NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT TUESDAY 2/25/2020

(LIMITED SERVICE WHEN ABLE THROUGH LATE TUESDAY)

A raid on fashion offices in New York part of a sex trafficking investigation involving Canadian businessman Peter Nygard said to be a friend of Britain's Prince Andrew.

Nygard under investigation for allegedly trafficking underage girls.  10 women have filed suit against Nygard claiming they were drugged and raped when they were 14 or 15 years old......RUSSIA TODAY NEWS STORY

At the extradition hearing for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange his lawyer argued that  Assange tried to warn with United States about unredacted publication of classified information about US spies....BBC NEWS STORY

More blockades in Canada today as "First Nations" native protesters acted in solidarity with a tribal group in western Canada opposing a natural gas pipeline on lands considered sacred.

Today's protest blockades follow the breakup of the blockade of a key Canadian rail link yesterday in Ontario.

More from CBC News....LINK

Syrian government forces claiming success in taking villages in southern Idlib from the control of jihadist opposition forces backed by Turkey......SOUTHFRONT STORY

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Russia has not agreed to a four nation summit he unilaterally announced last Saturday to discuss matters in Syria.

A Russian delegation is set to arrive in Turkey tomorrow for talks on the situation in northwestern Syria where Turkey is providing military support to Al Qaeda and other jihadist opposition forces fighting the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad......ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWS STORY

A common theme of government and mainstream media in Western nations is that of a "humanitarian crisis" in the "Greater Idlib area" caused by Russian and Syrian military action against the jihadists.

A theme echoed by nations backing the jihadists more directly like financially powerful Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Turkish President announced today that two Turkish soldiers have died in the conflict in Libya. Turkey supporting the Tripoli based Government of National Accord in its fight against the Libyan National Army......AL JAZEERA QATAR NEWS STORY

More anti-Iran sanctions from the United States today aimed at 13 individuals and entities in China, Iraq, Russia and Turkey.    All alleged by the United States to have helped support Iran's missile program......VOICE OF AMERICA STORY

US health officials believe it is now more likely that an outbreak of the coronavirus will reach the United States in light of its spread to nations in various corners of the world.

South Korea says its taking "maximum steps" to contain the coronavirus in the city of Daegu and the surrounding region.

For now the government says those measures do not include a lockdown in the region.

12 deaths now reported in South Korea with 1146 total cases....YONHAP NEWS AGENCY LATEST WEDNESDAY AM STORY

Also a member of the US military in South Korea testing positive for the coronavirus.

Italy now reports 322 cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths.

Countries neighboring Italy opting not to close their borders for now with new cases reported in France (two) and the first case reported in Switzerland.

Iran is saying that it will soon contain the coronavirus even as an official of a Tehran hospital admits some 104 cases have been treated in that hospital alone so far.   Officially Iran saying 95 cases nationwide and 16 deaths.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warning against erroneous information being peddled by anti-Iran media official and unofficial.

But Iran's Deputy Health Minister in charge of combating Covid-19 has contracted the virus himself...PRESS TV IRAN NEWS STORY

The BBC is running a coronavirus blog today.......LINK

A Chinese court sentencing a naturalized Swedish citizen, Gui Minhai, to 10 years in prison.  Gui sold books in Hong Kong and was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his home in Thailand in 2015.......TIME NEWS STORY

The Democrat presidential candidates took to the stage for a debate in South Carolina tonight.  Attacks on Bernie Sanders came from all sides ahead of it as reported by the Associated Press and published by "The Times of Israel".....LINK

The debate itself very intense and CBS News posted these video highlights....VIDEO LINK

MSNBC host Chris Matthews said used a "bad one" when it came to historical analogies to describe Bernie Sanders win in last Saturday's Nevada Caucus.    Matthews offering up an apology on Monday for his Saturday comment comparing the Sanders win to a "Nazi invasion"....NEW YORK POST STORY

More from the "Burning Bernie" front with talk show host Glenn Beck noting comments about police by Sanders who praised some because they are trade union members and want to reform the way policing is done and then said that other police forces are dominated by "fascists".

You could say that racism is close to fascism and here's a story from Oregon about what happened in one police department there something that Glenn Beck and all of us could read....."OREGON LIVE" STORY

In India at least 13 reported dead in rioting in the capital city of Delhi.   Muslims rioting to protest the country's new citizenship law on the occasion of President Trump's visit to the country to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Clashes in the streets between Hindus and Muslims.......EMBEDDED VIDEO LINK BBC

Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, dead at the age of 91.   Overthrown by the extremist Muslim Brotherhood in the 2011 "Arab Spring", he was the last of the line of a Egyptian leaders that began with Abdel Gamal Nasser in the 1950's.

That's the way it really is Tuesday February 25th, 2020.