An Air India Boeing 777-300ER flying from Bombay to New York made an emergency landing at Bodo, Norway airport here after a sick passenger requested medical emergencies mid-air.

“The Bombay – New York flight of Air India made a landing at Bodo airport at around 05:30 AM due to a medical emergency.

The passenger travelling was rushed to a private hospital, Bodø airport director said.

Bodø Airport is a civil airport in Bodø, Norway. Located just south of the city centre, on the westernmost tip of the Bodø-peninsula, it shares facilities with the military air force base Bodø Main Air Station.

The airport has a single concrete, 2,794 by 45 metres (9,167 by 148 ft) runway which runs in a roughly east-west direction.

In addition to jet operations to major domestic destinations, the airport serves as a hub for regional airline flights to Helgeland, Lofoten and Vesterålen.

(N.sethu)

Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor said Thursday it was leaving the Indian telecom market and transferring its businesses there to Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest wireless operator, with 269 million subscribers, would add Telenor’s 44 million subscribers, employees and licenses to its business.

Telenor entered the Indian market in 2008, but has struggled amid tough competition.

Telenor chief executive Sigve Brekke said in a statement that the company had concluded “that the significant investments needed to secure Telenor India’s future business on a stand-alone basis would not have given an acceptable level of return.”

The non-cash transaction would not result in further writedowns, Telenor said. Its assets in India were estimated to be worth 300 million kroner (36 million dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The deal, which hinged on regulatory approvals in India, was expected to take 12 months to close.

In addition to Norway and neighbouring Demark and Sweden, Telenor has operations in Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Serbia, Thailand and Ukraine.

(eblnews)

Visiting Norwegian foreign minister Borge Brende on Monday laid emphasis on creating a favorable environment for Rohingyas in Myanmar so that they can go back to their own homes from Bangladesh.

“I hope Myanmar will make it possible for these people (Rohingyas) to go to their own homes and feel safe,” he said while responding to a question at a dialogue in a city hotel.

The Norwegian foreign minister thinks State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi could have done many things in protecting Muslim minorities in Myanmar.

He expressed displeasure over the ‘unacceptable’ way Rohingyas are being treated in the Rakhine State of Myanmar by their government and maintained that the international community needs to put pressure on Myanmar to that end.

“If you’re not able to treat your minorities with dignity and inclusiveness, it shows you are lacking fundamental values,” said the Norwegian foreign minister mentioning that Myanmar needs to treat minorities with the highest values.

He appreciated Bangladesh’s support in hosting thousands of Myanmar nationals despite having its own challenges.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh is a country with a steady economic growth but it has lots of challenges.

Transparency is required in Bangladesh to reach the middle-income status, Brende was quoted as saying in a statement shared on official Facebook page of the Embassy.

The foreign minister used the opportunity to salute the impressive development in Bangladesh over the last 45 years.

The aim to become a middle-income country is within the reach, but Bangladesh has to ensure transparency in all sectors and scrap corruption to reach this goal, he added during a roundtable meeting with more than 50 young leaders through the Young Global Leaders network, moderated by Lutfey Siddiqi.

In addition to political talks, he met the Norwegian-Bangladeshi business community and witnessed the signing of a collaboration agreement between solar power producer Scatec Solar and the AK Khan Company.

The foreign minister arrived here on Monday as the first-ever foreign minister from any Nordic country to Bangladesh.

On his arrival, he was received by Secretary (Bilateral and Consular, Foreign Ministry) Kamrul Ahsan.

Bangladesh ambassador to Norway Md Golam Sarwar and Director General of Europe Wing of the Foreign Ministry were present.

During the visit, the Norwegian foreign minister will place a floral wreath at the Central Shaheed Minar in the first hour of February 21 to pay homage to the martyrs of the great Language Movement.

He will leave Dhaka on Tuesday, according to the Foreign Ministry here.

(prothom-alo)

Latvia does not recognize the “independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh and the “referendum” which is held there, Latvian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Juris Maklakovs told Trend on February 20.

The so-called “constitutional referendum” is held on February 20 in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which is now ruled by a puppet regime controlled by Armenia.

Maklakovs stressed that Latvia supports territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Norwegian Embassy in Baku also said on February 20 that Norway recognizes neither the “independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh nor the “referendum” held there.

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry as well as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijani MP Bakhtiyar Sadigov, in turn, urged international organizations to react to the illegal “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“By not reacting to the conduction of illegal “referendum” by Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, international organizations harm their prestige,” he told Trend on February 20.

Sadigov said the “referendum” is designed for the domestic audience of Armenia and it has no legal force.

The MP added that international organizations have always applied double standards towards the issue.

“The four resolutions on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which were adopted by the UN Security Council, are still not implemented. And this organization does not respond to it,” the MP said.

He also noted that the OSCE Minsk Group and the co-chair countries undertook mediation in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by peaceful means, but failed to achieve any results so far.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

(azernews)