Couple on honeymoon detained ‘because the groom is Muslim’

NEW YORK: A couple of British newly-weds have told how they were detained at a US airport for 26 hours and their honeymoon utterly ruined, “because the groom is Muslim”.

The couple, from West London, had spent £7,000 ($9,100) for a two-week trip that would take in Los Angeles, Hawaii and finally Las Vegas. But after being held at Los Angeles International Airport for more than a day, they were handcuffed, marched to a plane and flown back to London.

The couple, Natasha Politakis, 29, and Ali Gul, 32, said they were not given an explanation for the way they were treated. However, against a backdrop of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and his effort to prevent Muslims from half-a-dozen Muslimmajority countries from entering the country, they suspect it was because of Gul’s Turkish heritage. “I am in utter shock that this has happened,” Politakis said. “We had just got married, we were on our way to our honeymoon as excited as anything and never expected that we would be deported.

“We were treated like criminals and we had all the relevant documentation and answered all their questions. “It’s not okay to treat people like that.”

The couple said they were pulled aside for questioning, a process they suspected would take ten minutes. It turned into 26 hours, during which they were refused to a shower and their luggage was taken from them. Their phones were only returned to them once they returned to the UK.

“As far as we knew before we left everything was fine, but as soon as we got there they wouldn’t let us in,” they told the newspaper.

“We believe since Trump was elected, they took one look at his name, thought he was Muslim and didn’t let him in.”

A US embassy spokesman said in a statement that the US welcomes more than a million passengers arriving every day.

“The religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveller are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the US,” it said.

“Under US immigration law applicants for admission bear the burden of proof to establish that they are clearly eligible to enter the United States. In order to demonstrate that they are admissible, the applicant must overcome ALL grounds of inadmissibility.

“Specific grounds of inadmissibility can be found in INA § 212(a) and list more than 60 grounds of inadmissibility divided into several major categories, including healthrelated, prior criminal convictions, security reasons, public charge, labour certification, illegal entrants and immigration violations, documentation requirements, and miscellaneous grounds.” TOKYO: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Japan, on Wednesday morning.

The shaker — which is classed as “strong” — was near the island of Okinawa, which has a population of more than 1.4 million.

Almost 16,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Japan’s coast in 2011.

The under-sea tremor — which has a similar depth to Wednesday’s quake — caused a tsunami, which led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

The epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean — between Japan, China, South Korea and the Philippines, which has a population of 100 million.

The island of Taiwan — where 24 million people live — is very near.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the quake, which hit at a depth of 21 miles, about 166 miles east of Okinawa.

The US Geological Survey — which monitors earthquakes and volcanoes worldwide — said there is a “low likelihood” of casualties and damage.

There is a one in three chance up to 10 people could be killed — and only a 4 percent chance of more deaths.

The 1.4 million people who leave nearby will have felt “weak” effects.

A USGS spokesman said: “Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are resistant to earthquake shaking — though vulnerable structures exist.

“The predominant vulnerable building types are low-rise concrete wall and light wood frame construction.”

Japan lies on the notorious “Ring of Fire” — land around the Pacific Ocean regularly rocked by earthquakes and volcanoes.

A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia — also in the region — back in May.

Two people were killed and more than 120 injured when an earthquake hit the Mediterranean last week.

A series of earthquakes in Wyoming has sparked fears a giant supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park could blow. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday transgenders will not serve in the US military “in any capacity”, asserting that their service would bring “tremendous medical costs and disruption”.

Announcing the decision on Twitter, Trump said the military would not “allow or accept” transgender service members, reversing a major last year’s decision of his predecessor Barack Obama.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the US Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US Military,” Trump said in a series of tweets.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” Trump wrote. Last year, former US President Barack Obama had decided to allow transgenders to serve in the US military.

Last July, the Pentagon lifted a long-standing ban against transgender men and women serving openly in the military.