Headline

World Powers Rush To Offer Turkey, Syria Aid Over Quake

Published

2 years ago

February 6, 2023

International offers to help Turkey and Syria with rescue efforts poured in on Monday after a massive earthquake killed around 1,800 people and wreaked devastation.

– European Union –
The European Union has mobilised search and rescue teams for Turkey after the stricken country requested EU assistance.

Ten urban search and rescue teams from various member states will support first responders on the ground, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

The EU’s Copernicus satellite system has also been activated to provide emergency mapping services, it added.

The EU is also ready to support those affected in Syria, it said.

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– UNHCR –
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi voiced “solidarity” with those affected in both countries, saying the UN agency was “ready to help provide urgent relief to the survivors through our field teams wherever possible”.

– India –
India said it would immediately send rescue and medical teams as well as relief equipment to Turkey.

Two National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 100 personnel with dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the affected area, the foreign ministry said. Teams of trained doctors and paramedics with medicines were also being readied.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “anguished” and “deeply pained” by the deaths in Turkey — with whom India has frosty relations — and Syria.

– Germany –
Germany — home to about three million people of Turkish origin — will “mobilise all the assistance we can activate”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, after speaking with the Turkish ambassador to Berlin.

Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) “can set up camps to provide shelter as well as water treatment units”, she said.

The THW agency is also preparing generators, tents and blankets.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman said the German government would hold a crisis meeting later Monday with the relevant ministries to organise an aid package.

Berlin will also increase its assistance to charities such as Malteser International providing humanitarian aid in northwest Syria by one million euros ($1.1 million), she said.

– Russia –
President Vladimir Putin sent messages to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, conveying Russia’s condolences and offering aid.

“We hope for a speedy recovery for all the injured and are ready to provide the assistance needed to overcome the impact of this natural disaster,” Putin told Assad.

– Ukraine –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his war-torn country was “ready to provide the necessary assistance to overcome the consequences of the disaster.”

The message was reiterated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said Ukraine was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and damage” wreaked by the earthquake.

– Greece –
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Turkey’s historic rival Greece, whose relations with Ankara have suffered from a spate of border and cultural disputes, pledged to make “every force available” to aid its neighbour.

Mitsotakis said Ankara had already approved the dispatch of a Greek emergency rescue unit, and Athens was ready to send “additional equipment, medical supplies, blankets, tents” depending on further Turkish requests.

– NATO –
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg voiced “full solidarity” with ally Turkey, saying he was in touch with Turkey’s top leadership and “NATO allies are mobilising support now”.

– Sweden –
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden, whose bid to join NATO is meeting Turkish resistance, tweeted: “Saddened about the loss of lives in Türkiye and Syria following the major earthquake. Our thoughts go to the victims and their loved ones.”

He sent his “deepest condolences” to President Erdogan. “We stand ready to offer our support.”

– France –
President Emmanuel Macron said France stood ready to provide emergency aid to Turkey and Syria. “Our thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he tweeted.

– Britain –
“The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted saying his thoughts were with the people of Turkey and Syria.

Britain was sending 76 search-and-rescue specialists to Turkey, a minister added.

– Iran –
Iran is ready to provide “immediate relief aid to these two friendly nations”, President Ebrahim Raisi said, offering condolences on the “heartbreaking incident”.

Related Topics:British France Iran Quake Russia Syria Turkey Ukraine

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Most Followed Tiktoker Khaby Lame Deported From US Over Visa Violation

Published

23 hours ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

Italian-Senegalese social media sensation, Khaby Lame, known as the world’s most followed TikTok creator, has been deported from the United States after allegedly overstaying his visa, The New York Times reported.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Lame, 25, was detained last Friday at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

The agency confirmed the detention in an official statement, stating that Lame entered the country on April 30 but “overstayed the terms of his visa.”

Lame, who rose to international fame for his silent comedic reactions to overcomplicated “life hack” videos, has amassed over 160 million followers on TikTok.

His online popularity led to collaborations with global fashion brands, a role in a Hollywood film, and a reality show on Tubi titled Khaby Is Coming To America.

His deportation has sparked a storm of reactions online.

“Every single illegal alien needs to be DEPORTED. When I found out the biggest TikTok star, Khaby Lame, is an illegal alien evading taxes, I worked with Trump’s ICE to have him removed. He’s since been detained by ICE and removed,” Bo Loudon, a Gen Z Trump supporter and self-styled activist, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Following his deportation, Lame has not issued any formal statement. However, on Monday, he posted an Instagram story tagged in São Paulo, Brazil, marking his first confirmed location since leaving the US

Lame’s former legal representative, Riccardo Lanzo, told The New York Times that the influencer had spent significant time in the US recently but acknowledged uncertainty regarding his visa status.

The case came amid a broader immigration enforcement push under Trump’s renewed administration.
APF

Headline

Trump Unveils Website For $5m US Residency Visa

Published

1 day ago

June 12, 2025

Editor

President Donald Trump touted a new website for his planned $5 million US residency permit on Wednesday, saying the waiting list for the golden visa has opened on TrumpCard.gov.

“Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up to ride a beautiful road in gaining access to the Greatest Country and Market anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Trump unveiled the first such visa aboard Air Force One in April, holding a golden prototype that bore his face and promising the special permit would probably be available “in less than two weeks.”

The visas are not available yet, but the website announced Wednesday allows interested parties to submit their name, desired visa and email address under a header that says “The Trump Card is Coming.”

Trump previously said the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.

The announcement comes as deportation raids are being ramped up across the country, prompting protests, and as Trump’s administration faces ongoing lawsuits and accusations of rights violations over its anti-immigration blitz.

Trump has said the new card would be a route to highly prized US citizenship. He said in February that his administration hoped to sell “maybe a million” of the cards and did not rule out that Russian oligarchs may be eligible.

AFP

Headline

19-year-old Nigerian Artiste Beaten To Death In Ghana

Published

2 days ago

June 11, 2025

Editor

A 19-year-old upcoming Nigerian artiste identified simply as Destiny has been beaten to death in the Volta Region area of Ghana.

According to The PUNCH, the incident happened on May 28.

It was gathered that a yet-to-be-identified Nigerian based in Ghana accused him of failing to remit funds related to a business venture they introduced him to.

The male adult, who was also said to be among those who facilitated his trip to the country, stormed his apartment alongside two others to question him about the funds.

However, Destiny’s failure to provide answers led to a severe assault meted out to him.

A source privy to the incident told The PUNCH on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because he lacked the authority to speak with the media that the Edo State-born artiste thereafter succumbed to the injuries sustained from the assault.

“Destiny went to Ghana to further his education, and the travel was facilitated by someone he called his street brother. These are the same people who provided an apartment for him over there. Those who broke the news to us from there said the men introduced him to a business, which they later accused him of diverting some funds meant for the business. This angered them, and they went to his apartment and beat him up. The beating was so intense that he felt weak and gave up the ghost in the process,” the source narrated.

It was further learnt that the suspects left the deceased’s body in the room after they discovered that he was motionless.

Another source who spoke to newsmen said the police later discovered the corpse a few days after the incident.

“The police were alerted to the incident, and some officers were deployed to the apartment where Destiny’s remains were found. We were told that no suspects had been arrested since his death. We hope the Ghanaian authorities find his killers and bring them to justice.”

In a video obtained by The PUNCH, Destiny was seen speaking about himself and what his plans were.

He said, “I am Destiny and I am a streamer from Nigeria. I want to apply to Streamers University, and this will be a great joy for me, my mother, and everybody. I am also an artiste and a gamer. I do all sorts of things.”

Recall that in April a 77-year-old Nigerian Uber driver, Olatunji Bolaji, was killed in a shooting outside a hookah lounge in Philadelphia, United States.

Bolaji, who lived in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was on duty around 2 a.m. on Wednesday when he picked up a passenger, a 22-year-old man, outside the Byblos Hookah Bar near Rittenhouse Square in Centre City, CBS reports on Friday.

Police said shortly after Bolaji picked up the young man, another vehicle pulled up behind his SUV, and two men got out.

One of them opened fire, shooting both Bolaji and the passenger.