With one major United States carrier already plying routes here, the Guyana Government is upbeat that another may fly here as United Airlines will soon be meeting with officials to discuss the possibility of entering this market.

American Airlines made its inaugural flight to Guyana on November 15th last.  The airline is now offering four flights per week from Georgetown to Miami and will subsequently add more flights to its schedule.

Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson yesterday told Stabroek News that officials from United Airlines will be meeting with Guyana Civil Aviation Authority officials soon. From those talks, Ferguson says that government hopes that the airline will propose to fly here and believes that 2019 would be a good year for that to happen.

“Obviously we here in Guyana would want any additional airline coming to our shores. With more airlines coming on stream, it is a positive for Guyana because I guess what will also happen is we have more stable travel costs,” she said.

“Persons would now have a preference to travel with American Airlines, United Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, COPA…all that we have existing in the market. I am really really happy that other airlines have been signalling their intentions of coming to operate in Guyana. 2018 is coming to an end, so the prospects look good for 2019 hopefully of United coming,“ she added.

During a recent interview, United States Ambassador Perry Holloway, told the media that while he could not say if other US airlines are going to come to Guyana, he knows that officials from  United Airlines are scheduled  for talks.

“United [Airlines] is interested in coming to talk. Don’t put that United is coming next week because they are not. But it makes sense because the capital of the oil industry is in Houston, Texas and one of United’s hubs is Houston, Texas. I would expect that one of the airlines that would be most interested is United Airlines. I don’t know a lot about the other airlines. I don’t have much to say about those guys I don’t know if they are good or bad,” Holloway said.

 “Not only does it promote greater commerce but it promotes greater people to people interaction, whether that is education, culture or business. I have to tell you when I got here three years ago, one of things that stood out is, that a foreigner likes least about Guyana is how hard it is to get here and how hard it is to get back home. It is a challenge. It has gotten better in three years I think, with American Airlines, for the Americans. It has gotten dramatically better,” he posited.

But with most Guyanese living in the United States Tri State Area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he believes that a direct Georgetown to New York flight is needed. “I think the thing that is missing somehow, how you get it I don’t know, but obviously…somehow we need to get another flight to New York.  That is what I think needs to be done. But how you do that I don’t know,” he said.

United Airlines paid tribute to the 41st president, George H.W. Bush, on the day of his funeral by temporarily closing gate 41 at the Houston airport that was named in his honor.

On Wednesday, the day of Bush’s state funeral in Washington, D.C., the airline suspended operations at Terminal C’s gate 41 at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and turned it into a memorial in his honor. The gate was adorned with photos of the late president and his wife, Barbara, accompanied by an American flag and a wreath.

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The crew also left a note that read “Fly High George,” and changed the automated gate monitor to read “In Memory of George H.W. Bush.”

“As the namesake of our hub in Houston, President George H. W. Bush is synonymous with the city he loved,” a spokesperson for United Airlines tells PEOPLE in a statement. “We joined the nation in honoring his legacy by closing gate 41 yesterday and today as a tribute to our president and a true American patriot.”

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In a separate area of the airport, travelers placed flowers around a statue of the president, who passed away on Nov. 30 at the age of 94. President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a day of mourning, and issued a proclamation that all flags should fly at half-staff for 30 days in Bush’s honor.

According to local news outlet K Hou 11, employees at the airport said passengers were taking extra time to take photos of the decorated statue and read about the former president, who was once a naval aviator.

“We’re proud to bear his name,” Bill Begley with Houston’s Airport System told the outlet. “We’ll make sure his legacy is honored properly.”

According to Begley, the statue was erected in the airport in 1997, but has a different weight today.

WATCH THIS: George W. Bush Cries During Emotional Eulogy of Father George H.W.

“This art piece is preserving his memory, enhancing his memory and reminding people about they cared so much for him as a president and person,” he said.

In the capital, the former president and war hero was honored by moving eulogies from family and political peers — including his son George W. Bush — during a funeral service at the National Cathedral. Bush’s coffin was then taken back to his home state of Texas.

Following a funeral service at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas on Thursday, his remains are being transported by “4141” to College Station. From there, his coffin will be taken to the George Bush Presidential Library Museum at Texas AM University, where he will be buried next to his late wife, Barbara Bush, and their daughter Robin, who passed away in 1953 at the age of three.

RELATED: George H.W. Bush’s Funeral Train Is the First Presidential Funeral Train in 49 Years

“Every day of his 73 years of marriage, dad taught us all what it means to be a great husband. … He was dedicated to her totally,” reflected his son, George W., on Wednesday. He is one of Bush’s five surviving children.

He later added, “We’re going to miss you. … So through our tears, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man. …The best man a son or daughter could have. … And in our grief, let us know that dad is hugging Robin and holding mom’s hand again.”

Former NBA player Eric Murdock’s July flight has yielded a $10 million lawsuit against United Airlines. 

According to Sports Illustrated, Murdock was aboard a July 23 flight from Las Vegas to New Jersey when he asked a white flight attendant to switch to a seat in the emergency exit row. He was hoping to sit near his son with whom he’d been traveling. The attendant informed Murdock that the emergency row hosted premium-priced seats – without specifying the price – and would not allow him to switch. When another passenger began to take the seat, they offered to change with Murdock instead. After agreeing, the flight attendant instructed the former Heat player back to his seat and claimed the emergency row needed to remain empty altogether for an undisclosed reason.

About half an hour later, the attendant allowed a white woman to take the same seat Murdock requested. Another passenger who witnessed the ordeal, Brenda Williams, who is now a co-plaintiff on the lawsuit, openly questioned the attendant’s motives. Williams was allegedly met with screams by the attendant, who told Williams to mind her business and attempted to take her phone after she tried to film the ordeal. 

Later, when the attendant approached Murdock with drinks, USA Today reports that she asked Murdock if he was “going to boycott” receiving a beverage. 

Upon landing, Murdock and Williams were both escorted off the plane by airport security, questioned by TSA guards and eventually released without charges against them. 

While United Airlines has told USA Today it is unable to comment on the specifics of what took place, representatives ensure that the allegations are being considered. 

“At United, we proudly hold ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism and have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” the airline told the publication. 

Now, check these out:

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American Airlines Is Now Calling For Their Employees To Undergo ‘Anti-Racism’ Training

A former NBA player filed a lawsuit against United Airlines for $10 million, accusing a flight attendant of “race-baiting.”

According to the lawsuit filed in New York Eastern District Court, the incident unfolded on July 13 on United Airlines Flight 1537 from Las Vegas to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Murdock, who is black, asked a flight attendant whether he could move to an empty emergency exit row seat behind him to sit alongside his son, who was seated in a different row.

According to court documents, the flight attendant, who was white, told Murdock the seat he was looking to move to came with a premium price, although she did not specify how much.

A passenger who was about to claim the seat offered to swap with Murdock, who had played with seven different teams across his nine seasons in the NBA, before takeoff. The former first-round pick of the 1991 draft accepted the offer, but the flight attendant did not and instructed him to return to his seat and keep the row empty.

About a half-hour later, a white woman was allowed to sit in the row Murdock was told had to remain empty. As reported by USA Today, court filings show Brenda Williams, a black woman, had asked the flight attendant to explain her behavior toward Murdock.

Williams did not know Murdock at the time but is now a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, which alleged the flight attendant shouted at her and tried to take her phone away while Williams was attempting to record the incident.

The lawsuit described the flight attendant as “rude and dismissive.”

Eric Murdock, #3 of the Los Angeles Clippers, makes a free throw during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, in 1999. Murdock has filed a $10 million lawsuit against United Airlines, accusing a flight attendant of “race-baiting.” Tom Hauck /Allsport

Murdock eventually returned to his assigned seat, but another controversy arose when the cabin crew began to serve drinks. According to the court filing, the flight attendant reportedly asked Murdock whether he was “going to boycott” drinks when she approached him.

The 50-year-old “did not respond to the obvious race baiting,” according to the lawsuit.

Once the flight landed in New Jersey, both Williams and the former Providence point guard were escorted off the plane by security and were subsequently questioned by Transportation Security Administration officials.

Both were allowed to leave without charges but Murdock and Williams claim the “unjustifiable” removal from the aircraft was humiliating, particularly as it happened in front of some of Murdock’s current colleagues.

A spokesman for United Airlines said the company had a strict zero tolerance policy on discrimination and was already looking into the allegations.

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HOUSTON – United Airlines paid tribute to former President George H.W. Bush on the day of his funeral.

To honor the 41st president, the airline suspended operation at gate 41 Wednesday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The gate was closed on what President Donald Trump has declared a national day of mourning.

A photo at the airport shows a portrait of George H.W. Bush hoisted at the gate, accompanied by an American flag and a funeral wreath.

In a separate part of the airport, flowers were placed around statue of the late president.

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President Trump shocked the world, accepting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s invitation to discuss a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. It’s historic and high-stakes.
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration declared Wednesday that it’s up to North Korea to follow through on its threats to cancel a summit with Kim Jong Un, saying the United States remains prepared to meet.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters during a photo opportunity with the president of Uzbekistan, adding that he will insist on North Korean “denuclearization” as a condition of talks.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said of the North Koreans: “If they want to meet we’ll be ready and if they don’t, that’s OK too.”

Suggesting that the threats by Kim’s government may be pre-summit posturing, Sanders also said, “this is something that we fully expected,” and that the administration remains “hopeful” the June 12 meeting will happen.

Trump and Sanders both said the administration has not received formal notification from the North Koreans about potential problems with the summit.

Hours after protesting U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, the North Koreans issued a second threat to cancel the Trump-Kim meeting by rejecting the idea that they would unilaterally give up nuclear weapons, saying their country would end up like Libya or Iraq.

“If the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-U.S. summit,” said the translated statement attributed to Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs.

Trump announced last week he would meet with Kim June 12 in Singapore to discuss an agreement on nuclear weapons. For months, the American president has urged China and other countries to cut off economic aid to North Korea until Kim gives up his weapons programs.

Marilyn L. Glynn, who served as the general counsel at the Office of Government Ethics from 1997 to 2008, said the letter to the Department of Justice is significant and unusual and that if Mr. Trump intentionally filed an inaccurate disclosure last year, he may have violated the law.

But she added that the matter is now unclear — as the referral from the ethics office does not explicitly state that the agency itself has concluded there was a violation and it is hard to know exactly when Mr. Trump learned about the debt.

“What did he know and when did he know it,” she said. “At time he filed it last year, he may not have known this payment was made or that a payment was made at all.”

Mr. Trump’s disclosure of the repaid debt to Mr. Cohen did little to clear up confusion about the total size of the reimbursements. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s attorney, said earlier this month that Mr. Cohen was paid $460,000 or $470,000 from Mr. Trump, which also included money for “incidental expenses” that he had incurred on Mr. Trump’s behalf.

Mr. Giuliani said Mr. Trump started paying Mr. Cohen back through a series of monthly installments of roughly $35,000 and that those payments began last year and may have carried into this year. The filing released on Wednesday capped the amount Mr. Trump paid back to Mr. Cohen in 2017 at $250,000, leaving more than $200,000 of the amount Mr. Giuliani mentioned unaccounted for.

The disclosure did not preclude the possibility that federal investigators could determine the payment to Ms. Clifford violated campaign finance laws. If they conclude it was made with the intention of influencing the presidential campaign — making it an effective political contribution — it would violate election law, which caps individual donations to federal candidates at $5,400 per election cycle.

Candidates are allowed to spend as much as they want on their own campaigns. And, according to the filing, Mr. Trump paid Mr. Cohen back, making Mr. Cohen’s initial payment a loan. But campaign finance law treats personal loans as contributions and the $5,400 limit would have applied. Public campaign filings are also supposed to account for all loans, contributions and payments; Mr. Trump’s made no mention of the Cohen arrangement.

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The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Warning for portions of Central New Haven and Middlesex counties until 5:30 p.m. At 507 p.m., a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over Bethany, or near Naugatuck, moving east at 65 mph, the weather service says. Residents in these areas are urged to take cover now.

The storm could produce a tornado and quarter size hail. The impacts include: “Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is likely.”

* This dangerous storm will be near…
Wallingford around 510 PM EDT.
Branford and North Haven around 515 PM EDT.
Guilford and Durham around 520 PM EDT.
North Madison around 525 PM EDT.
Chester and East Haddam around 530 PM EDT.

The National Weather Service says, “TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris.

“Motorists should not take shelter under highway overpasses. If you cannot safely drive away from the tornado, as a last resort, either park your vehicle and stay put, or abandon your vehicle and lie down in a low lying area and protect yourself from flying debris,” the weather service adds.