America

    An American Airlines pilot died after having a medical episode just before landing in Albuquerque. The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2oBo8K5) that the captain declared a medical emergency on flight 1353 a couple of minutes before landing at Albuquerque International Sunport on Wednesday evening. A spokesman for the airline tells the newspaper that the captain landed the flight from Dallas-Fort Worth without incident. The plane taxied normally to a gate and was met by paramedics. American Airlines first officer William Mike Grubbs was pronounced dead. There was no immediate word on a cause of death. In 2015, an American Airlines pilot died on a flight from Phoenix to Boston.

    Donald and Melania Trump are doing just fine, according to a friend Despite recent rumours that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have been going through a rough patch, a close friend of the couple insists that this isn't the case. In an interview with the Washington Post on Monday, Karen LeFrak - a longtime friend of the couple and wife of developer Richard LeFrak - was asked how Trump was adjusting to her new role as first lady, and how the change has affected her marriage, if at all. Mrs. Trump is enjoying her life and new role, she said, adding that [she and her husband] are very happy! Their relationship is great. All these rabid rumours about her and their relationship are laughable and fictional, she continued. LeFrak went on to insist that the fir...

    A federal judge in Hawaii decided Wednesday to extend his order blocking President Donald Trump's travel ban. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson issued the longer-lasting hold on the ban just hours after hearing arguments. Hawaii says the policy discriminates against Muslims and hurts the state's tourist-dependent economy. The implied message in the revised ban is like a "neon sign flashing 'Muslim ban, Muslim ban'" that the government didn't bother to turn off, state Attorney General Douglas Chin told the judge. Extending the temporary order until the state's lawsuit was resolved would ensure the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens across the U.S. are vindicated after "repeated stops and starts of the last two months," the state has said. The government says the ban ...

    Sharmin Akter, a Bangladeshi young activist against early and forced marriage, has received 2017 International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award from US First Lady Melania Trump and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A Shannon. At only 15 years of age, Sharmin Akter courageously resisted her mother’s attempts to marry her off and secured the precious right to continue her education, setting a bright example for teenage girls across South Asia facing similar pressures, reports UNB. Bangladesh has one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage, a trend that threatens the health, safety, and education of millions of girls and undermines the country’s progress. The award-giving ceremony was held at the US Department of State at 11am (Washington time) on ...

    US President Donald Trump on Monday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and congratulated him on his recent electoral success, the White House said. Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump congratulated Modi on his success in the assembly polls. Following the elections held in five states that begun on February 4 and ended on March 9 after polling was rescheduled on some seats, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government in four states: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. It, however, lost Punjab to main rival Congress after the results were announced on March 11, reports the Press Trust of India. Anchored mainly by Modi and his aide Amit Shah, the BJP juggernaut rolled on in UP and in the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand, bagging thre...

    ACLU A civil rights group sued Georgia over the state's refusal to allow a couple to officially name its 22-month-old child "Allah." The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed the lawsuit recently in Fulton County Superior Court on behalf of the couple, Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk. At issue is the young girl's proposed last name of Allah. State law requires a baby's surname to be either that of the father of the mother for the initial birth record, lawyers for the Georgia Department of Public Health told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . State officials say the child's name - ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah - should either be Handy, Walk or a combination of the two. The couple gave her the name Allah because it is "noble," they told the newspaper. "Simply put,...

    President Trump gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel a staff-created bill for NATO defenses estimated at 300 billion, The Times of London reported on Sunday. Trump reportedly handed Merkel the invoice during her trip to Washington, D.C. earlier this month. The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations, a German minister told the newspaper. Merkel ignored the provocation, of the bill, the Times reported. The White House disputed the reports on Sunday afternoon and told The Hill the story is false. Trump during his presidential campaign railed against the NATO alliance and has called for member countries to increase defense spending to support the organization. The Inde...

    White house officials and members of Donald Trump’s transition team are reportedly purging their electronic devices to avoid being compromised by subpoenas, it has been claimed. The accusation comes just weeks after government lawyers ordered the president’s aides to preserve any materials that could be connected to Russian interference in the 2016 election. One legal expert told MSNBC the channel that first reported the allegations based on testimony from an inside source there could be legal ramifications for staff who destroyed crucial evidence relating to ongoing investigations. The Trump administration is currently under FBI investigation for possible collusion between Russian operatives and presidential aides. The House Intelligence Committee is also investigating al...

    President Donald Trump has suffered a bitter defeat as one of his cornerstone campaign pledges, to repeal and replace Obamacare, failed to pass in Congress. Mr Trump instructed that a vote on the "Trumpcare" bill be "pulled" moments before it was due to take place, as support among Republican congressmen evaporated. It was a huge setback for the president and instilled doubts about his ability to enact his wider agenda, not only on healthcare but other major promises like tax reform and infrastructure investment. Speaking in the Oval Office Mr Trump squarely blamed Democrats for unanimously opposing the bill, and said Obamacare would soon explode. He said: Now the Democrats own Obamacare 100 per cent. They own it. It's exploding now and it's going to be a very bad year. Th...