FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr before Trump signed an executive order creating a commission to study law enforcement and justice at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Convention in Chicago. Attorney General William Barr took a public swipe Thursday at President Donald Trump, saying that the president's tweets about Justice Department prosecutors and cases 'make it impossible for me to do my job.' Barr made the comment during an interview with ABC News just days after the Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors. they had initially recommended in a court filing that President Donald Trump's longtime ally and confidant Roger Stone be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison. But the next day, the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for Stone. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. '~WHAT A SAD DISAPPOINTMENT' Top House Democrats are planning to investigate what they call Attorney General William Barr's efforts to politicize federal law enforcement.
2. CHINA SEES ANOTHER SPIKE IN VIRUS TOTALS The country's National Health Commission says 121 more people had died, bringing the total to nearly 1,400, and there were 5,090 new confirmed cases.
3. BLOOMBERG TARGETED BY 2020 HOPEFULS They are accusing their billionaire rival of trying to buy his way into the White House and raising questions about his commitment to racial equality.
4. '~I HAVE TO GO TO SAUDI' Thousands of Ethiopians escaping extreme poverty trek to Saudi Arabia in search of work each year, crossing deserts, the sea and a long journey through war-torn Yemen to get to the kingdom.
5. AP: FEDS TO TARGET MEDICARE MARKETERS A government watchdog plans to investigate how telemarketers may be getting hold of seniors' personal Medicare information, a red flag for potential fraud and waste.
6. WHY A HIGHWAY IS KEY IN SYRIA President Bashar Assad reclaims the Damascus-Aleppo highway, a roadway through the country's major cities and a key to control after eight years of civil war.
7. INDIA KEEPS LID ON KASHMIR'S INTERNET Kashmiris are only allowed to access government-approved websites while popular social media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter remain blocked.
8. 'RED FLAG' LAW REMOVES HUNDREDS OF GUNS A Florida law that allows judges to bar anyone deemed dangerous from possessing firearms has been used 3,500 times since its enactment after the Parkland high school massacre in 2018.
9. WHAT HAS SOME ECONOMISTS CONCERNED Negative interest rates are likely to be a feature of the global economy for years to come and could change the way people save and invest.
10. '~I AM REALLY SORRY' Alex Bregman and his Houston Astros teammates speak about the sign-stealing scheme they used during their 2017 run to a World Series title and again the next season.
Medical staff work in the negative-pressure isolation ward in Jinyintan Hospital, designated for critical COVID-19 patients, in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. China on Thursday reported 254 new deaths and a spike in virus cases of 15,152, after the hardest-hit province of Hubei applied a new classification system that broadens the scope of diagnoses for the outbreak, which has spread to more than 20 countries. (Chinatopix Via AP)
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Locals come down to view the Westerdam cruise ship, owned by Holland America Line, docked at the port of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. The Westerdam, turned away by four Asian and Pacific governments due to virus fears, anchored Thursday off Cambodia for health checks on its 2,200 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during his campaign launch of "Mike for Black America," at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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FILE - This Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, file photo, civilians ride in a truck as they flee Maaret al-Numan, Syria, ahead of a government offensive. The M5 highway, recaptured by President Bashar Assad's forces this week, is arguably the most coveted prize in Syria's civil war. The strategic highway is vital for Syria's economy as well as for moving troops. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed, File)
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A runner wears the cold on his face while running along West River Parkway hills Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, near downtown Minneapolis, with temperatures hovering near minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
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In this Jan. 30, 2020, photo, Kashmiri journalists browse the internet on their mobile phones inside the media center set up by government authorities in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Six months after India stripped restive Kashmir of its semi-autonomy, enforcing a total communications blackout, it has restored limited internet at slow speeds with access only to government-approved websites. Since Modi came into power in 2014, the internet has been suspended more than 365 times in India, according to the global digital rights group Access Now. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)
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Soccer player Mara Gomez trains with her first division women's soccer team, Villa San Carlos, in La Plata, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. Gomez is a transgender woman who is limited to only training with her team while she waits for permission to start playing from the Argentina Football Association (AFA). If approved, she would become the first trans woman to compete in a first division, professional Argentine AFA tournament. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
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A model displays a design partially made of chocolate in a fashion show during an annual chocolate festival in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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In this July 15, 2019 photo, 16-year old Hades, an Ethiopian Tigray migrant, makes a phone call to her mother in Ethiopia, as she takes shelter under trees at the last stop of her journey before leaving by boat to Yemen in the evening, in Obock, Djibouti. Hades did not know that there is a civil war in Yemen. She was told by her guide that women are safe in homes of their employers in Saudi Arabia and that she would not face deportation. She will speak to her mother again to ask for money after she arrives in Yemen. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
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