ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

June 27, 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.

• Aide testifies Trump tried to strangle Secret Service agent in attempt to reach Capitol on Jan. 6 (KXLY)
• Aide: Trump knew Jan. 6 rally attendees had weapons (CNN)
• Fed unveils biggest rate hike since 1994, flags slowing economy (Reuters)
• Water levels at Lake Mead dangerously close to hitting 'dead pool' status (ABC News)
• Supreme Court goes against public opinion in rulings on abortion, guns (Washington Post)
• Supreme Court plummets to all-time low: Poll shows Americans have no confidence in conservatives (Raw Story)
• Jan. 6 panel pressures Republican lawmaker with release of tour video (Reuters)
• Pro-Trump lawyer sought pardon after pushing plan to overturn election (Washington Post)
• Analysis: U.S. Supreme Court ruling provides ammunition for gun law challenges (Reuters)
• Election worker targeted by Trump and his allies testifies: 'Turned my life upside down' (Politico)

WORLD

• EU grants Ukraine candidate status in 'historic moment' (Reuters)
• Ukraine Says it Only Has 10% of the Weapons it Needs as Russia Makes Gains (Newsweek)
• Afghanistan earthquake: Taliban appeal for more aid as death toll set to mount (Guardian)
• Danish-Canadian deal ends 49-year-old feud over Arctic isle (AP)

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

U.S.

Aide testifies Trump tried to strangle Secret Service agent in attempt to reach Capitol on Jan. 6 (KXLY)

President Donald Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent, putting his hand on the man’s throat after he was told he would not be taken to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

Aide: Trump knew Jan. 6 rally attendees had weapons (CNN)

Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified before the Jan. 6 hearing that she overheard former President Donald Trump saying that he did not care if his supporters had weapons — and suggested he had no issue with them marching to the Capitol armed. "I overheard the President say something to the effect of 'I don't F-ing care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me..Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here.”

Fed unveils biggest rate hike since 1994, flags slowing economy (Reuters)

The Federal Reserve raised its target interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday to stem a disruptive surge in inflation, and projected a slowing economy and rising unemployment in the months to come.

Water levels at Lake Mead dangerously close to hitting 'dead pool' status (ABC News)

Elevation is about 150 feet from being too low to flow downstream from the dam.

Supreme Court goes against public opinion in rulings on abortion, guns (Washington Post)

Until recently, the court hewed closely to shifting public views on key social issues like same-sex marriage, private sexual conduct, workplace protections for transgender people, and popular support for laws and executive orders on immigration and health care

Supreme Court plummets to all-time low: Poll shows Americans have no confidence in conservatives (Raw Story)

Public confidence in the Supreme Court is at an all-time low as the court continues to come under fire over what critics argue has been a pattern of legislating from the bench. According to Gallup, just 25% of Americans have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the judiciary, a marked 11% decrease from a year ago. (Note: This poll was taken June 20, even before the controversial decision to overturn Roe v. Wade)

Jan. 6 panel pressures Republican lawmaker with release of tour video (Reuters)

The congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol took aim at a fellow lawmaker on Wednesday as it released video footage showing him giving a tour of the building the previous day to a man who participated in the riot. The video shows the man in question, who was not named, taking pictures of tunnels and security checkpoints the day before the attack while participating in a guided tour by Republican Representative Barry Loudermilk.

Pro-Trump lawyer sought pardon after pushing plan to overturn election (Washington Post)

John Eastman, a conservative lawyer advising President Donald Trump, sought a presidential pardon after pushing a plan to overturn the 2020 election that he knew to be illegal, evidence and testimony showed during a hearing Thursday by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Eastman had aggressively pushed a plan for Vice President Mike Pence to use his authority to help overturn the results, but acknowledged to Pence attorney Greg Jacob that the plot violated the law and would lose at the Supreme Court “nine to nothing,” Jacob testified.

Analysis: U.S. Supreme Court ruling provides ammunition for gun law challenges (Reuters)

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns in public is likely to provide legal ammunition to challenge other regulations around the country even as Congress considers modest reforms. In a 6-3 ruling, the court for the first time recognized that individuals have a right to carry a firearm in public under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.

Election worker targeted by Trump and his allies testifies: 'Turned my life upside down' (Politico)

Georgia election workers testified their lives were threatened for refusing to violate the law; one elderly woman had to leave her home for months under advice of the FBI.

WORLD

EU grants Ukraine candidate status in 'historic moment' (Reuters)



Ukraine became a candidate to join the European Union on Thursday, a bold geopolitical step triggered by Russia's invasion that Kyiv and Brussels hailed as an "historic moment".

Ukraine Says it Only Has 10% of the Weapons it Needs as Russia Makes Gains (Newsweek)

Ukraine has said it has only a fraction of the weapons it needs to take on Russia, and has urged the west to speed up the delivery of more arms as it faces a bitter fight in the eastern Donbas region.

Afghanistan earthquake: Taliban appeal for more aid as death toll set to mount (Guardian)

The hardline Islamist leadership says help needs to be ‘scaled up’ after the quake devastated towns and villages in the country’s mountainous east

Danish-Canadian deal ends 49-year-old feud over Arctic isle (AP)

A territorial dispute between Denmark and Canada over a barren and uninhabited rock in the Arctic that has led to decades of friendly friction has come to an end, with the two countries agreeing on Tuesday to divide the tiny island between them…“It sends a clear signal that it is possible to resolve border disputes ... in a pragmatic and peaceful way, where the all parties become winners,” said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod. He said it was “an important signal now that there is much war and unrest in the world.”