America

    Talk about a loyal employee: Elena Griffing has just celebrated her 70th year working for the same San Francisco Bay Area hospital, and she has no plans to retire anytime soon. Sutter Health Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has marked Griffing's milestone and her recent 90th birthday, spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp said. But for Griffing, who has held several different positions in her decades of employment, every day on the job is a celebration. I can't wait to come to work every day, this is my hospital, she said. I enjoy anything I can do to be of service. Truly, it's the patient that counts. If it's helping someone, it's my bag. She isn't kidding. As if her employment longevity wasn't enough, consider this: She has taken only four days of sick leave in her 70 years of work. ...

    The President of Venezuela has urged women to stop using hairdryers and offered alternative styling tips as the country’s energy crisis continues. Nicolas Maduro has announced a decree giving state employees Fridays off for two months as part of measures to offset a crippling electricity shortage. He urged his compatriots to increase other efforts to save power, including cutting appliance use and raising the temperature on air conditioning units. Recommending that women reduce hairdryer use to “special occasions”, the President added: “I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. It's just an idea I have." He also called on Venezuelans to make small changes to their routines, including embracing the tropica...

    The Turkish funded Diyanet Center of America was inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Washington DC area with a huge ceremony on Saturday. The facility, built on a 16-acre campus in Maryland, just 21 kilometers (13 miles) from the nation's capital, represents the 'kulliye' tradition of a complex of social and religious buildings which were common in Turkey's Ottoman period. Built to seek common ground between people of different faiths and cultures, the complex features a mosque, cultural center, guest house, traditional Turkish houses and a Turkish bath. An Islamic Research Center within the building will provide a consultancy service for undergraduate and graduate students coming from Turkey to the U.S. There is also an Islamic Arts Museum below t...

    A light aircraft crash landed on a motorway, hitting a car and killing a passenger. The collision happened on the Interstate 15 freeway just outside Fallbrook, southern California on Saturday. The same plane made headlines when it landed safely on the same stretch of road 15 years ago. The black Nissan Altima sedan involved in the collision was parked on the hard shoulder of the highway at the time. It is understood the driver had stopped to synchronise a bluetooth device. Witnesses said the single-engine plane appeared to be having problems before it banked and came down. California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Parent said the Lancair IV landed on its belly and skidded about 250 feet before striking the rear of the vehicle. The impact crushed the back of the car, killing ...

    A United Airlines pilot asked a Muslim family of five to leave a plane before it took off, citing safety issues. Eaman-Amy Saad Shebley, her husband and three young children were about to take off on a flight bound for Washington at Chicago airport when the pilot asked them to get off the aircraft. The family had enquired earlier whether the air stewardess could provide five-point harness safety seats for their children. Two videos filmed by Ms Shebley show the air stewardess and then the pilot asking the family to leave. Ms Shebley asked the pilot whether it was a “discriminatory” decision. The pilot replied it was a “flight safety issue” but were not given any details. The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to United Airlines on the family’s behalf deman...

    In any given week, Mark Zuckerberg meets with big name politicians, celebrities and technology executives. But two months after returning to work from his high-profile paternity leave, the Facebook CEO knows all of those bigwigs take a backseat to his own daughter, reports mashable. On Thursday afternoon, Zuckerberg posted an adorable photo of himself feeding his precious daughter, with the caption: "Most important meeting of the day.” The picture, one of several Zuckerberg has shared in recent months demonstrating his commitment to juggling family with a C-Suite job, is a new campaign from Lean In, a non-profit organization focused on helping women succeed professionally. "#LeanInTogether celebrates the important role men play in creating an equal world," Sheryl Sandberg,...

    Barack Obama’s reportedly impending visit to the United Kingdom will make the country’s exit from the European Union more likely, Ted Cruz told reporters on Sunday. President Obama, if anything his campaigning against [Britain leaving] will make it more likely that England will pull out of the EU, said the Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate, who was campaigning in North Carolina ahead of Tuesday’s primary. The Independent on Sunday reported this weekend that Obama will travel to the UK in April, as part of a trip already including Germany, to lend his support to the campaign against the so-called “Brexit”. The British prime minister, David Cameron, wants Britain to stay in the European Union. The referendum on the question will take place on 23 June. The q...

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled one of his signature rallies on Friday, calling off the event in Chicago due to safety concerns after protesters packed into the arena where it was to take place. The announcement that the billionaire businessman would postpone the rally until another day led a large portion of the crowd inside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion to break out into raucous cheers. Meanwhile, supporters of the candidate started chanting "We want Trump! We want Trump!" There were isolated physical confrontations between some members of the crowd after the event was canceled. There was no sign of Trump inside the arena on the college campus, where dozens of UIC faculty and staff had petitioned university administrators to cance...

    It was just days after their last debate, but Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton still managed to give us some new things to chew over at their Wednesday night tangle in Miami: Sanders can attack Clinton's record as well In the last debate — in Detroit — Clinton attacked Sanders for voting against the 2008 auto bailout that rescued Detroit's primary industry. But Sanders said that was a distortion. He voted for an auto bailout that failed in Congress, and then voted against the Wall Street bailout that ultimately got used to fund the auto bailout. Clinton made the attack again Tuesday, and Sanders defended himself again — but this time he turned the tables, attacking her on immigration. "Secretary Clinton prevailed upon the governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer, who wanted ...

    US sports broadcaster Erin Andrews has been awarded $55 million (£39m) after she was secretly recorded nude in her hotel room by a stalker. After a day of deliberations, a jury found the stalker 51% to blame, leaving two hotel companies to pay about $27m. Andrews, 37, a Fox Sports reporter, was filmed in 2008 through her hotel door peephole by Michael David Barrett, who released the video online. She wept as the verdict was announced and hugged her attorneys and family. Later, in a statement posted on Twitter, she thanked the court, the jury, and her legal team and family. I've been honoured by all the support from victims around the world, she said. Their outreach has helped me be able to stand up and hold accountable those whose job it is to protect everyone's safely, se...