ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

East County News Service

March 9, 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.

• AMA says Trumpcare critically flawed (Forbes)
• WikiLeaks Releases What It Calls CIA Trove of Cyber-Espionage Documents (KPBS)
• Exclusive: Trump administration considering separating women, children at U.S. border (Reuters)
• Trump to undo vehicle rules that cut global warming (New York Times)
• Trump slump? Signs of drop in international tourism to U.S. (Bloomberg News)
• Miami Dade’s policy of holding inmates for ICE is unconstitutional: Florida judge (NBC)
• GOP Super-PAC linked to Paul Ryan used illegally hacked material against Democratic House Candidates (Salon)
• Man accused of making threats against Jewish community centers arrested (ABC)
• Barring reporters from briefings: does it cross a legal line? (New York Times)
• Clean power plan repeal would cost American $600 billion, cause 120,000 premature deaths  (Forbes)
• At Least Six People Have Died in Plains Wildfires (NPR)
• In move recalling Nazi-era policies, Trump to create office to track crimes committed by immigrants (Democracy Now)
• White House proposes steep cut to leading climate science agency (Washington Post)
• Trump, offering no evidence, says Obama tapped his phones (New York Times)
• Native American Tribal Disenrollment Reaching Epidemic Levels (Voice of America)

WORLD

• U.S. general says Russia deploys cruise missile, threatens NATO (Reuters)
• After decades in America, the newly deported return to a Mexico they barely recognize (Washington Post)
• Poachers Break Into French Zoo, Kill White Rhino And Steal His Horn (NPR)
• Iranian Revolutionary Guard attack vessels force US ship to change course (JPost)
• Sweden revives military draft, eyeing resurgent Russia (CS Monitor)
• Sickened Russian Opposition Leader Blames Poison Ordered by Russian Special Services (NPR)
• Switzerland funds NGOs that call for Israel’s destruction (JPost)
• In final ruling, Egyptian court acquits Mubarak over killing of protesters (JPost)
• S. Korea: North Test-Fires Handful Of 'Unknown Projectiles' Into Japan Waters (NPR)

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

U.S.

AMA says Trumpcare critically flawed (Forbes)

Providers of medical care, including the American Medical Association, that have benefited from millions of paying customers under the Affordable Care Act have come out strong against the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives’ American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare. …The AMA joined a chorus of groups, including the American Hospital Association and the American Academy of Family of Physicians, bemoaning the House bill’s lack of coverage, financial details and transparency.

WikiLeaks Releases What It Calls CIA Trove of Cyber-Espionage Documents (KPBS)

The documents published on Tuesday include instruction manuals, support documents, notes and conversations about, among other things, efforts to exploit vulnerabilities in smartphones and turn smart TVs into listening devices. … In a statement accompanying the document release, WikiLeaks alleges that the CIA has recently "lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal," and that an archive with "several hundred million lines of code" has been circling among former government hackers, giving them "the entire hacking capacity of the CIA."

Exclusive: Trump administration considering separating women, children at U.S. border (Reuters)

Women and children crossing together illegally into the United States could be separated by U.S. authorities under a proposal being considered by the Department of Homeland Security, according to three government officials. Part of the reason for the proposal is to deter mothers from migrating to the United States with their children…

Trump to undo vehicle rules that cut global warming (New York Times)

The Trump administration is expected to begin rolling back stringent federal regulations on vehicle pollution that contributes to global warming, according to people familiar with the matter, essentially marking a U-turn to efforts to force the American auto industry to produce more electric cars….During the same week...Mr.. Trump is expected to direct Mr. Pruitt to begin the more lengthy and legally complex process of dismantling the Clean Power Plan, Mr. Obama’s rules to cut planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Trump slump? Signs of drop in international tourism to U.S. (Bloomberg News)

The U.S. Travel Association on Thursday said the Trump administration's immigration policies are hurting tourism. The nonprofit industry organization said in a statement that there are "mounting signs" of "a broad chilling effect on demand for international travel to the United States."

Miami Dade’s policy of holding inmates for ICE is unconstitutional: Florida judge (NBC)

A Florida judge has ruled that Miami-Dade's policy of holding undocumented immigrants in jail at the request of the federal government is unconstitutional. Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch on Friday called the policy a violation of the Tenth Amendment five weeks after Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez decided the city would no longer be considered a "sanctuary" for undocumented immigrants.

GOP Super-PAC linked to Paul Ryan used illegally hacked material against Democratic House Candidates (Salon)

While there has been a lot of speculation about what effect the hacking of Democratic operations by a group with alleged Russian ties had in Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton, a new report from The New York Times illustrates exactly how damaging the hacking was for Democratic Congressional candidates in about a dozen “of the most competitive House races in the country.”

Man accused of making threats against Jewish community centers arrested (ABC)

A man accused of making at least eight threats against Jewish community centers, Jewish schools, a Jewish museum and the Anti-Defamation League was arrested by the FBI in St. Louis, Missouri, this morning, though the man is not believed to be the main suspect behind this year's rash of bomb threats, two law enforcement officials told ABC News. Juan Thompson, 31, is … charged in New York with cyberstalking a New York City woman by communicating threats in the woman’s name. Prosecutors said Thompson, a former journalist, appears to have made those threats "as part of a sustained campaign to harass and intimidate” the woman after their romantic relationship ended.

Barring reporters from briefings: does it cross a legal line? (New York Times)

A ruling issued on Monday by a federal judge in Manhattan, in a case brought by a freelance journalist without a lawyer, may interest the White House. The judge said that the New York Police Department may have violated the First Amendment by revoking the press credentials of the journalist, Jason B. Nicholas… Judge J. Paul Oetken’s decision was timely, following as it did the exclusion of several news organizations from a Friday briefing at the White House.“It has been held impermissible,” Judge Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.”

Clean power plan repeal would cost American $600 billion, cause 120,000 premature deaths  (Forbes)

The Trump administration has prioritized repealing the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a set of rules by the U.S. EPA aimed at limiting pollution from power plants. New analysis shows that repealing the rule would cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars, add more than a billion tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and cause more than 100,000 premature deaths due to inhaled particulate pollution.

At Least Six People Have Died in Plains Wildfires (NPR)

Wildfires are still burning out of control in Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Florida. The governor of Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency.

In move recalling Nazi-era policies, Trump to create office to track crimes committed by immigrants (Democracy Now)

During President Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress last night, he announced plans to create a new office called VOICE—that’s Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. Trump has previously directed the Department of Homeland Security to publish a list of crimes committed by immigrants—which some historians have compared to Germany’s Nazi-era policy of publishing lists of crimes committed by Jews.

White House proposes steep cut to leading climate science agency(Washington Post)

The Trump administration is seeking to slash the budget of one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post. The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs, including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas.

Trump, offering no evidence, says Obama tapped his phones (New York Times)

President Trump on Saturday accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his phones at Trump Tower the month before the election, taking to Twitter to call his predecessor a “bad (or sick) guy.” Without offering any evidence or providing the source of his information, Mr. Trump fired off a series of Twitter messages claiming that Mr. Obama “had my ‘wires tapped.’ ”… A spokesman for Mr. Obama said any suggestion that the former president had ordered such surveillance was “simply false.”

Native American Tribal Disenrollment Reaching Epidemic Levels (Voice of America)

All across Indian Country, Native Americans are being evicted from their tribes, with little warning and little legal recourse.

WORLD

U.S. general says Russia deploys cruise missile, threatens NATO (Reuters)

 Russia has deployed a land-based cruise missile that violates the "spirit and intent" of an arms control treaty and poses a threat to NATO, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva said on Wednesday.

After decades in America, the newly deported return to a Mexico they barely recognize (Washington Post

The deportees stepped off their flight from El Paso looking bewildered — 135 men who had left families and jobs behind after being swept up in the Trump administration’s mounting effort to send millions of undocumented immigrants back to their economically fraught homeland.

Poachers Break into French Zoo, Kill White Rhino and Steal His Horn (NPR)

This is believed to be the first such incident at a European zoo. The zoo says its staff is in shock. The suspects remain at large, and police are investigating.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard attack vessels force US ship to change course (JPost)

The incident comes just days after Iran successfully completed a series of tests on the advanced Russian-made S-300 missile-defense system, making it fully operational.  The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the IRGCN boats came within 600 yards of the USNS Invincible, a tracking ship, and stopped. The Invincible was being accompanied by three ships from British Royal Navy and forced the formation to change course.

Sweden revives military draft, eyeing resurgent Russia (CS Monitor)

Conscription was gradually watered down after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but a resurgent Russia and tensions over the conflict in Ukraine have left politicians on both sides of the aisle looking to boost military capability.

Sickened Russian Opposition Leader Blames Poison Ordered by Russian Special Services (NPR)

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, tells NPR only the Kremlin's intelligence services, or people connected to it, could be responsible for his unexplained illnesses.

Switzerland funds NGOs that call for Israel’s destruction (JPost)

Switzerland finances organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories that call for the annihilation of Israel and for the death of Jews, according to a Basler Zeitung report.

In final ruling, Egyptian court acquits Mubarak over killing of protesters (JPost)

Egypt's former president found innocent of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.

S. Korea: North Test-Fires Handful Of 'Unknown Projectiles' Into Japan Waters (NPR)

The projectiles were launched Sunday from near North Korea's missile base of Tongchang-ri, says South Korea's military. At least one of the missiles flew about 620 miles.