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US President Donald Trump has stepped up his criticism of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, calling them “disgraceful”.

Speaking at a White House press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Mr Trump said the NFL should ban players from kneeling.

He denied he had been preoccupied with the issue at the expense of the hurricane disaster in Puerto Rico.

“It’s called respect for our country,” he told reporters.

A number of sports players and teams demonstrated during the US national anthem over the weekend.

The protests involved players kneeling, linking arms or staying in the locker room during the Star-Spangled Banner.

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Mr Trump said on Tuesday he was “ashamed” of the protests.

He said he recently visited maimed US veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the Washington DC suburbs.

“They were fighting for our country,” he said, “they were fighting for our flag, they were fighting for our national anthem.

“For people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our national anthem, I think, is disgraceful.”

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The president first said on Friday at a rally in Alabama that players who fail to stand during the national anthem should be fired or suspended.

His criticism seemed to galvanise players, teams and the league to assert what they saw as a right to freely express political convictions.

National Football League (NFL) player Colin Kaepernick first sat down during the anthem in preseason in 2016.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour,” he said.

Kaepernick continued to demonstrate amid fierce criticism; this season he remains a free agent.

Some commentators suggest he may have been “blackballed” from the sport as clubs fear a backlash for signing him.

President Trump had faced widespread criticism for tweeting repeatedly about the NFL, amid accusations that federal aid has been slow to reach Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

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A Republican plan to replace Obamacare will not be voted on this week, effectively signalling its collapse.

The party leadership withdrew the beleaguered bill after a third “no” vote emerged.

Susan Collins said she could not back the “deeply flawed” bill, despite a call from President Donald Trump and promises of money for her state.

It was a major blow for the president and Republican leadership, who have made Obamacare’s repeal a top priority.

They could only afford two rebel senators to pass the bill, and were working to a deadline of the end of this week.

They now turn their attention to tax reform.

The party’s last attempt to undo former President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law collapsed in July.

Ms Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said she objected to the Graham-Cassidy bill’s sweeping cut in funding to Medicaid.

What now? Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Republican attempts to push through healthcare reform just days before a procedural deadline was always a long-shot to succeed.

The objections some Republican senators had to earlier versions of the bill – that the deliberative process had been short-circuited, that guaranteed protections for patients were being weakened, that it contained sweeping cuts to Medicaid healthcare for the poor – were never fully addressed.

With some conservative senators also growing uneasy with what they viewed as halfway measures in the legislation, the narrow window for success quickly slammed closed.

Republicans now head back to the drawing board. There’s no reason they couldn’t start the wheels turning for another vote in the months ahead, perhaps folding it into ongoing tax reform efforts. Or, conceivably, the Senate could simply change the rules to make passage of a comprehensive bill easier, as Donald Trump has suggested.

None of that alters the simple dynamic made clear over the past months, however. The Republican Party, despite campaigning ferociously for Obamacare repeal for nearly seven years, could never agree on how to turn their promises into reality.

The question now is whether they’ll pay a price for their failure in elections to come.

One in five people in her home state depend on the programme for low income citizens and disabled children.

Ms Collins also said the bill weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

She joins Republican Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Rand Paul (Kentucky) in rejecting the proposal.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has also withheld his support and demanded changes.

Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, authors of the bill, had offered to boost federal healthcare funds by 43% in Maine.

They have also dangled sweeteners for other states with wavering senators.

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and must pass the bill by more than 50 votes before a 30 September deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to hold a vote this week, but that looks increasingly unlikely.

Ms Collins announced her opposition shortly after a damning assessment from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

It said millions of people would lose coverage for high-cost medical events if the bill became law.

The CBO also found that federal spending on Medicaid would be cut by about $1tn (£750bn) from 2017-26.

The Senate held its first hearing all year on the proposed Obamacare repeal on Monday, but it was disrupted by protesters.

Police arrested 181 demonstrators.

The protesters, many of whom were in wheelchairs, were forcibly removed from the hearing room.

A new CBS poll released on Monday said 52% of Americans disapprove of the Graham-Cassidy bill, while 20% approve.

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS

A female US Marine has made history by becoming the first woman to complete the Corps’ famously gruelling infantry officer training.

The lieutenant, who wants to keep her identity private, graduated in Quantico, Virginia, on Monday.

She will soon be assigned to lead a 40-strong platoon.

Marine Corps commandant Gen. Robert Neller tweeted a picture of the woman, saying he was “proud of this officer & her fellow leaders”.

There are almost 1.4 million active duty troops in the US armed forces, and about 15% are female.

In March 2016, then-President Barack Obama opened all military positions to women, including combat units.

The 13-week officer training course started in July with 131 Marines, and 88 ultimately graduated.

The Corps says it educates would-be officers in “the leadership, infantry skills, and character required to serve as infantry platoon commanders”.

Traditionally around a quarter of all applicants miss the mark, 10% of them on the first day.

The Corps has pushed harder to appeal to female recruits this year, after a nude photo scandal saw some Marines share naked photographs of female colleagues on Facebook.

In May it stoutly defended a recruitment advert – the first led by a woman – after critics said it pandered to political correctness.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, former Marine captain Teresa Fazio said the female officer would be a major asset in Afghanistan.

“Female troops are invaluable for searching houses and communicating with local women, gaining access to spaces and information that, because of local custom, male troops cannot get,” she wrote.

The Marine Corps tweeted a video showing the female officer engaged in exercises in the mountains alongside her male counterparts.

She will now be sent to the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California, for her first assignment.

Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS