NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT WEDNESDAY 2/5/2020

(LIMITED SERVICE WHEN ABLE THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY WRAPPING UP JUST PAST MIDNIGHT)

A Hollywood legend is dead at the age of 103 and the impeachment trial ends with acquittal for President Trump but first......

The trickle of votes continues to come out of Monday night's Democratic Party caucuses in Iowa and has now reached 92 percent of the total.     The votes of Iowa's most populous county, Polk, said to be ones that were held back in the unusual process of vote tabulation that emerged in the aftermath of the caucuses.

Foulups continued during the day today as reported by the "Des Moines Register".....LINK.      The problems involved subtraction of votes from Bernie Sanders that had to be added back in.

The results in percentage point terms with 95 percent of the total vote in are:

Pete Buttigieg   26.4 percent

Bernie Sanders  25.7 percent

Elizabeth Warren 18.3 percent

Joe Biden             15.8 percent

The impeachment trial ended today with votes to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment.

The vote 52-48 not guilty on abuse of power an 53-47 not guilty on obstruction of Congress.    Both votes well short of the two-third's guilty vote required to remove a President from office.

The one deviation from party line voting the vote of Utah Republican Mitt Romney to find the President guilty of abuse of power.

TONIGHT THE PRO-OPPOSITION SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS AN  ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN THE DAMASCUS AREA.   AN IRANIAN RELATED TARGET SAID TO HAVE BEEN HIT  SYRIAN GOVERNMENT SOURCES SAY THAT HOSTILE TARGETS WERE HIT OVER THE SYRIAN CAPITAL.......ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS REPORT

Amidst the threat from Turkey to halt their advance Syria's government reports its forces taking more territory in recent hours in Idlib province.      Defenses of the HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) (former Al Qaeda) and other jihadist opposition groups reported to have collapsed.

"Southfront" offers its view of the situation......LINK... and another update on the situation in northwestern Syria as of Wednesday afternoon local time......LINK

Meanwhile Israel meeting with a nation that's supported jihadist forces  working to overthrow governments in the Middle East and North Africa.    The oil rich United Arab Emirates was at the White House with Israel on December 17th discussing a "nonagression pact" and normalization of diplomatic relations.

"Israel National News" paints its picture of the meeting.....LINK

Israel's Yesha Council which represents residents of Judea and Samaria wants a sovereignty bill for the territories passed immediately.   They have set up a "sovereignty tent" in Jerusalem to press their case.

They are concerned about the "Deal of the Century" plan of President Trump that gives partial sovereignty in those territories to Palestinians.    The council wants full Israeli control over the land saying the alternative is a "terrorist state".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to consider any sovereignty legislation until after the March 2nd election.    Members of the conservative Yamina party visited the council's protest tent in Jerusalem today....ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS STORY

AT LEAST 33 ARE DEAD IN TURKEY TODAY FOLLOWING AN AVALANCHE THAT ENGULFED HUNDREDS OF RESCUERS WHO RESPONDED TO AN AVALANCHE YESTERDAY THAT KILLED FIVE PEOPLE.    MANY REPORTED TRAPPED UNDER TODAY'S DELUGE OF SNOW.

ALSO IN TURKEY THREE DEAD AND MORE THAN 170 INJURED WHEN AN AIRLINER LANDING AT THE AIRPORT IN ISTANBUL SPLIT INTO THREE PIECES.

The Thursday morning statistics on the coronavirus in China out tonight put the number of cases at more than 28,000 with 563 dead.     There are more than 186,000 people in quarantine currently...TASS NEWS STORY

There are now 12 cases of the coronavirus reported in the US, the latest case in Wisconsin.

Hundreds of Americans arriving by plane in California today from Wuhan China going into quarantine at miltary bases. 

At least 10 people on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama testing positive for the coronavirus after 300 of the ship's 3,700 passengers were tested.

Hong Kong imposing a 14 day quarantine on all people who enter the territory from mainland China....BBC NEWS STORY.

The leaders of the three largest parties in Ireland debated ahead of Saturday's election.

The incumbent Prime Minister Leo Vardarkar of the Fine Gael party facing a stiff challenge from the opposition Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein parties.

Polling data shows Sinn Fein leading at around 25 percent support but it would fall short of gaining a majority of seats in the 160 seat parliament.

The BBC reports.......LINK

Politics here in the USA and the widow of the late Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings losing the Democrat Primary contest for his congressional seat.    Maya Rockeymoore Cummings defeated by former Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who has also been president of the NAACP.   He will face Republican Kimberly Klacik in what is considered to be a safe seat for Democrats  in the April special election for the Maryland congressional seat.

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dead at the age of 103.   Douglas probably remembered best for his starring role in the movie "Spartacus" which also produced.

Douglas identified politically as a Democrat but in the mid-1960's he and fellow Hollywood legend Republican John Wayne participated in each other's films.   Douglas in Wayne's film "In Harm's Way"...VIDEO LINK........and Wayne in Douglas's "Cast A Giant Shadow"......VIDEO LINK

And yes Kirk Douglas was Jewish and like many Jewish people having a name that didn't sound Jewish like "Kirk Douglas" was a common way to deal with discrimination in the United States.

Kylee Dixon is now home with her mother in Oregon after a conflict with the Department of Human Services in that state.     Activists including Kelli Stewart and John Lamb got involved along with Ammon Bundy who offered a video report on the situation.....AMMON BUNDY VIDEO ON THE CASE OF KYLEE DIXON....The story as reported by "Oregon Live".....LINK

That's the way it really is Wednesday February 5th, 2020.