ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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November 13, 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.

WORLD

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

U.S.

Judge vacates Biden's student debt forgiveness plan  (NPR)

President Biden's plan to erase federal student loan debts for tens of millions of borrowers hit a brick wall Thursday when a U.S. District Court judge in Texas called it unlawful and vacated the debt relief program.  The federal government appealed the decision…. The debt-forgiveness program was already on hold while a federal appeals court in St. Louis considers a separate lawsuit by six states challenging it. 

Social Security recipients get 8.7% cost-of-living increase, the highest in more than 40 years (CNN)

Social Security recipients will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment of 8.7% next year, the largest increase since 1981, the Social Security Administration announced …

After clinching Senate, Dems eye the unthinkable: Holding the House (Politico)

Democrats have a legitimate — if narrow — chance of retaining the lower chamber.

How Joe Biden and the Democratic Party defied midterm history (CNN)

… Since 1922, there have been three previous instances of the president’s party gaining (or losing no) Senate seats and losing fewer than 10 House seats in the president’s first midterm. All of them – 1934, 1962 and 2002 – are thought to be monumental achievements for the president’s party and major exceptions to rule, which suggests the party controlling the White House usually loses seats in a midterm. Democrats’ performance this year has funneled down to the state level as well. We already know, based on projected races, that this will be the first time since 1934 that the president’s party had a net gain of governorships in a president’s first midterm.

Election deniers lose races for key state offices in every 2020 battleground (Washington Post)

The candidates could have gained power over election administration. Voters rejected them in the six most pivotal states.

Making history: Record 12 women form cohort, will simultaneously serve as governors in 2023  (USA Today)

Maura Healey's record-setting win in Massachusetts was historic in more ways than just her being the country's first lesbian governor.  Come 2023, the 51-year-old Democrat will also be the 12th woman to concurrently serve as a governor in the U.S., topping the record nine women set in 2004.  The former record simultaneously serving at the helm as governor was matched in 2007 and 2009. / On Tuesday, incumbent female governors in Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Mexico, Michigan and South Dakota won reelection.

Putin-linked businessman admits to US election tampering (AP News)

Kremlin-connected entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so….  “Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” Prigozhin boasted in remarks posted on social media… It was the second major admission in recent months by the 61-year-old businessman, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hawaii’s big island gets warning as huge volcano rumbles (AP)

Hawaii officials are warning residents of the Big Island that the world’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa, is sending signals that it may erupt.

Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, demanding historic testimony (AP)

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol formally issued an extraordinary subpoena to Donald Trump on Friday, demanding testimony from the former president who lawmakers say “personally orchestrated” a multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The nine-member panel issued a letter to Trump’s lawyers saying he must testify, either at the Capitol or by videoconference, “beginning on or about” Nov. 14 …The letter also outlined a sweeping request for documents, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups.

Emails show Trump knowingly pressed false voter fraud claims, judge says (Reuters)

A California federal judge on Wednesday said then-U.S. President Donald Trump had signed a sworn statement asserting that voter fraud numbers included in a 2020 election lawsuit were accurate, despite being told the numbers were not correct. U.S. District Judge David Carter made the disclosure in ordering lawyer John Eastman to provide more emails to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters.

The number of Venezuelan migrants attempting to get into the U.S. is soaring  (NPR)

The Biden administration says it will immediately begin returning Venezuelan migrants who cross the border illegally to Mexico, while also creating a narrow legal pathway for some who can qualify.

U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs fetal personhood appeal  (Reuters)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to decide whether fetuses are entitled to constitutional rights in light of its June ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide, steering clear for now of another front in America's culture wars.

Mississippi River is near record low from drought and Gulf saltwater is a threat  (NPR)

…drought is causing problems along the river. Ships and barges are running aground, and navigation is slowed up and down the busy shipping corridor…. A saltwater wedge has crept along the river bottom nearly 64 miles upriver from the mouth of the Mississippii… The saltwater intrusion is threatening both municipal drinking water supplies in the New Orleans metro area and commercial water users like oil refineries that depend on fresh water from the Mississippi.

WORLD

Ukrainians celebrate soldiers retaking Kherson, Russia's latest defeat (Reuters)

Jubilant residents welcomed Ukrainian troops arriving in the centre of Kherson on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its invasion began in February.

Analysis: World has 9 years to avoid critical climate change threshold (The Hill)

The world can afford to emit greenhouse gases for about nine years at current levels to avert crossing the 1.5-degree warming threshold, according to an analysis released Friday. The annual Global Carbon Budget, which analyzes the maximum emissions under which the world can stay on track to avert that point, projected that more than 380 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions would cross the red line. This is roughly nine years under current emission levels.

UN votes to condemn Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian regions  (Intellinews)

Members of the UN overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions on October 12, with some of Russia’s earlier supporters also joining the motion to censure the move.  

UN finds Russia responsible for 'vast majority' of potential war crimes in Ukraine (Reuters)

 A United Nations commission found Russian forces were responsible for the “vast majority” of human rights violations in the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, including attacks on civilians that were potential war crimes./ In a report on events in four northern provinces, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that Russian forces had indiscriminately shelled areas they were trying to capture and “attacked civilians trying to flee”.

 Leak exposes Mexico military corruption, including collusion with drug cartels  (NPR)

Mexico is trying to come to terms with a massive data leak that uncovered some of the country's closest kept secrets — from the health of the president to the corruption among Mexico's military.

Flooding in Nigeria claims 500 lives, displaces 1.4 million people (Washington Post)

Widespread flooding, caused by extreme rainfall and the release of excess water from a dam in neighboring Cameroon, has left 1.4 million Nigerians displaced and claimed 500 lives, according to government officials. The floods also injured 1,546 people, completely destroyed 70,566 hectares of farmland and “totally damaged” 45,249 homes….

Leaders of democracies increasingly echo Putin in authoritarian tilt (Washington Post)

From Italy to Brazil to the United States, political leaders increasingly are echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin and one another by embracing far-right authoritarianism.

Mexico scraps daylight saving time except along border (AP)

Mexico’s Senate approved a bill Wednesday to eliminate daylight saving time, putting an end to the practice of changing clocks twice a year.  Some cities and towns along the U.S. border can retain daylight saving time, presumably because they are so linked to U.S. cities. The Senate approved the measure on a 59-25 vote, with 12 abstentions.

China Has Opened Up Secret Police Stations in These Countries (Newsweek)

Beijing's law enforcement tactics beyond its borders are under scrutiny after a report revealed dozens of cities—including New York—were hosting Chinese overseas police stations.

Saudis in US targeted as kingdom cracks down on dissent (AP)

Over the last five years, Saudi surveillance, intimidation and pursuit of Saudis on U.S. soil have intensified as the kingdom steps up repression under its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the FBI, rights groups and two years of interviews with Saudis living abroad.

 

 

 


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