Zambia gets a White President...

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMhZu-pkqzUxtpHBb9TfNT2vEy1djyvh-c3_4aUZmKfXnzHneSmImoE08o40d4gPsP6XwFAwMnQ3OnsQzaIXVO6mpa4LcMbqveBx5UtoIZYd2grN8GIdI03qqvcIaH8YgDCzCqhRxXssy/s1600/00.jpg" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMhZu-pkqzUxtpHBb9TfNT2vEy1djyvh-c3_4aUZmKfXnzHneSmImoE08o40d4gPsP6XwFAwMnQ3OnsQzaIXVO6mpa4LcMbqveBx5UtoIZYd2grN8GIdI03qqvcIaH8YgDCzCqhRxXssy/s1600/00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div> Guy Scott (pictured above with his wife and the Obamas) was sworn in today as the interim president of Zambia following the death of Zambian president Michael Sata yesterday Oct. 28th. This makes Mr Scott, who is of Scottish descent but born in Zambia, the first white president in Africa since apartheid.<br /> <br /> Guy Scott, 70, became vice-president of Zambia in 2011 and will serve as interim-president pending when the country holds fresh elections for a new president within 90 days. The Zambian constitution makes it impossible for Scott to be president because his parents were not born in Zambia.

Zambia gets a White President...

Guy Scott (pictured above with his wife and the Obamas) was sworn in today as the interim president of Zambia following the death of Zamb...

Read more »

Hilarious! Nigerian Superstars as Diseases…by Chris Ogunlowo

<div style="left: -99999px; position: absolute;"> 1. Wizkid Syndrome: A chronic tendency to create catchy and repetitive hits to a loyal fan base with a boyish charm that induces envy from peers and late-bloomers, which also hides the fact, that one is approaching quarter-life. 2. Davidotis: A psychiatric condition whereby a sufferer survives speculations of whether genuine talent or one’s father’s wealth is the source of one’s success, alongside a pervading comparison with an equally talented whiz-kid. 3. Tuface Syndrome: A rare syndrome that occurs when prodigious talent meets prodigious baby-making ability but with a legendary status, strong social equity and a staying power that keep a whole industry in awe. 4. D’banj Obsessive Disorder: A disease characterized by the feeling that one’s best days are firmly behind and, as a result, one looks for outlets to compensate for fading stardom and income, including taking relief in farming- 5. Dangotiosis: A condition marked by an obsession with Dangote‘s wealth, only curable by a decision to mind one’s own business. 6. Lindapilepsy: A strong and strange resentment that occurs when news of Linda Ikeji’s wealth arises, which is commonly observed among struggling publicists, jealous digital marketers, hungry journalists, and retired or rival bloggers. 7. Iyanyamariasis: The abnormal ability of a cell to spot errors in its former ways before proceeding to create a trademark style that takes waist gyrations to nerve-racking heights with performances worthy of Mr. Universe Pageantry. 8. Tontolitis: The debilitating ability to sustain fame in an erratic way as it was acquired while still smiling to the bank. 9. PSquarisasis: When two malignant cells take the understanding of a market to unprecedented heights resulting in a dominance previously thought impossible and doing it with a discernible Igbo accent. 10. Don Jazzy Disorder: A disorder that makes an organ produce back-to-back hits and maintain a social equity that can embarrass pastors and politicians, including a social media addiction and an idiosyncratic singing style that impresses. 11. Kceeosis: A cell’s ability to confuse celebrity with a right to make embarrassing wardrobe choices and a knack for coming out even more horrendous than a previous time despite public outcry and bile from popular bloggers. 12. Jenniferiasis: The ability of an organ to exhibit behavior that would ordinarily be considered razz to a point where the lines between acting and reality are blurred but compensated with popular adulation and brand endorsements. 13. MIplasia: A type of dwarfism that compensates the lack of bone growth with incredible rhyming prowess and a persona capable of inducing endless admiration and beef from hustling rappers. 14. Ice Prince Cerebral Cramps: A disorder that causes exaggerated hip-hop postures, a rigid conformity to infantile end-rhymes that turn rap songs into mainstream classics and also results in multiple awards than most “serious” rappers. 15. Mode Complex: An affliction that causes an artist to be the default reference for prodigious & clever wordplay that, sadly, does not correlate with the amount of albums sold or account balance, a living proof of the saying: ‘grammar no be money’. 16. Dakolomentality: A rare psychotic disorder that inflicts a sufferer with unlimited guttural talent but indistinctive brand positioning & packaging. 17. Olamide Palsy: A malignant tumor that involves a blatant display of one’s ethnicity and background combined with traits mostly reserved for touts but interestingly made into a premium musical package that surprises earlier sufferers of the same tumor who faded into obscurity. 18. Phynognomy: A severe condition similar to Olamide Palsy but with an Igbo flair and an ability to turn what would have been a bad hair day for most into a phenomenal signature look. 19. Bella Naija Syndrome: An affliction whereby the Nigerian national man-hour is spent keeping track of who wore what to where until one wakes up to the reality of a wasted lifetime. 20. Kedike Syndrome: A syndrome that causes a sufferer to endure a clean image despite the presence of a latent sexuality which experts guess might lead to a Rihanna Crisis or, in the extreme, a psychiatric condition of Miley Cyrus proportions.... <br><br> Read More at <a href="http://thenet.ng/2014/10/nigerian-superstars-as-diseases-by-chris-ogunlowo/thenet.ng/2014/10/nigerian-superstars-as-diseases-by-chris-ogunlowo/">thenet.ng/2014/10/nigerian-superstars-as-diseases-by-chris-ogunlowo/</a> Follow us: @theNETng on Twitter | theNETng on Facebook</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPNrIpZyzkGE8FSaqkUHL3_YkkinG728YD2Wa1hZPomOytdrJKVlVB20mguj5RKBAkgzc76ctE8sFqk1U05r4bVucL7UjRyo-yn8bGEG9G2WGdD02XCksvz8EQNbONbgIT_eBLRWkv6ib/s1600/000.jpg"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPNrIpZyzkGE8FSaqkUHL3_YkkinG728YD2Wa1hZPomOytdrJKVlVB20mguj5RKBAkgzc76ctE8sFqk1U05r4bVucL7UjRyo-yn8bGEG9G2WGdD02XCksvz8EQNbONbgIT_eBLRWkv6ib/s1600/000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <b>1. Wizkid Syndrome:</b> A chronic tendency to create catchy and repetitive hits to a loyal fan base with a boyish charm that induces envy from peers and late-bloomers, which also hides the fact, that one is approaching quarter-life. </blockquote>

Hilarious! Nigerian Superstars as Diseases…by Chris Ogunlowo

1. Wizkid Syndrome: A chronic tendency to create catchy and repetitive hits to a loyal fan base with a boyish charm that induces envy fro...

Read more »

PDP Cautions Lawmakers Over Impeachment In States

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEy6rIGGeG4TzS3ijtXFwnNWNl9jKyAYdGD1MqgUMGiUF1FJfCT_8ZBYvquCsqHrMBby9eBSE1KPng0piMtLW-UM7ZJrDVjxlTOdU0kH6ZlRKp5lnA7EPNMOhyphOBhx_exXlbQasz5bXC/s1600/index.jpg" />The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned its lawmakers in the states to thread on the path of caution as impeachment is fast becoming an order of the day in states ruled by the opposition.<br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br /> The party also described as baseless and unfounded, the warning by former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of intimidating opposition political party. <br /> <br /> According to the PDP, the All Progressive Congress (APC) has been the architect of its own misfortune and on a destructive march that is capable of truncating the nation’s democratic journey.<br /> <br /> The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, while addressing a world press conference, said:“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP has never been involved in any impeachment process and we wish to publicly urge our members in all the state houses of assembly to thread with caution and be guided by due process, rule of law in the execution of their legislative duties”.<br /> <br /> Former President and leader of the APC, Mohammadu Buhari had accused President Jonathan and the PDP of clamping down on the opposition.<br /> <br /> “Whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan is behind the gale of impeachment or the utilization of desperate tactics to suffocate the opposition and turn Nigeria into a one-party state, what cannot be denied is that they are happening under his watch, and he cannot pretend not to know, since that will be akin to hiding behind one finger,”<br /> <br /> Buhari said in a statement on Monday.

PDP Cautions Lawmakers Over Impeachment In States

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned its lawmakers in the states to thread on the path of caution a...

Read more »

Five Girls Wounded In Pakistan Acid Attacks

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNff7-scwP-nzt7A_Gp6TMlYOKkIPIg1SaI2PaDgxUTUo6F3YhrOijGYDQcEudI-ZnNRVoq03sAXeG5mgmI6UWwtyNj9gKD8v0SJnYMIPHk6CrSJ9fKP3eP0ruz5IljMLsKZFKQ0ZlgYD/s1600/index.jpg" />At least five Pakistani girls were wounded in two separate acid attacks by motorcycle riders in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said Tuesday.<br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br /> In the latest incident, two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle squirted acid on two girls, aged 14 and 15 in the town of Mastung, some 40 kilometres east of Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan.<br /> <br /> “One girl’s face was wounded and the other’s neck got acid burns,” local police official Wazir Lango told AFP.<br /> <br /> The girls were returning from the local market when the attack occurred on Tuesday, Lango said, adding that doctors have not yet specified how severe the wounds were.<br /> <br /> Lango said that the girls were admitted to hospital, while the police had begun to investigate, but so far the motive behind the attack was unclear.<br /> <br /> Separately, two other unknown assailants riding a motorbike threw acid on three girls in their twenties in Quetta on Monday when they were also returning from a market, the city’s police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP.<br /> <br /> He said that girls had suffered three to 11 percent burns on their faces.<br /> <br /> Acid attacks are common in Pakistan with scores of such assaults taking place each year, often for spurning the advances of men.<br /> <br /> Victims are left with horrendous injuries and are often blinded.<br /> <br /> Their plight became the focus of a 40-minute Oscar-winning documentary Saving Face by a Pakistani woman Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in 2012. [AFP]

Five Girls Wounded In Pakistan Acid Attacks

At least five Pakistani girls were wounded in two separate acid attacks by motorcycle riders in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, ...

Read more »

Jonathan, Service Chiefs In Closed Door Meeting With Abducted Chibok Girls’ Parents

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7Z4DONRjySv5aNvwf3vlYxo8L6tSKbMjneQDiUib8QvCDE8sebcIQUp_WvjGNYeWylgRaI09nAdTJW1VUq4JlKGYRybjelVj8cEjCqJ181cszV4Z_7uPwhtkP0ado1a7SO51ssYB_gPK/s1600/parents-of-missing-schoolgirls-chibok.gif" />President Goodluck Jonathan is currently in a closed-door meeting with parents of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State on April 14. <br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br />The meeting is coming on the heels of the president’s promise to Pakistani girl-child education activist, Malala Yousafzai that he will meet with the Chibok girls’ parents.<br /> <br />The meeting, which is holding inside the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, has in attendance the 51 girls that escaped from captivity, their parents and those of the over 200 girls still in captivity as well as opinion and community leaders from Chibok.<br /> <br />Jonathan is attending the meeting alongside the Senate President, David Mark; Governors of Borno and Bauchi States, Kashim Shettima and Isa Yuguda respectively; members of the Federal Executive Council as well as service chiefs among others.<br /> <br />When the meeting commenced at about 11:20AM, Journalists were excused from the venue.<br /> Today, July 24, makes it exactly 100 days since the girls were abducted from Chibok by Boko Haram gunmen.

Jonathan, Service Chiefs In Closed Door Meeting With Abducted Chibok Girls’ Parents

President Goodluck Jonathan is currently in a closed-door meeting with parents of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State on Apri...

Read more »

Former Minister, Ezekwesili, Narrates Encounter With SSS Operatives At Abuja Airport

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdMrg2vaqu8-WSPPtOQq_kXUC6ZzJTQuv9JQce2cpxOMUZP_YB6CtrtKhcBikjTR1A7D57RBp87Be5OSilMtlieeyji1uxza_B1MTpitDnbi4pa7NEsg-tZZnKGFshyq-Jq6EZfXQwFbO/s1600/index.jpg" /> <br /> A former Minister of Education and one of the coordinators of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Dr (Mrs) Obi Ezekwesili, has spoken out about her Monday encounter with operatives of the Department of State Security Services at the Abuja International Airport. <br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br />Ezekwesili, who was delayed and harassed by SSS operatives for over 40 minutes at the airport, was traveling to London to appear on a scheduled programme of the BBC, HardTalk.<br /> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYDehqogn1GbLq_JHsJKhpJk9MwAZlNnBB7dnhrgSiPmIQHLwP6UW9sMwzE_gCof3eze2jvUbTp9TgnbcOQLpYujT9zqcO9VCrYfl-kpO-01KEv5usN5mYwf-tVwwRIze0H0oK078g4H9/s1600/c.jpg" /> <br /> While in London on Tuesday, the former minister and retired Vice President of the World Bank (Africa), who is also a trustee of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, narrated her ordeal during her visit to the association members in that country, as contained in a statement by the CANAN Executive Director, Pastor Laolu Akande:<br /> <br />“I arrived at the airport yesterday (on Monday) to travel to London on British Airline. First, after the luggage screening section, I moved to the Customs people, sitting right next to it and do a more thorough bag search. Rather than they handling my luggage as is the practice, there were three SSS men, who rudely took over before they could do so, and ordered me to open my bag.<br /> <br />“I was travelling light, with just my hand luggage leather roll on and my computer bag. I placed the bag for them (to see) and one was already furiously frisking through it when the Customs advised that a woman be allowed to do it. She was allowed and she did it.<br /> <br />“She finished, zipped up the luggage and they said I could proceed. But I asked that the computer bag be also searched, and they did.<br /> <br /> “I went on to do my checking and got my boarding pass, and was swiftly done. I arrived the Departure Immigration Desk at about 7.15am and presented my passport and forms. The Immigration staff did his processing and handed to the SSS official. Usually, their entire process lasts no more than five to 10 minutes on a passport.<br /> <br />“As a frequent traveller through our Lagos and Abuja airports, I speak based on experience and evidence. Even on the same day, the process for other travellers that I witnessed did not last more than five minutes. But on Monday, it became five, 10, 15 and 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 minutes for the Departure Desk processing for me, with no explanation given except “We act under instruction.<br /> <br />“He responded, “I am not doing this personally madam. I am simply acting based on instruction, and you of all persons should understand that.<br /> <br />“When it was 20 minutes into the process, and with BA announcing the final boarding call for the 8am flight, the officer walked out of the cubicle, heading off. I followed him, asking where he was going without giving back my passport nor an explanation on why it was being withheld. His nonchalant response was “just wait. I am trying to help you.<br /> <br />“It became evident that they withheld the passport to detain me at their departure desk in order to miss the flight. That was when I tweeted @ 7.37am “@obyezeks: Is this a democracy? I am being detained by the SSS @ Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. <br /><br />The SSS has refused to give my passport to me.” At 7.41am “@obyezeks: On my way to London this morning for my @BBCHARDtalk appearance billed for tomorrow and the SSS has detained me by withholding my passport.<br /> <br />“At that point, I brought out my phone to record him even as I asked for the passport. He got angry and charged at me that he would seize my phone. Then his colleague screamed at him a third time to handover the passport. He did”.

Former Minister, Ezekwesili, Narrates Encounter With SSS Operatives At Abuja Airport

A former Minister of Education and one of the coordinators of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Dr (Mrs) Obi Ezekwesili, has spoken out a...

Read more »

Oshiomhole Warns Politicians Against Politicizing Security Issues

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86Qn6Ftyw54YaZVr7LhdOTRbHeXwQHIHyWZWW57jfQ5fRELiEBVaUTnuLBx-PK5qlRyljxwN4RxSxqQoRdvjgbUahadvy0vgE560daReiOWW1tlv629vQq4msCPG-lfAVPNihiCvIR2ZK/s1600/adams_oshiomhole_455297545.jpeg" />Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged politicians in the country to resist the temptation of playing politics with security matters. <br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br />Speaking at a Security Management Workshop organised by the Department of State Security (DSS) in Benin City, the state capital yesterday, the governor warned that playing politics with sensitive security matters will only embolden the perpetrators.<br /> <br />He said: “Nothing else matters when we are not safe. I also want to advise those of us who hold political office and have cause to make public statements that we must resist the temptation of politicising security issues.<br /> <br />“All politicians, whether of the ruling or opposition party, must not join in the madness of politicising security issues.<br /> <br />“If we do this, we will be encouraging kidnappers and other evil-minded people.<br /> <br />“We must resist the temptation and trust that the security agencies know what to do.<br /> <br />“Even where we have information, it is better we share it in private with the security agencies so that all of us can be on the same page”.<br /> <br />Oshiomhole added: “Each and everyone of us, being senior officials of government, people look at us that we should be able to educate those we come across on basic security issues.<br /> <br />“These people who are into violent crimes and terrorism do not live in the moon; they live with us. Sometimes they interact with us without us knowing what their intentions are.<br /> <br />“As we all get more security conscious, we know what to watch out for whenever we find ourselves in public places”.<br /> <br />Gov. Oshiomhole thanked the DSS for coming up with the workshop and expressed the hope that at the end, the participants would have comprehended basic tips on security.<br /> <br />In his remarks, the DSS State Director, Bello Bakori, said the workshop was to sensitise the people to be security conscious.<br /> <br />He added that most of the criminals in the society live with the people and security agencies carry out their assignments based on information.

Oshiomhole Warns Politicians Against Politicizing Security Issues

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged politicians in the country to resist the temptation of playing politics with security mat...

Read more »

Subsidy: FG, Oil Marketers Clash Over Interest Charge

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5o8QJ3y6IiPxUWwKdGPofHkJ_m76RYe_a8ozr_wsOqit1Ni3F0vuL81RJIb0rJmE4M-zLRjNXcKVnt4975Rk9UzJ0AG4J2-NoYtaOlndPchmuhLsJCPsQxsKXJ4ZIMfE80PwO88rt8Cgq/s1600/ff.jpg" /> <br /> The Federal Ministry of Finance and petroleum products marketers are now engaged in war of words over accrued interest on bank loans on account of delayed payments of subsidy by the ministry.<br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br />Although both parties have taken newspaper advertorials to state their cases, the market may soon be plunged into another round of fuel shortages if the impasse is not resolved soon.<br /> <br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHufRg3lJJS8VIMySBT2n2x4bJ8RoMbBFQEKSODizxqT2ARwtKJkaVxBf5t06bB1zIKZnlgOp4gZwzcOowhg4VdBsPH5ZYQtcNNRQeH4dqJnFI_csP_SM53ozaLJN5v7CLvPCouV18eG8v/s1600/images.jpg" />Reacting to the Ministry’s advertorial to the effect that government will no longer pay interest charges as part of subsidy claims in some national dailies last week, oil marketers insist that crisis loomed if the terms were not renegotiated.<br /> <br />The Ministry paid N44.1 billion to marketers, which it made public in the advertorial, while dissociating itself from future payments of banks’ interest charges as being part of the claims.<br /> Already, the fuel marketers by their own calculations are being owed about N190.56 billion as unpaid subsidy from November 2013 till date.<br /> <br />Speaking further with journalists on the issue in Lagos yesterday, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, noted that government is obligated to pay both the principal and the interest if it defaults on the 45 days reimbursement agreement reached with oil marketers.<br /> <br />Of the about N190.56 billion owed marketers, he noted that MOMAN, whose members include Conoil, Forte Oil, Mobil, MRS, Oando, and Total oil marketing companies, are being owed about N94.16 billion.<br /> <br />According to him, the N44.1 billion paid by the Finance Ministry is only a part payment for November 2013, adding that payment was only made after “CBN wrote a memo to all banks to confirm marketers’ claims by issuing debit notes for the value being claimed.”<br /> <br />Defending government’s obligation to pay both principal and interest, Olawore said: “In any financial arrangement, there is a penalty. If you default, you pay the price.<br /> <br />“The 45 days reimbursement tenure for claims is not an imposition by marketers. It was an agreement reached by all stakeholders including the Ministry of Finance, their auditors, MOMAN, IPMAN (Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria), DAPPMA (Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association), banks, PPPRA (Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency), NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) and others.”<br /> <br />As a result, Olawore maintained that any change in status quo must be renegotiated and agreed by all stakeholders and not by unilateral decision.<br /> <br />To underscore the huge debt overhang being incurred by marketers, he disclosed that Sterling Bank issued one of its members a debit note of N300 million as interest accruable from the facility extended to it after the 45 days tenure.<br /> <br />He said: “So it is a very rigorous process and no marketer is benefiting from the interest charges; only the banks are smiling home while marketers are being almost stifled out of business, because the interest charges also affects our liquidity status.

Subsidy: FG, Oil Marketers Clash Over Interest Charge

The Federal Ministry of Finance and petroleum products marketers are now engaged in war of words over accrued interest on bank loans on ...

Read more »

2 Ukrainian Military Jets Shot Down – Defence Ministry

<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNaPhBV7KzgY5CKPVsqw96WPpBWHvzFuuK5divp0vbs6lIkIVB3EZEUa3kFn6eJ316edLjTWdT9KPChcMn9yzg1hBBQbk5sv1_XpVi3VRu7h8RQMnG3UyALpA314iYRwwp_5Ch95jnlFr/s1600/index.jpg" /><br /> Two Ukrainian fighter jets shot down in the rebel-held area where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed were hit by missiles fired from Russian soil, Ukraine’s military said.<br /> <div style="float: right; margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;"> </div> <br />“According to preliminary information, the rockets were launched from Russian territory,” Kiev’s National Security and Defence Council said.<br /> <br />The planes came down close to the village of Dmytrivka, some 45 kilometres southeast of the MH17 crash site, towards the Russian border, as they were providing air support for government infantry, the statement said.<br /> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnZs22_dSzjioAbXyTFF4byyZzdOKLu6nnOr5Irbf1lnWO5J70R1FAonRn6Ti8vh7rNwv_tKuo9UWa6WuO7K0OO22h5j8Ju8bli3gEYcfcgKaGsWjspzNnqTDZeeOf4lEelYxWWyksrS0-/s1600/indextt.jpg" /><br />The security council added that the Su-25 jets were flying at an altitude of 5200 metres.<br /> <br />Pro-Russian rebels have insisted on several occasions that they were not equipped with weapons capable of hitting targets above an altitude of 2500 metres.<br /> <br />However, a spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told AFP its fighters had shot down the two aircraft.<br /> <br />An AFP crew trying to reach the scene was turned back by rebels who fired shots near their car some 10 kilometres from Dmytrivka.<br /> <br />The press office for Kiev’s military campaign against the insurgents had earlier blamed “pro-Russian bandits” fighting in Ukraine for downing the jets.<br /> <br />The pilots from both jets managed to parachute out, it said, giving no further details about their condition.<br /> <br />The downing of the government jets comes just six days after the insurgents were accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane using a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board.<br /> <br />The rebels have denied that they attacked flight MH17 as it flew at some 10,000 metres, accusing the Ukrainian military of being responsible for hitting the jet.<br /> <br />Pro-Russian rebels battling government troops in the east had previously taken out a string of Ukrainian military aircraft during their 15-week insurgency.<br /> <br />Kiev alleged last week that an air force transport plane was shot down from across the Russian frontier, while another Su-25 jet was gunned down by a Russian plane.<br /> <br />The latest incident came after a ceasefire was declared by both sides in the immediate vicinity of the Boeing 777 crash site, where Malaysian experts and international monitors are examining the airliner’s wreckage.<br /> <br />Earlier, the first 40 bodies recovered from MH17 were flown out of the government-held city of Kharkiv, bound for Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

2 Ukrainian Military Jets Shot Down – Defence Ministry

Two Ukrainian fighter jets shot down in the rebel-held area where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed were hit by missiles fired from R...

Read more »