ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

May 16, 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.

WORLD

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

U.S.

White House Reviews Military Plans Against Iran, in Echoes of Iraq War (New York Times)

At a meeting of President Trump’s top national security aides last Thursday, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons, administration officials said.

Trump on war with Iran: ‘I hope not’ (The Hill)

President Trump said Thursday he hopes the U.S. does not go to war with Iran, amid concerns in Washington that his administration may be preparing for military action.

Alabama Senate votes to effectively ban abortion in the state (New York Times)

The Alabama Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would outlaw almost all abortions in the state, setting up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the case that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy. The legislation bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy and criminalizes the procedure for doctors, who could be charged with felonies and face up to 99 years in prison. It includes an exception for cases when the mother’s life is at serious risk, but not for cases of rape or incest — a subject of fierce debate among lawmakers in recent days.

Anti-abortion bills mount as GOP-led states angle for Supreme Court fight over Roe v. Wade (NBC News)

Republican-led states are charging ahead with a spate of restrictive anti-abortion bills designed to trigger a legal battle that lands at the doorstep of the Supreme Court, lawmakers and experts said.  …With the new conservative majority cemented on the Supreme Court, many politicians and anti-abortion rights groups see an opportunity to provoke a case that could finally put a dagger through Roe v. Wade…

Trade war’s pain for rural Americans raises tensions between Trump, GOP senators (Washington Post)

Some Republican lawmakers, increasingly frustrated with President Trump, took the unusual step of openly criticizing him. Fueling their concerns was the impression that Trump may not have a clear endgame.

Counties that hosted a 2016 Trump rally saw a 226 percent increase in hate crimes (Washington Post)

…We found that counties that had hosted a 2016 Trump campaign rally saw a 226 percent increase in reported hate crimes over comparable counties that did not host such a rally…Additionally, it is hard to discount a “Trump effect” when a considerable number of these reported hate crimes reference Trump. According to the ADL’s 2016 data, these incidents included vandalism, intimidation and assault.

Trump signs law to punish websites for sex trafficking (Reuters)

… The law is intended to make it easier for state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that kept exploitative material on their platforms, although victims would be required to show websites knowingly facilitated sex trafficking.

Trump Administration Plans to End Protections for Endangered Species After UN Report Warns of 'Mass Extinction Event'  (Newsweek)

A United Nations report released this week found that one-eighth of the world’s animals and plants are at risk of extinction and that biodiversity was declining at an “unprecedented pace,” but David Bernhardt, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, said this dire portrait won’t stop the Trump administration from ending protections for endangered species in the United States.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant to close, forty years after the disaster there (NPR)

40 years after the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident, the remaining reactor still operating at Three Mile Island in South-central Pennsylvania is closing. Exelon announced Wednesday that Three Mile Island Generating Station Unit 1 will shut down by September 30th.

Trump backers applaud Elizabeth Warren in the heart of MAGA country (Politico)

…Kermit is one of the epicenters of the opioid addiction epidemic. The toll is visible. The community center is shuttered. Fire trucks are decades old. When Warren asked people at the beginning of the event to raise their hands if they knew somebody who’s been “caught in the grips of addiction,” most hands went up. “That’s why I’m here today,” she said.

Trump administration wants to allow debt collectors to call 7 times a week and text, email as much as they want (Washington Post)

Consumer advocates say the proposal appears designed to shield debt collectors from lawsuits rather than help consumers.

WORLD

Venezuela's top court accuses more lawmakers of treason; congress building closed (Reuters)

Venezuela's top court accused four opposition lawmakers of treason on Tuesday, following similar accusations against 10 legislators this month, escalating a deep political crisis in the South American country.

‘Terrifying’ ebola outbreak is out of control in DRC, expert says (Guardian)

An Ebola epidemic in a conflict-riven region of Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control and could become as serious as the outbreak that devastated three countries in west Africa between 2013 and 2016, experts and aid chiefs have warned…

Glass, Golden Flames or a Beam of Light: What Should Replace Notre-Dame’s Spire? (New York Times)

On April 23, about a week after the fire at Notre-Dame in Paris, the designer Mathieu Lehanneur unveiled his plan for a new spire for the cathedral: a gleaming, 300-foot flame, made of carbon fiber and covered in gold leaf, that would be a permanent reminder of the tragedy.

Britain passes one week without coal power for the first time since 1882 (The Guardian)

Britain has gone a week without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since Queen Victoria was on the throne, in a landmark moment in the transition away from the heavily polluting fuel.

 


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.