In Brief: Nation & World: 5-22-17

Turkey: Man detained on US plane just wanted 1st class seat

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s official news agency says the FBI has detained a Turkish man who attempted to sit in first class on a Los Angeles-Honolulu flight.

The Anadolu news agency reported Sunday that 25-year-old Anil Tuvanc Uskanli bought an economy ticket on American Airlines Flight 31 but left his seat to try first class. Flight attendants stopped him but in the ensuing argument, he kicked a service cart.

The agency said Uskanli was handcuffed to his seat after refusing to sit.

Uskanli was taken into custody after the plane, escorted by two fighter jets, landed in Honolulu. He now faces a possible charge of interference with a flight crew.

Anadolu said Uskanli studied film and journalism in California and London.

Trump urges Mideast nations to drive out ‘Islamic extremism’

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday implored Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries to extinguish “Islamic extremism” emanating from the region, describing a “battle between good and evil” rather than a clash between the West and Islam.

In a pointed departure from his predecessor, Trump all but promised he would not publicly admonish Mideast rulers for human rights violations and oppressive reigns.

“We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” Trump said, speaking in an ornate room in the Saudi capital. “Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.”

The president’s address was the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his January swearing-in. For Trump, the trip is a reprieve from the crush of controversies that have marred his young presidency and an attempt to reset his relationship with a region and a religion he fiercely criticized a candidate.

During the 2016 U.S. campaign, Trump mused about his belief that “Islam hates us.” But on Sunday, standing before dozens of regional leaders, he said Islam was “one of the world’s great faiths.”

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Next stop for Trump is Israel, in pursuit of ‘ultimate deal’

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump has cast the elusive pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians as the “ultimate deal.” But he will step foot in Israel having offered few indications of how he plans to achieve what so many of his predecessors could not.

Trump has handed son-in-law Jared Kushner and longtime business lawyer Jason Greenblatt the assignment of charting the course toward a peace process. The White House-driven effort is a sharp shift from the practice of previous U.S. administrations that typically gave secretaries of state those responsibilities.

Kushner and Greenblatt were to accompany Trump on his two-day visit, set to begin Monday and include separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump also planned to visit the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and the Western Wall, an important Jewish holy site.

On the eve of Trump’s visit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet approved several confidence-building measures, including construction permits for Palestinians near their cities in parts of the West Bank that had previously been off limits, a senior official said. Under interim agreements 60 percent of the West Bank, known as Area C, site of Israel’s settlements, is under Israeli control and Palestinian development there has mostly been forbidden by Israel.

Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with protocol, he said the package also includes economic concessions and opening the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan.

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Congressional panels pledge thorough probe into Comey firing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of key congressional committees pledged Sunday to proceed with aggressive investigations into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election and any ties with the Trump campaign, saying the American people need a full airing as to why former FBI director James Comey was ousted.

Comey was fired by President Donald Trump earlier this month. The former director agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence committee after the Memorial Day holiday.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a member of that committee, said he wants to press Comey as to whether he ever believed the White House was interfering with his work, in light of a spate of news reports that Comey had kept detailed records of his interactions with Trump.

The New York Times and other news outlets reported last week on a Comey memo indicating Trump had urged him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Separately, another Times report said Trump had told Russian officials in a closed-door meeting at the Oval Office that firing Comey “had relieved great pressure on him.”

“Did he keep these memos? What do those memos say? And why did he write it? And how did he feel? Did he ever feel like he was being put in a position where he couldn’t do his job?” Rubio asked. “There’s no doubt that that’s the questions that are going to get asked, and asked repeatedly.”

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At refugee camp, Trump envoy Haley vows more aid for Syrians

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (AP) — His skull and jaw wrapped in bandages, the young Syrian refugee stared nonchalantly into a small black box at a supermarket in this sprawling, dust-swept refugee camp. The box scanned his iris to identify him, charged his account and sent him on his way.

If the boy noticed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley watching intently from just a few feet away, he didn’t show it. But Haley would later tout the iris-scanners as a fraud-cutting tool boosting efficiency for the more than $6.5 billion the U.S. has spent helping those whose lives have been upended by Syria’s harrowing civil war.

Yet as Haley pledged Sunday that the U.S. would increase support, her message was diluted by Trump’s own vow to put “America First,” his planned budget cuts and hardline position on admitting refugees.

“We’re the No. 1 donor here through this crisis. That’s not going to stop. We’re not going to stop funding this,” Haley said. “The fact that I’m here shows we want to see what else needs to be done.”

It was a theme the outspoken ambassador returned to over and over in Jordan at the start of her first trip abroad since taking office. In her stops here and in Turkey — another Syria neighbor — Haley is witnessing first-hand the strains placed on countries absorbing the more than 5 million Syrians who have fled the Islamic State group, President Bashar Assad’s government, or both.

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North Korea fires medium-range missile in latest weapon test

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In its latest effort to develop its ballistic and nuclear weapons, North Korea fired a medium-range missile Sunday that appeared to be similar to one the country tested earlier this year, U.S. and South Korean officials said.

The rocket was fired from an area near the North Korean county of Pukchang, in South Phyongan Province, and flew eastward about 500 kilometers (310 miles), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The U.S. Pacific Command said it tracked the missile before it fell into the sea.

White House officials traveling in Saudi Arabia with President Donald Trump said the system that was tested had a shorter range than the missiles fired in North Korea’s most recent tests.

The missile appeared to be similar in range and maximum altitude to the missile that North Korea test-fired in February, an official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The missile launched on Sunday reached an altitude of 560 kilometers (347 miles), said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

The February test involved using a launch truck to fire a solid-fuel missile that North Korea calls the Pukguksong (Polaris)-2, a land-based version of a submarine-launched missile the country revealed earlier. That missile traveled about 500 kilometers before crashing into the sea, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.

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Times Square driver says he tried to get mental help

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of mowing down pedestrians in Times Square, killing a teenage Michigan tourist and injuring 22 others, said he had been trying to get psychiatric help.

In a jailhouse interview on Saturday, Richard Rojas told the New York Post (https://nyp.st/2rDrfDD ) that he recently spoke to a mental health counselor at a local veteran’s center but they never got back to him.

“I was trying to get help,” Rojas told the newspaper from Rikers Island. “I wanted to fix my life. I wanted to get a job. Get a girlfriend.”

Rojas, who lived with his mother in the Bronx, drove his car Thursday through Times Square, then made a U-turn and steered his car onto a sidewalk, plowing through helpless tourists for three blocks before crashing into protective barriers, police said.

After he was detained, he said he wanted to “kill them all” and that police should have shot him to stop him, a prosecutor said at his court appearance on Friday. They said Rojas also admitted to smoking marijuana laced with PCP sometime before the crash. Officials are awaiting toxicology reports.

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Nicki Minaj kicks off Billboard Awards; Drake early winner

Nicki Minaj kicked off the 2017 Billboard Music Awards with an explosive nine-minute performance of her hit songs alongside her mentor Lil Wayne and frequent collaborator David Guetta.

Minaj recently broke Aretha Franklin’s record for most songs placed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by a female artist. The rapper-singer, who was also joined by Jason Derulo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, performed “No Frauds,” her song that was a response to fellow rapper Remy Ma’s infamous diss track against Minaj.

Minaj, sporting all black, was backed by a group of male and female dancers, some of whom were children. Minaj also performed “Light Up My Body,” during which she danced seductively on the floor. She also sang “Regret In Your Tears.”

Vanessa Hudgens, who is hosting the show on ABC with Ludacris, imitated Minaj’s rap onstage, which earned applause from the crowd. Hudgens also sang some of Celine Dion’s “I’m Your Lady” (Dion will perform later in the show).

Drake, who is also slated to perform, walked into the Billboard Awards an early winner, picking up 10 awards in an announcement made Sunday morning. Other early winners included Beyonce, who won five, and twenty one pilots, who won four.

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Ringling’s final show commences after 146 years

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Ringling Bros. and Barnum &Bailey Circus began its final show Sunday evening after 146 years of wowing audiences with its “Greatest Show on Earth.”

Earlier in the day, as the circus performed its second-to-last show at the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of New York City, a group of retired and former circus performers sat across the street at a hotel bar, laughing and hugging and sharing memories of tours past.

“There’s a lot of mixed emotions, said Rev. George “Jerry” Hogan, Ringling’s circus chaplain. “It’s a reunion, but it’s bittersweet. I’m seeing people I haven’t seen in years.”

Known as Father Jerry, the Catholic chaplain waved at a group of clowns at the bar. Nearly all of the folks at the bar said they were headed to the final 7 p.m. performance, but first, they needed a trip down memory lane with people who were, and always will be, part of a unique family.

“It’s 146 years of tradition, older than American baseball,” said David Gregg, a clown from Hollywood, Florida. “This was one of the last nomadic tribes running around the country.”

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New title for California’s 2015 train hero — graduate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Sacramento-area man credited with helping prevent an armed attack on a French train is celebrating his college graduation — a year late, owing to all the attention that followed the 2015 train crisis.

The Sacramento Bee reported family and friends were there to cheer 24-year-old Anthony Sadler at Saturday’s graduation at Sacramento State.

In August 2015, Sadler was one of three Northern California men who helped tackle a gunman they saw moving through a Paris-bound train. France awarded the three the Legion of Honor, and Sacramento welcomed their return with a parade. Clint Eastwood is now directing a film based on the episode. Sadler himself took time off from his studies for a speaking tour.

The new graduate says the months since the train incident “feel like 10 lifetimes.”

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Soundgarden frontman Cornell’s funeral will be Friday in LA

NEW YORK (AP) — Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell will be buried Friday in Los Angeles, his attorney Kirk Pasich said Sunday.

Pasich said Cornell will be buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in a private service.

Cornell’s body was transported to Los Angeles on Sunday.

He was pronounced dead early Thursday morning after being found unresponsive in his Detroit hotel room.

The Wayne County medical examiner’s office said the 52-year-old Cornell hanged himself. A full autopsy and results of toxicology tests are pending.