ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

August 28, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• John McCain's farewell letter: `Do not despair of our present difficulties' (Chicago Tribune)
• Q&A: What happens now that President Trump has been accused in court of helping commit a crime? (Los Angeles Times)
• Trump’s long-time lawyer Michael Cohen pleads guilty to eight counts (Washington Post)
• Manafort convicted on 8 counts; judge will prepare mistrial in other 10 counts (Washington Post)
• Hurricane Lane: Category 4 storm targets Hawaii (CBS News)
• The Salary You Need to Live Alone in Every Major U.S. City (Apartment Therapy)
• Wells Fargo closes politician’s account due to marijuana donations (Forbes)
• Pentagon says China military 'likely training for strikes' on U.S. targets (Reuters)
• Two arrested for allegedly spying for Iran in U.S. (Reuters)

INTERNATIONAL

• Trump reaches revised trade deal with Mexico, threatens to shut out Canada (New York Times)
• Budapest Airport terminal briefly shut due to hot isotope container (Reuters)
• Mexico violence: Newly elected Congresswoman kidnapped (BBC)
• S&P lowers Turkey's credit rating deeper into junk territory (Reuters)
• Death toll nears 400 in India's flood-hit Kerala, dozens missing (Reuters)
• What Ending Bailout Means for Greece (NPR)

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

U.S.

John McCain's farewell letter: `Do not despair of our present difficulties' (Chicago Tribune)

Sen. John McCain expressed his deep gratitude and love of country in his final letter and implored Americans to put aside "tribal rivalries" and focus on what unites.

Q&A: What happens now that President Trump has been accused in court of helping commit a crime? (Los Angeles Times)

President Trump’s future is in peril like never before — and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Russia… The bombshell came when Cohen, after taking a plea deal from prosecutors, testified under oath that he broke the law “at the direction” of Trump “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.” To sum it up bluntly: Cohen was calling the president of the United States a crook who told him to commit a felony and a cover-up to help get him into the Oval Office.

Trump’s long-time lawyer Michael Cohen pleads guilty to eight counts (Washington Post)

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Manhattan courthouse to eight violations of banking, tax and campaign finance laws in a federal investigation that scrutinized his business dealings and his efforts to silence women with negative stories about Trump.

Manafort convicted on 8 counts; judge will prepare mistrial in other 10 counts (Washington Post)

A jury has found former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty after a three-week trial on tax and bank fraud charges — a major if not complete victory for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as he continues to investigate the president’s associates.

Hurricane Lane: Category 4 storm targets Hawaii (CBS News)

Hurricane Lane barreled toward the Hawaiian Islands Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The Big Island and the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe were all under a hurricane warning, meaning hurricane conditions are expected beginning Thursday morning.

The Salary You Need to Live Alone in Every Major U.S. City (Apartment Therapy)

 If you're wondering what it takes to be able to afford to live alone in one of the top 20 populated cities in the United States, check out this list, which provides the yearly salary needed to afford the average rent for both a one-bedroom and a studio apartment in each city. 

Wells Fargo closes politician’s account due to marijuana donations (Forbes)

It’s well known that many banks are reluctant to open accounts for marijuana businesses out of fear of running afoul of the U.S’s government’s continued criminalization of the drug. But one major institution just took the financial services industry’s cannabis cash paranoia a step further, saying—in what appears to be a first—that it won’t do business with a political candidate because she has received donations from cannabis industry interests.

Pentagon says China military 'likely training for strikes' on U.S. targets (Reuters)

 China’s military has expanded its bomber operations in recent years while “likely training for strikes” against the United States and its allies, a Pentagon report released on Thursday said.

Two arrested for allegedly spying for Iran in U.S. (Reuters)

Two Iranian men were indicted on Monday for allegedly spying for Tehran in the United States, including conducting surveillance at a Jewish facility and gathering information on backers of the militant Iranian opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq, the Justice Department said.

INTERNATIONAL

Trump reaches revised trade deal with Mexico, threatens to shut out Canada (New York Times)

President Trump said on Monday that the United States and Mexico had reached an accord to revise key portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and would finalize it within days, suggesting he was ready to jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get on board quickly.

Budapest Airport terminal briefly shut due to hot isotope container (Reuters)

A terminal of Budapest Airport was briefly shut down late on Wednesday due to an overheated container carrying an isotope.

Mexico violence: Newly elected Congresswoman kidnapped (BBC)

BBC News US - Gunmen shot at the car of Veracruz lawmaker-elect Norma Azucena Rodríguez Zamora and abducted her.

S&P lowers Turkey's credit rating deeper into junk territory (Reuters)

Standard & Poor’s said on Friday it had cut Turkey’s sovereign credit rating deeper into “junk” territory, citing extreme lira volatility and forecasting a recession next year, adding to the country’s woes as it deals with a currency crisis.

Death toll nears 400 in India's flood-hit Kerala, dozens missing (Reuters)

The death toll rose on Monday to nearly 400 in India's southern state of Kerala, reeling under its worst flood in a century

What Ending Bailout Means for Greece (NPR)

Greece is formally exiting its bailout loan program today after eight years of austerity and financial reforms. Many ordinary Greeks have very little to celebrate.