Category: Foreign

By Agency Reporter

A passenger airline of Thai Lion Air on Monday made an emergency landing at Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), after two of its passengers fell seriously ill, airport officials said.

The officials said that the airline had departed from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and was on its way to Surabaya in Indonesia when two Indonesian passengers fell ill.

The flight was diverted to Colombo to make an emergency landing.

Police said the two passengers were pronounced dead upon landing and an investigation has been launched.

However, the police said While investigation was ongoing, the remains of the two passengers would be handed over to the Indonesian Embassy in Colombo.

NAN

Our Reporter

The government of Turkey allows travellers to apply for a quick and easy electronic Visa (eVisa) to visit the country for tourist or business reasons. This is a mandatory document to enter Turkey. Any person who wants to come to Turkey must apply to get an eVisa.

The eVisa for Turkey is available for foreign citizens of any of the eligible countries and travellers must request it online prior to the travel.

If the nationality of the passport is not on the list of eligible countries to apply for an online visa, the requester must go physically to the embassy and apply for the visa there.

The tourist eVisa for Turkey gives access to the country to all eligible citizens, for one or more entries, depending on the needs of the traveler. The online application on this website will ask you the nationality of the traveler, as well as the number of times the traveler wants to go to Turkey, to assign correctly the corresponding eVisa.

Process

Once the request is fulfilled and presented, it will be studied by the immigration officers. You must be aware that additional information or documentation may be required during the approval process and this must be attached to finish the process correctly.

The final decision about your entry request will be sent electronically as an attachment to the provided email address.

This travel authorisation doesn’t warrant the entry to Turkey. Travelers can be elected for a second verification process prior to their entry in the country.

Any tourist travelling with an electronic visa for Turkey, must show the following documentation on their arrival to an international entry point in Turkey:

Printed and approved eVisa

Valid passport for at least six months from the moment of your arrival in Turkey (it must be the same as the one used to fulfill the eVisa application).

Entry specifications

Ordinary Visa / Tourist Visa

Single or multiple entry, depending on the nationality of the passport

From 30 to 90 days, depending on the nationality of the passport

Required documents

You do not need to attach any documents at the time of making your application through our service, but bear in mind that you must submit documentation, which coincides with that which you have put into our system, at the airport of entry.

By Bola OIajuwon, Assistant Editor

RETIRED Nigeria’s Ambassador in Washington D.C., United States (U.S.) Hassan Hassan has explained that the excellent goodwill of President Muhammadu Buhari normalised the strained relations between Nigeria and the U.S.

Hassan stated this at a dinner organised for him on Saturday by officers of the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC at the residence of the Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, retired Justice Sylvanus Nsofor.

This is just as Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) U.S.A. chapter also organised a “farewell happy hour” for Hassan in appreciation of “his selfless service, patriotism and commitment to the welfare of Nigerians in the United States”.

In his remarks at the events, Hassan said: “Prior to the coming of President Buhari, there were some things that were not moving on as expected between Nigeria and the U.S.

“Buhari came with an excellent goodwill and that also impacted on our performance because we had it easy with the U.S. government and they were always ready to listen to us. With these, we were able to initiate so many things and we got so many things done.

“What I’ve come to understand about them is they never give you the second chance to make the first impression. So, when you’re dealing with the U.S., you have to be straight-forward and you have to know what you want.

“You don’t go to them with ambiguity and the government of President Buhari is not found wanting as far as I can perceive. Those are what the U.S. expect from a country. We are very straight-forward and we come to them with our cards on the table.”

Hassan noted that the Nigeria-U.S. Bi-National Commission – which is the umbrella under which the relations between the two countries are being followed up biennially, but which was suspended by a year during the period of the strained relations between the two countries – was resumed.

“We had a resumed session after it was suspended for one year. We had it in 2017 in Nigeria and there will be another one in February 2020. So, the impetus and the vigour with which Nigeria and the U.S. are pursuing their areas of interests and pursuing their mutual relations is quite impressive.”

The retired diplomat, who served in Washington DC, London, Syria, Pakistan and the United Nations, explained that the U.S. was a very strategic partner to Nigeria, saying the U.S. government is very powerful.

“Washington D.C., to me, is the administrative capital of the world. Being here has been very challenging and educative and I believe we lived up to expectations. I am proud we left the Nigerian embassy better than we met it,” he said.

The retired diplomat, who was among the 25 ambassadors that recently retired, said he started his diplomatic career in January 1984 when Buhari was an Army General as Head of State and retired 36 years after when he is now a democratically-elected president.

He denounced the mistaken belief that diplomats are people sent to tell lies about their countries, saying “that’s not true at all because diplomats are the crafters of dialogue, agreements and they are the link thread between nations”.

Earlier, Nsofor, the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S., praised Hassan for the excellent working relations with him and other officers at the embassy, saying: “We are here to bid you farewell because we part here to meet again”.

The Consul-General of Nigeria in New York Mr. Benayaogha Okoyen and Consul-General of Nigerian Consulate in Atlanta, Mrs. Aishatu Musa and staff members at the Nigerian Embassy as well as Nigerian community members in the United States all took turns at the sendoffs to praise Hassan, who they describe as a brilliant and firm diplomat.

Similarly, Ms. Patience Key, Chairman of NIDO USA, described Hassan as an intelligent, workaholic and firm diplomat.

Our Reporter

Iran, in a dramatic u-turn on Saturday, admitted its military “unintentionally” shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, after mistaking it for a cruise missile. All 176 on board died in the Wednesday crash.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his condolences over the disaster, while President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic “deeply regrets the disastrous mistake” and pledged compensation for the bereaved families. The jetliner was flying close to a sensitive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military site when it was downed because of “human error,” the army said after conducting its own investigation.

It said the “culprits” would be identified and referred to judicial authorities. The commander of the Guards’ aerospace force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, blamed a failure in communications. The operative who first mistakenly identified the plane as an incoming missile failed to get a second opinion due to a “disturbance” and had only 10 seconds to make a decision, he said. The military said it was at its ‘highest level of readiness’ amid the heightened tensions with the United States.

Read Also: No survivors after Ukrainian airliner with 176 aboard crashes in Iran

“In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit,” the military said. It apologised and said it would upgrade its systems to prevent future tragedies. Rouhani said his country “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake.” He added:” My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences. “Investigations continue to identify and prosecute this great tragedy and unforgivable mistake”. The US and Canada, citing intelligence, had said they suspected that Iran shot down the aircraft.

Teheran denied the allegation, the head of Iran’s civil aviation authority, Ali Abedzadeh, saying on Friday that it was impossible due to close coordination between Iran’s air defence and the civil aviation department. “What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Abedzadeh was quoted as saying. The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces in Iraq.

In a social media post, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to the disaster”. “Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims and to other affected nations.” The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, when it was shot down.

Our Reporter

• Demand Ayatollah’s resignation
• Shocked by army’s blunder in  shooting down Ukrainian plane

Iranians massed on the streets of Tehran last night, demanding the resignation of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei following the admission by the military that it  mistakenly shot down Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 on Wednesday.

The protesters who chanted “death to liars” also asked the supreme leader to step down over the tragic military blunder.

One hundred and thirty of the 176 on board the ill-fated plane were Iranians.

Read Also: How U.S. Air Force 7,000 miles away nailed Iran’s Soleimani

Anti- riot police fired tear gas canisters in an attempt to break up the protests.

Teheran had initially claimed that a technical failure caused the crash, before admitting yesterday  that its own surface-to-air missiles brought the plane down.

Iran was on high alert at the time, hours after launching ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq in a strike that caused no casualties. That missile strike was in retaliation for a U.S. operation that killed powerful Iranian General Qassem Soleimani

Saturday afternoon, candlelight vigils at universities in Tehran for the victims of Flight 752 began to turn to protests against the regime.

Large protests were reported at the universities of Tehran, Sharif Industrial, Amir Kabir, and Allameh.

Agency Reporter

North Korean President Kim Jong Un received birthday greetings from U.S. President Donald Trump, even though their personal relationship is not enough for a return to talks, state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday.

The comments came against the backdrop of stalled denuclearisation talks following a flurry of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea in 2018 and early 2019.

Kim Kye Gwan, an adviser to the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said in the statement that Kim could personally like Trump, he would not lead his country on the basis of personal feelings.

“Although Chairman Kim Jong Un has good personal feelings about President Trump, they are, in the true sense of the word, `personal’.

“We have been deceived by the United States, being caught in the dialogue with it for over one year and a half, and that was the lost time for us.

“North Korea will not discuss proposals such as those Trump made at his last summit with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February 2019,’’ the foreign ministry adviser said.

According to him, the North will not give up its nuclear facilities for partial sanctions relief, and will only return to talks when the U.S. makes concessions.

“The reopening of dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S. may be possible only under the condition of the latter’s absolute agreement on the issues raised by the former, but we know well that the U.S. is neither ready nor able to do so,” he said.

The abbreviation DPRK refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mason Richey, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said Saturday’s comments show how ties between leaders are sometimes only marginally useful for diplomacy.

“At least one member of the U.S.-North Korea diplomatic `bromance’ is mature enough to admit that personal feelings are just that.

“Kim Kye Gwan’s statement doesn’t close the door on diplomacy any more than it already was,” Richey added.

However, he underlined how the U.S. and North Korea have fundamentally different strategic interests with almost no meaningful overlap.

The North Korean adviser also cautioned South Korea to steer clear of ties between the North and the U.S., saying it should not seek “to play a mediator role”.

Read Also; Harry and Meghan’s royal step back is ‘sad’ – Trump

On Friday, a South Korean official said Trump had asked the South Koreans to pass on birthday greetings to North Korea.

“For South Korea to meddle in personal relations between Kim and Trump was presumptuous,’’ he noted.

The North Korean adviser added that the North had already directly received from Trump a letter with the greetings.

“But they seem not to know that there is a special liaison channel between the top leaders of the DPRK and the United States,” he added.

However, South Korea’s presidential Blue House declined to comment.

“The North’s comments come after South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration signaled it wanted to renew “independent” economic engagement with the North.

“This is another slap in the face, which Moon seems determined to accept ad infinitum,” Richey added.

NAN