scrutiny following the two deadly nose-down crashes. On April 1, Boeing said it delayed submitting the proposed revisions to the FAA for approval.
The FAA said the meeting covered a review of the publicly available preliminary findings of the investigations into the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents; an overview of anticipated software enhancements to an anti-stall system and, an overview of pilot training. Elwell said the meeting participants’ “operational perspective is critical input as the agency welcomes scrutiny on how it can do better.”
The agency is also convening a joint review with aviation regulators from China, Europe, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia and other countries.
Federal prosecutors, the Transportation Department inspector general’s office and a blue-ribbon panel are also reviewing the plane’s certification.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Health workers carry a newly admitted confirmed Ebola patient into a treatment centre in Butembo in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
April 12, 2019
By Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland
GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) – An outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has killed more than 700 people and is continuing to spread does not constitute an international emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Declaring the epidemic a “public health emergency of international concern” would have signaled that greater resources and international coordination are needed.
The WHO’s independent Emergency Committee, which analyzed the latest data, said the disease was entrenched in several epicenters in the northeast and was being transmitted in health care settings.
It had not spread across borders to Uganda, Rwanda or South Sudan, but neighboring countries should shore up their preparedness, the experts said.
“It was an almost unanimous vote that this would not constitute a PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern) because we are moderately optimistic that this outbreak can be brought into control – not immediately, but still within a foreseeable time,” panel chairman Professor Robert Steffen told a news conference.
Dozens of new cases reported this week have been mainly in the epicenters of Butembe, Katwe and Vuhovi, said Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program.
“It’s quite a focused amplification of disease in a very specific geographic area,” Ryan said.
“But the disease there has risen because of lack of access to that community, we’ve fallen behind in starting vaccination rings,” he said, referring to attacks on health centers by armed groups in February that cut-off hotspot areas.
“Vaccine is proving to be a highly effective way of stopping this virus but if we can’t vaccinate people we cannot protect them,” he added, noting that nearly 100,000 people have been vaccinated.
Experts have declared four emergencies in the past decade: the H1N1 virus that caused an influenza pandemic (2009), a major Ebola outbreak in West Africa (2014), polio (2014) and Zika virus (2016).
Some experts expressed concern that the Emergency Committee was too narrowly interpreting WHO guidelines.
“This is a deeply concerning event, due to the pathogen itself, the total number of cases, the increase in cases just this week, and the difficulty of coordinating the response due to conflict – that needs to receive the appropriate level of attention,” health experts Rebecca Katz and Alexandra Phelan of Georgetown University in Washington D.C. said in a statement.
The Ebola outbreak – by far the biggest Congo has seen, and the world’s second largest in history – was declared by national authorities in August. It is concentrated in Congo’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
It has already infected at least 1,206 people, of whom 764 have died – giving a death rate of 63 percent.
They include 20 new cases reported by the health ministry on Thursday, another one-day record after 18 on Wednesday. Two workers at the Butembo airport tested positive, it said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Dakar; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Frances Kerry)
Source: OANN
A high-profile Trump supporter who filmed an assault against him asked his followers to donate to a charity for the mother of the person who attacked him.
On Thursday, Walk Away founder Brandon Straka tweeted a video showing a model assaulting him as he took his camera out to film their interaction.
At the airport w my MAGA hat on. This girl approached me 2 tell me I should be embarrassed. She said I’m a racist & POTUS is a racist. When I repeatedly asked why she replied, “He just is. He just is”. So I began recording & grabbed me twice. Shall we make this model very famous? pic.twitter.com/TdPhwJQcXs
— Brandon Straka (@usminority) April 11, 2019
“At the airport w my MAGA hat on,” Straka wrote in a tweet. “This girl approached me 2 tell me I should be embarrassed. She said I’m a racist & POTUS is a racist. When I repeatedly asked why she replied, “He just is. He just is”. So I began recording & grabbed me twice. Shall we make this model very famous?”
After researching the model, Straka found she was trying to raise money for her ill mother, so instead of harassing her, he asked his followers to help donate to her mother.
“Wouldn’t it be something if every Trump supporter reading this gave a dollar to her family, w/ a message of love, signed ‘from a Trump supporter’?” Straka asked.
1. My team identified the girl who harassed me at the airport. Upon researching her, we discovered that her mother was recently quite ill and a GoFundMe was started for her. Rather than perpetuating the animosity that was shown toward me today, I’ve decided… https://t.co/eGKJ2wjGFF
— Brandon Straka (@usminority) April 11, 2019
2. …to transform rancor into love. I am donating to her mother’s GoFundMe & wishing her & her family peace & wellness. Wouldn’t it be something if every Trump supporter reading this gave a dollar to her family, w/ a message of love, signed “from a Trump supporter”?continued…
— Brandon Straka (@usminority) April 11, 2019
3. Please DO NOT engage in any act of retaliation, hatred, or unkindness toward this person. Let’s show what makes America great- combating hate with love.
This is what The #WalkAway Campaign is all about. https://t.co/g7umvxeADy
— Brandon Straka (@usminority) April 11, 2019
However, after a few hours, the GoFundMe appeared to shut down for unknown reasons.
So many amazing Trump supporters stepped up to try to donate and do something positive, but she closed the GoFundMe rather than accept an act of kindness from a Trump supporter
— Brandon Straka (@usminority) April 12, 2019
The page is now closed. It would be really sad if she intentionally robbed her mother of the blessings others could give to her financially just so that she could avoid getting the donations from @realDonaldTrump supporters. I pray that isn’t the reason. That would make her Trump
— Matthew (@GreatAgainMatty) April 12, 2019
hatred much greater than the love she has for her mother. I hope there is a different explanation.
— Matthew (@GreatAgainMatty) April 12, 2019
Source: InfoWars
FILE PHOTO: A Jet Airways plane is parked as another moves to the runway at Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in Mumbai, India, February 14, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
April 12, 2019
By Abhirup Roy and Tanvi Mehta
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian prime minister’s office has called for an urgent meeting to discuss a crisis at debt-laden airline Jet Airways on Friday, television news channels reported.
The carrier, saddled with more than $1.2 billion of debt, has had to ground more than 80 percent of its fleet over unpaid dues to leasing companies, pushing it to the brink of shutdown and jeopardizing hopes of attracting a new investor.
A Jet Airways spokesman said the airline had suspended all west-bound international flights until Monday.
Government officials have previously expressed concern about the loss of jobs at the airline and on the prospect of higher Indian air fares if Jet Airways collapses.
Jet’s lenders, led by State Bank of India, are still trying to seek expressions of interest in the carrier from potential investors.
The banks have received initial bids from five to six companies, television channels reported, citing sources.
Nripendra Mishra, the principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will chair the meeting at 6pm India time (1230 GMT), the TV channels said, adding that the aviation regulator and civil aviation secretary were also expected to attend.
Television news channel ET Now reported late on Friday that India’s aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the company had money to operate only 6-7 aircraft over the weekend and after that the lenders would have to decide how many aircraft the airline could operate beyond Monday afternoon.
Kharola said the company will meet bankers on Monday for infusion of funds in the interim, the TV channel said.
Earlier on Friday, hundreds of Jet’s employees marched from the airport to the airline’s headquarters in Mumbai to seek clarity on whether they will get paid soon and if their jobs will be secure over the coming months.
The All India Jet Airway’s Officers & Staff Association, which represents ground handlers, ground crew, loaders and guest service executives working at Mumbai airport, has filed a police complaint against the airline’s former chairman Naresh Goyal, CEO Vinay Dube and representatives of its lead lender SBI.
“The company has not paid salaries to its employees (to date) which is in gross violation of the law of the land,” Kiran Pawaskar, president of the association said in the complaint.
(Additional reporting by Aditi Shah and Aftab Ahmed; Editing by Martin Howell and Jane Merriman)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A view of an office building of German airline Lufthansa in Frankfurt, Germany March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo
April 12, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Lufthansa on Friday lost its court challenge against millions of euros in state aid being granted to Frankfurt-Hahn airport to the benefit of rival Ryanair, after failing to prove the payments dented its revenue or market share.
The German carrier took its case to the Luxembourg-based General Court after EU antitrust regulators in 2014 gave the green light to a series of support measures for the airport, which is 82.5-percent owned by China’s HNA Group with the rest held by the German state of Hesse.
The support given to the airport, which is only used by Ryanair and Wizz Air, included capital increases totaling 49 million euros ($55.5 million), direct grants and a charging scheme.
The German airline argued that many of the benefits of the aid were passed on to Ryanair, which was not paying high enough airport charges.
But Europe’s second-highest court said that Lufthansa had failed to show it took a financial hit or lost market share as result of the measures.
The airline can appeal at the Court of Justice of the European Union but only on points of law. The case is T-492/15 Deutsche Lufthansa v Commission.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Kirsten Donovan)
Source: OANN
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
April 12, 2019
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s controversial former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has launched legal proceedings to renounce his U.S. citizenship, he said on Friday, ahead of a probable candidacy in a presidential election.
Gotabaya, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, oversaw the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels a decade ago, but has faced accusations of war crimes, including extra judicial killings.
Soon after his return from a trip to the U.S., Gotabaya, who has citizenship of both the United States and Sri Lanka, told reporters he had begun the process with U.S. authorities.
“I went to the U.S. to initiate the legal process to renounce my U.S. citizenship. I have done it successfully,” said Gotabaya, who was welcomed home by hundreds of supporters gathered at the airport.
His spokesman, Milinda Rajapaksha, said Gotabaya was considering plans to run for president later this year.
But a possible obstacle to his political ambitions could prove to be lawsuits filed by activists seeking compensation for his alleged role in the civil war.
Gotabaya has rejected the accusations, ascribing a political motive to them.
The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld filed a civil case in California this week against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.
In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages on April 4 in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.
“I have been in the U.S. more than ten times. But these people never asked me for compensation. So this is done ahead of the presidential poll,” said Gotabaya.
Gotabaya and his brother Mahinda have rejected calls for an international probe into alleged war crimes in the final phase of the 26-year war.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A318-100 airplane of Avianca Brazil prepares to land at Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes/File Photo
April 12, 2019
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Struggling carrier Avianca Brasil will be able to fly on Friday from Brazil’s largest airport, located in Guarulhos, a day after the airport operator said it would only allow their flights there if it received upfront payment daily.
A source with knowledge of the matter said Avianca Brasil paid airport operation fees upfront at the Guarulhos airport on Friday and that it had committed to paying necessary fees for weekend operations as well.
Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy protection in December and has been running up debts with lessors and airport operators as it continues to carry out most of its scheduled flights. The airline is very low on cash and fell behind on its payroll in March, the company has said.
(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Source: OANN
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