July 10, 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.

• Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Jeffrey Epstein Arrested on New Sex-Trafficking Charges (Time Magazine) 
• Attorney General Bill Barr will not recuse himself from Jeffrey Epstein child sex prosecution (CNBC)
• Labor Secretary Alex Acosta Defends Controversial Epstein Plea Deal (Newsweek)
• Alaska’s current off the charts wildfire situation, in one map (Slate)
• Flooding hits New Orleans as possible hurricane looms (CBS)
• How the Supreme Court will upend 2020 (Axios)
• UN Human Rights Chief Decries ‘Alarming’ Conditions At Migrant Detention Facilities (Huffington Post)
• U.S. billionaire Ross Perot, who shook up 1990s presidential politics, dead at 89  (Reuters) 
• San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer launches presidential campaign (San Francisco Chronicle)

WORLD

• Brazil Judge Holds Mining Company Liable for Damages of Deadly Dam Breach (New York Times)
• U.S. begins returning asylum seekers to one of Mexico’s most dangerous states (Washington Post) 
• U.S. Fights Twitter War with Iran, Venezuela and John Bolton Is Leading It (Newsweek)
• US keeps China in loop on North Korea with briefing on Trump-Kim talks (South China Morning Post)

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

U.S.

Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Jeffrey Epstein Arrested on New Sex-Trafficking Charges (Time Magazine)

Wealthy financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday in New York on new sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that date to the early 2000s, according to law enforcement officials. Epstein, a wealthy hedge fund manager who once counted as friends former President Bill Clinton, Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, and President Donald Trump, was taken into federal custody and is expected to appear Monday in Manhattan federal court…authorities say at least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters …Some girls were also allegedly brought to Epstein’s homes in New York City, New Mexico and a private Caribbean island…

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta Defends Controversial Epstein Plea Deal (Newsweek)

 

Acosta said at a press conference Wednesday that he was "pleased" about the charges against Jeffrey Epstein, despite his decision to negotiate a lenient plea deal in 2007 for the billionaire accused of sex trafficking.

Attorney General Bill Barr will not recuse himself from Jeffrey Epstein child sex prosecution (CNBC)

Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from involvement in the new federal criminal prosecution of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. But Barr will recuse himself from an internal Justice Department probe of current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s involvement in approving a controversial no-prosecution deal with the wealthy financier a decade ago..Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state charge of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution.

Alaska’s current off the charts wildfire situation, in one map (Slate)

There are so many fires burning up Alaska right now, they don’t even fit on the map. Alaskans can take a peek out the window this week to catch a glimpse of climate change. It seems the entire state is on fire… Wildfires in Alaska have burned more than 1.25 million acres so far this year.…  3,343 firefighters are currently working in Alaska. That’s one-third of all the wildland firefighters currently tasked in the United States. 85 percent of the area burned nationwide this year by wildfire has been in Alaska.

Flooding hits New Orleans as possible hurricane looms (CBS)

A storm swamped New Orleans streets and paralyzed traffic Wednesday as concerns grew that even worse weather was on the way: a possible hurricane that could strike the Gulf Coast and raise the Mississippi River to the brim of the city's protective levees.

How the Supreme Court will upend 2020 (Axios)

 The court will likely hand down rulings on some of the most contentious issues in American politics just a few weeks before the Democratic convention. They'll be a reminder of just how often the justices effectively have the final say — and that 2020 is a race to pick the next justices. 

UN Human Rights Chief Decries ‘Alarming’ Conditions At Migrant Detention Facilities (Huffington Post)

The United Nations’ leading human rights official condemned on Monday nightmarish conditions at migrant detention facilities in the U.S., which reportedly include disease, hunger, squalor and a lack of beds.

U.S. billionaire Ross Perot, who shook up 1990s presidential politics, dead at 89  (Reuters)

H. Ross Perot, the feisty Texas technology billionaire who rattled U.S. politics with two independent presidential campaigns in the 1990s that struck a chord with disgruntled voters, died on Tuesday at the age of 89, his family said.

San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer launches presidential campaign (San Francisco Chronicle)

Billionaire San Francisco Democratic donor and former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer announced his presidential campaign Tuesday, and it revolves around this premise: That someone who made hundreds of millions of dollars in the corporate world is the best candidate to end corporate influence on politics.

WORLD

Brazil Judge Holds Mining Company Liable for Damages of Deadly Dam Breach (New York Times)

A state judge in Brazil ruled on Tuesday that the mining giant Vale was financially liable for damages caused when a dam breached a mining site in January, killing at least 247 people. Judge Elton Pupo Nogeira did not specify how much the company would have to pay, saying it was not yet possible to determine the extent of harm caused when a gigantic wave of toxic waste escaped the breach, burying scores of people…

U.S. begins returning asylum seekers to one of Mexico’s most dangerous states (Washington Post)

When the United States began sending asylum seekers to wait in Mexico earlier this year as their claims were processed, many regarded the dangerous northeastern state of Tamaulipas as a worst-case scenario.  The State Department warns against all travel to Tamaulipas — the same risk level it has assigned Syria and Afghanistan. Doctors Without Borders reports that 45 percent of its recent patients in this city, among the largest in the state, were migrants who had “suffered at least one episode of violence” while waiting here to cross the U.S. border. But on Tuesday morning, the United States sent the first 12 migrants back to Tamaulipas under a program known as the Migration Protection Protocols. Mexican authorities dismissed the group from Nuevo Laredo’s immigration office without any transportation or assistance.

U.S. Fights Twitter War with Iran, Venezuela and John Bolton Is Leading It (Newsweek)

 

To Iran's top diplomat, national security adviser John Bolton is part of a "B-Team" pushing for war and, to Venezuela's leading general, his tweets are signs of an "obsessive-compulsive disorder."

US keeps China in loop on North Korea with briefing on Trump-Kim talks (South China Morning Post)

The United States is willing to improve communication and coordination with China on issues regarding the Korean peninsula, an American envoy told Beijing in a telephone call on Friday, after US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last weekend. The call to China’s vice-foreign minister Luo Zhaohui was made by US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, according to a statement published by China’s foreign ministry on Saturday.