Federal prosecutors have declined to charge former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

Federal prosecutors have declined to charge former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, closing an investigation into whether he lied to federal officials about his involvement in a news media disclosure, McCabe's legal team said Friday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2wmLjRB

'Disown them:' Biden criticizes Sanders for supporters' online attacks

Biden, in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," waded into a spat between Sanders supporters and leaders of The Culinary Union, a powerful labor group in Nevada that has been critical of the senator's healthcare proposals. Nevada holds the next nominating contest in the Democratic presidential primary. "He may not be responsible for it but he has some accountability," Biden said in the interview that will air on Sunday morning.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37yLQN4

A Hunt for Clues in Hawaii After a Tourist Couple Falls Ill With Coronavirus

By BY LORIN ELENI GILL AND NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31ZuesD

UK post-Brexit rules to 'turn off tap' of low-skilled foreign labor

Britain will "turn off the tap" of foreign, low-skilled labor and require all skilled workers wishing to come to the country to have a job offer and meet salary and language requirements as it sets post-Brexit rules from next year.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2SIsZd6

Cruise firm seeks new virus test for passenger from ship in Cambodia

More tests are needed to confirm that an American passenger from a cruise ship docked in Cambodia has the new coronavirus after she tested positive in Malaysia, the MS Westerdam's operator said on Sunday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3bJmvDl

North Korea's Kim makes first public appearance in 22 days amid virus outbreak

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 22 days amid an outbreak of coronavirus, state media reported on Saturday, to visit a national mausoleum and mark the anniversary of the late leader Kim Jong Il's birth.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/39DV3Fn

Angry protests in Mexico after woman's gruesome killing

Angry demonstrations broke out in Mexico City on Friday as hundreds of women protested the gruesome slaying and mutilation of a young woman, a case that has come to personify outrage over the rising incidence of gender-related killings, or femicides. In the morning, dozens of protesters spray-painted slogans such as “We won't be silenced” on the facade and doorway of the capital's National Palace as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was holding his daily news conference inside. Some spray-painted the plastic shields of riot officers as the crowd chanted “Not one more murdered!” and “Justice!” Police unleashed pepper spray.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2tXQmXG

Coronavirus quarantine: US to evacuate nearly 400 Americans on board cruise ship in Japan

The U.S. will evacuate the American passengers on board Princess Cruises' Diamond Princess, the U.S. Embassy in Japan announced early Saturday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/39DCP70

Former employee says he heard Bloomberg ask a female co-worker if she was going to 'kill it' after announcing her pregnancy

"Mike came out and I remember he said, 'Are you going to kill it?' And that stopped everything. And I couldn't believe it," the former employee said.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2SGidnu

Biden calls on Sanders to take accountability for supporters' threats

The message comes after the powerful Culinary Workers Union said supporters of the Vermont senator had “viciously attacked” its members.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37vomIL

Trump to send border agents to "sanctuary" cities to help ICE

The move marks yet another escalation in the Trump administration's feud with cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31V7f1S

Experts weigh in on how coronavirus may, or may not, run rampant in US in coming months

The coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has infected more than 60,000, killed over 1,300 and terrified millions. In the United States, residents wait with bated breath as new cases of infected Americans arise. Also worth noting is that more than 7,000 patients diagnosed with the virus have recovered, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.On Thursday, the 15th U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) after a patient returned from China to Texas earlier this week."The patient is among a group of people under a federal quarantine order at JBSA-Lackland in Texas because of their recent return to the U.S. on a State Department-chartered flight that arrived on February 7, 2020," the CDC wrote in a press release. Flower shop owner Iris Leung wears her protective face mask as she delivers flowers with masks to customers on Valentine's Day in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened tens of thousands of people in China since December. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Experts such as Elizabeth McGowan, however, have reason to believe the outbreak that has inflicted so many in Mainland China won't strike with the same impacts in the U.S.McGowan, who serves as director of Penn State University's Center of Infectious Disease Dynamics, said the size of cities where infections are confirmed and quarantine efforts will determine the stateside spread."I think in the U.S. it will be about locality," McGowan told AccuWeather in an interview. "I don't think it would be about culture or social behavior. I think it's going to be about whether it comes into smaller communities or bigger communities," she continued."Wuhan is a very large city [in China], with over 11 million people, so anytime you have large amounts of people in shared space you just have [a] greater risk for a greater sized outbreak. I think more than cultural differences and our behaviors between countries, it will be about where does it end up and whether we are able to successfully isolate those individuals."Two known cases of person-to-person transmission have been recorded in the U.S. so far -- one in California and one in Illinois, according to CNN.Experts have continually stressed the importance of proper preventative practices this flu season, particularly with the threat of COVID-19. McGowan, however, pushed the importance of using proper products that ensure the best protection. An employee wearing a protective face mask waits for customers at a shop in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened tens of thousands of people in China since December. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) "We should be washing our hands with soap and doing it effectively. If you can not use soap, you can use those hand gel, alcohol-based disinfectants," she advised. "Those need to have a percentage of alcohol that's 60 percent or greater, so you need to be careful to make sure you get the right ones, check the label, and you need to make sure you rub in for 20 seconds or so before they're effective."Along with covering mouths and staying away from people while sick, McGowan added that it's important for people who feel any symptoms coming on to stay home. Hong Kong University professor John Nicholls recently stressed similar preventative measures in email exchanges with AccuWeather."​Apart from hand washing (soap is just as good as those alcohol gels) and masks, an important aspect is social distancing -- if people have symptoms stay away from other people," he said in an email on Feb. 13. "If you check the local Hong Kong media today, this was not followed by a guy who was ill but still went to work and subsequently appeared to infect other people."In a leaked private conference call with investment bankers last week, Nicholls expanded on those beliefs and described the different sanitary standards practiced in different regions. People wear protective face masks on a street in the rain in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened tens of thousands of people in China since December. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) "With SARS, once it was discovered that the virus was spread through the fecal-oral route, there was much less emphasis on the masks and far more emphasis on disinfection and washing hands," he said. "Hong Kong has far more cleanliness [than China] and they are very aware of social hygiene and other countries will be more aware of the social hygiene [than China]. So, in those countries, you should see less outbreaks and spreading. A couple days ago the fecal-oral route of transmission was confirmed in Shenzhen ... But in other countries the sanitation systems tends to [be] closed. My personal view is that this will be a bad cold and it will all be over by May."Nicholls seemed to soften on his certainty that COVID-19 would be nullified by May in subsequent emails to AccuWeather, but McGowan expressed similar sentiments about the effect warming weather would have on the virus and the impact it would have in countries such as the U.S.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP"Coronaviruses are a lot like flu and cold viruses, they're transmitted in respiratory droplets when people cough and sneeze," she said. "What that means is that for their transmission to work they have to hang in the air often for enough time before they can be inhaled into someone's lungs, and we know that weather affects that. The reason cold viruses and flu viruses like coronavirus can have seasonality is because they hang in the air longer when conditions are dry and cold."Conversely, in warmer spring and summer months, McGowan explained that higher levels of humidity cause those droplets to drop to the ground quicker, lessening the capacity for viruses to spread since the droplets spend less time in the environment. Customers wearing protective face masks looks at snacks at a shop in Hong Kong, Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened tens of thousands of people in China since December. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) In major countries located in the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia and New Zealand, COVID-19 could become a bigger issue in the future as major populations enter the winter months. There, McGowan said, the opposite impact on spread could occur in the coming months.One factor that could bear watching in Northern Hemisphere areas, where spring is a little more than one month away, would be if temperatures and humidity don't rise as high as some experts may think. Strange and unexpected weather factors like that could cause the virus to further mutate, although McGowan added that communities that have already been stricken by the virus are much less likely to be impacted again."We have some coronaviruses that have just become common cold viruses and they sort of continue to circulate in human populations," McGowan said. "So, there's a possibility that that could happen with this sort of virus. These viruses are always evolving and changing all the time, so that's yet to be seen. For areas where there has been a lot of infection, that virus is unlikely to reinvade that community."Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37xghmW

U.S. Navy warship seizes alleged Iranian weapons

A U.S. Navy warship seized weapons believed to be of Iranian "design and manufacture," including 150 anti-tank guided missiles and three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, the American military said on Thursday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2HkKc74

DNC announces debate qualification threshold for South Carolina

Candidates will need to win one delegate in the first three states or poll above 10 percent to make the South Carolina debate state.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2wm4ivx

Barr assigns outside prosector to review Michael Flynn case in 'highly unusual' move

Attorney General William Barr is having an outside prosecutor review the criminal case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, The New York Times reports. The Times notes this is a "highly unusual" move, which could "trigger more accusations of political interference by top Justice Department officials into the work of career prosecutors." Barr has reportedly been installing outside prosecutors to review numerous politically-sensitive cases including that of the former Trump adviser, who in 2017 pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Since then, Flynn has been trying to change his plea to not guilty, saying last month, "In truth, I never lied." Jeff Jensen of the office of the United States attorney in St. Louis is reportedly examining the Flynn case. The news came almost immediately after the Department of Justice said it wouldn't be charging former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a whiplash of stories likely to make Trump angry and then pleased in that order. This also comes at the end of a week in which the Justice Department suddenly reversed its sentencing recommendation of up to nine years in prison for longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, leading four prosecutors in the case to quit. Trump, who criticized the original sentencing recommendation, subsequently congratulated Barr "for taking charge" of the case. Trump on Friday claimed he has "the legal right" to ask Barr to get involved in criminal cases but said "I have so far chosen not to!" More stories from theweek.com Everyone would fall for a Trump deepfake The sidelining of Elizabeth Warren The arguments for and against Bloomberg's stance on the origins of the 2008 financial crisis

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37rilgd

Bernie Sanders pranked by Russians posing as Greta Thunberg

Russian pranksters claim they called U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders pretending to be climate activist Greta Thunberg and offered Thunberg's support to his campaign. Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who have fooled many high-profile victims around the world, posted a recording of the phone call on YouTube on Thursday. The call itself took place in early December, but the duo decided to release it more than two months later because of Sanders' success in Iowa and New Hampshire, Kuznetsov told The Associated Press in a Skype interview.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/39wiVuk

Hong Kong's Disneyland is letting the government use some of its land to quarantine people and stop the coronavirus spreading

Hong Kong is looking for secure and remote sites to quarantine people that may have the coronavirus in a bid to stop it spreading further.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31Wsq3u

Trump Admin to Send Border Patrol Special Ops on Raids in Sanctuary Cities

The Trump administration is sending officers from a special operations unit of the Border Patrol to assist in raids by Immigration Customs and Enforcement in so-called sanctuary cities.The officers from BORTAC, the Border Patrol's version of a SWAT unit, will deploy to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and various other cities whose local governments forbid law enforcement from working with federal immigration officials, the New York Times reported on Friday. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lawrence Payne confirmed the initiative.BORTAC officers will be deployed "in order to enhance the integrity of the immigration system, protect public safety, and strengthen our national security," Payne said."As we have noted for years, in jurisdictions where we are not allowed to assume custody of aliens from jails, our officers are forced to make at-large arrests of criminal aliens who have been released into communities," ICE acting director Matthew T. Albence said in a statement. "When sanctuary cities release these criminals back to the street, it increases the occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims."BORTAC usually operates in hot, rugged areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and specializes in capturing criminals and cracking down on smuggling operations. While embedded with ICE in sanctuary cities, BORTAC officers will engage in more run-of-the-mill arrests.The news comes after Attorney General William Barr announced Monday that the Justice Department would begin a "significant escalation" against sanctuary cities. Barr said the department would move to file lawsuits against sanctuary cities and locales that actively impede federal immigration enforcement.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2vClM6g

Trump Administration Considering Halting Sales of Aircraft Parts to China

By BY ANA SWANSON AND STEVE LOHR from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2URt8O5

Swarms of up to 80 Million Locusts Decimating Crops In East Africa, Threatening Food Security For 13 Million People

The United Nations (UN) has called on the international community to provide nearly $76 million to finance aerial spraying of pesticides in East Africa, where…

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2SRSTuS

I Am Watching China Wage a 'People's War' Against Coronavirus (65,000 Cases and Growing)

Our latest on-the-ground reporting as the world's emerging superpower tackles an unprecedented challenge.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2SIJypg

Reid says Biden will do well in diverse Nevada's caucuses

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wouldn’t say Saturday whether he’s told any of the eight Democrats running for president to drop out of the race but said people should not count former Vice President Joe Biden out. Biden had weak finishes in the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, two largely white states, but will do well in much more diverse Nevada, Reid predicted.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2SyOXR3

Detained Uighur Muslims are sitting ducks for the coronavirus. China must close the camps.

An epidemic is spreading across China. It's only a matter of time before the virus hits innocent people in China's crowded concentration camps.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3bAZaUq