Police search resumed.

Guernsey Police:

24th January 7.50am update. We are commencing a coastal search using be Channel Islands Air Search plane of Burhou, the Casquets, Alderney, the north coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula, north coast of Jersey and then back over Sark. Further information released when available

DeepNuggets:


Indeed...and out of that big water this beautiful and extremely friendly and intelligent fish is what they want to eat. Hope it quenches their hunger for life...so sad but this is Nigeria.

Indeed, it is beautiful and intelligent. However it's a mammal, not a fish.

Disgusting. If these people are really hungry then why don't they eat crickets and locusts? Plenty of good protein there.

A lot of these dolphins are curious, sociable animals and are naturally friendly towards humans and this is how they are treated. The people eating it probably think it is fish meat. Idiots! Human filth.

It's much cheaper than petrol and a general somewhere will be topping up on fuel expenses. Win win!

Latest update:

You're welcome, OP.

goldfish80:
These propeller, single engine planes are just what they are. My experience going on that thing wasn't nice at all.

Legit question, is Cardiff still contractually obligated to fulfill their payment to Nantes on the back of this tragedy?

It's must be a very touchy subject and one that cannot be raised for a long time. If Sala had life insurance then there might be other avenues to explore, but as it is? He signed on the dotted line at Cardiff, so you would think it would be their responsibility.

Emiliano's father is seen embracing. His father Horatio said: 'I'm desperate. I do not know what will happen... I hope that good news will come. It still feels inexplicable. His whole future ahead of him, all those dreams he had.' The third picture shows him with his mother, Mercedes. (talksport.com)

The 4th pic shows the lifeboat, which has reportedly found parts of the wreckage.

Photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-6620851/Emiliano-Sala-feared-safety-boarding-plane-missing-presumed-dead.html

Nantes fans gather in vigil as news worsens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbxSxlpzuRE


These are the incredibly sad last words of Emiliano Sala as the plane was going down that he sent to his friends:


“Hello, little brothers, how are you crazy people?

"Brother, I’m dead, I was here in Nantes doing things, things, things, things and things, and it never stops, it never stops, it never stops.

"I’m here on a plane that looks like it’s about to fall apart, and I’m going to Cardiff, crazy, tomorrow we already start, and in the afternoon we start training, boys, in my new team…

"Let’s see what happens, so, how are you brothers and sisters, all right?

"If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don’t know if they are going to send someone to look for me because they cannot find me, but you know … Dad, how scared am I!”

UPDATE

Search for Cardiff City FC player's plane suspended

Premier League footballer Emiliano Sala was on a light aircraft which went missing over the Channel Islands.

The £15m Argentine striker, 28, was one of two people on board the Piper Malibu which lost contact off Alderney in the Channel Islands on Monday night.

Cardiff City, which signed Sala from French club Nantes in a record deal on Saturday, said it was "very shocked".

Guernsey Police said there was "no trace" of the Cardiff-bound flight and has suspended the search for the night.

Sala's father, Horacio, told Argentine TV channel C5N, he heard the news from a friend.

"I didn't know anything. I couldn't believe it," he said. "I'm desperate. I hope everything goes well."

Meanwhile, John Fitzgerald, chief officer of the Channel Islands Air Search, said the probability of finding anyone alive from the missing aircraft was "reducing very rapidly".

"We have found no signs of those on board," the force tweeted.

"If they did land on the water, the chances of survival are at this stage, unfortunately, slim."

"I think with the sea temperatures and the sea conditions the chances of finding anybody alive are reducing all the time," he said.

"The sea temperatures are very, very cold and just sap the core temperature of anybody in the water very, very quickly."

The plane left Nantes in north west France at 19:15 and had been flying at 5,000ft when it contacted Jersey air traffic control requesting descent, Guernsey Police said.

The plane lost contact while at 2,300ft and disappeared off radar near the Casquets lighthouse, infamous among mariners as the site of many shipwrecks, eight miles (13km) north-west of Alderney.

The force added UK authorities have been calling airfields on the south coast to see if it landed there but there had been no confirmations and a decision about an overnight search would be made at sunset.

A spokesman for the French Civil Aviation Authority said the Piper PA 46 Malibu aircraft was French but had not been registered in France.

"We can confirm Emiliano Sala was on board," he said.

"This morning, the French research started with one French national navy ship and one aircraft. The investigation will determined which authority will take the lead on the research."

Sightings of red flares were reported during a lifeboat and helicopter search, but "nothing of significance was found", a Channel Islands Air Search spokeswoman said.

Police said on Tuesday more than 1,150sq miles had been searched by five aircraft and two lifeboats. The search had resumed after being called off overnight "due to strengthening winds, worsening sea conditions and reducing visibility".

Cardiff Airport confirmed the aircraft was due to arrive from Nantes at 20:45 but "did not arrive as planned.

Spencer Birns, commercial director at the airport, said: "We are in close contact with the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) and will continue to assist with their enquiries in any way we can."

Guernsey harbour master Captain David Barker said no distress call had been received and if the search continues into the night it is unlikely to have a good outcome.

"We are looking for any traces of an aircraft, a life raft, persons in the water, life jackets," he said.

The Met Office said conditions were not "too intense" at the time the aircraft went missing but had become wetter and windier later in the evening.

John Fernandez, a reporter for BBC Guernsey, said it was a difficult area to search.

"A number of search vessels are out searching the area. It's known for its strong currents - there are a number of shipwrecks," he added.

"The search area is absolutely massive at the moment. They're searching a number of different spots at the moment - they're not sure whereabouts this plane might have gone down."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-46954922

Italy’s deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday insisted that France’s policies in Africa have created poverty and caused migration.

Maio’s remarks came hours after France summoned the Italian ambassador to Paris to protest the original assertions made over the weekend.
Italy’s accusations

Italy’s accusations

Speaking on Saturday in central Italy, Di Maio attacked France’s Africa policy, the latest chapter in a war of words between Rome and Paris since the anti-establishment 5-Star-Movement and far-right League won power last year.

“If we have people who are leaving Africa now it’s because some European countries, and France in particular, have never stopped colonizing Africa,” said Di Maio, who leads the 5-Star.

“If France didn’t have its African colonies, because that’s what they should be called, it would be the 15th largest world economy. Instead it’s among the first, exactly because of what it is doing in Africa.”

Di Maio added that France was manipulating the economies of 14 African countries that use the CFA franc — a colonial-era currency which is underpinned by the French Treasury.

“France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts,” he said.

France reacts

Ambassador Teresa Castaldo was summoned on Monday afternoon by the chief of staff of European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau, the French diplomatic source said.

“It’s not the first time the Italian authorities have made unacceptable and aggressive comments,” the French diplomatic source added.

France argues that the CFA franc has brought welcome monetary stability to the countries that use it, but French President Emmanuel Macron said in 2017 that it was up to African governments to decide what to do with the currency.

Italy wants France sanctioned

The new Italian government has frequently clashed with Paris, be it on immigration or policy in Libya, eager to mark the difference between itself and the previous center-left administration which had good ties with the French authorities.

“I’ve stopped being a hypocrite talking only about the effects of immigration and it’s time to talk about the causes,” Di Maio said at the weekend.

“The EU should sanction all those countries like France that are impoverishing African countries and are causing those people to leave.”

http://www.africanews.com/2019/01/22/italy-wants-france-sanctioned-for-creating-poverty-in-africa/


Pic: Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio has called on the EU to sanction France for ‘impoverishing Africa’.

The sea can be rough at this time of year, but two helicopters and a lifeboat from the Island of Alderney are joining in the search for the Argentine.

Pic 1: The Lighthouse of Casquets Rock, close to where the plane last lost contact.
Pic 2: A UK HM Coastguard helicopter that would be used for the search.
Pic 3: The Alderney Coastguard, currently searching tirelessly for any sign.
Pic 4: The island of Alderney (for some perspective)

There is "genuine concern" Premier League footballer Emiliano Sala was on a light aircraft which disappeared between France and Cardiff.

It is feared the Argentine striker was one of two people on board the Piper Malibu, which went missing off Alderney in the Channel Islands on Monday night.

Cardiff City, which signed the 28-year-old from French club Nantes on Saturday, said it was "seeking clarification" as to what happened.

A search resumed at 08:00 GMT.

Guernsey police said "no trace" of the missing aircraft had been found.

It left Nantes at 19:15 and had been flying at 5,000ft when it contacted Jersey air traffic control requesting descent, the force said.

The plane lost contact while at 2,300ft.

Searches were suspended at 02:00 "due to strengthening winds, worsening sea conditions and reducing visibility", police added.

Cardiff Airport confirmed the aircraft was due to arrive from Nantes but a spokeswoman said there were no further details.

The Met Office said at the time the aircraft went missing "there were some showers around, but nothing too intense".

"Wind speeds were not too bad - average speeds were around 15 to 20mph," it added.

As the search continued into the evening though, it became wetter and windier.

Cardiff signed Sala for a club record £15m after protracted negotiations with Nantes.

He has been among the top scorers in France in recent years and had scored 13 league and cup goals this season, third behind Kylian Mbappe and Nicolas Pepe.

'Last goodbye'

When his signing to Cardiff was announced, he said: "It gives me great pleasure and I can't wait to start training, meet my new teammates and get down to work."

Club chief executive Ken Choo said: "I'm sure all Cardiff City fans will join me in that and we can look forward to seeing our record signing in a Bluebirds shirt."

The most recent tweet from Sala's account was a picture of him and his former team-mates, captioned "La ultima ciao", or "the last goodbye".

Sala began his playing career at Argentinian side Club Proyecto Crecer, before moving to French club Girondins Bordeaux in 2012.

The flight disappeared off radar near the Casquets lighthouse, infamous among mariners as the site of many shipwrecks, 13km north-west of Alderney.

HM Coastguard said the disappearance was not in the UK search and rescue area, but it had sent two helicopters to help.

A spokeswoman said they were assisting Guernsey Coastguard with a search for a light aircraft off Alderney.

"HM Coastguard helicopters from Solent and Newquay have been helping to search overnight with nothing found," she said.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-46954922

A selfless act, but one done in front of the cameras and media glare. It's a shame to go, but he more than served his purpose during his time there. A nice surprise for those Al Shabaab terrorists.

Not a Range Rover, not even a Discovery. A mere, modest Freelander is what he gets again. Perhaps he'll be limited to driving on the estate.

emonkey:
Flimsy Kia wrecks Range Rover. Adonbilivit

It was actually a Freelander. There is modesty for you.

mebad:
She said sharks would only attack humans if they were curious or if they mistook people for their normal prey

who made her the spokes person for sharks

And how does a shark become 'curious'? Are sharks not always curious?

A team of divers has had a close encounter with one of the biggest great white sharks on record - and lived to tell the tale.

Some of the divers came so close to the female shark in the waters off Hawaii that they were able to touch it.

The shark, nearly 20ft (6m) long and weighing an estimated 2.5 tonnes, is believed to be one tagged by researchers about 20 years ago called Deep Blue.

It was attracted to the area off Oahu's south shore by the carcass of a dead sperm whale.

One of the divers, Ocean Ramsey, told the Honolulu Star Advertiser that they had been filming tiger sharks feeding on the whale when the shark arrived.

"We saw a few tigers and then she came up and all the other sharks split, and she started brushing up against the boat," she said.

"She was just this big beautiful gentle giant wanting to use our boat as a scratching post. We went out at sunrise, and she stayed with us pretty much throughout the day."

Ms Ramsey said the shark was "shockingly wide" and could be pregnant. Deep Blue is believed to be about 50 years old and has its own Twitter account.

Great whites are rarely seen around Hawaii as they prefer cooler seas.

Ms Ramsey said older, pregnant great white sharks were the safest to swim near but cautioned against swimming anywhere where sharks were feeding.

She said sharks would only attack humans if they were curious or if they mistook people for their normal prey, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46909353

Luke Potter

Briton Luke Potter worked for the charity Gatsby Africa as their Africa programmes director.

He described himself on his company website as loving water-sports, camping, hiking and talking about adventures outside the city. Mr Potter held dual South African nationality and had only recently moved to Nairobi from Britain.

"I strongly believe in the need for societies to offer as equal an opportunity as possible to all, and that, while economic competitiveness is essential to build a country, long-term stability is not achievable unless the gains are widely spread," he said on the website.

Gatsby Africa said in a statement that he had devoted the past 10 years to "helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world".

It said he played an "instrumental" role in establishing the organisation's forestry programme in Kenya and provided "crucial leadership, guidance and support" to other programmes in Tanzania and Rwanda.

"He brought a calm head and his unique sense of humour to every situation," the company added.

"We share the grief of his family, partner, daughter and friends."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46890336

Feisal Ahmed and Abdalla Dahir

Kenyan development consultants Feisal Ahmed, 31, and Abdalla Dahir, 33, who worked for Adam Smith International (ASI), were having lunch together at the Secret Garden restaurant in the grounds of the hotel when the suicide bomber struck.

Friends and relatives described Mr Ahmed and Mr Dahir as inseparable.

"They were close buddies," Mr Ahmed's brother-in-law Abdullahi Keinan told the Reuters news agency.

"They were so close, people said they would die together."

They had been working for the Somalia Stability Fund managed by ASI to "bring peace and prosperity to Somalia", ASI said on their website.

"He [Ahmed] was an outgoing funny guy, charismatic. He was loved by everybody," said Mohammed Abdilatif, a close friend and colleague told Reuters.

Mr Ahmed's widow is reportedly seven months pregnant.

Mr Dahir's LinkedIn profile says he was passionate about photography and sharing "the stories of vulnerable people especially the voiceless victims of violence in order to educate the world about the detrimental impacts of war".

A joint funeral was held for them on Wednesday.

Jason Spindler

An American tech CEO who survived 11 September World Trade Centre terror attack in New York in 2001 was among the victims of the hotel attack.

"It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that my brother Jason Spindler passed away this morning during a terror attack in Nairobi, Kenya. Jason was a survivor of 9/11 and a fighter. I am sure he gave them hell!" his brother Jonathan said in a private Facebook post.

Mr Spindler was working for investment bank Salomon Smith Barney in the World Trade Center when his building collapsed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, reports AFP.

That ordeal changed his life, said Mr Spindler's friend and former roommate from the University of Texas.

"Something struck a nerve and changed how he felt and thought about things," Kevin Yu told the Washington Post..

"He just felt like he could be doing so much more."

Mr Spindler became co-founder and CEO of I-Dev International - a company focused on financial innovations to reduce poverty - he was working in Kenya on a mini-power grid project tailored for remote areas.

The I-Dev website goes on to say that he studied business at the University of Texas at Austin, then law at New York University and had served for the US peace Corps in Peru.

In an interview with US broadcaster NBC, his mother Sarah Spindler said that Jason was trying to "make a positive change in the third world in emerging markets".

James Oduor

Dubbed "Odu Cobra" by his friends, James Oduor died on the eve of his birthday and was known for his passion for football.

He loved the grassroots game and set up the YouTube fan site, Wadau TV, a year ago.

He was a university friend of BBC business editor Larry Madowo who tweeted, "He was one of the nicest, happiest people I've ever met. Rest well, Odu, nind maber [Luo for rest in peace]. The world is better because you lived."

According to those sharing tributes to him on a site set up to remember him, he was an ardent supporter of the English premier league side Manchester United and played for a local team.

"Manchester United Kenya will miss a loyal fan. And our football team will miss a leader and a brother. Thanks for all the memories and games we had together. Fare thee well. You will be received well by the legends up there," one person wrote.

He also worked for LG Electronics, which has offices in the Dusit complex.

Tweeting in the wake of the attack, Mr Oduor said that he had heard "gunshots and non-stop explosions" and said that he and his colleagues were trapped.

"Your good spirit will live on in football. You did your part," president of the Football Kenya Federation Nick Mwendwa tweeted after it was announced that he had died in the attack.

Sports journalist Jeff Kinyanjui paid tribute on Twitter, saying "No-one ever defended me the way you did... even when I was clearly on the wrong."

His close friend James Magayi, from the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya, told Citizen TV that he had seen Mr Oduor at a business meeting on Tuesday morning.

"We made some banter about his beard; I remember telling him that he needed to trim it," he said.

A statement released by LG Electronics described him "not just an incredible employee, but a truly inspiring and genuine human being".

At least 21 people are known to have died when Islamist al-Shabab militants stormed a luxury hotel compound in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

A 19-hour siege of the DusitD2 hotel and business complex on Tuesday ended with five attackers "eliminated", President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

Among the victims was someone who had survived the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, a football fan and well-known YouTuber and two inseparable friends.

Here is what what we know so far about them:

falcon01:
Pls who pronounced this Błaszczykowski

Haha, some names are better read and not spoken.

But 'B-W-OSH-CHY-KOVSKEE' is the way it is pronounced.

Continued:

This is not just a blind gesture, Wisla Krakow are in dire financial straits.

As of last July, The greatest Polish club of the previous decade was facing eviction from their stadium as mounting debt forced Krakow mayor to not extend lease. Will they find a way out?

13 domestic championships and decent European record – that's how Wisła Kraków was doing just 7 years ago. However, the club's dominance in Polish football ended in 2011. Since then, following the withdrawal of billionaire Bogusław Cupiał, it's been an uphill struggle to stay afloat.

While Wisła has been managing to build an image of considerable stability in recent years, there's a mess behind this facade. And it was revealed today, when the mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski refused to extend the club's stadium lease for further seasons.

The municipality has revealed that the club has been accumulating debt by failing to pay current and past stadium costs. Despite numerous attempts and assurances by Wisła, the club has so far failed to deliver any of the promised solutions.

In 2016 the White Star was given a 24-month deadline to cover what was then a PLN 4.4-million debt. While not significant in European comparison (€1 million), it equalled roughly 15-16 months of stadium use. Not only wasn't the debt paid, it now reaches PLN 6.5 million, almost 2 seasons worth of playing at Stadion Henryka Reymana.

It's commonly expected that the club and municipality will find a way out of the situation, because neither of them has an actual alternative. For Krakow there is only one team able to make proper use of the stadium and for Wisła the stadium, while too large for current demand, is the only place imaginable to play football in, having seen the club stationed within this area for over a century.

How did it come to this?

While the situation seems very one-sided with Wisła being the party to blame, issues with their new stadium have been ongoing basically since the groundbreaking in 2004 and would make for a lengthy book. It's complex and the city also bears its responsibility.

While the stadium concept was created for the club's demand by locally-renowned architect Wojciech Obtułowicz, it was highly imperfect. To add insult to injury, delivery process was also flawed on many levels and had little oversight, resulting in compromised quality and almost 10,000 more seats than initially required by Wisła.

It was, after all, built by the city with taxpayer funding and authorities thus tried to meet the city's aspirations rather than club demands. And it was hoped the stadium could host Euro 2012, which meant it had to exceed 30,000 in net capacity. But Euro never happened for Krakow and the excessive capacity remains.

Almost complete lack of communication between the investor and tenant club resulted in the stadium not meeting Wisła's demands fully, while providing additional facilities which have no business case behind them and have high maintenance cost. As a result, Wisła was refusing to sign any long-term lease for the new stadium since 2007, when the club's financial situation was still very good.

In the end the very first 3-year deal was signed only in 2015, 4 years after the stadium's final delivery and at the end of the 'Cupiał era', when billionaire Bogusław Cupiał was selling the club to save some of his melting fortune.

The White Star refused to take over full management of the stadium, largely due to unfit-for-purpose infrastructure, and opted to only play games there, while vacating most of the offices. To this day the city hasn't found tenants for numerous commercial spaces, trying to make use of the venue by moving some of the municipal workers there.

Since the 2015 lease was signed, Wisła's situation has been deteriorating. Trying to balance the books, the once-champions are now a mid-table side in Ekstraklasa and no longer a magnet for sponsors. It's clear that a strategy for these new conditions is needed from both sides, not just from the indebted club.

http://stadiumdb.com/news/2018/07/poland_wisla_krakow_threatened_with_stadium_eviction

Jakub Błaszczykowski is the definition of loyalty. The former Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg winger is on the verge of joining Wisla Krakow, a team who are on the verge of bankruptcy.

In the process, he will not receive a salary during his time at the club and on top of that, the Polish winger will assist the club financially, contributing around 1.3 million zloty (₦125,000,000) of his own money to his former team.

That money will reportedly pay for outstanding wages. How incredible of a gesture is that? Take a bow, Kuba.

Dortmund tweeted the above earlier to pay their respect to Błaszczykowski, who spent nine years with the Bundesliga outfit, making over 200 appearances in total.

'Kuba' is the most capped player for Poland, making 104 appearances in total for his national side, but this recent gesture is by far his biggest achievement on a personal level.

He is currently training with the club, whom he spent three years with during his time as a youth prospect. Respect.

At the start of the month, former club Wolfsburg announced that they mutually agreed to terminate the player's contract with immediate effect.

They later confirmed that the Poland international is presently in his homeland ahead of a potential transfer.


http://www.sportbible.com/football/news-reactions-take-a-bow-kuba-blaszczykowski-to-join-boyhood-club-wisla-krakow-without-a-wage-20190113

Elephant Seal?


(obviously not a US Seal, looks like private military contractor or US law enforcement).

SalamRushdie:


well he had a Navy Seal Team 3 badge on his back pack

Indeed, I've seen the picture too. Most likely he did some cross-training with the Seals - 22 SAS have a cross-training base in Nairobi. In addition to the gun being SAS issue, the balaclava looks like SAS issue, it's very rare to see a Navy Seal with such kit.

SalamRushdie:


The dude is not even SAS but a member of US Navy Seal Team 3 who are already embeded in the region fighting Alshabab.. we any deny the effort of the U.S. seals and a few SAS in combination with kenyan special forces

As already confirmed on this thread, he is SAS through and through. On top of all the media on the subject, his gun is a C8 Colt 5.56mm which the SAS are known to use. There were US Seals there also, there seems to be one on the right hand side of one of these pictures.

https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2014/06/l119a2-colt-canada-c8-upgrade/

And honestly who cares if the SAS helped to lead this operation? This is not about African pride, it's about saving as many lives as possible and they know how to.