ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

December 4, 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.

Impeachment

• Legal experts testify Trump actions are impeachable (Reuters)
• Rep. Adam Schiff: 'The Uncontested Facts Show This President Solicited A Bribe' (NPR)
• Impeachment report says Trump solicited foreign interference (New York Times)
• A new debt surge — from corporations this time — poses risks to economy (Washington Post)

Other national news

• Trump administration moves to remove 700,000 people from food stamps (Reuters)
• He wanted to ban feeding homeless people. Now he’s about to lead a federal homeless agency  (Los Angeles Times)
• Biden says he’ll consider Harris as his running mate (Politico)
• George Soros and Charles Koch take on the 'endless wars' (Politico)

WORLD

• Fukushima: Japan will have to dump radioactive water into Pacific, minister says (Guardian)
• London Bridge terror attack: Police fatally shoot a man wearing fake explosive device who stabbed 2 people to death (USA Today)
• The Hague stabbing: Three injured in attack on shopping street (BBC)
• Authorities arrest suspects in family massacre in Mexico (10 News)
• Anti-government protesters burn down Iranian consulate in southern Iraq (CNBC)
• Iraq's prime minister to step down amid protests  (The Hill)

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

U.S.

Impeachment

Legal experts testify Trump actions are impeachable (Reuters)

Three constitutional law experts called by Democrats testified Trump's actions concerning Ukraine represented impeachable offenses as the House Judiciary Committee began proceedings expected to end in charges against the president. A professor chosen by Republicans disagreed.

Rep. Adam Schiff: 'The Uncontested Facts Show This President Solicited A Bribe' (NPR)

Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead investigator in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, says the House Intelligence Committee's report "shows abundant evidence" that Trump used the power of his office to "condition official acts" in exchange for political favors. In other words, the California Democrat says Trump met a threshold set forth in the Constitution that says a president can be impeached and removed from office for committing treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. "I don't think there's any question that the uncontested facts show this president solicited a bribe," Schiff told NPR's Steve Inskeep in an interview in the congressman's office on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Impeachment report says Trump solicited foreign interference (New York Times)

House Democrats on Tuesday asserted that President Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election, releasing an impeachment report that found the president “placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States.”  The report by the House Intelligence Committee was a sweeping indictment of the president’s behavior, concluding that he sought to undermine American democracy and endangered national security, then worked to conceal his actions from Congress. Democrats left it to another committee to decide whether to recommend Mr. Trump’s impeachment, but their report presented what are all but certain to be the grounds on which the House votes to formally charge him.

Other national  news

A new debt surge — from corporations this time — poses risks to economy (Washington Post)

The danger isn’t immediate. But some regulators and investors say the borrowing has gone on too long and could send financial markets plunging when the next recession hits.

Trump administration moves to remove 700,000 people from food stamps (Reuters)

The Trump administration said on Wednesday it will make it harder for states to keep residents in the U.S. food stamp program in a move that is projected to end benefits for nearly 700,000 people.

He wanted to ban feeding homeless people. Now he’s about to lead a federal homeless agency  (Los Angeles Times)

Robert Marbut is poised to become the next executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Biden says he’ll consider Harris as his running mate (Politico)

A day after Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential race, Joe Biden said on Wednesday he would consider the California senator as a running mate and said he had no “hard feelings” against his now-former opponent. “Senator Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be,” Biden told reporters here in Ames. “I talked to her yesterday. She’s solid. She can be the president one day herself. She can be the vice president. She can go on to be a Supreme Court justice.”

George Soros and Charles Koch take on the 'endless wars' (Politico)

Organizers are aiming to seize on what one considers a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to galvanize growing support on the right and left for a less interventionist foreign policy.

WORLD

Fukushima: Japan will have to dump radioactive water into Pacific, minister says (Guardian)

More than a million tonnes of contaminated water lies in storage but power company says it will run out of space by 2022

London Bridge terror attack: Police fatally shoot a man wearing fake explosive device who stabbed 2 people to death (USA Today)

London's Metropolitan police said Friday that an officer shot and killed a man wearing a fake explosive device following a stabbing incident near London Bridge that left two people dead. Three other victims were reported in serious condition in the knife attack that police officials called a "terrorist incident."

The Hague stabbing: Three injured in attack on shopping street (BBC)

Three people have been stabbed in an attack on a busy shopping street in The Hague, officials say.  Police said they were still searching for a suspect and no arrests had been made after the attack… Images and videos on social media showed dozens of Black Friday shoppers running away from the scene.

Authorities arrest suspects in family massacre in Mexico (10 News)

Several people have been detained in connection with the murders of nine family members who were slaughtered by drug cartel gunmen in northern Mexico last month, according to the New York Times.

Officials say the suspects were detained after a joint operation involving Mexican armed forces and intelligence agencies. Authorities have not provided the suspects' identities or their connection to the murders.

Anti-government protesters burn down Iranian consulate in southern Iraq (CNBC)

Anti-government protesters burned down an Iranian consulate building in southern Iraq on Wednesday, while six protesters were killed by security forces who fired live rounds amid ongoing violence in the country, Iraqi officials said Wednesday… Protesters torched the consulate in the holy city of Najaf in the evening.

Iraq's prime minister to step down amid protests  (The Hill)

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi on Monday said he would step down as anti-government protests continue to roil the country. Abdul-Mahdi released a statement saying he will submit his letter of resignation, The Associated Press reported. His decision comes a little over a year after he took office. He said he would also submit a letter to the Iraqi parliament asking for the current government to resign, according to the AP.