ECM World Watch: national and global news

November 15,  2025 (San Diego) -- 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 drops tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruit as pressure builds on consumer prices (KSBW)
• Epstein Alleged in Emails That Trump Knew of His Conduct (New York Times)
• Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide (AP)
• ICE wants Washington tribes to detain immigrants for them (Seattle Times)
• Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment Arrives, But Price Data Isn’t Being Updated (NOTUS)
• Trump administration moves to overrule state laws protecting credit reports from medical debt (AP)
• Steve Bannon Reveals ‘There’s a Plan’ for Third Trump Term (Daily Beast)
• Trump administration limits refugee admissions to mostly white South Africans (AP)
• Citing AP investigation, senators demand answers on use of full-body restraints during deportations (AP)
• Republican lawmakers lash out at Pentagon for keeping them in the dark (Reuters)
• Heritage Foundation in revolt over Tucker Carlson defense after controversial Nick Fuentes interview: ‘Footsie with literal Nazis’ (NY Post)
• Kansas county to pay $3 million after law enforcement raid on a small-town newspaper (NBC)

WORLD

• Trump likely to face long military commitment and chaos if he ousts Maduro in Venezuela, experts say  (CNN)
• Putin directs drills of Russian nuclear forces as his summit with Trump is put on hold (AP)
• Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will double its non-US exports as Canadians can't rely on US (AP)
• Protests erupt after police raid in Brazil leaves 119 dead and draws accusations of excessive force (AP)
• France adopts consent-based rape law in the wake of landmark Gisèle Pelicot case (AP)
• More than 60 dead as typhoon wreaks havoc in the Philippines (BBC)
• Iranian capital faces water rationing and evacuations if it doesn't rain soon, president warns (AP)

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

U.S.

Trump drops tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruit as pressure builds on consumer prices (KSBW)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to get rid of tariffs on a broad swath of commodities, including beef, coffee and tropical fruits. It's part of a response to pressure from consumers who complain prices are too high. The move comes after voters in off-year elections earlier this month cited economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in races in Virginia and New Jersey.

Epstein Alleged in Emails That Trump Knew of His Conduct (New York Times)

In a message obtained by Congress, the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Donald J. Trump spent hours at his house with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims... In one email from April 2011, Mr. Epstein told Ms. Maxwell, who was later convicted on charges related to facilitating his crimes, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” He added that an unnamed victim “spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”

Supreme Court rejects call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide (AP)

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a call to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the high court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Davis had been trying to get the court to overturn a lower-court order for her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple denied a marriage license.

ICE wants Washington tribes to detain immigrants for them (Seattle Times)



As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate....“The Nisqually people are not in favor of, nor will the tribal council allow, the detention of individuals by ICE on our reservation or in our facilities,” said Tribal Chair E.K. Choke in the statement.

Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment Arrives, But Price Data Isn’t Being Updated (NOTUS)

 Bureau of Labor Statistics staff were recalled to calculate crucial numbers for Social Security benefits. Collecting monthly consumer price data, however, did not happen in October.

Trump administration moves to overrule state laws protecting credit reports from medical debt (AP)

he Trump administration is moving to overrule any state laws that may protect consumers’ credit reports from medical debt and other debt issues.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has drafted what’s known as an interpretative rule related to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, interpreting the law in a way that says the FCRA should preempt any state laws or regulations when it comes to how debt should be reported to the credit bureaus like Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. 

Steve Bannon Reveals ‘There’s a Plan’ for Third Trump Term (Daily Beast)

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon openly shared that there are plans to help President Donald Trump circumvent the 22nd Amendment and secure a third presidential term.  In an interview with The Economist, Bannon told the magazine’s editors, “He’s gonna get a third term, Trump ‘28, Trump is gonna be president ‘28so people just ought to get accommodated with that.”

Trump administration limits refugee admissions to mostly white South Africans (AP)

The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees it admits into the country to 7,500 and they will mostly be white South Africans, a dramatic drop after the U.S. previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.

Citing AP investigation, senators demand answers on use of full-body restraints during deportations (AP)

A “near-total secrecy” surrounding deportation flights and the use of full-body restraints onboard is raising “serious human rights concerns,” a group of 11 Democratic U.S. senators wrote in a letter Thursday to top immigration officials. 

Republican lawmakers lash out at Pentagon for keeping them in the dark (Reuters)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers slammed the Pentagon on Tuesday for not briefing them on national security issues and said at times top defense officials appeared to be undermining U.S. President Donald Trump's own policies, in a rare bipartisan show of frustration with the administration.  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has worked to control the flow of information about the world's most powerful military and told Pentagon staff they must obtain permission before interacting with members of Congress.

Heritage Foundation in revolt over Tucker Carlson defense after controversial Nick Fuentes interview: ‘Footsie with literal Nazis’ (NY Post)

 In Carlson’s two-hour interview, which has racked up more than 17 million views on X, Fuentes called himself “a fan” of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and denounced the influence of “organized Jewry” in US politics, while Carlson accused American Christians who support the state of Israel of being heretics with a “brain virus.”… The ripple effect from Roberts’ statement has gone beyond staff issues, with sources close to the think tank saying that it has been “hemorrhaging” evangelical Christian and Jewish contributors.

Kansas county to pay $3 million after law enforcement raid on a small-town newspaper (NBC)

A rural Kansas county has agreed to pay a little more than $3 million and apologize over a law enforcement raid on a small-town weekly newspaper in August 2023 that sparked an outcry over press freedom, the paper’s editor said Tuesday.

WORLD

Trump likely to face long military commitment and chaos if he ousts Maduro in Venezuela, experts say  (CNN)

President Donald Trump has said he believes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s days are numbered, and that land strikes inside Venezuela are possible...if Trump did order strikes inside Venezuela aimed at ousting Maduro, he could face serious challenges with fractured opposition elements and a military poised for insurgency, according to experts, as well as political backlash at home for a president who promised to avoid costly entanglements overseas.

Putin directs drills of Russian nuclear forces as his summit with Trump is put on hold (AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces that featured practice missile launches, an exercise that came as his planned summit on Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump was put on hold. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will double its non-US exports as Canadians can't rely on US (AP)

Prime Minister Mark Carney set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment… Carney reiterated in an evening address to Canadians that the decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship between the Canadian and U.S. economies is now over.

Protests erupt after police raid in Brazil leaves 119 dead and draws accusations of excessive force (AP)

A massive police raid on a drug gang embedded in low-income neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro that left at least 119 people dead drew protests for excessive force Wednesday and calls for the Rio’s governor to resign. 

France adopts consent-based rape law in the wake of landmark Gisèle Pelicot case (AP)

France’s Senate gave its final approval on Wednesday to a bill defining rape and other sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act, a move that comes after the landmark drugging and rape trial that shook France and turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon.  / Senators voted 327-0 in favor of the bill, with 15 abstentions. 

More than 60 dead as typhoon wreaks havoc in the Philippines (BBC)

At least 66 people have been killed while hundreds of thousands fled their homes as one of strongest typhoons this year ripped through the central Philippines, authorities say.  Typhoon Kalmaegi has flooded entire towns on the most populated central island of Cebu, where 49 of the fatalities were located. Twenty-six others are missing, a civil defence official said in a radio interview on Wednesday.

Iranian capital faces water rationing and evacuations if it doesn't rain soon, president warns (AP)

Iran’s president has warned that the capital is facing an unprecedented water and energy crisis as reservoirs have plunged to historic lows, threatening supplies of drinking water and electricity generation, it was reported on Friday.  “If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was cited as saying on Thursday by the SNN.ir semi-official news agency.