Under the best of circumstances, the Spring Festival in China is a logistical exercise of mind-blowing proportions: hundreds of millions of people traveling via planes, trains, buses and taxis to return to their hometowns to ring in the new lunar year with their families.
It’s the biggest human migration on the planet. And that’s without mentioning the bursting bags of gifts, clothing, food and liquor that travel with them.
But this year, authorities are dealing with a new and potentially deadly challenge: the spread of a mysterious, pneumonialike virus that’s confounding diagnosis and treatment and sparking concerns across the country and beyond.

Sen. Bernie Sanders apologized to Joe Biden late Monday for an op-ed a prominent supporter wrote accusing the former vice president of having a “big corruption problem,” and Sanders urged his backers to exercise civility on the heels of heated disputes with his rivals.
In an interview with CBS News, Sanders, I-Vt., expressed contrition for the op-ed, which was written by law professor Zephyr Teachout for the Guardian newspaper and was promoted by the Sanders campaign in a newsletter. Teachout endorsed Sanders last year, and his campaign touted her support.
“It is absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way. And I’m sorry that that op-ed appeared,” Sanders said in the interview. A Sanders campaign spokesman confirmed his comments.

President Donald Trump trumpeted what he called “America’s extraordinary prosperity” on his watch, taking credit for a soaring stock market, low unemployment and a “blue collar boom” in jobs and income, in a presidential turn on the world stage also meant to make impeachment proceedings in Washington look small.
Trump ran through economic statistics with a salesman’s delivery, crowing about growth during his three years in office that he said bested his predecessors and defied his skeptics.

An Iranian lawmaker announced a three-million-dollar award to “whoever kills Trump,” an Iranian semi-official news agency reported.
“On behalf of people of Kerman province, we will pay [a] three-million-dollar award in cash to whoever kills Trump,” Ahmad Hamzeh told parliamentarians, according to ISNA.
He did not elaborate whether it was a decision made by Iran‘s clerical rulers to threaten US President Donald Trump.
Kerman is the hometown of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force who was killed by a US drone on Jan. 3 in Iraq.
Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
{Matzav.com}
 

Republicans think Trump’s victory in 2020 is assured.
WATCH:

The head of Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, revealed on Monday that his organization had thwarted 560 terrorist attacks in 2019.
The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that Nadav Argaman made the statement during a ceremony for the Prime Minister’s Award honoring operational and intelligence achievements over the past year.
Argaman said that the attacks which were prevented included more than 300 shootings, 10 suicide bombings and four kidnappings.
“Last year was a year filled with security challenges in all the arenas we operate in,” he said.
Argaman told the six prize winners that out of all the outstanding accomplishments in 2019, “we had to choose those who were worthy of special mention. And the choice was not easy.”

Seven men have been arrested in Brittany, western France, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, a source close to the investigation said.
The seven, who were arrested on Monday, were also suspected of having planned to travel to areas where terrorist groups were active, the source said.
France has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since a series of atrocities, mostly claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, cost more than 230 lives in 2015 and 2016.
Read more here.
{Matzav.com}

AMUD ALEF:

President Trump on Tuesday announced the United States will join the “One Trillion Trees Initiative” launched at the World Economic Forum as world leaders seek to combat climate change.
Trump made the announcement during an address to global business leaders gathered for the annual event in Davos, Switzerland.
“We’re committed to conserving he majesty of god’s creation and the natural beauty of our world,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. “will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing and better managing our trees and our forests.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}