Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, a federal judge has sided with the Trump administration’s push to keep Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in detention. That’s despite a previous judge’s order saying the pro-Palestinian activist could no longer be held based on the administration’s initial argument that he’s a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
The government now says Khalil is being held on other grounds, claiming that he lied on his green card application.
The head of the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery is stepping down two weeks after President Trump said on social media that he had fired her. Kim Sajet’s departure was announced in a memo to staff, which was provided to the “News Hour.”
In it, she is quoted as saying: “This was not an easy decision, but I believe that stepping aside is the best way to serve the institution I hold so deeply in my heart.”
Her announcement comes just days after the Smithsonian made a public statement asserting its independence over personnel decisions.
In India, investigators say they have recovered the flight data recorder from yesterday’s Air India crash. The black box should provide clues as to why the London-bound Boeing 787 fell from the sky just minutes after takeoff; 241 people died on board, as did several others at a medical college where the plane came down.
Today, scenes of grief, as families waited for DNA tests to identify the bodies of their loved ones. At the crash site, India’s prime minister toured the wreckage and then met the sole surviving passenger at a nearby hospital. On Indian TV today, the 38-year-old described his miraculous escape.
