Mourners honor boy whose Yemeni mom fought US travel ban

Mourners honor boy whose Yemeni mom fought US travel ban

LODI, Calif.

Mourners at a mosque in California said goodbye Saturday to a 2-year-old boy whose Yemeni mother successfully fought the Trump administration’s travel ban to hold the dying boy again in the United States.

Abdullah Hassan died Friday at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where his father, Ali Hassan, brought him in the fall to get treatment for a genetic brain disorder, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said. He had been on life support when his mother, Shaima Swileh, arrived last week.

“We are heartbroken. We had to say goodbye to our baby, the light of our lives,” Hassan, a U.S. citizen, said in a statement released by the advocacy group.

Hassan and members of the Islamic community in central California prayed at a funeral for Abdullah and listened to remarks from Muhammad Younus, imam of the California Islamic Center in the farming town of Lodi.

The casket covered by a white and green cloth was carried in, and the men in attendance could touch it before it was taken to a nearby cemetery and buried. In Muslim tradition, a body must be buried within 72 hours of death.

2 million in Times Square for New Year’s? Experts say no way

NEW YORK

Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper will be there. Snoop Dogg, too.

But 1 or 2 million people in New York’s Times Square for New Year’s Eve? As Snoop would say, you must be sippin’ on gin and juice.

Crowd-size experts scoff at those mammoth figures – floated annually by city officials and event organizers – saying it’s impossible to squeeze that many of even the skinniest revelers into such a relatively small space.

The real Times Square ball drop crowd likely has fewer than 100,000 people, crowd science professor G. Keith Still said.

“Generally, people are overestimating crowd sizes by 10- to 100-fold,” said Still, who teaches crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University in England and trains police departments on techniques to calculate crowd sizes.

Egypt says its security forces killed 40 militants

CAIRO

Egypt said Saturday its security forces have killed 40 militants in raids on their hideouts in the Sinai Peninsula and the Greater Cairo area, just hours after a roadside bomb targeted a tourist bus in the capital, killing three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian guide.

In a Saturday statement, the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said 10 of the militants were killed when the security forces stormed their hideout in el-Arish, a coastal city in the turbulent north of Sinai, epicenter of a long-running insurgency by Islamists.

Another 14 were killed in another Cairo suburb and 16 more in a housing project on a highway heading west from Cairo. The statement said the militants were preparing for attacks on government and tourism facilities, army and police personnel, as well as Christian churches.

The ministry also released a series of images purportedly depicting some of the militants killed in the raids, with assault rifles seen next to their bloodied bodies.

The statement did not say when the raids took place, suggesting that the timing of its release was designed at least in part to show that security forces were scoring successes against militants across the country and staunch potential criticism of their perceived failure to protect tourists.

Florida sheriff makes changes after Parkland school shooting

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

The sheriff of a Florida county where a gunman killed 17 students and staff at a high school has outlined steps his agency has taken in response to the Feb. 14 massacre.

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel sent a letter last week to the state commission investigating the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, according to a South Florida Sun Sentinel report.

Israel said all deputies completed an additional eight hours of active-shooter training, and all school deputies attended a week of similar training and received carbines to give them more firepower.

The sheriff’s office also created a Threat Assessment Unit, headed by a former New York Police Department inspector, and an internal committee that will address the commission’s ultimate findings and recommendations.

“Be assured, the reforms adopted to date are not the end of this process,” Israel wrote. “Rather, they are a midway point as we continue working towards addressing all of the findings related to our agency and implementing all of the Commission’s recommendations.”

Oregon hotel fires two employees who ‘mistreated’ black man

PORTLAND, Ore.

An Oregon hotel said it fired two of its employees for “mistreatment” of a black guest who was talking on his phone in the lobby when he was asked to leave a week ago.

DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Portland tweeted Saturday they have “terminated the employment of the two men involved.” They said the men’s actions “were inconsistent with our standards & values.” The hotel didn’t identify the employees.

Jermaine Massey accused the hotel of racially profiling him after a security guard called police to remove him from the lobby Dec. 22. He was staying at the hotel, and his attorneys say they want a public explanation and intend to pursue legal action, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported .

On Friday, the hotel apologized to Massey on Twitter, saying the employees involved had been placed on leave and an investigation would be done. A day later, it said two workers were fired.

The security guard told Massey that if he could not provide a room number, he would be asked to leave. The Washington state resident left with an officer, according to a police report.

Senator: Coast Guard personnel to be paid

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says 42,000 Coast Guard members nationwide are going to be paid for work performed before the government shutdown.

Collins contacted the White House on Friday after she learned that a payroll system problem would prevent checks from being issued. She tweeted hours later that the matter had been resolved and that Coast Guard members will receive paychecks like other federal employees Monday.

A Coast Guard spokesman said operations are being scaled back during the shutdown to focus on search and rescue. Active-duty Coast Guard personnel are considered essential and remain on duty while most civilian workers are furloughed.

Collins said the Coast Guard is funded through a different mechanism that, unlike the rest of the military, lacks full-year 2019 appropriations.

Safety lacked at facility that may have exposed many to HIV

SADDLE BROOK, N.J.

State investigators say a New Jersey surgery center that may have exposed more than 3,000 patients to HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C used poor drug storage methods, an outdated infection-control plan and unacceptable sterilization practices.

The findings on the HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook were included in a state Department of Health report made public Friday.

The center was shuttered for three weeks in September after officials received a complaint. Two employees were fired after revelations that nearly 3,800 former patients may have been exposed to the diseases.

The people have been urged to get tested, but authorities say no illnesses have been reported.

The center’s nursing director resigned a day before the facility was shuttered. But the center’s attorney declined to say if that was related to the complaint and closure.

Associated Press