ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

August 22, 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.

• Trump team braces GOP donors for a potential ‘moderate and short’ recession (Politico)
• ‘I am the chosen one’: Trump again plays on messianic claims as he embraces ‘King of Israel’ title (Washington Post)
• Thousands of whales are dying.  Scientists have run out of public beaches for the carcasses to rot. (USA Today)
• The Trump Administration Is Trying to Make It Easier to Fire Unmarried Pregnant Women (Mother Jones)
• Jewish Democrats decry Trump’s ‘loyalty’ remarks (The Hill)
• Court upholds ruling that children held at border must have adequate food, bedding, sanitation  (Los Angeles Times)
• Reps. Omar And Tlaib Barred From Visiting Israel After Trump Supports A Ban (NPR)

WORLD

• Parts of the Amazon rainforest are on fire — and smoke can be spotted from space (CBS)
• ‘Greenland is not for sale’: Trump’s talk of a purchase draws derision (New York Times)
• Shock in Denmark after Trump, spurned over Greenland, cancels visit (Reuters)
• What a mysterious explosion tells us about Russia's 'doomsday weapon' (CNN)
• How Hong Kong got trapped in a cycle of violence (BBC)
• Devastating Banana Fungus Arrives In Colombia, Threatening The Fruit's Future (NPR)

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

U.S.

Trump team braces GOP donors for a potential ‘moderate and short’ recession (Politico)

The White House is weighing cuts to corporate and payroll taxes, among other measures, to cushion the U.S. economy if an election-year recession hits. In public, President Donald Trump and top White House officials keep extolling the strength of the U.S. economy. In private, they’re increasingly worrying about a global economic slowdown triggering a U.S. recession — and weighing options to shore up the economy ahead of an election year.

‘I am the chosen one’: Trump again plays on messianic claims as he embraces ‘King of Israel’ title (Washington Post)

President Trump on Wednesday tweeted a fawning quote from a non-Jewish conservative radio host who described Trump as the “King of Israel” and who said, without evidence, that Israeli Jews “love him like he is the second coming of God.”… Later Wednesday, Trump said “I am the chosen one” to fix the U.S. trade imbalance with China, as he looked to the sky.

Thousands of whales are dying.  Scientists have run out of public beaches for the carcasses to rot. (USA Today)

So many gray whales are dying off the U.S. West Coast that scientists and volunteers dealing with the putrid carcasses have an urgent request for coastal residents: Lend us your private beaches so these ocean giants can rot in peace.

The Trump Administration Is Trying to Make It Easier to Fire Unmarried Pregnant Women (Mother Jones)

The Department of Labor proposed a new rule this week that would make it easier for employers to discriminate against workers who they say violate their religious beliefs, including members of the LGBTQ community, pregnant women who are not married, and others.

Jewish Democrats decry Trump’s ‘loyalty’ remarks (The Hill)

President Trump has adopted a curious strategy for courting Jewish Democrats to the Republican side: He's attacking them. Over the past 48 hours, Trump has suggested Jewish Americans are ill informed on policy for siding overwhelmingly with Democrats and “disloyal” to Israel for opposing his presidency.

Court upholds ruling that children held at border must have adequate food, bedding, sanitation  (Los Angeles Times)

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the Trump administration to an order by a federal judge in Los Angeles who found the government was violating a 1997 settlement by failing to provide detained minors with safe and sanitary conditions. 

Reps. Omar And Tlaib Barred From Visiting Israel After Trump Supports A Ban (NPR)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned two Democratic U.S. congresswomen from visiting the country and the Palestinian territories this weekend, according to a government official. Israeli radio reported that in an interview, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the country would bar entry to "those who reject our right to exist in the world." The move … comes after President Trump publicly urged the Israeli leader on Twitter to block Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., saying it would be showing "weakness" if they were allowed to visit.

WORLD

Parts of the Amazon rainforest are on fire — and smoke can be spotted from space (CBS)

On Monday afternoon, the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, went dark — but it wasn't some strange cosmic event. Powerful winds carried the smoke from forest fires burning nearly 1,700 miles away, reported the BBC. Almost 73,000 fires have been detected by Brazil's space research center INPE, according to Reuters. It's a record number this year…The fires blaze as the concern for the future of the Amazon is high. Since taking office in January, Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of harming the Amazon rainforest and indigenous peoples in order to benefit loggers, miners and farmers who helped get him elected.

‘Greenland is not for sale’: Trump’s talk of a purchase draws derision (New York Times)

President Trump’s idea to possibly buy Greenland for its natural resources left residents of the semiautonomous Danish territory amused, apoplectic and in disbelief, and received a chilly reception in Denmark on Friday.

Shock in Denmark after Trump, spurned over Greenland, cancels visit (Reuters)

Danes voiced shock and disbelief on Wednesday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a visit to Denmark after his idea to buy Greenland was rebuffed…

What a mysterious explosion tells us about Russia's 'doomsday weapon' (CNN)

An explosion. An abruptly-canceled evacuation. Five dead nuclear experts. And a few traces of radioactive iodine in Norway. These are the fingerprints of what appears to have been Russia's latest failed bid to test its so-called 'Skyfall' missile.

How Hong Kong got trapped in a cycle of violence (BBC)

Hong Kong has been seized by escalating protests in recent months. Police and protesters have now found themselves locked into a spiral of provocation. Is there any way out?

Devastating Banana Fungus Arrives In Colombia, Threatening The Fruit's Future (NPR)

One of the biggest fears of the fresh fruit industry just came true.  A fungal disease that has been destroying banana plantations in Asia has arrived in Latin America.