ONE GERMANWINGS PILOT LOCKED OUT OF COCKPIT DURING CRASH OF FLIGHT 9252

One of the pilots on the German plane that crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard, left the cockpit and was unable to return before the plane went down, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing evidence from a cockpit voice recorder.

"The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer," an unnamed investigator told the Times. "And then he hits the door stronger and no answer."

"There is never an answer. You can hear he is trying to smash the door down," the investigator added.

NBC News has not confirmed the NY Times report. Earlier Wednesday, Remy Jouty, director of France's aviation investigation agency, told reporters that it was too soon to draw conclusions about why the plane went down on a routine flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Germany.

The flight data recorder from the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps.
"We just succeeded in getting an audio file which contains usable sounds and voices," he said. "We hope to have a first rough idea in a matter of days, and having a full understanding ... will take weeks and even months."

He did say that there was no midair explosion, and that the plane "flew to its end." But he said investigators do not have a hypothesis on why the plane, Germanwings Flight 9525, began its eight-minute descent from cruising altitude and crashed.

The crash left remnants of the plane scattered all over the mountainside. The remote, rugged terrain has posed an enormous challenge for investigators.

"It's very difficult to see this because there's a lot of little pieces," Xavier Roy, the French civil aviation coordinator, told NBC News in an interview. "We cannot find a cockpit or big pieces, so it's very difficult to see."

Among the dead were at least three Americans. NBC News confirmed that Yvonne Selke and her daughter Emily, from Virginia, were killed in the crash. The State Department said later that a third American, whom it did not identify, was also killed.

The audio then indicated one of the pilots left the cockpit.

"We don't know yet the reason why one of the guys went out," the official added. "But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door."

The international police organization Interpol said Wednesday it is sending a team to assist with the identification of victims.

Egba Traditional Rulers' call for Change of Leadership at Federal Level During 2015 Elections

Alake of Egba Implores traditional rulers not 

to allow politicians demean Yoruba values.

Report by Tanwa Jones

The Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo has appealed to the Yoruba people not to allow politicians to devalue their cherished culture and heritage of valour, reliability and institute leadership.

It is noteworthy that the Egba, among the Yoruba race, harbours the oldest democracy in Nigeria with the Egba United Government between 1898 and 1914 when it was surrendered to the Queen of England after amalgamation of the North and South protectors to make Nigeria.

Oba Gbadebo expressed dismay at the current trend where politicians, through their overt and covert actions, in their quest for power, now tearing the Yoruba nation into shreds.

Addressing the Egba traditional council meeting at the Ake palace, Abeokuta Friday, Oba Gbadebo warned on the consequences of mortgaging the future of the Yoruba race through unwholesome actions.

The Alake condemned last week's politically motivated rampage visited on Lagos, the commercial city capital of Nigeria by a the break-away faction of Oodua People's Congress(OPC).

Oba Gbadebo was particularly worried that Otunba Adams Adams, one of the leaders of Oodua People's Congress was linked with the infamous Lagos street protest which resulted into wanton damage of property and attack on the psyche of the people.

Receiving the reports of the Pan Yoruba Conference held in Ibadan Thursday from the council's delegates, the Egba traditional rulers noted with regret that the Yoruba race had suffered unmitigated neglect in federal appointments and other dividends of democracy in the current dispensation for which it would be foolhardy to once again rely on its leadership.

The Obas, therefore, encored the resolutions of the Ibadan Conference by calling all people of South West to respond to their consciences and effect a change in Nigeria's leadership in the forthcoming general elections.

Village News Network

Netanyahu wins Israel election

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a come-from-behind victory in Israel's election on Wednesday after tacking hard to the right in the final days of campaigning, including abandoning a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state.

In a four-day pre-election blitz, Netanyahu made a series of promises designed to shore up his Likud base and draw voters from other right-wing and nationalist parties, including a pledge to go on building settlements on occupied land and saying that there would be no Palestinian state if he is re-elected.

With 99.5 percent of votes counted, Likud had won 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, comfortably defeating the Zionist Union opposition on 24 seats, Israeli media said.

It amounted to a dramatic and unexpected victory - the last opinion polls published four days before the vote showed the Zionist Union with a four-seat advantage over Likud.

In a statement, Likud said Netanyahu intended to form a new government within weeks, with negotiations already underway with the pro-settler Jewish Home party led by Naftali Bennett, as well as with religious groups.

The critical party to get on side will be centrist Kulanu, led by former Likud member Moshe Kahlon, who won 10 seats, making him a kingmaker given his ability to side with either Netanyahu or the center-left opposition.

"Reality is not waiting for us," Netanyahu said. "The citizens of Israel expect us to quickly put together a leadership that will work for them regarding security, economy and society as we committed to do - and we will do so."

HARD ROAD AHEAD

If he manages to pull together a workable coalition, it would give Netanyahu a fourth-term in office, putting him on track to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister, a label held by the country's founding father, David Ben-Gurion.

While Likud is the largest party, the process of forming a coalition is likely to be difficult. It needs 61 seats in the Knesset and crossing that threshold will be challenging given the amount of division across Israel's political landscape
Netanyahu's victory is also likely to prolong the country's testy relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama, especially after his strident words on settlements and his backing away from the long-stated international goal of arriving at a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Despite the numbers stacking up in Netanyahu's favor, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said "everything is still open" and that he already had spoken to party leaders about the possibility of forming a government, although the arithmetic for him is much harder to achieve than for Netanyahu.

During much of the campaign, Netanyahu had focused on security issues and the threat from Iran's nuclear program, a message that appeared to gain little traction with voters.
The Zionist Union's focus on socio-economic issues, including the lack of housing and the high cost of living in Israel, appeared to be generating much more momentum, at least as far as opinion polls went.

But Netanyahu's tack to the right, playing up fears of the spread of Islamist groups, promising no concessions to the Palestinians and raising alarm about growing support for Arab-Israeli parties looks to have spurred his base into action.

From the Palestinian point-of-view, the results are a deep concern, raising the prospect of more settlement expansion on land they want for their own state in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza.

If Netanyahu follows through on his pledges it would put him on a collision course with the Obama administration and the European Union, which has been weighing steps including trade measures to sanction Israel for its settlements policy.

The Palestinians will formally become members of the International Criminal Court from April 1 and have said they will pursue war crimes charges against Israel over its 48-year occupation of the West Bank and last year's Gaza war.

Pre-empting those steps, Israel has suspended the transfer of tax revenue it collects on the Palestinians' behalf, holding back around $120 million a month. That has crippled the Palestinian budget and led to deep pay cuts for state workers.

Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel that collapsed in April, told Reuters it appeared Netanyahu would form the next government.

Citing the Israeli leader's rejection of a Palestinian state, Erekat said: "Mr. Netanyahu has done nothing in his political life but to destroy the two-state solution."

Reuters

JONATHAN OFFERED ME VP IN INTERIM GOVERNMENT – TINUBU, ALLEGES ASSASSINATION PLOT

A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan offered him the Vice President slot in the touted interim government arrangement if he agreed to withdraw his support for General Muhammadu Buhari, his party’s presidential candidate.

Tinubu in a statement by his media office also alerted of a plot to assassinate or frame him for the murder of Funso Williams, a prominent politician in Lagos, who was murdered in his Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi home on July 27, 2006.

The statement said the PDP is desperately seeking to put the leader of the APC out of circulation ahead of the Presidential election slated for March 28, 2015.

The full text of the statement reads:

“With the election less than three weeks away and the outcome possibly against them, the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency and the hardliners in the PDP have embarked on a new strategy to put brake on the momentum APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari seems to be gathering.”

This strategy is novel and seems to be the outcome of a desperate calculation in that the PDP has shifted its attention from the APC in order to attack on multiple fronts the former governor of Lagos state and APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.

From what can be gathered through informed sources, the PDP and Jonathan Presidency had recently tried to fracture the APC by offering Tinubu the position of vice President in an interim government if he would agree to part company with the popular Buhari.

Once Tinubu rebuffed the offer to participate in the interim scheme, the presidency decided to change tactics. It would no longer try to entice Tinubu with sugar but would now move to silence and if necessary neutralize him.

The APC National leader has caused President Jonathan’s team countless headaches this campaign season, his declining the interim government offer is just the latest. The Jonathan government sees Tinubu as the linchpin of the APC and its successful electoral strategy.

They also consider him one of the government’s most prolific and able critics due to his longstanding and often strident critiques of Jonathan government policies, from economic development to national security.

More to the point, they blame him as the man who is most responsible for placing them in their current electoral quandary.

They believe without Tinubu’s efforts the successful merger of the political parties into the All Progressives Congress, APC, would not have occurred and they would not be facing possible defeat at the hands of this new party.

The PDP faces its stiffest competition ever in 16 years and the person they blame the most is Tinubu, the major actor who is seen as the strategic mind of the new party and one person who must be stopped at all cost. General Buhari has since been penciled down for similar character assassination and vicious insults alongside other leaders of the APC.

The agenda to tackle Bola Tinubu and weaken his political influence nationwide and to undermine his leadership in South Western politics can be said to have gone into overdrive.

The first part of the strategy is to dredge previously discredited claims of illicit wealth in hopes of silencing Tinubu or lessening his public image. However, they fear this public relations attack may be too soft as Tinubu has been taken before the ICPC and the case against him dismissed. If this attack does not deter his party activities, the presidency and PDP are prepared to take more drastic action if they believe it necessary to win the election by throwing the APC into disarray.

This part of the plot has two options, the first of which is to employ trained snipers to attack Tinubu or assassinate him out rightly. This plan is consistent with the warning made by former President Obasanjo in his now famous 2014 letter to President Jonathan. Those within the PDP favouring this approach argue that when Chief Bola Ige, a powerful politician was murdered, heavens did not fall even though the then President was a Yoruba man. The second option more crafty. The PDP will seek to resuscitate the case of the murder of Funso Williams a former Lagos gubernatorial candidate by blaming Tinubu for the killing.

They are already coaching inmates and others. They are offering them the promise of early release and money if they will make statements implicating Tinubu in the Williams murder. The presidency intends to rush through this process with the hope of putting Tinubu out of circulation by trapping him in a contrived criminal process until the elections are over. Tinubu is not taking these revelations lightly knowing well the capacity of this government for devilish acts.

For the party that boasts it will rule Nigeria for 60 years, it has become an unexpected season of political desperation. The PDP is worried that on March 28, they will discover that they have fallen 44 years short of their dynastic goal. By all accounts, this has caused them to consider very drastic plots and schemes.

Nigerians are confronted with a ruling party willing to descend to the lowest in order to win elections. Perceived political enemies are being hunted. Trumped-up allegations are being manufactured daily from the government factory of lies to taint the leading figures in the All Progressives Party, APC.”

source:TheWill

BREAKING NEWS ! Buhari Arrives Nigeria To Large Airport Crowd

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, early today returned to Nigeria on a British Airways flight from London, after nearly 10 days in London on a campaign break.

Buhari, whose prolonged absence fueled a festival of negative rumors from his opponents, stepped out of the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport to meet party faithfuls that arrived to wait for him as early as 5am. 

He spoke with journalists looking relaxed and assuring his supporters he had returned in excellent health to complete his campaigns before the Presidential elections now scheduled for March 28 2015.

nigerianmonitor