British Airways sets fastest flight record, thanks to storm Ciara London
AP, London
As the worst storm in seven years set its eyes on the UK and Europe, a British Airways (BA) flight utilised the strong tail winds and reached Heathrow airport from New York in a record time-four hours and 56 minutes-at a subsonic speed of over 1,290 km per hour. According to the data available with online flight tracker service Flightradar24, a British Airways Boeing 747 that departed from the JFK Airport on Saturday reached Heathrow shortly after 11:20 pm.
Merkel party’s crisis deepens as designated successor quits
AP, Berlin
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party plunged deeper into crisis Monday following a debacle in a regional election, as the long-time German leader’s successor unexpectedly announced that she wouldn’t stand for the chancellorship. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer informed leading members of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union that she will begin the process of organizing a leadership contest in the summer.
Maryland to unveil statues of Tubman, Douglass in Capitol
AP, Annapolis
At a time when states are debating the removal of Confederate monuments, Maryland is adding bronze statues of two of the state’s famous black historical figures to the Maryland State House.
The statues of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass will be unveiled Monday night in the Old House Chamber, the room where slavery was abolished in Maryland in 1864.
Gunman ambushes NYC police twice in 12 hours, spawns outrage
AP, New York
A gunman was arrested after he ambushed police officers in the Bronx twice in 12 hours, authorities said, wounding two in attacks that brought outrage from officials who blamed the violence on an atmosphere of anti-police rhetoric.
Robert Williams, 45, of the Bronx, was captured after he walked into a police station in the Bronx and started shooting shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday, police said.
His shots struck a lieutenant in the arm and narrowly missed other police personnel before he ran out of bullets, lay down and tossed his pistol, officials said.
