ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

December 11, 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 ‘Ignored and Injured’ the National Interest, Democrats Charge in Impeachment Articles (New York Times) 
• The Afghanistan papers: a secret history of the war (Washington Post)
• CBP denies access to doctors seeking flu vaccinations for migrant children (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• How the Collapse of Local News Is Causing a ‘National Crisis’ (New York Times)
• On Uber, hundreds of incidents of rape go unreported to police (Washington Post)
• Federal judge blocks $3.6 billion transfer to fund border wall (NBC)
• Saudi airman may have become radicalized before U.S. Navy base attack (Reuters)
• Deadly Jersey City shootout started with 'targeted' attack on kosher market, officials say (CNN)
• New Report: Charter Fraud And Waste Worse Than We Thought (Forbes) 

WORLD

• Climate change: Oceans running out of oxygen as temperatures rise (BBC)
• Volcano eruption on New Zealand's White Island leaves at least five dead (CNN)
• Greta Thunberg named Time Person of the Year for 2019 (BBC)
• Refugees at 'increased risk' from extreme weather (BBC) 
• Russians banned from next Olympics and World Cup Soccer (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Trump ‘Ignored and Injured’ the National Interest, Democrats Charge in Impeachment Articles (New York Times) 

Democratic leaders unveiled articles of impeachment charging President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. 

The Afghanistan papers: a secret history of the war (Washington Post)

A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.

CBP denies access to doctors seeking flu vaccinations for migrant children (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A group of doctors, who last month pressured U.S. Customs and Border Protection to allow them to give flu vaccines to detained migrant children, have now taken their fight to the driveway of a detention facility in San Ysidro and said they are not leaving until they get approval…Three children died from the flu while in federal immigration custody during the past year.

How the Collapse of Local News Is Causing a ‘National Crisis’ (New York Times)

School board and city council meetings are going uncovered. Overstretched reporters receive promising tips about stories but have no time to follow up. Newspapers publish fewer pages or less frequently or, in hundreds of cases across the country, are shuttered completely. All of this has added up to a crisis in local news coverage in the United States that has frayed communities and left many Americans woefully uninformed, according to a report by PEN America released on Wednesday.

On Uber, hundreds of incidents of rape go unreported to police (Washington Post)

Uber said law enforcement was involved in only 37 percent of rape cases reported to the ride-hailing company. 

Federal judge blocks $3.6 billion transfer to fund border wall (NBC)

The ruling is a legal setback for Trump, whose administration has vowed to build at least 450 miles of wall along the border by the 2020 election.

Saudi airman may have become radicalized before U.S. Navy base attack (Reuters)

 The Saudi airman accused of killing three people at a U.S. Navy base in Florida appeared to have posted criticism of U.S. wars and quoted slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on social media hours before the shooting spree, according to a group that tracks online extremism. 

Deadly Jersey City shootout started with 'targeted' attack on kosher market, officials say (CNN)

Tuesday's deadly shootout in New Jersey began with a deliberate attack on people inside a kosher market, with surveillance video showing the shooters calmly exiting a van and firing into the store with long guns, city officials said Wednesday. That attack, and a lengthy shootout with police that followed at JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, left six people dead -- including three people in the market, a police officer and the two shooters, authorities said.

New Report: Charter Fraud And Waste Worse Than We Thought (Forbes) 

Last March, the Network for Public Education released a report showing that the federal government has lost a billion dollars to charter school waste and fraud. But the organization had not stopped sifting through the data. Their follow-up report, “Still Asleep At The Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Results in as Pileup of Fraud ands Waste,” reveals that the situation is even worse than shown in the first report, while laying out more state by state details. Particularly striking—the vast amount of money that has been wasted on ghost schools that never served.

WORLD

Climate change: Oceans running out of oxygen as temperatures rise (BBC)

Climate change and nutrient pollution are driving the oxygen from our oceans, and threatening many species of fish. That's the conclusion of the biggest study of its kind, undertaken by conservation group IUCN. While nutrient run-off has been known for decades, researchers say that climate change is making the lack of oxygen worse. Around 700 ocean sites are now suffering from low oxygen, compared with 45 in the 1960s. Researchers say the depletion is threatening species including tuna, marlin and sharks.

Volcano eruption on New Zealand's White Island leaves at least five dead (CNN)

At least five people were killed and eight more are still missing following a deadly volcanic eruption on New Zealand's White Island Monday. The country's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said citizens from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia were among those injured and missing following the explosion.

Greta Thunberg named Time Person of the Year for 2019 (BBC)

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change, has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2019. The 16-year-old is the youngest person to be chosen by the magazine in a tradition that started in 1927.

Refugees at 'increased risk' from extreme weather (BBC)

Refugees and people displaced within countries because of conflict are increasingly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather, experts say. Humanitarian agencies told the BBC this posed significant challenges for their operations in different parts of the world.

Russians banned from next Olympics and World Cup Soccer (Reuters)

Russia was banned from the world’s top sporting events for four years on Monday, including the next summer and winter Olympics and the 2022 soccer World Cup, for tampering with doping tests.