ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

September 6, 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.

• Gas prices spike as refineries stay shut (CBS)
• Toxic waste sites flooded in Houston area (AP)
• Texas do-it-yourself rescue effort defined Hurricane Harvey (Washington Post)
• Antifa: officials weigh gang label after Berkeley brawls (Los Angeles Times)
• Robert Mueller eliminates Trump’s trump card (New York Magazine)
• The great pot monopoly mystery (GQ)
• Utah police reveal patient defended by heroic nurse was police officer (The Hill)
• Wells Fargo Acknowledges Creation of Nearly Twice as Many Possible Fake Accounts (NPR)
• Russia and U.S. Order Each Other to Close Diplomatic Posts (NPR)
• Utah cop who arrested nurse over blood draw fired from second job (Reuters)

WORLD

• North Korea says it tested hydrogen bomb meant for ICBM (New York Times)
• Haley: Kim Jong Un ‘begging for war’ (CNN)
• Fox News just got pulled off the air in Britain (Washington Post)
• Tourists Still Head to Los Cabos Despite Safety and Security Warnings (NPR)
• At least three dead as Lidia slams Mexico's Los Cabos tourist hub  (Reuters)
• Floods in South Asia Have Killed More Than 1,000 People This Summer (NPR)
• Iran rejects U.S. demand for U.N. inspector visit to military sites  (Reuters)
• Kenya's Supreme Court declares presidential vote invalid, calls for new poll (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Gas prices spike as refineries stay shut (CBS)

Gas prices hit a high for the year on Labor Day as the effects of Harvey continued to shut in refineries and infrastructure to transport the fuel. As of Monday, the nationwide price for a gallon of regular gas averaged $2.638, according to the drivers' association AAA. That's up from $2.45 on Thursday and $2.54 on Friday. The price is over $3 in California, Hawaii and Washington state. 

Toxic waste sites flooded in Houston area (AP)

Long a center of the nation’s petrochemical industry, the Houston metro area has more than a dozen Superfund sites, designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as being among America’s most intensely contaminated places.  The Associated Press surveyed seven Superfund sites in and around Houston during the flooding. All had been inundated with water, in some cases many feet deep… after the AP published its first report, the EPA said it had reviewed aerial imagery confirming that 13 of the 41 Superfund sites in Texas were flooded by Harvey…

Texas do-it-yourself rescue effort defined Hurricane Harvey (Washington Post)

After the storm blew into Houston, a remarkable network of boat owners with smartphones, worried neighbors with laptops and digital wizards with mapping software popped up to summon and support an army of Good Samaritans who motored, rowed and waded into dangerous waters to save family, friends and total strangers.… The citizen rescue campaign was made possible by technology that didn’t exist in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Antifa: officials weigh gang label after Berkeley brawls (Los Angeles Times)

Not long after dozens of black-hooded protesters were filmed pummeling people on his city’s streets, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin made clear his disgust for the self-stylized vigilantes. “Antifa,” he said, is no different than a street gang, and police should start treating protesters in the anti-fascist movement accordingly. Later that day, legislators in Sacramento advanced resolutions that would treat violent acts committed by the antifa movement’s enemies — white nationalists and neo-Nazis — as terrorist acts under state law.

Robert Mueller eliminates Trump’s trump card (New York Magazine)

…The presidential pardon only applies to federal crimes. As NBC reported last night, it is possible for state governments to press charges in some of the alleged crimes committed by Trump’s cronies. … Mueller is teaming up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “One of the people familiar with progress on the case said both Mueller’s and Schneiderman’s teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering,” he notes…

The great pot monopoly mystery (GQ)

Some very powerful people are trying to corner the market on legal weed and turn their company into the Monsanto of marijuana. Who are they? And can they be stopped?

Utah police reveal patient defended by heroic nurse was police officer (The Hill)

A Utah police department thanked the “heroic” nurse who informed law enforcement that it was against hospital policy to draw blood from an unconscious patient without a warrant. The department also revealed the patient was actually a reserve officer for their department. ..Salt Lake City's mayor and police chief on Friday apologized after footage emerged of a Utah law enforcement officer arresting a Utah University Hospital nurse, who said she was assaulted and unlawfully detained after informing police of the hospital’s policy.

Wells Fargo Acknowledges Creation of Nearly Twice as Many Possible Fake Accounts (NPR)

Wells Fargo just can't get past its fake account scandal. The bank acknowledged on Thursday that it created more bogus customer accounts than previously estimated. An outside review discovered an additional 1.4 million potentially unauthorized accounts opened between Jan. 2009 and Sept. 2016. That's nearly twice as many accounts as the bank previously acknowledged. This comes on the heels of other embarrassing debacles as the bank struggles to repair its image.

Russia And U.S. Order Each Other To Close Diplomatic Posts (NPR)

The U.S. has downsized its diplomatic presence in Russia as demanded by Moscow. Now, the U.S. is demanding that Russia close down its consulate in San Francisco in a "spirit of parity."

Utah cop who arrested nurse over blood draw fired from second job (Reuters)

A Utah police detective accused of assaulting and unlawfully arresting a nurse after she refused to let him take a blood sample from an unconscious patient without a warrant was fired on Tuesday from his second job as a part-time ambulance driver.

WORLD

North Korea says it tested hydrogen bomb meant for ICBM (New York Times)

The underground blast, which caused tremors that were felt in both South Korea and China, was the first by the North to clearly surpass the destructive power of the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.

Haley: Kim Jong Un ‘begging for war’ (CNN)

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was "begging for war" as she urged the UN Security Council to adopt the strongest sanctions measures possible to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Fox News just got pulled off the air in Britain (Washington Post)

Dwindling viewership was not the station's only problem. The channel was regularly criticized for breaching Britain's strict television code.

Tourists Still Head to Los Cabos Despite Safety and Security Warnings (NPR)

Despite a spike in the number of homicides and a U.S. State Department travel advisory, tourists are continuing to flock to Los Cabos, Mexico. The popular tourist destination is now one of the most violent in Mexico, but tourists and officials don't seem worried about the warnings.

At least three dead as Lidia slams Mexico's Los Cabos tourist hub  (Reuters)

 At least three people died after torrential rain from Tropical Storm Lidia provoked major flooding around Mexico's popular Los Cabos beach resort on Friday, authorities said.

Floods in South Asia Have Killed More Than 1,000 People This Summer (NPR)

For the past several weeks, monsoon-triggered floods have devastated regions in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. This week, a new series of storms has brought everyday life in Mumbai to a near halt.

Iran rejects U.S. demand for U.N. inspector visit to military sites  (Reuters)

 Iran has dismissed a U.S. demand for U.N. nuclear inspectors to visit its military bases as "merely a dream" as Washington reviews a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers, including the United States.

Kenya's Supreme Court declares presidential vote invalid, calls for new poll (Reuters)

 Kenya's Supreme Court nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win citing irregularities on Friday and ordered a new poll within 60 days after last month's voting was followed by protests and sporadic violence that killed at least 28 people.