ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

January 24, 2019 (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.

• Senate votes down dueling plans to end shutdown (Washington Post)
• Agencies Are Shutting Down More Activities, Furloughing More Workers as Funds Run Dry (GovExec)
• The shutdown is disproportionately hurting  Native Americans (ACLU)
• Reversing Course, Trump Admin Allows Feds Working Through Shutdown to Take Leave Without Penalty  (GovExec)
• Supreme Court Doesn’t Act on Trump’s Appeal in ‘Dreamers’ Case (New York Times)
• Shutdown’s Pain Cuts Deep for the Homeless and Other Vulnerable Americans (New York Times)
• House Dems add $1 billion in border spending to reopen government (The Hill)
• 10 sobering quotes from the new National Intelligence Strategy (Washington Post)
• High Court Lets Military Implement Transgender Restrictions (Associated Press/KPBS)

WORLD

• Opposition leader pushes for parliament vote on new Brexit referendum (Reuters)
• Ex-U.S. marine held in Russia for spying was misled, says lawyer  (Reuters)
• Exclusive: U.N. expert to lead international inquiry into Khashoggi murder (Reuters)
• Venezuela crisis: U.S. vows to ‘disconnect’ Maduro’s funding (BBC)

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

U.S.

Senate votes down dueling plans to end shutdown (Washington Post)

As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer met to discuss possible paths forward, the White House said it would only support a plan that included a "down payment" for a border wall.

Agencies Are Shutting Down More Activities, Furloughing More Workers as Funds Run Dry (GovExec)

While the Trump administration has recently called tens of thousands of furloughed employees back to work unpaid, the unprecedented length of the current partial government shutdown is now forcing home many employees that had been working.

The shutdown is disproportionately hurting  Native Americans (ACLU)

… At least one-fourth of Native Americans live in poverty, the highest poverty rate of any racial group in the United States. On many reservations, unemployment exceeds 40 percent. Tens of thousands of Native Americans, both on and off the reservation, were having difficulty obtaining adequate food, shelter, clothing, and medical care before the shutdown. These problems have only gotten worse as the shutdown prevents federal funding — a major source of resources — from reaching the reservation.

Reversing Course, Trump Admin Allows Feds Working Through Shutdown to Take Leave Without Penalty  (GovExec)

New guidance comes just days after OPM warned of "consequences" for "AWOL" employees.

Supreme Court Doesn’t Act on Trump’s Appeal in ‘Dreamers’ Case (New York Times)

The Supreme Court took no action on Tuesday on the Trump administration’s plans to shut down a program that shields some 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The court’s inaction almost certainly means it will not hear the administration’s challenge in its current term…The move left the [DACA] program in place and denied negotiating leverage to Mr. Trump, who has said he wanted to use a Supreme Court victory in the case in negotiations with Democrats over immigration issues.

Shutdown’s Pain Cuts Deep for the Homeless and Other Vulnerable Americans (New York Times)

Ramona Wormley-Mitsis got welcome news in December: After years of waiting, the federal government had approved a subsidy that allowed her to rent a three-bedroom house, bracketed by a white picket fence to keep her two autistic sons from bolting into traffic. A few days later, the dream was deferred. The Department of Housing and Urban Development — one of the federal agencies hit hardest by the shutdown — would not be able to pay her new landlord until the government reopened.

House Dems add $1 billion in border spending to reopen government (The Hill)

 House Democrats will offer $1 billion in funding for border security measures in a bill to reopen the government next week, a Democratic source told CNN on Saturday. CNN reports that none of the money will be eligible for use in construction of President Trump's signature border wall as Democrats view other border security measures as more effective.

10 sobering quotes from the new National Intelligence Strategy (Washington Post)

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats released a chilling report on Tuesday that outlines what the 17 federal agencies that make up the intelligence community see as the gravest threats facing the United States. The former Republican senator from Indiana, appointed by President Trump, has sought to protect the independence of spy agencies to provide candid and cleareyed assessments of what’s really going on in the world, especially vis-a-vis the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s revanchist Russia. In the past, there’s been a public report and a separate classified version. But this year there is only one version – and it’s entirely unclassified.

High Court Lets Military Implement Transgender Restrictions (Associated Press/KPBS)

The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to go ahead with its plan to restrict military service by transgender people while court challenges continue.

WORLD

Opposition leader pushes for parliament vote on new Brexit referendum (Reuters)

British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn moved a step closer to paving the way for another referendum on European Union membership by trying to use parliament to grab control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May.

Ex-U.S. marine held in Russia for spying was misled, says lawyer  (Reuters)

The lawyer for a former U.S. marine accused of spying by Russia said on Tuesday that his client had been misled before his arrest and believed that a thumb drive handed to him in a hotel room had contained holiday snaps rather than secret information.

Exclusive: U.N. expert to lead international inquiry into Khashoggi murder (Reuters)

The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told Reuters on Thursday she will travel to Turkey next week to head an "independent international inquiry" into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Venezuela crisis: U.S. vows to ‘disconnect’ Maduro’s funding (BBC)

The Trump administration is trying to cut Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro's revenue streams, US National Security Adviser John Bolton says. The comments come one day after Mr Maduro cut diplomatic ties with the US. He was angry after they recognised an opposition figure, Juan Guaidó, as interim president on Wednesday.