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Turkish Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Barcelona after ‘threat’ alert

MADRID (AP) — A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing Thursday at Barcelona’s international airport after a passenger created an in-flight wireless network whose name contained a bomb threat, an airlines spokesperson said.

As the Turkish Airlines TK1853 flight from Istanbul was approaching its destination at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, “it was detected that a passenger established an in-flight internet access point and set the network name to include a bomb threat,” the spokesperson, Yahya Üstün, said. As a result, the plane, an Airbus 321, made an emergency landing.

The airline said the return flight would operate normally.

Spain’s Civil Guard police force said it had investigated the incident, and that no explosive was found on-board. It added that the airport was operating normally.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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