ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

December 13, 2018 (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 investigations

Other national news

WORLD

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

U.S.

Trump investigations

The Mueller investigation nears the worst-case scenario (Wired.com)

We are deep into the worst case scenarios. But as new sentencing memos for Trump associates Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen make all too clear, the only remaining question is how bad does the actual worst case scenario get?... Special counsel Robert Mueller and investigative reporters have uncovered and assembled a picture of a presidential campaign and transition seemingly infected by unprecedented deceit and criminality, and in regular—almost obsequious—contact with America’s leading foreign adversary.

Federal prosecutors ‘concluded that president of United States committed a felony’ (Law and Crime)

One of the details that immediately jumped off the pages of Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors’ Friday sentencing memo for Michael Cohen has to do with “Individual-1,” also known as President Donald Trump.  Prosecutors were pretty open about who Individual-1 was from the start and how he came to “direct” Cohen to commit felonies:

Mueller: ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort lied to investigators about funds, contacts (Reuters)

U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to federal investigators about a payment and contacts with Trump administration officials, the U.S. special counsel investigating whether Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia said in a court filing on Friday. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office submitted the filing to a U.S. District Court judge in Washington who had asked for more details on Mueller’s allegations last month that Manafort had breached a plea agreement by lying.

Other national news

Neo-Nazi convicted of murder in car-ramming death at Virginia rally (Washington Post)

James A. Fields Jr., who took part in the violent and chaotic white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville last year, was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing a woman by ramming his car through a crowd of counterprotesters.

Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees (The Atlantic)

The White House again wants to expel certain groups of protected immigrants, a reversal after backing away from the policy months ago.

Trump Bickers With Dem Leaders, Threatens Gov't Shutdown (KPBS/Associated Press)

Bickering in public with Democratic leaders, President Donald Trump threatened repeatedly on Tuesday to shut down the government if Congress doesn't provide the money he says is needed to build a wall at the Mexican border.

Trump Administration to Strip Protection From Waterways in Latest Anti-Environment Move (Newsweek)

…Jan Goldman-Carter, senior director of wetlands and water resources at the National Wildlife Federation, told the AP that the rewrite would mean around 60 percent of the streams in the bottom 48 states would no longer be protected. She also said that protection would be stripped for around half of the U.S. wetlands in what would be “an unprecedented rollback of Clean Water Act protections.” The pending water rule changes and other rollbacks already announced benefit energy companies, farmers and builders.

Trump advisers fear 2020 nightmare: A recession  (Politico)

Recent market volatility is one of several signs that an economic boom may be petering out, potentially dealing a severe blow to the president's reelection chances.

Clinton Foundation whistleblowers have come forward with hundreds of pages of evidence, Meadows says (Fox News)

Three people have come forward with hundreds of pages of evidence of potential wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation, including misappropriation of funds and allegations of quid-pro-quo promises made to donors during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News.

The red flags on Trump’s new attorney general pick, William Barr (Washington Post)

President Trump insisted when he made Matthew G. Whitaker his acting attorney general that he wasn’t familiar with Whitaker’s past commentary critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe. But his new pick to be the attorney general has a record of making similar comments, and despite some favorable comments from Democrats, those could pose a problem in his coming confirmation fight.

WORLD

Strasbourg Attack Was Terrorism; Alleged Gunman Was on French Watch List (Slate)

 A gunman’s attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, that left two dead and more than a dozen wounded on Tuesday was an act of terrorism, a French prosecutor announced on Wednesday. Witnesses say the suspect shouted, “Allah Akbar” and fired into the crowd at the market…. The suspect, who remains at large, was identified by the French government as Cherif Chekkatt, a 29-year-old Strasbourg native with more than two dozen convictions on his record….

Theresa May calls off MPs' vote on her Brexit deal (BBC)

Prime Minister Theresa May has called off Tuesday's crucial vote on her Brexit deal so she can go back to Brussels and ask for changes to it. As it stands the deal "would be rejected by a significant margin" if MPs voted on it, she admitted.

Article 50: UK can unilaterally halt Brexit process, EU court rules (CNN)

Britain can unilaterally halt the formal process of leaving the European Union, the bloc's top court said Monday.

Israeli troops kill Palestinian after suspected car ramming (ABC)

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank after he attempted to ram his car into them… In a separate incident in the northern West Bank, police said another Palestinian drove his car toward Israeli forces, who opened fire and arrested the driver. The incidents come as Israeli troops are conducting a manhunt for suspects who shot and wounded seven Israelis outside a Jewish settlement this week, including a pregnant 21-year-old whose baby was prematurely delivered by cesarean section [and died] after the attack. 

Yellow vest protests an “economic catastrophe” for France (BBC)

Paris has been particularly badly hit, with cars burned, shops looted and major tourist sites closed.   France has seen four consecutive weekends of demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs and other issues. About 125,000 protesters took to the streets on Saturday, with more than 1,200 taken into custody.

India's polluted air claimed 1.24 million lives in 2017: study (Reuters)

India's toxic air claimed 1.24 million lives in 2017, or 12.5 percent of total deaths recorded that year, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health on Thursday.

Smugglers ingested Mexican cartel cash, say Colombia police after arrests (Reuters)

Colombia has arrested 27 people accused of belonging to four smuggling networks which recruited youths to swallow drug trafficking cash profits and bring them into the South American country from Mexico, the police said on Thursday.

Japan has so many vacant homes it's giving them away (CNN)

Four years ago, Naoko and Takayuki Ida were given a house. For free.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Weddings in East County

Hot Coupons