ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

September 3, 2022 (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.

Investigations: Trump classified documents and Capitol insurrection

• Documents at Mar-a-Lago Could Compromise Human Intelligence Sources, Affidavit Says  (New York Times)
• Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected (Washington Post)
• Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date (New York Times)
• FBI found more than 11,000 government records at Trump's Florida home (Reuters)
• Trump Team Moved and Hid Classified Documents Before Justice Department Raid, Feds Claim (Rolling Stone)
• Former CFO of Trump Organization pleads guilty for his role in tax fraud scheme and agrees to testify against company (CNN)

Other national news

• U.S. job growth solid in August; labor market pressure starting to ease (Reuters)
• Does your student loan qualify for forgiveness? The short and long answers (Los Angeles Times)
• The U.S. diet is deadly. Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier(NPR)
• NASA's Artemis I: Technical issues scuttle Saturday's second launch attempt for moon mission(USA Today)
• With Roe overturned, which states have banned abortion?(NPR.)
• Fauci to step down in December after decades of public service (NPR)

WORLD

• Parents of 43 missing Mexican students welcome arrest of former attorney general(CNN)
• Putin orders Russian military to increase its forces as Ukraine war passes the six-month mark (NBC)
• Ukraine lures Russian missiles with decoys of U.S. rocket system(Wasihington Post)
• Russia gets its first drones from Iran as the two countries strengthen ties( NBC)
• Zaporizhzhia: World narrowly avoided radiation accident - Zelensky (BBC)
• Russia burns off gas as Europe's energy bills rocket(BBC)
• Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet president who took down the Iron Curtain, dies(CNN)
• Ukrainian forces begin ‘shaping’ battlefield for counteroffensive, senior US officials say(CNN)

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

U.S.

Investigations: Mar al Lago and Jan. 6 insurrection

Documents at Mar-a-Lago Could Compromise Human Intelligence Sources, Affidavit Says  (New York Times)

The Justice Department’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida home was spurred by the discovery that he had retained a trove of highly classified material that included documents related to the use of “clandestine human sources” in intelligence gathering, according to a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant.

Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected (Washington Post)

The comments came on the same day President Biden was delivering a prime-time address warning of the threat to democracy from “MAGA Republicans” and election deniers.

Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date (New York Times)

A retired New York City police officer who swung a metal flagpole at a Washington officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison, the longest sentence yet in a case stemming from the riot.

FBI found more than 11,000 government records at Trump's Florida home (Reuters)

The FBI recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during its Aug. 8 search at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, as well as 48 empty folders labeled as "classified," according to court records that were unsealed on Friday.

Trump Team Moved and Hid Classified Documents Before Justice Department Raid, Feds Claim (Rolling Stone)

Raid on the former president's Florida compound uncovered material so classified that some FBI agents on the scene "required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents"

Former CFO of Trump Organization pleads guilty for his role in tax fraud scheme and agrees to testify against company (CNN)

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in a 15-year-long tax fraud scheme, and as part of the deal he has agreed to testify against former President Donald Trump's real estate company at trial…Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 felonies and admitted he failed to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income, including luxury perks, such as rent and utilities for a Manhattan apartment, leases for a pair of Mercedes-Benz cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

Other national news

U.S. job growth solid in August; labor market pressure starting to ease (Reuters)

U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in August, but moderate wage growth and a rise in the unemployment rate to 3.7% suggested the labor market was starting to loosen, raising cautious optimism that the Federal Reserve could slow the economy without triggering a recession.

Does your student loan qualify for forgiveness? The short and long answers (Los Angeles Times)

This week’s headlines about student loan debt forgiveness sent many borrowers scrambling to figure out whether they would be eligible for the aid. 

The U.S. diet is deadly. Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier(NPR)

…the typical American diet is shortening the lives of many Americans. Diet-related deaths outrank deaths from smoking, and about half of U.S. deaths from heart disease – nearly 900 deaths a day – are linked to poor diet. The pandemic highlighted the problem, with much worse outcomes for people with obesity and other diet-related diseases…Now, there's growing momentum to tackle this problem. The Biden administration will hold the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on September 28th, and will announce a new national strategy.

NASA's Artemis I: Technical issues scuttle Saturday's second launch attempt for moon mission(USA Today)

Saturday brought another launch scratch for the Artemis I mission. Technical issues caused launch delays on Saturday and eventually robbed spectators in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and around the country of something Americans haven't seen in more than 50 years: a launch to kick off a NASA program to send humans to the moon.

With Roe overturned, which states have banned abortion?(NPR.)

Abortion is now illegal or heavily restricted in at least 14 states following the Supreme Court's historic decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade. At least 8 other states have laws in place that pave the way to quickly ban or severely restrict access to abortion.

Fauci to step down in December after decades of public service (NPR)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who played a critical role in steering humanity through the two pandemics of our time, AIDS and COVID-19, announced Monday he is stepping down from his role in the federal government. As of December, he will leave the position he's held for 38 years as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as his job as chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and his role as Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden.

WORLD

Parents of 43 missing Mexican students welcome arrest of former attorney general(CNN)

The mothers and fathers of 43 Mexican students who went missing nearly eight years ago have welcomed the findings of a recent government report that found the disappearances were a “crime of the state.” … Jesus Murillo Karam, the former attorney general of Mexico, was arrested a day after the report came to light – and accused by the prosecutor’s office of being a suspect in “the crimes of forced disappearance, torture and against the administration of justice.”  He had led the state’s investigation into the disappearances.

Putin orders Russian military to increase its forces as Ukraine war passes the six-month mark (NBC)

The decree will increase the number of service members in the armed forces by 137,000.

Ukraine lures Russian missiles with decoys of U.S. rocket system(Wasihington Post)

Ukraine may be outgunned but in the latest sign it is not yet outfoxed, a fleet of decoys resembling advanced U.S. rocket systems has tricked Russian forces into wasting expensive long-range cruise missiles on dummy targets, according to interviews with senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials and photographs of the replicas reviewed by The Washington Post.

Russia gets its first drones from Iran as the two countries strengthen ties( NBC)

Sharing a common enemy in the U.S., Moscow is looking to Tehran for help. But there are technical issues with the first Iranian drones it has received, U.S. officials said.

Zaporizhzhia: World narrowly avoided radiation accident - Zelensky (BBC)

Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky has said. It was only due to back-up electricity kicking in that the Zaporizhzhia plant was able to operate safely, he added.  Fires had earlier damaged overhead power lines, cutting the plant off. There is growing concern over fighting near the complex, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe.

Russia burns off gas as Europe's energy bills rocket(BBC)

As Europe's energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News…Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.  Germany's ambassador to the UK told BBC News that Russia was burning the gas because "they couldn't sell it elsewhere". Scientists are concerned about the large volumes of carbon dioxide and soot it is creating, which could exacerbate the melting of Arctic ice.

Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet president who took down the Iron Curtain, dies(CNN)

Mikhail Gorbachev -- the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 -- has died at the age of 91….The man credited with introducing key political and economic reforms to the USSR and helping to end the Cold War had been in failing health for some time.

Ukrainian forces begin ‘shaping’ battlefield for counteroffensive, senior US officials say(CNN)

  Ukrainian forces have begun “shaping” operations in southern Ukraine to prepare the battlefield for a significant Ukrainian counteroffensive, two senior US officials briefed on the intelligence told CNN.