ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

March 28, 2022 (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 a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• US determines Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine (The Hill)
• Texts reveal wife of Supreme Court judge urged 2020 election overturn (BBC)
• Senate approves bill to make daylight saving time permanent  (Associated Press)
• U.S. Adds ‘Kamikaze Drones’ as More Weapons Flow to Ukraine (New York Times)
• Fed hikes interest rates to fight record inflation  (The Hill)
• Schumer's Senate shocker: Bills are passing (seriously) (Politico)
• Can states limit abortion and gender-affirming treatments outside their borders?  (NPR)
• A Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspect wanted by the FBI was granted refugee status in Belarus  (NPR)

WORLD

• NATO: Up to 40,000 Russian Troops Killed, Wounded, Taken Prisoner or Missing in Ukraine (Wall Street Journal)
• Russian strikes turning Mariupol into 'ashes' as West plans more sanctions (Reuters)
• Kidnapped Ukrainian mayor Ivan Fedorov rescued in ‘special operation’ (Times of London)
• A Ukrainian Town Deals Russia One of the War’s Most Decisive Routs  (Wall Street Journal)
• Russia keeps up attacks in Ukraine as two sides hold talks  (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• 3 European Leaders Visit Besieged Kyiv in Show of Support (New York Times)
• Romania probes drone found on its territory days after crash in Croatia (Euro News)
• Russian generals are getting killed at an astonishing rate (Washington Post)
• Russia quits Council of Europe rights watchdog (Reuters)
• Putin critic Alexei Navalny found guilty of fraud (NPR)
• Russian state TV employee fined for ‘they’re lying to you’ sign protest (Politico)
• Defense system being given to Ukraine could help them create their own no-fly zone: CNN  (Raw Story)
• Journalist reportedly kidnapped and tortured by Russian troops in Ukraine (Yahoo)

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

US determines Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine (The Hill)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the Biden administration has determined Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Texts reveal wife of Supreme Court judge urged 2020 election overturn (BBC)

Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, reportedly sent 29 text messages to former adviser Mark Meadows, urging him not to concede…I n the text messages, seen by CBS News and The Washington Post, she urged Mr Meadows, who was Donald Trump's chief of staff, to "make a plan" in a bid to save his presidency..Ms Thomas also appeared to push QAnon conspiracy theories…In February 2021 the Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump's challenges to the elections result, however Mr Thomas dissented from the decision, calling it "baffling".

Senate approves bill to make daylight saving time permanent  (Associated Press)

But the bill still needs to pass the House and win the signature of President Joe Biden to become law.

U.S. Adds ‘Kamikaze Drones’ as More Weapons Flow to Ukraine (New York Times)

The Biden administration will provide Ukraine with additional high-tech defensive weapons that are easily portable and require little training to use against Russian tanks, armored vehicles and aircraft, according to U.S. and European officials. In remarks on Wednesday, President Biden announced $800 million in new military aid for Ukraine, including 800 additional Stinger antiaircraft missiles, 9,000 antitank weapons, 100 tactical drones and a range of small arms including machine guns and grenade launchers.

Fed hikes interest rates to fight record inflation  (The Hill)

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for setting monetary policy, increased the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent. The federal funds rate is the benchmark interest rate banks charge on loans to each other and is used to set borrowing costs on credit cards, automobile loans and mortgages. "The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The implications for the U.S. economy are highly uncertain, but in the near term the invasion and related events are likely to create additional upward pressure on inflation and weigh on economic activity," the FOMC said in a statement.

Schumer's Senate shocker: Bills are passing (seriously) (Politico)

It’s the Capitol’s election-year surprise: The 50-50 Senate is actually working. After high-profile partisan failures on President Joe Biden’s signature domestic policy bill and on weakening the filibuster for voting reform, the chamber’s racked up a series of bipartisan accomplishments lately — some of which had eluded Congress for years. Senators passed an anti-lynching law after literally 200 failed attempts, gave sexual misconduct claims firmer legal footing and approved sweeping postal reform. That’s on top of $14 billion for Ukraine as well as a long-awaited reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act as part of a massive spending bill, not to mention last year’s huge bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Can states limit abortion and gender-affirming treatments outside their borders?  (NPR)

Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. have unleashed a wave of state legislation attempting to restrict access to abortions and to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth by allowing lawsuits to be filed against anyone who helps them.  But now there's a new twist in what appears to be a broader Republican strategy: Representatives in multiple states are pushing bills that would attempt to limit what residents can and can't do even beyond state lines.

A Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspect wanted by the FBI was granted refugee status in Belarus  (NPR)

…He allegedly assaulted at least four different officers over the course of several hours, according to the federal indictment against him.

WORLD

NATO: Up to 40,000 Russian Troops Killed, Wounded, Taken Prisoner or Missing in Ukraine (Wall Street Journal)

...NATO estimates that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Using statistical averages from past conflicts that for every casualty roughly three soldiers are wounded, NATO analysts reach their total figure.Russia began its invasion with roughly 190,000 troops. It has since brought in additional troops from Chechnya, Syria and other locations.

Russian strikes turning Mariupol into 'ashes' as West plans more sanctions (Reuters)

Intense Russian air strikes are turning besieged Mariupol into the "ashes of a dead land", the city council said on Tuesday, as the United States and Europe planned more sanctions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Street fighting and bombardments raged in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, a day after it rejected an ultimatum from Russia to surrender. Hundreds of thousands are believed to be trapped inside buildings, with no access to food, water, power or heat.

Kidnapped Ukrainian mayor Ivan Fedorov rescued in ‘special operation’ (Times of London)

A Ukrainian mayor who urged his city to rise up and fight the occupation before he was kidnapped by Russian forces has been freed, his government announced last night. “We don’t leave ours behind,” President Zelensky told Ivan Fedorov, 33, who was dragged from his office in the southern city of Melitopol with a bag over his head on Friday night. Kirill Timoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said that Fedorov had been freed in a “special operation” without offering further details.

A Ukrainian Town Deals Russia One of the War’s Most Decisive Routs  (Wall Street Journal)

A Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder, Voznesensk’s funeral director, Mykhailo Sokurenko, spent this Tuesday driving through fields and forests, picking up dead Russian soldiers and taking them to a freezer railway car piled with Russian bodies—the casualties of one of the most comprehensive routs President Vladimir Putin’s forces have suffered since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia keeps up attacks in Ukraine as two sides hold talks  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Ukrainian and Russian officials have held a a new round of talks as Moscow’s troops press their assault on Kyiv and other cities

3 European Leaders Visit Besieged Kyiv in Show of Support (New York Times)

The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia visited Ukraine’s battered capital to show their “unequivocal support” for Ukraine. President Biden will meet with NATO officials in Europe next week, aides said.

Romania probes drone found on its territory days after crash in Croatia (Euro News)

Romanian prosecutors say they have launched a criminal probe after an “unmanned aircraft” was spotted in the northern county of Bistrita-Nasaud….The drone bore no markings or an identification number. Russia is the only known operator of this type of unmanned aircraft. It comes days after a Russian-made unmanned aircraft crossed Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia and crashed late on Thursday.

Russian generals are getting killed at an astonishing rate (Washington Post)

The war in Ukraine is proving extraordinarily lethal for Russian generals, the gray men bedecked in service medals, who are being aggressively targeted by Ukrainian forces and killed at a rate not seen since World War II.   Ukrainian officials say their forces have killed seven generals on the battlefield, felled by snipers, close combat and bombings.

Russia quits Council of Europe rights watchdog (Reuters)



Russia on Tuesday quit the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog, pre-empting an expected expulsion over its attack on neighbour Ukraine…. The human rights convention will cease to apply to Russia and Russians will no longer be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against their government.

Putin critic Alexei Navalny found guilty of fraud (NPR)

State-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday that Moscow's Lefortovo Court found Alexei Navalny guilty of "fresh fraud charges." It has sentenced the opposition leader, who is already in jail, to an additional nine years in a high-security prison…The State Department called for Navalny to be released immediately.  "Navalny's case is sadly one of many the Kremlin continues to brazenly pursue as it systematically ignores the constitutional rights of the Russian people and its international commitments to respect and ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

Russian state TV employee fined for ‘they’re lying to you’ sign protest (Politico)

Marina Ovsyannikova ran behind a newsreader on primetime TV in Russia with a sign condemning war in Ukraine.

Defense system being given to Ukraine could help them create their own no-fly zone: CNN  (Raw Story)

President Joe Biden has made it clear that the United States cannot establish a so-called "no-fly zone" to shoot down Russian aircraft in Ukraine, at least not without Russia escalating to attacks on NATO territory directly — for fear of triggering a world war. But, reported CNN's Brian Todd on Tuesday, Ukraine may be able to create its own no-fly zone to repel the Russian invasion — thanks to powerful weaponry they are about to receive.

Journalist reportedly kidnapped and tortured by Russian troops in Ukraine (Yahoo)

A local journalist working for a French radio station in Ukraine was kidnapped and tortured by Russian soldiers earlier this month, according to the non-profit group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Nikita, 32, whose name has been changed for his security, was held for nine days and subjected to electric shocks, beatings with an iron bar and mock execution, he told the group.