The Federal Government, yesterday, warned foreign nations’ represented by their missions in Nigeria against making what it termed “unguarded utterances”on matters the government said are strictly Nigeria’s internal issues.
According to Nigerian Tribune, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, gave the warning in Abuja, at an interactive session with the diplomatic community over the shift of the general election.The warning by the Minister is coming on the heels of comments by the US and EU on the postponement of Nigeria’s general elections, Channels reports.Guardian reports that the Minister wondered why the heads of missions take on the role of government seeking to impose their opinions on Nigerians.
He said, “Let me also seize this opportunity to express the strong displeasure of the Federal Government with the conduct of some heads of missions who have continued to behave in an imperial manner and in clear breach of the channel of the diplomatic communication.
“A situation where head of a mission takes on the role of government, seeking to impose his views and perspectives and making unguarded utterances on matters that are strictly within the domestic jurisdiction of the host-country is totally unacceptable.
“It is therefore unacceptable for envoys to abuse their privileges and immunities by behaving in a manner that would have been met with the opprobrium in their countries were Nigerian ambassadors to behave in like manner,” he said.Thisday quotes the Minister as saying, Nigeria does not need to be lectured on its internal affairs.“No country, no matter how well intentioned, can love Nigeria more than Nigerians themselves,” he concluded.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says contrary to reports, he has not yet endorsed any presidential candidate.
Obasanjo had said during an interview with the Financial Times at a book launch on Monday that he would support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He had said, “The circumstances he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature – he knows that. He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”
The said endorsement was well received by the APC but condemned by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party such as a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro; Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose and the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’Azu.
However, Obasanjo said he supported Buhari but had not yet endorsed him.
He said, “I will not go into argument about that. I did not unendorse him or endorse him as such. A question was asked and I said I will determine, based on the track record of those candidates who are contesting and who ask me for support, and when I do that, based on my own assessment, I will support the candidate that I believe has the best track record. And I am still in the process of that.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
It is a well known fact that David Axelrod was the architect of Barack Obama’s election and re-election campaign.
What is less known is that the same Axelrod was hired by Nigeria’s opposition party, APC, to ensure victory for it’s Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a man with a horrible history of Human Rights abuses to his name.
In the last year, Nigeria sought aid from the White House for many initiatives, including the fight against Boko Haram.
The Obama administration refused to do anything but play lip service to Nigeria’s requests. However, it used public and private channels to internationally magnify every failure Nigeria’s government experienced.
In the last year, since the involvement of Axelrod’s firm, relations between the two nations have significantly deteriorated, with the US refusing to sell arms to Nigeria, a significant reduction in the purchase of Nigeria’s oil, and the cancellation of a military training agreement between Nigeria and the USA.
In turn, the Buhari led Nigerian opposition, used the US Govt’s position as validation for their claim that the Nigerian government was a failure.
In a February 9th article in the Washington Free Beacon (http://goo.gl/guDlSH), the extent of Axelrod’s involvement in manipulating Nigeria’s affairs is revealed.
“A political consulting firm founded by Obama administration confidante David Axelrod has been far more involved in backing controversial Nigerian presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari than previously disclosed…
Axelrod’s firm, the Chicago-based AKPD, has admitted to doing work on behalf of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the past, but claimed to have ceased its ties in March 2014 after the Islamist terror group Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.
However, emails sent between senior APC party members and advisers show that contrary to the firm’s claims, AKPD has quietly continued to perform political work on Buhari’s behalf as he fights to unseat current President Goodluck Jonathan.
In a series of messages between senior APC officials and advisers from September 2014 to late January 2015, AKPD polling and other work are repeatedly discussed.
“The meeting went well and the report well received. [Gov. Rotimi Amaechi] will meet with the AKPD team tomorrow to discuss the facilitation of the event but no dates fixed yet,”
APC member Olubunmi Adetunmbi wrote in one September 23 email to top Buhari adviser Kayode Fayemi.
AKPD’s work is again mentioned in a separate chain of emails sent between Buhari’s running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, and adviser Fayemi.
“I also think the AKPD surveys also clearly showed that the South West is the battle ground for this election,” Osinbajo writes in a discussion about boosting election turnouts for the APC.
A third email chain from Jan. 21 shows APC leader Nasir El-Rufai discussing an “October 2014 AKPD poll” that he hoped to disseminate to “the team.”
Other sources on the ground and familiar with the APC’s campaign say that the party has been trying to keep AKPD’s ongoing work quiet. It is rumored that AKPD employees are being housed in an APC compound located in Lagos, according to multiple sources.
“The sense is they’re being hidden currently in Lagos,” said another insider on the ground who would only speak on background. “They’re trying to keep a very low profile.”
AKPD’s close ties to the Obama administration also has given rise to criticism from those who see the White House as meddling in the elections.
“They have been particularly careful not to be seen at all because of the perception of the connection between Axelrod and the president and what that would convey,” said one of the sources quoted above.”
It is shameful that the United States has chosen to blatantly involve itself in Nigeria’s partisan politics, not based on any sort of foreign policy principle, but on a need to ensure that Axelrod’s company got to deliver on one of it’s most lucrative foreign contracts.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
From days immemorial, the office of the priest has been viewed with much respect, reverence, and to a reasonable extent, feared. They are seen as the link between the spirit realm which is often regarded as immortal and the material plane where the mortals exist. In Igbo and Judeo-Christian circles, priests are seen not just as the link between the two prevailing planes but as persons with dual personalities who simultaneously inhabit the planes, hence the Igbo adage which states “Okala mmadu okala mmuo”; half” human, half spirit.” They also have the exclusive preserve of accessing the “Holy of Holies” and even eat the gifts brought to the beings they represent, hence the appellation “Oli ife aja”
In the catholic church, priesthood is a highly respected office and those who occupy it are well prepared in many areas of human endeavour, with a training that spans over fourteen years, a catholic priest is thoroughly groom in the order of Melchezedek. Trained in chastity, envowed unto a life of poverty and separated from the rest of humanity in celibacy, engrafted in the spirit of God through revelations and prophecies; media through which God relates clearly with those who He call His’.
Priests are truly in all ramifications “fathers of the faith”. Although well versed in the polity of their immediate societies and the world at large, priest prefer to most times steer clear from active participation in politics except where they are enjoined to participate due prevailing socio-political circumstances as in the cases of Rev. Fr Jean-Betrand Arisitide of Haiti and Rev. Fr Moses Adasu of Benue State. We have also seen critics from the pulpit in the order of Elijah like His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Okogie of the Lagos Metropolitan Church and John Cardinal Onaiyekan of the Arch Diocese of Abuja. While the Pentecostal enclave have the flamboyant musician-turned preacher cum politician Rev. Chris Okotie and former Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Pastor Tunde Bakare as their modest contribution to the pack.
In country faced with enormous challenges, and a populace that believes so much that their lives are controlled by supernatural forces who determines their fate through the deposition of their faith in them and the their ability to adhere unquestionably to the dictates of their intermediaries (Priests), religious gatherings are often filled with people who flock there for miracles, signs, wonders, divine blessings, declarations and prophecies.
So it was little wonder when a certain Fr. Ejike Camillus Mbaka sprang up in the sleepy town of Enugu in the dying days of the twentieth century , precisely on the foot-ball field of the Government Technical College (GTC) Enugu for what Enugu residents then dubbed “Adoration” a programme that held every Wednesday. According to adherents, the man was a bulldozer to the gates of hell, and a present day Apostle Paul in the manner he wrath miracles, as he has the power to cure any type of disease that was brought to him; some even claimed he had the ability to raise the dead. However if i may remember, a former neighbour of mine named Ambrose (surname withheld) went to Mbaka’s Adoration, but did not receive his healing as he died shortly after.
With the popularity of his Ministry growing, Mbaka assumed influence. His weekly programmes became a key factor in determining the cost of transportation in cities in the East as most transporters prefer plying that route on Wednesdays in order to partake of the blessings of the multitude gravitating towards Enugu to seek the face of God. With the influx of followers seeking for solutions to their diverse problems, the Ituku-born catholic clergy began to court the envy of his ecclesiastical peers and a pocket of his superiors. Calls were made for the stopping of the weekly activities as it was becoming a threat to the congregants of the Mother church within the Ecclesiastical Province and beyond, but for the liberality of the then Bishop of Enugu Diocese His Lordship Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji who insisted that the young charismatic priest should be allowed to go on especially in an era when the catholic church is losing members to the rampaging Pentecostal movement.
As the congregation grew so also the economic base of the ministry, as the ministry delved into commercial activities that were laced with pinning of spiritual persuasions; such items like AQUA RAPHA: “the healing water” and its sister product RAPHA YOUGHORT chased other competitors out of the market due to the hype of their healing abilities. The Adoration Ministries Enugu Nigeria (AMEN) musical label also flooded the society with songs which had Fr. Mbaka as the lead vocalist.
With these surge in his popularity Mbaka ventured into the murky waters of politics with the then Enugu state governor Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani as his main punching-bag. The pulpit at Christ the King Parish G.R.A Enugu and the GTC adoration ground became the launching pad of verbal attacks on the Chimaroke led government house, the peak of it all being the sermon titled “Wicked Generation” that was used by the governor’s opponents during the 2003 elections.
With a populace that was religiously charged, soaked in the opium of unquestioned loyalty to their spiritual lords and psychologically tuned to seeing the government of Enugu state as an evil regime, it was easy for the catholic father to mobilise a huge crowd for a Eucharistic march round Enugu symbolical to the Israelites march around Jericho calling on the heaven to ensure the fall of Dr. Nnamani in the elections of 2003. Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbakaeven tried playing God by saying that if Chimaroke wins the elections; he will pull off his cassock. Well… Chimaroke won the election, was sworn-in for the second time and capped it up with a four-year sojourn in Nigeria’s National Assembly as a Senator. Yet Mbaka has not thrown away his priestly cassock.
With an antecedents that has been laced with partisan postulations, it was little wonder to those on the know the prophetic summersaults of Fr. Mbaka when he busted out in tirade against the government and person of President Goodluck Jonathan during the New Year service of his Adoration Ministry. The “man of God” who had less than one month ago prayed and prophesied for the President while calling the opposition APC “Boko Haram” confused his followers, while confirming the position of his critics that he is a prophet in the class of Balam whose prophesies can be bought with inducements (Numbers 22, Numbers 31:7, 8, 16; Deuteronomy 23:4, 5; Joshua 24:9, 10; Nehemiah 13:2; Micah 6:5; 2 Peter 2:15, 16; Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14).Many are of the opinion that Mbaka went berserk because the Presidency was slow in fulfilling a promise made to him. Thinking that his out-pour will spur the government into action; while another version has it that the multi-talented preacher has been gratified by reactionary elements, for him to speak from both sides of his mouth. Whichever way the public views it that Rev. Fr Ejike Camillus Mbaka has derailed from his prophetic calling since 2003 when he crossed the thin line between politics and religion.
In a country which is politically charged ahead of the 2015 general elections, peopled by strange-bedded ethnic cleavages, and engrafted in the vagaries of religious unquestionability Mbaka over-stepped his bounds when he hid under the banner of ecclesiastical immunity to insult the President of the most populous black nation, and reversing himself on statements earlier made and prophecies earlier delivered. While his voice sounded frustrated, his choice of word at that infamous sermon were rather pitiable, he once again exposed himself as a man of God who has lost the GOD in him and is left with emptiness of the frailty in humanity.
For the bloodshed in the North-East of the country, Mbaka poured vituperations on a leader whose regime has not witnessed any political killing for the six years he has been on the saddle, nor accused of victimising anyone as a result of their political affiliation. A leader who has exhibited unparallel humility and pacifism in handling the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency; an alien phenomenon which all and sundry know was initially an internal political machine created by local politician for the purposes of electoral victory, but which presently has been cornered by reactionary political elements who are using same to destabilise the that part of the country and consequently showcase the leadership as a weak one.
Without doubt the Nigerian military, under President Jonathan has been professionally repositioned both in morale and provision of modern combatant equipments backed with adequate training. Haaba Mbaka! You should have known better. Rather than blaming the current administration for the deterioration of our military, he should check the books to find out when last the time the military bought equipments, and those who were on the saddle when these decay started. Mbaka should exist beyond the pedestrianism he exhibited on the 1st of January 2015.
On corruption the entrepreneurial priest accused the President of running the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria. What he failed to tell his congregation was that the current administration has changed the medication for the societal plague called corruption from curative to preventive. Today, free money is not in circulation among corrupt persons because systemic machineries have been put in place for the prevention of embezzlement and over inflation of government expenditures. For those who are caught in the web of corruption, the laws of the land have specifications for the procedures with which they will be tried and possibly jailed. Though it is a good system, it is slow in bringing the culprits to book, however the President should not be blamed, as he is not the one who made the laws. Nigerians are on the know that without much media hype or make-believe corruption trials, this President has dealt severely with those under him who has soiled their hands in the common wealth of our great nation.
To many Mbaka sang his Swan song with his tirade at the dawn of January 2015, while for others he has lost his taste in calling. As In the words admonition handed down to us, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ stated “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matt 5:13. For sure, the salt in Mbaka has lost its taste.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A senior member of the European Parliament, Franz Obermayr MEP, has accused the Opposition All Progressive’s Congress (APC) of channeling European Parliament financial aid to Boko Haram in the North East of Nigeria, and called on the European Commission to investigate alleged concerns over the party’s financial and political allegiance with the terror group.
The Nigerian Times learnt exclusively that Franz Obermayr, of Austrian Freedom Party, currently the most popular political party in Austria, made the statements in a press release issued on 16 September and covered widely by the European press.
The Nigerian Times also learnt that Obermayr has been working closely with Stand for Peace, a Muslim-Jewish interfaith organisation dedicated to countering extremism and promoting social and religious cohesion. Oberamyr has also called on EU election observers to closely scrutinise the links between the APC and Boko Haram in the run up to the 2015 presidential election.
He said: “In Nigeria’s case, a large proportion of the subsidies from Brussels are used in the north of the country. The federal states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the extreme north-east of the country are precisely the areas in which Boko Haram’s campaign of terror is largely tolerated by the authorities. The aforementioned sub-republics are governed by the All Progressive Congress (APC)”
In the statement made available to The Nigerian Times, Obermayr says that all further European Parliament cooperation and funding to Nigeria should be subject to the findings of a report into the close relationships between political parties and terrorist groups in the country, suggesting that all development aid should be immediately suspended if any wrong doing is exposed.
Turning to individuals in the APC, Mr Obermayr raised the US Embassy memo which states that former Vice-President and 2015 Presidential hopeful, Atiku Abubukar, received money from Al-Qaeda to “destabilise the south of the country” and the recent defection of Femi Fani-Kayode from the APC because of their “clear islamist agenda and sympathies with Boko Haram”.
Further, in a statement that highlights widespread concern ahead of the 2015 presidential elections, he said: “Even the most senior man in the APC, former Nigerian head of state and presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the British newspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling for sharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria, including the Christian-dominated south.”
The announcement from Obermayr and Stand for Peace follows a similar call from Andrew Rosindell MP, of the UK parliament, for an inquiry into the relationship between members of the APC and Boko Haram.
“Unfortunately, in many cases a lot of Europe’s political decision-makers are negligent when it comes to contacts and financial aid for associations and political parties which in reality act as camouflage organisations and as a result often open the doors to European institutions for radical Islamist groups,” is the criticism voiced by Austrian Freedom Party MEP Franz Obermayr, who has already called on the Commission for greater transparency on this issue in a parliamentary survey.
“In Nigeria’s case, a large proportion of the subsidies from Brussels are used in the north of the country. The federal states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the extreme north-east of the country are precisely the areas in which Boko Haram’s campaign of terror is largely tolerated by the authorities. The aforementioned sub-republics are governed by the All Progressive Congress (APC), which is now also standing for the presidency in the upcoming 2015 elections”.
“The leaders of this party have repeatedly been linked with radical Islam and their terrorist groups,” warns Obermayr. Wikileaks for example published a memo from the US Embassy to the effect that the former Vice-President and APC member Atiku Abubakar received money from Al-Qaeda to destabilise the south of the country.
“And lastly even the most senior man in the APC, former Nigerian head of state and presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the British newspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling for sharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria, including the Christian-dominated south,” Obermayr went on, referring to the manifestly close links between the APC and Islamist terrorism in the region.
Obermayr said : “During its history Europe too had to learn the painful lesson that a semblance of democratic legitimacy did not prevent brutal and inhuman regimes from gaining power. Against the backdrop of the upcoming elections, all evidence of links between Boko Haram and political parties in Nigeria must be carefully scrutinised, documented and then reported to the European Parliament and the general public. Future cooperation with Nigeria should depend on these reports.”
According to Obermayr, it goes without saying that development aid should also be suspended immediately if suspicions are confirmed in the above-mentioned regions.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)It is some admission from one of the finest golfers ever to play the game.
Tiger Woods — a 14-time major champion and former world No. 1 — is taking a break from the sport after admitting his game isn't up to scratch.
The 39-year-old shot a career worst round of 82 at his first tournament of 2015 in Phoenix before withdrawing from his second at Torrey Pines due to injury.
And he says he won't be back until both his body, and his game, are in tip top shape.
Read: The legacy of Tiger Woods
"This latest injury is not related to my previous surgery. I am having daily physical therapy and I am feeling better every day," Woods said in a statement on his official website.
"Right now, I need a lot of work on my game, and to still spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf.
"Like I've said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I'm ready, I'll be back. Next week I will practice at Medalist and at home getting ready for the rest of the year."
After his 2014 was blighted by a series of injuries, Woods' world ranking now stands at 62 — the lowest since he turned professional back in 1996.
His first appearance of the year at the Phoenix Open saw him miss the cut by 12 shots after shooting a second round of 82, the worst of his career.
And he lasted just 11 holes at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines before pulling out due to difficulties with his back.
It raises further questions as to whether Woods will ever be able to recapture the form that saw him snare 14 major titles during a glittering spell between 1997 and 2008.
Despite a clutch of top five finishes since winning the U.S. Open in 2008, Woods missed two majors last year and recorded a best finish of 69th in the British Open.
He stated his desire to feature at the Honda Classic, that starts in Florida on February 26, but says he will only play if his game is up to it.
"The last two weeks have been very disappointing to me, especially Torrey, because I never want to withdraw," he added.
"Unfortunately, lately injuries have made that happen too often. I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of my game.
"I'd like to play The Honda Classic — it's a tournament in my hometown and it's important to me — but I won't be there unless my game is tournament-ready.
"That's not fair to anyone. I do, however, expect to be playing again very soon."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)It started out as a morning walk, but ended up with a 57-year-old grandpa laying partially paralyzed in an Alabama hospital bed.
Sureshbhai Patel required spinal fusion surgery to repair damage to his back when his family says police twisted his arm and forced him to the ground.
The incident began Friday when Madison Police got a suspicious person report.
Police say someone in the small community about 12 miles east of Huntsville called to report a man walking in neighbors' driveways and peering into garages.
"The caller, who lives in the neighborhood did not recognize the subject and thought him to be suspicious," a statement from Madison Police said.
When police responded, there was a language barrier.
Patel, who is visiting from India to help take care of his developmentally delayed, 17-month-old grandson Ayaan, speaks little English.
Chirag Patel, told CNN Affiliate WHNT that his father tried to communicate with officers, telling them "No English. Indian," when they approached. He also said his father gave police his address and pointed to his son's house.
Madison Police agree that there was "a communication barrier," between officers and the elder Patel.
The police statement also says Patel reached into his pocket while speaking with the officers.
"Officers attempted to pat the subject down and he attempted to pull away," the statement reads.
That's when officers forced Patel to the ground, leaving him with an injured neck and no feeling in his arms, the family says.
Months of physical therapy are ahead for Patel, who can now move his hands, but can't grasp anything, WHNT reported. Chirag Patel said his father can move his right leg but not his left
The officer involved in the incident has been placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation is complete, the police statement said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)Six heavily armed inmates who held their warden and a guard hostage at a prison in Taiwan have committed suicide after a dramatic 14-hour siege.
The prisoners had broken into the prison's armory and seized a number of weapons, including rifles, handguns and more than 200 bullets, Justice Minister Lou Ying-shay told reporters Thursday.
Warden Chen Shih-chih and the head of prison guards, Wang Shih-tsang, were found safe, according to the island's justice ministry. Officials said the six men turned their guns on themselves.
The incident at the prison in the southern city of Kaohsiung unfolded at around 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday when the men grabbed a guard and member of the prison staff, the justice ministry told CNN.
The six inmates all worked in the sewing factory and would have had access to scissors, the ministry said. The inmates pretended to be sick and went to the prison infirmary. While there, they grabbed the keys from prison staff but were unable to break out of the prison. They smashed their way into a room storing the prison's weapons instead.
The facility's deputy warden, Lai Chen-jung, and head of guards, Wang, then offered themselves as hostages in exchange for the two held captive. The inmates then allowed Warden Chen to take the place of his deputy.
Claims of mistreatment
The inmates, who were serving a range of sentences for crimes including murder, complained about their sentences, mistreatment at the jail, and the recent release of former President Chen Shui-bian on medical grounds, according to Taiwanese media reports. He was serving a 20-year sentence for corruption.
One of the hostage takers, identified by Taiwanese media as Cheng Li-te, a member of a notorious criminal gang, issued a statement at around 11 p.m., which was read on Taiwanese television by Wu Hsien-chang, head of the Taiwan's Corrections Agency.
In it, Cheng pleaded his innocence. "I didn't kill anyone but I have to serve 18 years in prison. I'm not the only innocent inmate here. Who can speak out for us?"
He then complained that their monthly allowance of NT$200 (around US$6) was not even enough to buy underwear, and that prison inmates were denied the same chance of medical parole as former President Chen.
The inmates demanded safe exit by car via a side door of the prison.
The prison itself was locked down and surrounded by armed police, according to Taiwanese media, while relatives of the inmates were brought in to to assist with negotiations to secure the release of the hostages.
Early on Thursday morning Deputy Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang reported that the hostages had been freed but that the six inmates had shot themselves.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
(CNN)Taiwanese airline TransAsia has grounded 10 pilots for failing an oral flight test, as divers continue searching for the final victim of the crash of Flight GE235 which killed at least 42 people earlier this month.
The failed pilots will undergo retraining before being allowed to fly again, the airline said, adding that each had an average of 6,900 flying hours, not a insignificant number for a commercial pilot.
The 39 pilots who passed the oral test will have to sit a simulator test — if they don't pass, they too will be grounded, TransAsia said.
Nineteen other pilots have yet to take any of the tests, but they won't be assigned any duties until they do so.
The testing was recommended by Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration for pilots at the controls of ATR turboprop aircraft, the type involved in the February 4 crash.
Search for bodies
Meanwhile, rescue workers continue to search the muddy depths of the Keelung River in Taipei, where the flight went down, for the last unaccounted passenger.
Two bodies were found around 600 meters downriver from the crash site on Tuesday, taking the final death toll to 42.
Officials said the bodies found were still strapped in their seats.
Fifty-one search boats, three helicopters, and more than 450 people are working to find the remaining passenger, according to a statement from the Taipei City mayor's office.
Excavators are being used to dig the river bed amid theories that the final victim may be stuck in mud.
Crash caught on camera
TransAsia Flight GE235 crashed minutes after takeoff in the Taiwanese capital after the pilots struggled to correct problems with both engines, according to preliminary investigations by Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council.
The agency said the aircraft's engines stopped producing power, one after the other, leaving the plane flying without thrust for more than one minute.
Dashcam video taken by cars on a nearby highway showed the plane turning sharply left, before the wing hit the overpass and crashed into the river.
Fifteen people survived the crash after being pulled from the submerged wreck.
After the crash, Taiwan's aviation authorities ordered special checks on all ATR 72s in the fleets of local carriers.
TransAsia was involved in another deadly disaster last July. Forty-eight people died after an ATR 72 aircraft crashed as it was attempting to land in the Taiwanese Penghu Islands during bad weather.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Washington (CNN)Bipartisan criticism of President Barack Obama's proposed authorization of force against ISIS mostly has to do with the use of U.S. troops and limits on the commander-in-chief. But one Republican lawmaker noticed something else that he calls quite troubling – omission of the word "Jews."
Freshman Lee Zeldin is the only Republican Jewish member of Congress, and says it immediately leapt off the page that the President's proposed resolution specifically singles out several ethnic groups threatened by ISIS: Iraqi Christians, Yezidis and Turkmens, but says nothing about Jews.
"I see an understanding, a recognition in the resolution with regards to ISIS attacks on Muslims, on Christians and others, and I didn't see a reference to Jews," Zeldin told CNN in an interview. "And one of the efforts I've been involved in is trying to raise awareness for the rising tide of anti-semitism."
The New York Republican questioned whether the White House deliberately left out Jews as an ethnic group that ISIS has threatened.
"I think that when the White House is drafting a resolution for the authorization of force, that every single word, every phrase in there is done deliberately — it has to be," said Zeldin.
"Jews should have been included by the White House," he said.
Read the proposed authorization (PDF)
The omission comes on the heels of a recent comment from Obama called the attack on a Kosher deli in Paris "random." The White House was later forced to clarify the President didn't mean to imply the incident wasn't "motivated by anti-Semitism," according to press secretary Josh Earnest.
But the White House argues that its war request draft language borrows from the resolution passed in the then-Democratic led Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year.
In fact, it does mirror that text drafted by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., word-for-word, saying "Whereas ISIL has threatened genocide and committed vicious acts of violence against religious and ethnic minority groups, including Iraqi Christians, Yezidi, and Turkmen populations."
That was, however, before the Jewish Kosher deli attack.
Zeldin said the targeting of the Kosher deli last month is proof that ISIS is committed to vicious acts against Jews around the world.
"I strongly believe we were reminded in Paris that these radical Islamic extremists, they want to wipe Israel off the map," said Zeldin. "They target not only Jews but our freedom our exceptionalism as Americans — the whole western world."
"The pursuit of ISIS includes a threat not just to Muslims, not just to Jews, not just to Christians, but everyone and it all should be recognized in the resolution," he said.
Zeldin sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee which will be debating and voting on the use of force resolution. He says he intends to try to get Jews included any text that actually becomes the law of the land.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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