world news: 2020-02-16

Saturday, 22 February 2020

'American voters should decide American elections - not Putin': Trump accused of threatening democracy after fresh warnings over Russian interference

US intelligence officials warned Congress that Russia plans to interfere in 2020 Democratic elections and challenges in November, but officials in Moscow are dismissing the allegations as "paranoid" while Washington leaders condemn Donald Trump's reported efforts to dismiss the threat.Following a 13 February briefing to the House Intelligence Committee, the president reportedly berated the national intelligence director for allowing the hearing to take place, which allowed his Democratic impeachment foes to hear testimony about foreign interference similar to the Russian efforts at the centre of an investigation in 2016.

Twitter Suspends 70 Accounts With Pro-Michael Bloomberg Tweets

(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Inc. on Friday said it had begun suspending 70 accounts that posted identical messages in support of Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg in a pattern that violates the social-media company’s rules.A Twitter spokesman said in a statement that it had taken “enforcement action on a group of accounts for violating our rules against platform manipulation and spam.”Some of the suspensions will be permanent, while in some cases account owners will have to verify they have control of their accounts, the Twitter statement said.(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)The campaign has reportedly hired hundreds of employees to pump out campaign messages on social media platforms. In accounts reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the enforcement action, the organizers used identical texts, links and hashtags. Many of the accounts had been created in the last two months, after Bloomberg entered the presidential race on Nov. 24.Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said staffers and volunteers use an app called Outvote to share content “and was not intended to mislead anyone.” The campaign asks all deputy field organizers to identify themselves as working on behalf of the candidate on their social media accounts, she said.Twitter said it had determined that the posts were in violation of its “Platform Manipulation and Spam Policy.”Twitter said the campaign violated its rules against “creating multiple accounts to post duplicative content,” “posting identical or substantially similar Tweets or hashtags from multiple accounts you operate” and “coordinating with or compensating others to engage in artificial engagement or amplification, even if the people involved use only one account.”(Updates with Bloomberg campaign response in sixth paragraph)\--With assistance from Natnicha Chuwiruch and Mark Niquette.To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Manchester, New Hampshire at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Joe Biden speaks to supporters in Las Vegas.

By BY KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/39ZPP7c

This is how caucus leaders are reporting results.

By BY TRIP GABRIEL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2HJy1RB

The co-main event is designed for mainstream fans.

By BY MORGAN CAMPBELL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/38VzWhO

Amy Klobuchar, currently in sixth place, says she’s ‘exceeded expectations.’

By BY NICK CORASANITI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32knG87

What’s next for Joe Biden?

By BY JEREMY W. PETERS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PiEaZb

Case of missing children tied to doomsday beliefs, 3 deaths

Family members used to describe Lori Vallow as an attentive mother who had her kids’ best interests at heart. Before her children went missing. Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his 17-year-old sister, Tylee Ryan, haven’t been seen since September.

Former CIA director: We’re in a ‘national security crisis’

Former CIA Director John Brennan is very disturbed by a new report from the New York Times, which says last week, members of the House Intelligence Committee were warned by an aide to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire that Russia is actively meddling in the 2020 campaign in order to get President Trump reelected.

Ilhan Omar accuses Meghan McCain of hypocrisy towards 'Bernie bros' over online attacks

Representative Ilhan Omar has accused The View's Meghan McCain of hypocrisy for her opinions about Bernie Sanders supporters and their online attacks given her own social media behaviour."The same people who chastise the progressive movement regularly traffic in anti-Muslim smears and hate speech against me and those I represent," the freshman representative wrote in a tweet Thursday.

Mountain lion believed to have attacked 6-year-old is caught and killed

The California girl was attacked at a Bay Area nature preserve and survived with minor injuries.

Students' arrest over slur prompts review of ridicule law

Free speech concerns that were raised following the arrests of two University of Connecticut students accused of saying a racial slur have led state legislators to consider repealing a century-old law that bans ridicule based on race, religion or nationality. The episode on campus involving two white students in October was recorded on video and sparked protests against racism. Many people applauded their arrests, but civil liberties groups condemned them as an affront to First Amendment rights.

China's Hubei province reports 630 new coronavirus cases on February 22

China's central Hubei province had 630 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, the province's health commission said on Sunday, up from 366 new cases the previous day.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/38RSzmS

Nevada Democrats add phone lines for results reporting.

By BY REID J. EPSTEIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32kJW1O

How powerful is Wilder’s right hand?

By BY MORGAN CAMPBELL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2T9JT4n

Tyson Fury has a new strategy for the rematch.

By BY MORGAN CAMPBELL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3a0KDjn

Both Wilder and Fury are undefeated. So who’s the champ?

By BY MORGAN CAMPBELL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/32jXCKr

Nevada Democratic Party says more results are expected soon.

By BY REID J. EPSTEIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38Mi9cR

South Korea accepted that its efforts to stop the coronavirus from infecting the country failed and says it's pivoting to containment

Cases of the coronavirus in South Korea have tripled. The government says it must now take a different approach.

The Culinary Union of Nevada takes a pass on endorsing – here's why that may be a winning political strategy

A picket line outside the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas proved to be a hot ticket for most Democratic hopefuls aiming to pick up a vote or two ahead of the Nevada caucuses.Elizabeth Warren turned up with donuts to support workers demanding a union contract, while fellow presidential candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer also found time in their busy schedules to meet workers, pose for pictures and express solidarity.One candidate notable by his absence was Bernie Sanders. The reason may be related to a recent dust-up between the Vermont senator’s campaign and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, known in Las Vegas as “the Culinary.”Concern about damage to Sanders and the eagerness of his rivals to curry favor with the Culinary underscores the importance of the union in Nevada. Moreover, the political clout the Culinary possesses serves as an example of how unions can prosper at a time when legislators and politicans are working to limit labor rights.So who is the Culinary backing in the Nevada Democratic caucus? Nobody.The flash point in the Culinary’s decision not to endorse was the “Medicare for All” proposals of Sens. Sanders and Warren.In a leaflet distributed to members, the union stated that Sanders’ plan would “end Culinary Health Care” – the generous zero-deductible plan that serves 55,000 Culinary members and 70,000 of their dependents.Some of Sanders’ backers countered that the union had betrayed progressive values by protecting its members while sacrificing higher standards of care for all working-class families. Online, the fight quickly turned ugly. The Vermont senator disavowed supporters who “attack trade union leaders” during a televised debate with other candidates, but not before being accused by Pete Buttigieg of being “at war” with the Culinary.The online fracas harkened back to an old trope about labor unions that is relentlessly exploited by employers: that they don’t care about workers, only themselves and their own power. Which side are unions on?The spotlight on union power in Nevada comes at a time of debate within the labor movement over whether it needs to turn away from “business unionism” in order to survive. Business unionism, which organizes around specific goals for employees rather than a wider class struggle, was the dominant orientation of the labor movement in the U.S. though much of the 20th century.Some labor historians like Nelson Lichtenstein and David Montgomery point to business unions’ tendency to take care of their own rather than organizing new workforces as a primary reason for the decline of the labor movement to its current nadir, representing just 6.2% of the private sector workforce from nearly 35% in the 1950s.They have argued that in order to attract more members, unions need to adopt the tactics and strategies of new social movements and become engaged in political struggles for broad-based changes that affect all workers, not just those in unions.In a recent book, I argue that the Culinary bridges this traditional divide between business and social unionism.The union has been successful despite Nevada being a “right-to-work” state where employees don’t have to pay union dues to join a workforce and receive benefits. Culinary has grown its membership by touting the benefits that a strong union can bring, such as 24-hour health clinics, back-pay awards totaling hundreds of thousands dollars, and protections that have seen the return of terminated workers. At the same time, the Culinary has made political engagement a cornerstone of its value, both to its members and the wider public. In the 2016 election, the union knocked on more than 250,000 doors and was instrumental in getting Democrats elected to the state legislature, the governor’s office, and the U.S. House and Senate in Nevada.The social movement aspect of the union’s work is also seen in other policy areas that it used to compare the candidates: organizing rights and immigration reform. Policy changes on these issues will benefit members of the union, which include large numbers of recent immigrants. But it would also help many low-wage workers outside of the union. A brave face on JanusUnder President Trump, the National Labor Relations Board appears more intent on finding ways to limit labor rights than expand them. And the labor movement faced a major setback in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. ASCME that nonunion public sector workers could not be compelled to pay dues for services they receive. After that decision, the Culinary shows how the labor movement can adapt to the hostility of employers, government agencies and courts.It has been facing these headwinds for more than 80 years in Nevada. Today, Culinary members have wages and health care that are the envy of nonunion workers in the hospitality industry. But that standard came only as a result of historic strikes and hard-fought campaigns with multinational corporations like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.Other locals of the Culinary’s parent union Unite Here have backed Sanders, including in Boston. The Los Angeles local co-endorsed Sanders and Warren. But they are in states with very different politics than Nevada.The Culinary has always had a good sense of where the electorate is in Nevada, sometimes leading the union to endorse Republicans like former two-term Gov. Kenny Guinn. And it has been successful at helping to keep Nevada blue in the last three presidential elections, countering one of the more predictive variables for how a state will vote for president – whether or not it has a right-to-work law. My research has shown a correlation between right-to-work laws in red states and a vote for the Republican candidate for president. In the last election, Nevada and Virginia were and the only states to buck that trend. Far from being a referendum on Medicare for All, the Culinary’s non-endorsement returns the focus where they want it: getting the biggest turnout possible to meet the union’s goals of immigration reform, workers’ rights and better health care. The mixture of business and social unionism that made the Culinary a political force in Nevada can now serve as a model for other unions in the post-Janus era.[Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Something Democrats and Republicans have in common: Exaggerated stereotypes about both parties * When presidential campaigns end, what happens to the leftover money?Ruben J. Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Police: Couple forced boys off road, angered by Trump flags

A northwestern Indiana couple allegedly used a car to force two teenage boys off a road, angered that the twin brothers were riding bicycles adorned with flags supporting President Donald Trump, before ripping one of the sibling's flag from his bike, police said Friday. Hobart police said Snapchat videos helped officers secure charges against Kyren Gregory Perry-Jones, 23, and Cailyn Marie Smith, 18, in connection with a July 22 incident. Police Capt. James Gonzales said the Hobart couple are accused of driving in their car, running the 14-year-old boys off of the road, and making threats toward them.

At Least 3 People Dead and 18 Hospitalized After Bus Rolls Off California Highway

The bus appeared to have rolled southbound off Interstate 15, to the south of Route 76

Sealed in: Chinese trapped at home by coronavirus feel the strain

During weeks holed up in her grandmother's apartment with 10 relatives and eating a restricted diet, Chinese teenager Li Yuxuan says tempers have frayed. Li and her family are among the millions of people across China's Hubei province, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, who are subject to official orders to stay at home amid attempts to contain the spread of the disease. Officials and volunteers have sealed off buildings, erected barricades and stepped up surveillance to ensure compliance with the ban on movement, measures that are taking a toll on many in the community.

Friday, 21 February 2020

Jeremy Christian Guilty of Murder in Racist Portland Train Attack

By BY ADEEL HASSAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32l5E5x

Yankees’ Pitching Depth Is Already Proving Crucial, but It Will Cost Them

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2HWVdMp

Holocaust Educators Urge Amazon to Stop Selling Nazi Propaganda

By BY HEATHER MURPHY from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2T7JAHg

Unjust America

By Unknown Author from NYT Books https://ift.tt/32h1M5s

Banquets Are Back in Fashion. But Where Does All the Food Go?

By BY MARIAN BULL from NYT T Magazine https://ift.tt/3c30v6T

Wuhan woman with no symptoms infects five relatives with coronavirus: study

A 20-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, traveled 400 miles(675 km) north to Anyang where she infected five relatives, without ever showing signs of infection, Chinese scientists reported on Friday, offering new evidence that the virus can be spread asymptomatically.