Muhammad Ali's son was detained and questioned at a Washington airport before being allowed to fly home to Florida, his lawyer has revealed.
The incident came after Muhammad Ali Jr met with politicians to talk about a separate airport detention last month.
Mr Ali and his mother, Khalilah Camacho Ali, were stopped at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after returning from Jamaica on 7 February.
They travelled to Washington on Wednesday without incident to speak to members of a congressional subcommittee on border security about that experience.
Attorney Chris Mancini said that when Mr Ali tried to board a JetBlue Airways flight back to Florida that day he was detained for 20 minutes.
Mr Mancini said Mr Ali spoke to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials by telephone and showed his driver's licence and passport before he was allowed to board the plane.
"None of this was happening Wednesday," Mr Mancini said in a telephone interview on Friday as he was travelling with the family.
"Going to Washington obviously opened up a can of worms at DHS."
Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was on the same flight, posted a photo on Twitter with Mr Ali after he was allowed to board and wrote: "On way home on DOMESTIC FLIGHT Muhammad Ali Jr. detained AGAIN ... Religiously profiling son of 'The Greatest' will not make us safe."
The Alis, both born in the United States, have said in interviews previously that they believe they have been stopped because they are Muslim with Arabic names.
Earlier this week they unveiled a campaign for religious freedom in the spirit of the boxing icon, supported by former boxers Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Roberto Duran among others.
Meanwhile, Maryland has become the latest state to join the legal challenges against President Donald Trump's revised temporary travel ban.
The first order, which temporarily stopped the entry of refugees and travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, was the subject of more than two dozen lawsuits.
Critics claimed it discriminated against Muslims and violated the US Constitution, while the Trump administration said the measure was necessary to protect the US against terror attacks.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Friday, March 10, 2017
EU leaders prepare for Theresa May to trigger Article 50 within days
European leaders are preparing for formal Brexit negotiations to begin within days should Theresa May trigger Article 50 next week.
EU leaders, meeting in Brussels, were told to prepare for the possibility that Britain could trigger talks as early as next Tuesday, with a formal gathering on 6 April pencilled in to respond to Britain's formal letter of notification.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny confirmed to reporters that the EU 27 had provisionally agreed a meeting in early April to agree a framework for exit talks.
:: Brexit - your guide to the jargon
"The next meeting is to be on the 6th of April, provided that the [British] Prime Minister [Theresa May] moves Article 50, I think by the 15th of March," he said.
"There will be a response immediately from the European Council, and there will be guidelines issued within 48 hours. And the European Council meeting to adopt those guidelines will be on 6 April."
However, some European sources remained sceptical that the Prime Minister would go for such a tight timetable, given that she would risk a diplomatic upset by triggering Article 50 immediately before the Dutch elections on 15 March.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Mrs May has scheduled a major Commons statement on Tuesday, raising Brexiteers' hopes she might use it to formally trigger Brexit.
:: Jean-Claude Juncker hopes Britain will 're-enter the boat'
David Lidington, the Commons Leader, said the Prime Minister's statement on the EU Council had been moved from Monday to Tuesday - blaming diary commitments.
The EU Notification of Withdrawal Bill will return to the House of Commons on Monday - after its passage through the House of Lords - and could be voted through as early as Monday evening - giving the Prime Minister the opportunity to formally trigger Article 50 on Tuesday.
However, that timetable could only be met if the House of Lords, which last week sent the bill back to the House of Commons with two amendments, decides to allow the bill to pass.
The upper chamber has voted in favour of giving Parliament a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of divorce talks with the European Union.
Peers are also calling for the rights of EU nationals living in the UK to be protected after Article 50 is triggered.
The Government is planning to overturn the two amendments when the bill returns to the House of Commons on Monday, with David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, describing the Lords vote as "disappointing".
"[The article 50 Bill] has a straightforward purpose - to enact the referendum result and allow the Government to get on with negotiating a new partnership with the EU," he said.
On Friday, Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, and Baroness Smith, shadow leader of the House of Lords, wrote to the Prime Minister urging her to "reflect and reconsider on the overwhelming case to act" on the two amendments tabled by peers.
EU leaders, meeting in Brussels, were told to prepare for the possibility that Britain could trigger talks as early as next Tuesday, with a formal gathering on 6 April pencilled in to respond to Britain's formal letter of notification.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny confirmed to reporters that the EU 27 had provisionally agreed a meeting in early April to agree a framework for exit talks.
:: Brexit - your guide to the jargon
"The next meeting is to be on the 6th of April, provided that the [British] Prime Minister [Theresa May] moves Article 50, I think by the 15th of March," he said.
"There will be a response immediately from the European Council, and there will be guidelines issued within 48 hours. And the European Council meeting to adopt those guidelines will be on 6 April."
However, some European sources remained sceptical that the Prime Minister would go for such a tight timetable, given that she would risk a diplomatic upset by triggering Article 50 immediately before the Dutch elections on 15 March.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Mrs May has scheduled a major Commons statement on Tuesday, raising Brexiteers' hopes she might use it to formally trigger Brexit.
:: Jean-Claude Juncker hopes Britain will 're-enter the boat'
David Lidington, the Commons Leader, said the Prime Minister's statement on the EU Council had been moved from Monday to Tuesday - blaming diary commitments.
The EU Notification of Withdrawal Bill will return to the House of Commons on Monday - after its passage through the House of Lords - and could be voted through as early as Monday evening - giving the Prime Minister the opportunity to formally trigger Article 50 on Tuesday.
However, that timetable could only be met if the House of Lords, which last week sent the bill back to the House of Commons with two amendments, decides to allow the bill to pass.
The upper chamber has voted in favour of giving Parliament a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of divorce talks with the European Union.
Peers are also calling for the rights of EU nationals living in the UK to be protected after Article 50 is triggered.
The Government is planning to overturn the two amendments when the bill returns to the House of Commons on Monday, with David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, describing the Lords vote as "disappointing".
"[The article 50 Bill] has a straightforward purpose - to enact the referendum result and allow the Government to get on with negotiating a new partnership with the EU," he said.
On Friday, Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, and Baroness Smith, shadow leader of the House of Lords, wrote to the Prime Minister urging her to "reflect and reconsider on the overwhelming case to act" on the two amendments tabled by peers.
Radar finds spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 which was 'lost' for eight years
India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft which was considered "lost" in 2009 has now been located by a NASA radar.
The cube-shaped Chandrayaan-1, roughly half the size of a Smart car, was discovered orbiting the moon 124 miles above the surface.
The satellite, measuring about 1.5m (5ft) tall on each side, had circled the moon more than 3,400 times since it was successfully launched on 22 October, 2008.
But its mission ended when radio contact was lost on 29 August, 2009. It had been expected to operate for two years and had been experiencing technical problems before contact was lost.
However, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, has located it after trying out new ways to find objects in space.
Due to its relatively small size, the Chandrayaan-1 was an ideal candidate.
Scientists used a new ground radar to locate two spacecraft, including the Chandrayaan-1.
JPL radar scientist Marina Brozovic said: "We have been able to detect NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in lunar orbit with ground-based radar.
"Finding LRO was relatively easy, as we were working with the mission's navigators and had precise orbit data where it was located.
"Finding India's Chandrayaan-1 required a bit more detective work because the last contact with the spacecraft was in August of 2009."
While interplanetary radar has been used to see small asteroids several million miles from Earth, researchers were not sure if an even smaller object as far away as the Moon could be detected.
Such objects are especially hard to find because the Moon has regions with high gravitational pull that can significantly alter a craft's orbit.
The cube-shaped Chandrayaan-1, roughly half the size of a Smart car, was discovered orbiting the moon 124 miles above the surface.
The satellite, measuring about 1.5m (5ft) tall on each side, had circled the moon more than 3,400 times since it was successfully launched on 22 October, 2008.
But its mission ended when radio contact was lost on 29 August, 2009. It had been expected to operate for two years and had been experiencing technical problems before contact was lost.
However, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, has located it after trying out new ways to find objects in space.
Due to its relatively small size, the Chandrayaan-1 was an ideal candidate.
Scientists used a new ground radar to locate two spacecraft, including the Chandrayaan-1.
JPL radar scientist Marina Brozovic said: "We have been able to detect NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in lunar orbit with ground-based radar.
"Finding LRO was relatively easy, as we were working with the mission's navigators and had precise orbit data where it was located.
"Finding India's Chandrayaan-1 required a bit more detective work because the last contact with the spacecraft was in August of 2009."
While interplanetary radar has been used to see small asteroids several million miles from Earth, researchers were not sure if an even smaller object as far away as the Moon could be detected.
Such objects are especially hard to find because the Moon has regions with high gravitational pull that can significantly alter a craft's orbit.
Bus plunges off Nepal mountain road and down 650ft slope killing 26
At least 26 people have died after an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road in Nepal, according to officials.
Thirty six more were injured when the bus veered off the road near a village around 250 miles west of Kathmandu, rolling 650ft down a slope before crashing into the Pasagad river.
Villagers helped police and soldiers pull the bodies and the injured from the wreckage after the accident in the district of Jajarkot on Thursday.
Government administrator Krishna Chandra Poudel said rescue helicopters flew 18 people to hospital in Nepalgunj city, near Nepal's southern border.
Another eight people were due to be rescued by helicopter on Friday, but had to wait due to bad weather conditions.
Accidents in Nepal are often blamed on poorly maintained roads - many of which are narrow mountain routes - and vehicles in bad condition.
Thirty six more were injured when the bus veered off the road near a village around 250 miles west of Kathmandu, rolling 650ft down a slope before crashing into the Pasagad river.
Villagers helped police and soldiers pull the bodies and the injured from the wreckage after the accident in the district of Jajarkot on Thursday.
Government administrator Krishna Chandra Poudel said rescue helicopters flew 18 people to hospital in Nepalgunj city, near Nepal's southern border.
Another eight people were due to be rescued by helicopter on Friday, but had to wait due to bad weather conditions.
Accidents in Nepal are often blamed on poorly maintained roads - many of which are narrow mountain routes - and vehicles in bad condition.
Writer Jack Monroe wins £24K in libel suit against Katie Hopkins
A writer has won £24,000 in damages in a libel suit against columnist Katie Hopkins over tweets she said caused "serious harm" to her reputation.
Food blogger Jack Monroe sued Hopkins over tweets which implied she defaced or condoned the damage to a war memorial in central London.
The case arose after the memorial to the women of the Second World War in Whitehall was vandalised with the words "F*** Tory scum" during an anti-austerity protest.
Monroe's lawyer told the High Court that Hopkins' tweets to Monroe - apparently in a case of mistaken identity amounted to an allegation that would "inevitably cause serious damage to reputation".
The judge heard it was a "widely published allegation" that Monroe had "either vandalised a war memorial or approved of such an act".
Jonathan Price, for Hopkins, argued: "This relatively trivial dispute arose and was resolved on Twitter in a period of several hours".
He asserted "no lasting harm, and certainly no serious harm", to Monroe's reputation resulted from it.
But Mr Justice Warby ruled "whilst the claimant may not have proved that her reputation suffered gravely, I am satisfied that she has established that the publications complained of caused serious harm to her reputation".
He said their publication "not only caused Ms Monroe real and substantial distress, but also harm to her reputation which was serious".
The judge concluded: "Ms Monroe is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation, which I assess at £24,000."
Monroe, who also campaigns over poverty issues, tweeted: "It"s taken 21 months but today the High Court ruled that Hopkins statements to/about me were defamatory. I sued her for libel. and I won."
It is not the first libel suit Hopkins has been involved in recently.
In December, Hopkins apologised to a British Muslim family over a Mail Online column in which she accused them of being extremists after they were refused entry to the US for a trip to Disneyland.
The newspaper was ordered to pay the family £150,000 in libel damages.
Food blogger Jack Monroe sued Hopkins over tweets which implied she defaced or condoned the damage to a war memorial in central London.
The case arose after the memorial to the women of the Second World War in Whitehall was vandalised with the words "F*** Tory scum" during an anti-austerity protest.
Monroe's lawyer told the High Court that Hopkins' tweets to Monroe - apparently in a case of mistaken identity amounted to an allegation that would "inevitably cause serious damage to reputation".
The judge heard it was a "widely published allegation" that Monroe had "either vandalised a war memorial or approved of such an act".
Jonathan Price, for Hopkins, argued: "This relatively trivial dispute arose and was resolved on Twitter in a period of several hours".
He asserted "no lasting harm, and certainly no serious harm", to Monroe's reputation resulted from it.
But Mr Justice Warby ruled "whilst the claimant may not have proved that her reputation suffered gravely, I am satisfied that she has established that the publications complained of caused serious harm to her reputation".
He said their publication "not only caused Ms Monroe real and substantial distress, but also harm to her reputation which was serious".
The judge concluded: "Ms Monroe is entitled to fair and reasonable compensation, which I assess at £24,000."
Monroe, who also campaigns over poverty issues, tweeted: "It"s taken 21 months but today the High Court ruled that Hopkins statements to/about me were defamatory. I sued her for libel. and I won."
It is not the first libel suit Hopkins has been involved in recently.
In December, Hopkins apologised to a British Muslim family over a Mail Online column in which she accused them of being extremists after they were refused entry to the US for a trip to Disneyland.
The newspaper was ordered to pay the family £150,000 in libel damages.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Brexit: Ireland's Enda Kenny backs charging UK for EU divorce
The Irish premier has indicated he backs the idea of charging the UK to leave the EU - a bill that many believe would be about £50bn.
As the PM meets EU leaders for the last time before Article 50 is triggered, Ireland's Enda Kenny told Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam: "When you sign on for a contract you commit yourself to participation. And obviously the extent of that level of money will be determined."
Mr Kenny, who made the comments as he arrived at the EU Council meeting in Brussels, said the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, would lead any such negotiations.
"Britain will have a say," added Mr Kenny.
As the PM meets EU leaders for the last time before Article 50 is triggered, Ireland's Enda Kenny told Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam: "When you sign on for a contract you commit yourself to participation. And obviously the extent of that level of money will be determined."
Mr Kenny, who made the comments as he arrived at the EU Council meeting in Brussels, said the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, would lead any such negotiations.
"Britain will have a say," added Mr Kenny.
Domino's shares plunge as inflation bites into consumer spending
Shares in Domino's Pizza have plunged after it posted a sharp slowdown in sales growth and said rising inflation was starting to bite into consumers' appetite for spending.
Analysts said tougher competition from rival Pizza Hut and an unsuccessful winter promotional campaign were also to blame. Shares fell 13%.
Pre-tax profits for the year to 25 December rose 13% to £82.5m as revenues climbed to £361m and more than 250,000 pizzas a day were sold in the UK and Ireland alone.
But a 7.5% rise in like-for-like sales over the year, slowing to 1.5% in the first nine weeks of 2017, was well below the double digit increases in 2015.
Chief executive David Wild said it was to be expected that the pace of its sales growth would eventually slow.
He also admitted that its 'Winter Survival' deal needed to be refreshed after four years.
Mr Wild also said consumers were "worried about rising prices" with inflation being driven higher thanks to the post-Brexit vote fall in the pound.
"They've seen petrol prices go up, food price increases and energy price increases and that's impacting their spending," he added.
Domino's confirmed that it planned to open a further 80 stores in the UK this year as part of its expansion plans, creating 3,000 jobs.
Analysts said tougher competition from rival Pizza Hut and an unsuccessful winter promotional campaign were also to blame. Shares fell 13%.
Pre-tax profits for the year to 25 December rose 13% to £82.5m as revenues climbed to £361m and more than 250,000 pizzas a day were sold in the UK and Ireland alone.
But a 7.5% rise in like-for-like sales over the year, slowing to 1.5% in the first nine weeks of 2017, was well below the double digit increases in 2015.
Chief executive David Wild said it was to be expected that the pace of its sales growth would eventually slow.
He also admitted that its 'Winter Survival' deal needed to be refreshed after four years.
Mr Wild also said consumers were "worried about rising prices" with inflation being driven higher thanks to the post-Brexit vote fall in the pound.
"They've seen petrol prices go up, food price increases and energy price increases and that's impacting their spending," he added.
Domino's confirmed that it planned to open a further 80 stores in the UK this year as part of its expansion plans, creating 3,000 jobs.
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