USA

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah authorities are investigating an attack on a black missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a possible hate crime.

Two men were arrested Thursday on suspicion of assault, and charging documents show hate crime is under consideration. The NAACP expressed outrage about what allegedly happened and church officials said they are concerned about the incident.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents who patrol the U.S. border will deploy to “sanctuary” cities across the country where local jurisdictions are hindering stepped up immigration enforcement, officials said Friday.

The deployment of Customs and Border Patrol agents, some with tactical training, to the interior of the country is unusual and represents another escalation in the confrontation between the Trump administration and the local jurisdictions that have set up roadblocks to immigration enforcement.

SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — One of the nation’s highest profile post-9/11 terrorism cases fully unraveled Friday, with federal prosecutors saying they won’t pursue charges after a judge last year overturned the conviction of a man who had been linked to a purported al-Qaida sleeper cell in California and spent 14 years in prison.

Hamid Hayat, a cherry picker from the community of Lodi in the Central Valley agricultural heartland, was freed in August after completing more than half his sentence on charges of providing material support to terrorists and lying to FBI agents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unbowed by a public rebuke from his attorney general, President Donald Trump says has the “legal right” to intervene in criminal cases and sidestep the Justice Department’s historic independence. At the same time, it was revealed federal prosecutors have been ordered to review the criminal case of his former national security adviser.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — As the Democratic presidential race hurtles toward Nevada, candidates in the still-crowded field are jumping into their first test in a racially diverse state with solid union muscle and shaky plans for a presidential caucus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors have declined to charge former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, closing an investigation into whether the longtime target of President Donald Trump’s ire lied to federal officials about his involvement in a news media disclosure, McCabe’s legal team said.

The decision, coming at the end of a tumultuous week between the Justice Department and the White House, is likely to further agitate a president who has loudly complained that federal prosecutors have pursued cases against his allies but not against his perceived political enemies.

14 Feb 2020; MEMO: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC, has been condemned as a “hate group” by US Congresswoman Betty McCollum. The Democratic representative for Minnesota denounced the pro-Israeli group in a scathing response to an advert which she described was “weaponizing anti-Semitism” to “incite followers” of the lobby group to attack her and other Democratic colleagues.

14 Feb 2020; MEMO: The student body at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) passed a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution this morning that calls on the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

Following more than six hours of debating, the final vote was 20 in favour, nine against and seven abstentions.

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Pres Donald Trump said the United States and the Taliban were nearing a peace agreement — although it was not clear if he was talking about the limited pause in hostilities agreed with the guerrillas or something broader.

“I think we’re very close. I think there’s a good chance that we’ll have a deal and we’ll see,” Trump said, more than 18 years after the US invaded to overthrow the then Taliban government in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 (APP): Pakistan has called for “flexibility and compromise” in the long-running negotiations to reform the UN Security Council as progress is held up by the campaign for permanent seats on the 15-member body by India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, known as the Group of four.