North America

4 May 2019 (AP) - A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out. Here are the real facts:

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CLAIM: “Elijah Cummings wrote a bill to keep all of Obama’s records sealed, but he insists that Congress must see all of President Trump’s financial records.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fumes in the cockpit and cabin of a Spirit Airlines jet flying from Los Angeles to Denver prompted the crew to bring the plane back to Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, authorities said.

Flight 630, an Airbus A321, landed without incident around 9:50 a.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

One passenger was taken to a hospital for evaluation and others were being accommodated on other flights, said Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for Spirit Airlines.

DENVER (AP) — A Denver landlord who was recorded telling her tenant to find an “American person ... good like you and me” to sublease her property instead of a Muslim father and son seeking to open their second restaurant must pay the men $675,000 under a settlement.

MIAMI (AP) — Former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has joined the board of the conglomerate that operates the largest facility for migrant children in the country, the company announced Friday.

Caliburn International’s CEO James Van Dusen confirmed the appointment of the former Trump cabinet member in a news release.

Some members of Congress have described “prison-like” conditions in the facility in Homestead, Florida.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration ended a week of pointed but vague threats of a military response to the Venezuelan political crisis with a meeting at the Pentagon to consider its options, though there was still no sign any action was on the horizon.

Shortly after Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and other senior officials reviewed options in light of a failed effort earlier this week by Venezuelan opposition leaders to fuel an uprising, President Donald Trump said he discussed the situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

4 May 2019 (AP) - A charter plane carrying 143 people and traveling from Cuba to north Florida ended up in a river at the end of a runway Friday night, though no critical injuries or deaths were reported, officials said.

A Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said.

NEW YORK (AP) — The lowest unemployment rate in a half century. More than 260,000 new jobs. And higher hourly wages.

“I’ll be running on the economy,” President Donald Trump declared on Friday. And why wouldn’t he?

The day’s new round of sunny employment figures offered fresh evidence of a strong national economy — and a big political advantage for Trump just as the 2020 presidential campaign begins to intensify. Stocks are at or near record levels , too, as the president often notes.

WASHINGTON, May 4. /TASS/: The United States may impose sanctions on the countries providing assistance to expand Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant beyond the existing reactor unit, US State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tightened restrictions against Iran’s nuclear program.

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has had a "very productive" talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on a lot of issues.

Trump tweeted that he "had a long and very good conversation with President Putin of Russia. As I have always said, long before the Witch Hunt started, getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing."

"We discussed Trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, Nuclear Arms Control and even the 'Russian Hoax.' Very productive talk!" Trump added.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 2 (Xinhua): U.S. experts in law and international business on Thursday expressed positive views on China's pledge to lower tariffs and import more goods and services from other parts of the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement about China's plan to have more imports "is, of course, welcome," and its willingness to provide a "level-playing field" is an important factor in bilateral trade, said Mei Gechlik, a law professor at Stanford University, on Thursday.