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Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi confirmed dead after helicopter crash
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is confirmed dead after rescuers found a helicopter carrying him and other officials that had crashed in the mountainous northwest of Iran the day before.
He was 63 years old.
Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian; Governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati, Tabriz’s Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Ali Alehashem as well as a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief, head of security and another bodyguard, were all on board, according to Iranian media. All nine passengers on board have been declared dead.
President Raisi, the foreign minister and all the passengers in the helicopter, were killed in the crash,’ a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash in Iran´s East Azerbaijan province.
Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: ‘There it is, we found it.’
An Iranian official said search teams who located the wreckage found ‘no sign of life’.
Mohammad Mokhber, 68, Iran’s first vice president, would assume the role of interim president upon Raisi’s death. Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi´s absence, state media said.
It was also reported that the nation’s government held an ‘urgent meeting’ Monday, with Raisi’s usual chair left vacant and covered in a black sash in his memory.
Rescue teams fought blizzards and difficult terrain through the night to reach the wreckage in East Azerbaijan province in the early hours of Monday.
Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they ‘suspected to be the wreckage of the helicopter.’
The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 12 miles south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.
State media claimed that allied Russia sent a 50-man specialist mountain rescue unit to assist the search.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed it in a Telegram post.
Approximately 73 teams, plus detector dogs, were involved, per Iran’s Red Crescent.
Source:Dailymail.com
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Traders, ‘Okada’ riders take over Circle pavement
• Korle-Bu CEO with staff of Nivaansh MediQas
Activities of traders and drug addicts are contributing to make the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange (Circle) area very uncomfortable and unsafe for commuters.
Day in and out, pedestrians are ‘ejected’ from the pavement created for their safety as traders preferred to sell their wares on that space.
That hinders the free movement of the pedestrians.
The small space left for the pedestrians are also shared with ‘Okada’ riders.
As if these woes are not enough for a commuter on a single day, they also have to navigate carefully to avoid clashes with drug addicts and the mentally challenged.
These people have turned the pavements into their places of abode, covering every inch of space with their wares.
Our photographer, Lizzy Okai, captures some of the unfriendly scenes the authorities must try and deal with to restore sanity to the area.
By Lizzy Okai
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NDC outlines demands before committing to Peace Pact
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has set forth specific conditions that the party insists must be met before considering signing the Peace Pact advocated by the National Peace Council in anticipation of the December 7 elections.
Mr. Nketia expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of past Peace Pacts, highlighting that they had not achieved their intended outcomes, particularly referencing the 2020 elections, during which eight NDC members were allegedly killed by national security operatives without accountability.
During an August 20 meeting with the National Peace Council at the NDC headquarters, Mr. Nketia detailed the certain conditions for the NDC’s participation in the Peace Pact.
The NDC is demanding that the recommendations from the investigation into the violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election be fully implemented.
They also want those responsible for election-related violence in the last election to be prosecuted, stressing the importance of justice and prevention.
The party is calling for accountability regarding irregularities in the printing of ballot papers and insists that visible measures be taken to prevent such issues from happening again.
They are also pushing for a thorough investigation into the missing IT equipment from the Electoral Commission’s (EC) warehouse, expressing concerns about the integrity of the EC’s systems and the potential bias of its staff.
Furthermore, the NDC is urging the President to publicly commit to respecting the results of the 2024 elections. Lastly, the party insists that the Peace Pact should be signed by key figures, including the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and the National Security Coordinator, before they will consider signing it themselves.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
