ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

November 8, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views.  Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Dems win from coast to coast (The Hill)
• Texas gunman broke child’s skull and assaulted wife in troubled life (NY Times)
• Texas church gunman escaped mental hospital while awaiting court martial (Reuters)
• Republicans unveil tax bill, but the hard work awaits (Reuters)
• The GOP wants to bring in more migrant workers, for much lower pay (Mother Jones)
• Why is Trump so obsessed with Russia? We’re finally going to find out (Joe Scarborough, Washington Post)
• Mueller reveals new Manafort link to organized crime (Daily Beast)
• Hillary Clinton just floated the possibility of contesting the election (CNN)
• Manafort has 3 passports, traveled to China with phone under fake name (CNN)
• Conservatives introduce measure demanding Mueller’s resignation (Politico)
• Democratic leader vows fair nomination process in 2020 after uproar (Reuters)
• Immigration agents release 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy after ACLU lawsuit (The Hill)
• How Should We Build and Design Cities to Make It Tougher for Terrorists to Hurt People?

WORLD

• Saudi prince, asserting power, brings clerics to heel (New York Times)
• Saudi Arabia says Lebanon declares war against it (Reuters)
• Pope raises prospect of married men becoming priests (Independent)
• Canada to take in migrants at 'gradual' pace amid integration concerns (Reuters)
• Venezuela opposition leader Guevara seeks refuge in Chile ambassador's home (Reuters)
• With Saudi Arrests, Crown Prince Shows He Can Force Change. But It's Not Democracy (NPR)
• Lebanon's Prime Minister Resigns, Fears Plot on His Life (NPRO
• A Window onto the 'Shocking' Final Days of ISIS in Mosul (NPR)
• Russia's independent media cite intimidation as the new censorship  (CS Monitor)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Dems win from coast to coast (The Hill)

Democrats roared back on Tuesday a year after suffering perhaps the most demoralizing defeat in modern political history, claiming big victories in races up and down the ballot and across the country.

Texas gunman broke child’s skull and assaulted wife in troubled life (NY Times)

He beat his wife, cracked his toddler stepson’s skull and was kicked out of the military. He drove away friends, drew attention from the police and abused his dog. Before Devin P. Kelley entered a rural Texas church with a military-style rifle, killing at least 26 people on Sunday, he led a deeply troubled life in which few in his path escaped unscathed.

Texas church gunman escaped mental hospital while awaiting court martial (Reuters)

The former U.S. serviceman who committed the deadliest mass shooting on record in Texas escaped from a mental hospital in 2012 as he faced court-martial on domestic violence charges for which he was later convicted, a police report revealed on Tuesday.

Republicans unveil tax bill, but the hard work awaits (Reuters)

U.S. House of Representatives Republicans unveiled long-delayed legislation on Thursday to deliver deep tax cuts that President Donald Trump has promised, setting off a frantic race in Congress to give him his first major legislative victory.

The GOP wants to bring in more migrant workers, for much lower pay (Mother Jones)

Republicans say their new program will solve labor shortages. Migrant groups say it’s a “recipe for worker exploitation.”

Why is Trump so obsessed with Russia? We’re finally going to find out (Joe Scarborough, Washington Post)

I don’t get it, and I never have. Why has President Trump kowtowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the beginning of his presidential campaign? …The man has insulted everyone from war heroes to the pope, and yet his admiration of the Russian dictator remains intact . . .  Here’s some of what we know so far. It seems to be enough to make any self-aware president panic.

Mueller reveals new Manafort link to organized crime (Daily Beast)

Trump’s former campaign manager didn’t just do business with accused gangsters. One of them transferred millions into a Manafort account, allegedly used for money laundering…. Semion Mogilevich is frequently described as “the most dangerous mobster in the world.”

Hillary Clinton just floated the possibility of contesting the election (CNN)

In interviews over the last week surrounding the release of her 2016 memoir "What Happened," Hillary Clinton has been hugely critical of President Donald Trump...But in an interview Monday with NPR's Terry Gross, Clinton raised that critique up a notch -- not only questioning the legitimacy of Trump's presidency but refusing to rule out the possibility of contesting the results if Russian collusion is proven by special counsel Bob Mueller.

Manafort has 3 passports, traveled to China with phone under fake name (CNN)

How rich are Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and where did they travel? That question lingered over the pair's court hearing on Monday after both faced the first indictments from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Conservatives introduce measure demanding Mueller’s resignation (Politico)

Three House Republicans on Friday moved to pressure special counsel Robert Mueller to resign over what they contend are “obvious conflicts of interest,” the latest instance of rising GOP resistance to his Russia probe.

Democratic leader vows fair nomination process in 2020 after uproar (Reuters)

The head of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday vowed to ensure all candidates have an equal chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination after a former party chair accused the committee of rigging the process to aid Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Immigration agents release 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy after ACLU lawsuit (The Hill)

Federal immigration authorities in Texas have released an undocumented 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy after detaining her following emergency surgery last week.

How Should We Build and Design Cities to Make It Tougher for Terrorists to Hurt People?

This week's terror attack in Manhattan prompts a question: Can a city do anything to stop a truck attack? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with architect Thomas Vonier about how we can better design big cities to make it harder for terrorists to harm people.

WORLD

Saudi prince, asserting power, brings clerics to heel (New York Times)

For decades, Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment wielded tremendous power, with bearded enforcers policing public behavior, prominent sheikhs defining right and wrong, and religious associations using the kingdom’s oil wealth to promote their intolerant interpretation of Islam around the world. Now, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is curbing their power as part of his drive to impose his control on the kingdom and press for a more open brand of Islam. Before the arrests on Saturday of his fellow royals and former ministers on corruption allegations, Prince Mohammed had stripped the religious police of their arrest powers and expanded the space for women in public life, including promising them the right to drive.

Saudi Arabia says Lebanon declares war against it (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that Lebanon had declared war against it because of what it described as aggression against the Kingdom by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi‘ite group Hezbollah.  Sabhan said this message had been delivered to the Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri, who declared his resignation as the country’s prime minister on Saturday in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia…. Hariri cited an assassination plot against him in the statement announcing his resignation, and launched a scathing attack against Iran and Hezbollah for sowing strife in the Arab world.

Pope raises prospect of married men becoming priests (Independent)

Pope Francis has requested a debate over allowing married men in the Amazon region of Brazil to become priests, in a controversial move that is likely to outrage conservatives in the Church, Vatican sources say…. The cardinal's request has been echoed by Monsignor Erwin Krautler, the secretary of the Episcopal Commission. He has also suggested that the bishops attending the synod in 2019 on the Amazon, now being prepared in Rome, should consider ordaining women deacons as priests. 

Canada to take in migrants at 'gradual' pace amid integration concerns (Reuters)

Canada’s new three-year immigration plan, unveiled on Wednesday, will see it increase its immigration intake by 13 percent over three years to help meet the needs of an aging population.  But the increase is below that recommended by a government advisory council in 2016, which had wanted the figure to rise by 50 percent over five years.

Venezuela opposition leader Guevara seeks refuge in Chile ambassador's home (Reuters)

 Prominent Venezuelan lawmaker Freddy Guevara has sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas amid fears he could be jailed, a development that leaves the ailing opposition with even fewer leaders to take on leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

With Saudi Arrests, Crown Prince Shows He Can Force Change. But It's Not Democracy (NPR)

The weekend's arrests don't mean Saudi Arabia is opening up to democracy. The rulers are unelected monarchs with a record of jailing critics and minorities. But the sweep of arrests marks a change.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Resigns, Fears Plot on His Life (NPRO

Saad Hariri made the announcement Saturday in a televised address from Saudi Arabia. Hariri's father, a former prime minister, was assassinated in 2005.

A Window onto the 'Shocking' Final Days of ISIS in Mosul (NPR)

Abductions. Mass killings. Use of child soldiers. In a report released by two U.N. human rights groups, a brutal, bloody portrait emerges of the group's reign in the region.

Russia's independent media cite intimidation as the new censorship  (CS Monitor)

Being a journalist has never been easy in Russia. Three hundred reporters have been killed since the Soviet Union collapsed. But a new climate of fear is forcing liberal opposition journalists to flee the country.