Prior to becoming an aviation safety consultant, and USA TODAY columnist, John Cox flew a wide variety of commercial airplanes.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — As Bangladeshis get set to vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections, there are fears that violence and intimidation could keep many away from the polls, including two opposition candidates who said police had barricaded them inside their homes.
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Parts of the United States were digging out Saturday from winter storms that media reports said led to at least seven deaths, while warmer regions braced for potential flooding during the New Year's travel period. As storm clouds moved east, they were set to bring heavy rain and probably flooding to the Gulf Coast, and both rain and freezing rain to New England. Flight tracker FlightAware reported more than 129 flight cancellations and 1,006 delays Saturday -- down from more than 500 cancelations and 5,700 delays on Friday -- as the winter storm hit north-central and Midwestern states with up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow.
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A St. Louis-area man shot to death his girlfriend, her two young children and her mother in the home they all shared, authorities said Saturday. He exchanged gunfire with officers as he fled and was captured several hours later in a convenience store, covered in blood and wounded.
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BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's military said Friday it had entered the key Kurdish-held town of Manbij in an apparent deal with the Kurds, who are looking for new allies and protection against a threatened Turkish offensive as U.S. troops prepare to leave Syria.
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In the phone call two weeks ago, Trump had been expected to deliver a standard warning to the Turkish president over his plan to launch a crossborder attack targeting U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, U.S. officials say. Instead, in the course of the conversation Trump reshaped U.S. policy in the Middle East, abandoning a quarter of Syrian territory and handing Ankara the job of finishing off Islamic State in Syria. "Trump asked: 'If we withdraw our soldiers, can you clean up ISIS?'", a Turkish official told Reuters.
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Donald Trump, the US president, on Friday threatened to seal off the entire US-Mexico border if Congress does not approve funding for a border wall. His comments came as the federal government shutdown entered its seventh day, with Mr Trump failing to come to a budget agreement with his Democratic opponents. The continued standoff means around a quarter of the US government will likely remain closed well into 2019, when the Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives. The shutdown began on Saturday after Democrats rejected Mr Trump’s demand for $5 billion (£3.93 billion) for a border wall to be included in a funding bill to keep the government open. "We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with," Mr Trump tweeted Friday. Analysts have warned that closing the border would cost hundreds of millions of dollars a day, with an estimated $558 billion in goods being transported across the border in both directions last year. Such a move would also cause chaos for the nearly half a million people who are estimated to enter the US through its southern border each day. An agreement on border funding will be the first big confrontation between Mr Trump and newly empowered Democrats, who won a majority in the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections. We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018 The Democrats are vehemently opposed to the construction of Mr Trump’s proposed wall, suggesting that funding should instead be used on border security. As he doubled down yesterday, Mr Trump also reissued threats to shut off aid to the three Central American countries from which a majority of migrants attempting to enter the US originate. "Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries - taking advantage of US for years!" he wrote in one of a series of tweets. The president has also signalled he is in no rush to seek a resolution, welcoming the fight as he heads toward his own bid for re-election in 2020. Yesterday Mick Mulvaney, the president’s acting chief of staff, said Mr Trump had cancelled his plans to travel to Florida for a New Year’s Eve celebration. Mr Trump cancelled a planned trip last week to visit his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he usually spends the Christmas period. During an appearance on Fox News, Mr Mulvaney said that Democrats are no longer negotiating with the administration over an earlier offer to accept less than the $5 billion Mr Trump wants for the wall. "There’s not a single Democrat talking to the president of the United States about this deal," he said, admitting that the White House expected the shutdown "to go on for a while". Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, has vowed to pass legislation to end the shutdown as soon as she takes control of the chamber, which is expected when the new Congress convenes on January 3. "While we await the president’s public proposal, Democrats have made it clear that, under a House Democratic Majority, we will vote swiftly to re-open government on Day One," her spokesman Drew Hammill said yesterday. However passing any legislation will be difficult without a compromise, since the Republican-controlled Senate and Mr Trump’s signature will be needed to turn any bill into law. The shutdown is forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors to stay home or work without pay, and many are experiencing mounting stress from the impasse. Washington’s Smithsonian museum complex announced that it would soon have to close all museums, research centres and the National Zoo in the US capital as the reserve funds it has been relying on are running dry.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — When the founding leader of Bangladesh, father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was assassinated in 1975 after helping achieve independence from Pakistan, then-Foreign Minister Kamal Hossain abandoned a state visit in Europe to rush to her side.
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The number of people evacuated after Indonesia's deadly tsunami has nearly doubled to some 40,000 while more than 7,000 were injured in the disaster, officials said Friday, as they trimmed the official death toll. The fresh figures come a day after Indonesia's disaster agency raised the danger alert level for an erupting volcano that sparked the killer tsunami at the weekend. "We're recommending that people who lived near the beach be permanently relocated," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press briefing in Jakarta.
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Syrian forces have deployed around the city of Manbij at the request of the Kurds, but Abu Azeez Jaber still fears a US military withdrawal will see Turkish troops enter. Since 2016, the strategic northern city on the Turkish border has been controlled by an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the US-led coalition. On Friday, Syria's army announced it had sent troops to the region, after Kurdish forces said they had requested the regime's help.
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The airport in the German city of Hannover was closed for over four hours after a car drove onto the runway. The unnamed driver has been arrested, and all flights were diverted from 3:30pm until 8pm. A police spokesman said a car with a Polish license plate managed to get on to the runway just after a plane had landed. “Officers from the Federal Police were able to stop the car and overwhelm the man,” said Hannover police, in a statement. The incident comes after the airport increased security over the Christmas period. Passengers inside Hannover airport wait for updates “The security areas are currently vacated, currently there is no clearance," police said, immediately after the incident. "Flight operations are currently suspended. The investigation continues.” Eurocontrol, the organisation responsible for air traffic management, said there were no flights due to land or take off until 8pm. “Zero rate applied for arrivals and departures due to an ongoing security issue on the airfield,” Eurocontrol said. “Delays are high.” Flights resumed at 8:06pm, the airport announced on its website.
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British interior minister Sajid Javid has said the fast-growing number of would-be immigrants crossing the English Channel from France in dinghies is a "major incident." Nearly 70 people have been intercepted in the past three days as they try to reach England by crossing one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Javid is also seeking an urgent call with his French counterpart over the weekend, his ministry said. "He has insisted the Home Office treat the situation as a major incident and has ... asked for daily updates," it said in a statement.
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Tesla named two more independent directors on Friday and said it completed the requirements of a US settlement of fraud charges involving Chief Executive Elon Musk. The electric car company tapped Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens Boots Alliance Executive Vice President Kathleen Wilson-Thompson for its board of directors, an element of the September agreement between Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission that resolved charges that Musk defrauded investors by claiming on Twitter that he had secured funding to take Tesla private.
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