Wednesday, January 08, 2020


Quake hits near Iran nuclear plant, injuring seven

AFP•January 7, 2020


The Bushehr plant, which produces 1,000 megawatts of power, was completed by Russia after years of delay and officially handed over in September 2013 (AFP Photo/ATTA KENARE)More

Tehran (AFP) - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on Wednesday rattled an area less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant near the country's Gulf coast, a US monitor said.

The quake, which had a depth of 10 kilometres, struck 17 kilometres south-southeast of Borazjan city at 6:49 am (0319 GMT), the US Geological Survey said on its website.

State news agency IRNA said the earthquake was felt in Bushehr.

There were no reports of any damage to the nuclear facility.

But seven people were injured, including four who were hospitalised, IRNA reported, citing the head of Bushehr's crisis management centre, Jahangir Dehghani.

"The crisis management team is in the region and assessing the damage" to buildings, he said in the report published hours after the earthquake struck.

The latest quake comes exactly a fortnight after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit the same area, without causing any casualties or major damage.

The Bushehr plant, which produces 1,000 megawatts of power, was completed by Russia after years of delay and officially handed over in September 2013.

In 2016, Russian and Iranian firms began building two additional 1,000-megawatt reactors at Bushehr. Their construction was expected to take 10 years.

Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours have often raised concerns about the reliability of the Bushehr facility and the risk of radioactive leaks in case of a major earthquake.

The Islamic republic is seeking to reduce its reliance on oil and gas with 20 nuclear power plants planned over the coming years.

Its nuclear programme is at the centre of a dispute with the United States, which suspects Iran is trying to obtain a weeapons capability, something Tehran vehemently denies.

US-Iran tensions have risen sharply since May 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 accord that gave Tehran relief from sanctions in exchange for limits on the programme.

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Did the U.S. 'assassinate' Iranian general or just kill him? Why it matters

Dylan Stableford and Christopher Wilson
Senior Staff,
Yahoo News•January 6, 2020

Did the U.S. ‘assassinate’ Iranian general, or kill him?

Sen. Bernie Sanders immediately called it an 
assassination in a statement distributed by his campaign 


Scroll back up to restore default view.



A debate over how to describe the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani reached the 2020 Democratic primary over the weekend as candidates argued whether or not the drone strike that killed him constituted an “assassination.”

Soleimani, the charismatic face of Iran’s expansionist Middle East policy and head of the Quds Force — the special operations and intelligence branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard — was killed by an American drone outside the Baghdad airport on Friday. The White House said Iran “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” But when pressed Sunday about whether intelligence showed that attacks were “imminent,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dodged the question.

Sen. Bernie Sanders immediately called it an assassination in a statement distributed by his campaign. Sen. Elizabeth Warren did the same in a series of tweets on Saturday, saying “Donald Trump ... assassinated a senior foreign military official. He’s been marching toward war with Iran since his first days in office — but the American people won’t stand for it.”

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, currently lagging behind both candidates in the polls, took exception to that description.

“This is a guy who had an awful amount of American blood on his hands,” Bloomberg said Saturday. “I think that’s an outrageous thing to say. Nobody that I know of would think that we did something wrong in getting the general.”

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said, “I am not interested in the terminology.”

But the terminology used to describe Soleimani’s killing is important when it comes to both U.S. and international law.

Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani,
 pictured in 2016. (Photo: Pool/Press Office of Iranian 
Supreme Leader/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

In 1976, President Gerald Ford issued an executive order to make political assassinations illegal after revelations that the CIA had organized or sanctioned assassination attempts against foreign leaders, including Fidel Castro.

“No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination,” the executive order states.

But Ford’s order does not define what constitutes an assassination. In common usage it has been interpreted to mean the killing of a political leader in peacetime.

International law also forbids peacetime assassinations. The Hague and the Geneva Conventions prohibit the premeditated killing of a specific individual commander for what they have done on the battlefield or what they may do.

While the United States has never declared formal war on Iran, it has long engaged in a shadow war in the Middle East, and since 9/11 has engaged in targeted killings of terror leaders including Osama bin Laden and, just a few months ago, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 

In justifying the attack on Soleimani, administration officials have cited the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed in September 2001 or the 2002 AUMF, which allows force against the vague “continuing threat posed by Iraq.” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., was the only legislator to vote against the 2001 AUMF and has been fighting for years to repeal them.

Legal experts are divided on the issue.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert in international law and the laws of war at the University of Notre Dame School of Law, told the Associated Press that Soleimani’s killing was “clearly an assassination.”

Duke Law Professor Madeleine Morris said the law is not terribly clear, especially since the Trump administration has yet to publicly disclose intelligence about imminence of any planned attack.

“The problem is that governments have good reason to make very little public in this situation, which makes it very difficult to evaluate the situation politically or legally,” she said.

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‘You’re Never Prepared For This’: Puerto Rico Reels From Fresh Quake Nightmare
Jhoni Jackson, The Daily Beast•January 7, 2020
Getty

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Large sections of Puerto Rico plunged into darkness Tuesday after a 6.4 earthquake that killed at least one person and left island residents still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Maria feeling newly vulnerable, frustrated, and alone.

A day earlier, another quake—this one clocking in at a magnitude of 5.8— disintegrated an iconic, natural coastal treasure: a rocky “window" to the sea in Guayanilla that was a popular attraction for both locals and tourists. Tuesday’s activity, however, severely impacted the electrical grid, leaving parts of the island without power in a bitter recall of the nearly yearlong partial outage that began in late 2017.

As of Tuesday evening, the latest blackout remained widespread, with the power authority still working to reestablish service for the majority of the island. (The Daily Beast reached out for comment to the agency but had not received a response at the time of publication. Up-to-date info on power restoration can be found here.) Many residents were also without water.

The Streets Are ‘Not Safe’: Puerto Rico Begs U.S. for Help

In addition to the fear of constant aftershocks, especially for those living in the southern part of the island, the specter of past government failures—not to mention cascading U.S.-Iranian conflict drawing most of the headlines—had some residents resigned to riding out this new kind of storm on their own.

Sarimer Valedon Morciglio, 27, lives close to Guayanilla, in Yauco, with her mother. They adopted a state of emergency preparedness after Monday’s quake, deciding to sleep together in the living room of their home—fully clothed, shoes included.

Still, when Tuesday’s quake hit, Valedon Morciglio’s 50-year-old mother was injured: “My mom fell,” she told the Daily Beast. “She has a mark on her head, a bruise on her side, and her knee is swollen.”

Of the homes and buildings that have fissured or ruptured, a three-story, active public school in Guánica folded into itself like a half-crushed soda can. Because of the hour, no students were inside. Meanwhile, images of crumbled or cracked cement houses and buildings around the island, particularly around the epicenters near the southern towns of Guánica and Guayanilla, were flooding Puerto Rican social media throughout Tuesday.

Aftershocks rolled in one after another, Morciglio added, her voice quivering. “It was like, four in a row. You couldn’t move.”

Guayanilla resident Hector J. Nieves García, 35, was grateful to see his home intact as of late Tuesday. But he worried for his cousins and aunt, who live close by in a house built atop columns. Some of the houses that have succumbed to the quakes are built in the same style, he explained. No changes are apparent as of now, he added, “But you never know. We’re not experts.”

Both Valedon Morciglio and Nieves García, as well as another Guayanilla resident, 47-year-old Tato Torres, said they were feeling at least two aftershocks, some stronger than others, per hour as of late Tuesday.

“You think you’re prepared, but you’re never prepared for this,” Torres said. “You feel very vulnerable.”

In Torres’ own barrio, neighbors were congregating outside, some sitting in their cars, worried that the next event could bring the collapse of any structure they might be inside. He lamented that few seemed to have concrete plans of action for quakes like these. “There are basic understandings that everyone should know, and it would help alleviate the anxiety,” he said. “But there’s no resources.”

San Juan’s Iconic La Perla Neighborhood Defies Trump

He put no stock in government aid, saying instead that, like the island’s recovery post-Hurricane Maria, it was the Puerto Rican diaspora in combination with those on the ground—communities working together—where help and support might be found.

On Tuesday, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, who succeeded former Governor Ricardo Rosselló after leaked chat logs and corruption allegations led to his resignation, declared a state of emergency. But considering the commonly acknowledged failures of Puerto Rico’s government and FEMA post-Hurricane Maria, Torres was far from alone in his reluctance to rely on authorities for help.

For Valedon Morciglia, there was safety—and some tranquility—in numbers. She and her mother were, by Tuesday evening, now staying with family members, albeit still in Yauco. Her mother’s injury and also seeing an estimated 80-pound gate fall and break on their property, she explained, was enough impetus for them to find refuge elsewhere. They don’t want to experience what comes next alone.

“It’s frustrating,” she said, trembling. “I just hope when we get back that the house is still there.”

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Eat This, Meat Loaf: Greta Thunberg Serves Up Facts To Rocker's 'Brainwashed' Slam

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg responded Monday to American rocker Meat Loaf’s condescending suggestion last week that the Swedish teen has been brainwashed into believing there’s an environmental crisis.
Thunberg, 17, declared that the issue of climate change comes down to “scientific facts” — not brainwashing.
“It’s not about Meatloaf. It’s not about me. It’s not about what some people call me. It’s not about left or right,” she tweeted. “It’s all about scientific facts. And that we’re not aware of the situation.”
She linked to an infographic from the United Nations Environment Programme’s emissions gap report, which indicated the globe may be close to a tipping point.
In a Daily Mail interview published Jan. 1, Meat Loaf, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday, noted that he simply does not believe in climate change. Thunberg “has been brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change, and there isn’t,” said the 72-year-old singer. “She hasn’t done anything wrong, but she’s been forced into thinking that what she is saying is true.”
Thunberg, who was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019, is helping to inspire a global environmental movement ― and has become a lightning rod for attacks. 
President Donald Trump mocked Thunberg in response to her Time honor, telling her: “Chill Greta, Chill!” 
Meat Loaf didn’t immediately respond to Thunberg’s takedown, but plenty of other people on Twitter did.
Meat Loaf didn’t immediately respond to Thunberg’s takedown, but plenty of other people on Twitter did.
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#SAVEORANGUTAN #BOYCOTTPALMOIL

India asks refiners to stop buying Malaysian palm oil after political row - sources

By Rajendra Jadhav and Aftab Ahmed,
Reuters•January 7, 2020

By Rajendra Jadhav and Aftab Ahmed

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has informally asked palm oil refiners and traders to avoid buying Malaysian palm oil, government and industry sources said on Tuesday, following Malaysian criticism of India's actions in the Kashmir region and its new citizenship law.

India is the world's biggest buyer of the oil and palm oil inventories could spike in Malaysia, putting prices under pressure if Indian refiners reduce purchases from the country. Malaysian prices are the global benchmark for palm oil prices.

A senior official in India's vegetable oil industry, who did not wish to be named, said the government had asked refiners at a meeting attended by two dozen vegetable oil industry officials in New Delhi on Monday to boycott Malaysia.

"In Monday's meeting we have been verbally told to avoid buying Malaysian palm oil," the official said.

"We've had various rounds of meetings within the government and industry to see how we could reduce imports from Malaysia," one Indian government official said, adding India has yet to firm up a plan of action and is exploring various options.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has angered India over his comments on India's actions in Kashmir and over a new Indian citizenship law, which critics say chips away at India's secular foundations and could be used by to discriminate against Muslims.

In October, Indian traders stopped signing new contracts with Malaysia for a brief period fearing India will raise import tax on Malaysian palm oil after Mahathir told the U.N. General Assembly that India had "invaded and occupied" Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority region also claimed by Pakistan.

Last month, Mahathir, prime minister of a predominantly Muslim nation, also waded into the debate about India's new citizenship law, which has led to violent protests in India and at least 25 deaths in clashes with police.

"People are dying because of this law. So why is there a necessity to do this thing when all this while, for 70 years almost, they have lived together as citizens without any problem?" Mahathir said last month.

The Indian government has made it clear it wants to punish Malaysia for these remarks and traders should support it, said another industry official.

"The government has been struggling to find ways to restrict imports from Malaysia due to World Trade Organization rules. For the time being it asked for industry co-operation," he said.

India's trade ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Malaysia's Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, responsible for the palm oil industry, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event that the government has not received any official statement or notice from India about cutting imports from Malaysia.

"There are some discussions going on but until they officially announce, we don't know whether it's true," said Kalyana Sundram, CEO of Malaysian Palm Oil Council, a state agency responsible for promoting palm oil.

Palm oil accounts for nearly two-thirds of India's total edible oil imports. India buys more than 9 million tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Indian refiners and traders have already contracted Malaysian palm oil for shipments in January and small amounts for February, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

"The impact of Monday's meet would be clearly visible from March onward - Indonesia's exports will rise," the dealer said.

Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil, followed by Malaysia. Palm oil is crucial for the Malaysian economy as it accounts for 2.8% of Malaysia's gross domestic product and 4.5% of total exports.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Aftab Ahmed; Additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Euan Rocha and Susan Fenton)



Palm fresh fruit bunches are delivered to a mill in JohorMore

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures recovered from early losses on Tuesday on bargain buying, but gains were capped by worries of a disruption to export shipments in case of an escalation in Middle East tensions.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 26 ringgit, or 0.9%, to 3,068 ringgit ($749.39) during the midday break.

Palm oil had traded down for two straight sessions, easing from its near-three year high gained last week when it hit 3,149 ringgit on Friday - the highest since January 2017.

"Lower Dalian and higher ringgit kept the market depressed at opening, but a rebound in the equity markets from bargain buying helped reverse losses," said Sathia Varqa, owner and co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.
Tensions between the United States and Iran have weighed on equity markets and some commodity markets in Malaysia. The market remain nervous as a war in the Middle East could disrupt shipment routes and drive up freight charges, traders said.

Losses were limited by forecasts of lower stockpiles and production in December. Malaysia's palm oil stockpiles likely fell 8.5% from November to 2.06 million tonnes, the lowest in 27 months, a Reuters survey showed on Sunday.

Yield of the tropical oil is also expected to be lower in the first half of 2020 due to poor rainfall and lower fertilizer usage in top producers Malaysia and Indonesia in early 2019.

A stronger ringgit, palm's currency of trade, makes the edible oil more expensive for holders of foreign currency. The ringgit was up 0.2% against the dollar.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract was unchanged, while its palm oil contract both dipped 0.9% lower as Chinese funds closes their books ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays. Elsewhere, soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade gained 0.2%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.


(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Arun Koyy
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Chevron Evacuates Oil Workers From Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Zacks Equity Research
Chevron Corporation CVX has evacuated all its American personnel from Iraq as a precautionary measure, following growing tension in the Middle East. Due to the killing of an Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in an U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad urged all American citizens to leave Iraq immediately.

In northern Iraq, the company holds stake only in the Kurdistan Region. It owns a 40% non-operating interest in the Qara Dagh production-sharing contract, and operates and has a 50% interest in the Sarta production-sharing contract. Evacuation of all U.S. oil workers from the region implies that the company has no more American citizens in the Iraqi soil. Local staff in the region is currently maintaining its operations in the Kurdistan. Per the Iraqi oil ministry, other foreign workers in the country have been retained and operations remained normal.

The largest publicly-traded U.S. energy company, Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM also has operations in the southern part of the country. The company is monitoring the situation in the region and has provided safety measures for workers. Other major energy companies like BP plc BP and Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A also have operations in the country.

San Ramon, CA-based Chevron is one of the largest publicly-traded oil and gas companies in the world, in terms of proved reserves. Its key assets are focused on the United States, Australia, most of South America, as well as eastern and central Asia. The company also operates in western Africa. It is expected to release fourth-quarter 2019 results on Jan 31, 2020. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for the quarter is pegged at $1.56 per share, indicating a 24.3% decline from the year-ago period.

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Jeremy Corbyn has refused to describe assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as a “terrorist”.


Jeremy Corbyn has refused to describe assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as a “terrorist”.

THE YELLOW PRESS IN ENGLAND CONTINUES TO ATTACK CORBY

WHEREAS I AGREE WITH HIM THAT SOLEIMANI WAS ASSASSINATED BY THE AMERICAN

AFTER THEY DESIGNATED HIM A TERRORIST WHICH HE IS NOT HE IS A STATE REPRESENTATIVE THUS IMMUNE TO MILITARY OR OVERT ASSAULT.
Jeremy Corbyn refuses four times to describe Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as a 'terrorist'

Andy Wells
Freelance Writer,
Yahoo News UK•January 8, 2020

Corbyn refuses to answer Soleimani 'terrorist' questions

Jeremy Corbyn has refused to describe assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as a “terrorist”.

The Labour leader was asked whether he believed that Soleimani had engaged in acts of terrorism before he was killed in a US air strike last week.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Corbyn was given four opportunities to label Soleimani a terrorist – but refused to do so on each occasion.

When asked why Soleimani was in Iraq, Mr Corbyn said: “He was in Iraq, for reasons of contact, I assume, with the Iraqi government – I've no idea what his actual meetings were.
Jeremy Corbyn asked by Sky News if he considered General Qassem Soleimani a terrorist. (Getty)
Mourners pay homage to General Soleimani. (PA)

“All I'm saying is that to assassinate an official of a foreign government in a third country, in this case Iraq, is illegal under any law and the US – if it wants the world to stand by international law – must stand by international law itself.”

Asked again if he accepted that Soleimani was a terrorist, Mr Corbyn responded: “I'm not here to defend the special forces of Iran, I'm not here to defend any of those actions that have happened or been planned for the future.”

Mr Corbyn was then asked if he agreed with Boris Johnson’s assessment that Soleimani was a terrorist, and responded by criticising the prime minister for not appearing in Parliament on Tuesday to answer questions about the incident.

On the fourth question, which directly asked if Soleimani was a terrorist, Mr Corbyn said: “Soleimani is the head of special forces of Iran. They obviously operate in all kinds of places that you or I would not agree with or want. That is not the point.”

Mr Corbyn has described the US assassination of Soleimani as “illegal” and wrote to Mr Johnson to demand answers.

The outgoing Labour leader has previously been criticised for being paid to appear on Iran’s state television broadcaster Press TV.
Jeremy Corbyn described the killing of General Soleimani as 'illegal'. (Getty)
HE IS CORRECT IT IS ILLEGAL
The Labour leader was asked whether he believed General Soleimani had engaged in acts of terrorism. (AP)

He was met with laughter as he told MPs on Tuesday that he had “long spoken out against the Iranian government's human rights record”.

Mr Corbyn said the killing of Soleimani – that has resulted in Iran firing rockets at bases in Iraq housing US troops – was “an extremely dangerous and aggressive act that risks starting yet another deadly war in the Middle East”.

The US has insisted the strike was justified on the grounds of self-defence.

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THIS IS FROM YAHOO PROVIDED BY AP THIS IS THE MAINSTREAM IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND THIS COMMENT IS THE KIND OF RIGHT WING SMEARING LABOUR UNDER CORBYN HAS FACED SINCE HE WAS ELECTED LEADER BY THE GRASSROOTS LEFT WING MOMENTUM MOVEMENT IN THE PARTY
FOLLOW THAT WITH A RIGHT WING ZIONIST ATTACK ORCHESTRATED BY RIGHT WING PUNDITS AND ISRAEL SMEARING THE PARTY AND CORBYN AS ANTISEMITIC BECAUSE OF THEIR SUPPORT FOR PALESTINE AND BDS 
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RUSSIAN PIGS! 
HOW DO YOU KNOW? 
THEY DRINK; 
BUT ITS NOT VODKA, ITS COGNAC 

Escaped pigs visit grocery store, raid liquor aisle

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A trio of escaped pigs wandered into a supermarket in Russia and were caught on camera raiding the liquor aisle.

A video taken at the store in Tyumen, Siberia, shows the three pigs perusing the liquor aisle and knocking over bottles of cognac, which they then proceeded to lap up off the floor.

Witnesses said the three pigs were found to have escaped from a nearby home.

The pigs were returned to their owner unharmed.

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#MEANWHILEINCANADA 
DING DONG, MOO

Doorbell camera records cow's late night front porch visit
Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A British Columbia couple whose doorbell camera issued an unusual number of overnight alerts checked the footage and identified the late night visitor to their front porch: an escaped cow.

James Bailey said he and his wife installed a doorbell camera at their Sooke home a few months ago to help with package deliveries, but they were surprised when it gave an unusual number of overnight alerts Dec. 14.

Bailey said he was surprised when he checked the footage the following day.

"It was foggy and we couldn't see anything and then all of a sudden I see this little tiny light and that changed into two lights and then into a head and a whole body," he told CTV Vancouver.



The culprit was a cow standing on the front porch, with another bovine nearby.

"It was like creatures coming out of the mist," Bailey said.

Bailey said the cows turned out to have escaped from a neighbor's enclosure.

"Apparently a bear knocked down the fence and that's how they got out," Bailey said.

The cows were rounded up by police and returned home.

 THEY CAME OUT OF THE MIST, THERE WERE TWO OF THEM IT WAS EERIE 


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63 CANADIANS KILLED IN 737 CRASH IN IRAN

Among the dead were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians including the nine crew members, 10 Swedes, four Afghans and three Britons, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said in a tweet.
Boeing 737 crashes near Tehran shortly after takeoff, killing 176
By Darryl Coote


Emergency services personnel walk amidst the wreckage after a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 carrying 176 people crashed near Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran, killing everyone on board. Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board, according to Iranian state news media.

Iran's Press TV reported that the Ukraine International Airlines flight went down minutes after departing for the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with 167 passengers and nine crew early Wednesday, crashing near Parand, about 37 miles southwest of the capital Tehran.

Pirhossein Koulivand, Iran's Emergency Medical Service chief, said there were no survivors, Iran's semi-official ISNA reported.

"Unfortunately, all the passengers died," he said.

Among the dead were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians including the nine crew members, 10 Swedes, four Afghans and three Britons, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said in a tweet.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post that he would be returning from a trip to Oman and offered his condolences to the victims' families and friends.

Ali Khashani, a senior official at Imam Khomeini International Airport, said the crash was likely the result of technical problems, a conclusion the Ukrainian Embassy in Tehran reiterated in a statement that ruled out the possibility it was the result of an attack.

RELATED Joe Biden calls for diplomacy in dealing with Iran

"According to preliminary information from the Iranian side, the plane crashed due to an engine malfunction," the embassy said on its Facebook page. "The version of the terrorist attack or rocket attack is currently excluded."

In a statement, Ukraine Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said an operational headquarters has been set up to investigate the cause of the crash and its consulate in Iran was working on site.

Boeing, the plane's embattled American manufacturer, said in a statement it was aware of the crash and was "gathering more information."

RELATED At least 50 dead in stampede during funeral for Iranian general

We are aware of the media reports out of Iran and we are gathering more information.— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) January 8, 2020

The crash comes days before David L. Calhoun is to take over as the company's CEO and president on Monday after Dennis Muilenburg resigned amid a leadership shakeup in the wake of two fatal crashes.

Boeing has been suffering significant financial losses and damage to its reputation since two 737 Max 8 planes crashed in a span of five months last year, killing a total of 346 people.

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