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August 18, 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.
Trump and Jan. 6 investigations
Other national news
WORLD
For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.
U.S.
Trump investigations
Trump suspected of violating Espionage Act, according to search warrant (The Hill)
Federal law enforcement suspected former President Trump had violated the Espionage Act and other laws when it sought and obtained a search warrant for his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to court records unsealed Friday.
Jan. 6 Grand Jury Has Subpoenaed White House Documents (New York Times)
The subpoena, issued in May to the National Archives, demanded all of the documents the agency had provided to the House committee’s parallel investigation.
FBI sought nuclear documents in search of Trump's home -Washington Post (Reuters)
U.S. federal agents were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons when they raided former President Donald Trump's home in Florida this week, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. It was not clear if such documents were recovered at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, the Post said.
FBI Agents Blast Trump-Inspired Calls For Violence Against Law Enforcement (Huffington Post)
"This is not a partisan or political issue. It is a matter of public safety and basic decency,” said a statement by FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare.
Donald Trump Pleads the Fifth After Saying Only Guilty People Do (Newsweek)
Former President Donald Trump announced that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during his Wednesday deposition with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office in a reversal from the stance he took nearly six years ago when he was running for the presidency.
Other national news
Mortgage rates drop below 5% for first time since April (CNN)
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.99% in the week ending August 4, down from 5.3% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. But that is still significantly higher than this time last year when it was 2.77%. Rates rose sharply at the start of the year, hitting a high of 5.81% in mid-June.
Western states hit with more cuts to Colorado River Water (AP)
For the second year in a row, Arizona and Nevada will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River as the West endures more drought, federal officials announced Tuesday…. Because the states failed to meet a federal deadline to figure out how to cut their water use by at least 15%, they could see even deeper cuts that the government has said are needed to prevent reservoirs from falling so low they cannot be pumped.
Rep. Liz Cheney loses her primary in Wyoming to Trump-backed challenger (NBC)
Trump sought revenge for Cheney’s vote last year to impeach him and her work on the House committee investigating him. Neither endeared her to GOP voters in the state.
Armed man tries to breach FBI office in Cincinnati, later killed after standoff (Marketwatch)
An armed man clad in body armor who tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office on Thursday was shot and killed by police after he fled the scene and engaged in an hourslong standoff in a rural part of the state, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.… The confrontation came as officials warned of an increase in threats against federal agents in the days following a search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida...
More than a million could die waiting for green cards as U.S. immigration buckles amid COVID (Los Angeles Times)
Delays processing millions of visas, work permits, green cards, naturalization petitions and cases languishing in immigration courts are so severe that experts say they can’t be resolved without significant reforms.
U.S. charges Iranian in plot to murder ex-Trump adviser John Bolton (Reuters)
The United States charged a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump.
A jury finds Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim (CNN)
A Texas jury has decided to penalize Alex Jones with $45.2 million in punitive damages in a lawsuit filed by the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis. The award, which the judge could reduce, came one day after the jury settled on $4.1 million in compensatory damages…Jones, the head of the conspiratorial media outlet Infowars, repeatedly lied about the Sandy Hook massacre. He stoked conspiracy theories about the victims and their families, prompting multiple defamation lawsuits. He has since acknowledged that the mass shooting occurred.
WORLD
The drought across Europe is drying up rivers, killing fish and shriveling crops (NPR)
From dry and cracked reservoirs in Spain to falling water levels on major arteries like the Danube, the Rhine and the Po, an unprecedented drought is afflicting nearly half of the European continent. It is damaging farm economies, forcing water restrictions, causing wildfires and threatening aquatic species. There has been no significant rainfall for almost two months in Western, Central and Southern Europe. And the dry period is expected to continue in what experts say could be the worst drought in 500 years.
Russian Leaders Flee City, Abandon Troops, Amid Counter-Attack: Ukraine (Newsweek)
Russian commanders have fled the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian forces using U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, have targeted key strategic bridges in recent weeks as part of a counteroffensive to reclaim the Russian-occupied Kherson region.
Furious China fires missiles near Taiwan in drills after Pelosi visit (Reuters)
China deployed scores of planes and fired live missiles near Taiwan on Thursday in its biggest-ever drills in the Taiwan Strait, a day after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a solidarity trip to the self-ruled island.
Ukraine, Russia trade blame for nuclear plant shelling amid global alarm (Reuters)
Kyiv and Moscow traded blame on Monday for the weekend shelling of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex amid international alarm that their battle for control of the plant could trigger catastrophe. Calling any attack on a nuclear plant "suicidal", United Nations chief Antonio Guterres demanded U.N. nuclear inspectors be given access to Zaporizhzhia, the largest complex of its kind in Europe.
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