ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

December 22, 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.

• 7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far (Washington Post)
• US sending Patriots to Ukraine under $1.85B aid package (AP)
• The Trump Organization is found guilty of a criminal tax fraud scheme  (NPR)
• Appeals court strikes down special master in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents case (Washington Post)
• Kansas cleans up from record Keystone pipeline spill (NY Post)
• Over half of car crash victims had drugs or alcohol in their systems  (NPR)
• Trump's income taxes were often paltry, newly released documents show (Politico)

WORLD

• A Global Backlash Is Forcing Qatar to Treat Migrant Workers Better (Time)
• People of Ukraine handed EU’s top human rights prize (AP)
• Russia: U.S. air defense systems could be targets in Ukraine (AP)
• Hit by COVID wave, companies in China strain to keep operations running normally (Reuters)
• Peru's president ousted after trying to dissolve Congress (AP)
• Nigerian military ran secret mass abortion program in war against Boko Haram  (Reuters)
• The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has been knocked offline for more than a month  (NPR)
• Japan lifts a longtime restriction to allow a major defense buildup   (NPR)
• A massive Berlin aquarium bursts, flooding streets with 1,500 tropical fish (NPR)
• Adultery becomes a punishable offense in Indonesia's criminal code 

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

U.S.

7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far (Washington Post)

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has released an introduction to its final report. The committee also held its final public meeting on Monday, during which it made criminal referrals to the Justice Department for former president Donald Trump and others.

US sending Patriots to Ukraine under $1.85B aid package (AP)

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will provide $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine, rolling out funding for a Patriot missile battery as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for his first known trip out of his country since Russia invaded in February.

The Trump Organization is found guilty of a criminal tax fraud scheme  (NPR)

A jury in Manhattan has found former President Donald Trump's company guilty of a long-running criminal tax fraud scheme that lasted into his presidency.. Trump built his political brand, in large part, on his claim that he was an aggressive and successful businessman.  In all, the jury found two entities controlled by Trump guilty on 17 counts of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The maximum penalty is $1.6 million.

Appeals court strikes down special master in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents case (Washington Post)

A three-judge panel, including two Trump employees, said they would not "carve out an unprecedented exception in our law for former presidents.”

Kansas cleans up from record Keystone pipeline spill (NY Post)

A ruptured connection in the Keystone pipeline Wednesday leaked 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in rural Washington County, 175 miles northwest of Kansas City, operator TC Energy said. Last week’s spill — which was large enough to almost fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool — was bigger than all of the previous spills of the 2,700 mile line combined, according to federal data. There had been 22 previous Keystone pipeline spills since the system’s inception in 2010 that leaked less than a total of 12,000 barrels.

Over half of car crash victims had drugs or alcohol in their systems  (NPR)

A large study by U.S. highway safety regulators found that more than half the people injured or killed in traffic crashes had one or more drugs, or alcohol, in their bloodstreams.  Also, just over 54% of injured drivers had drugs or alcohol in their systems, with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active ingredient in marijuana, the most prevalent, followed by alcohol... The study, which took blood-test data from 7,279 road users, also found that more than half of injured pedestrians and just over 43% of injured bicyclists had a drug in their bloodstreams.  Of the total number of patients, 25.1% tested positive for THC, 23.1% for alcohol, 10.8% for stimulants and 9.3% for opioids, according to the study.

Trump's income taxes were often paltry, newly released documents show (Politico

Documents released Tuesday night by House Democrats said Trump frequently made tens of millions of dollars annually during that period. But he was able to whittle away his tax bill by claiming steep business losses that offset that income.  In 2016, he paid $750. The following year he again paid just $750. In 2020, he paid nothing

WORLD

A Global Backlash Is Forcing Qatar to Treat Migrant Workers Better (Time)

…Since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010, human rights groups and the world’s media have closely scrutinized the tiny Gulf petrostate of 2.9 million, especially its treatment of workers brought in to build the estimated $250 billion of infrastructure needed to host the tournament. Earlier this month, Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee, told U.K. media that “between 400 and 500” migrants had died on World Cup-related projects in the past 12 years. The estimate is drastically higher than the “three deaths” previously offered by Qatari officials, who quickly walked back al-Thawadi’s revised figure. Both figures are still dwarfed by the thousands that human rights groups such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch estimate have died….Meanwhile, Qatar enacted a new national minimum wage that applies to everyone in the country, including migrant workers….Last year, groundbreaking legislation was adopted to protect outdoor workers during the summer months…. 

People of Ukraine handed EU’s top human rights prize (AP)

The people of Ukraine and their representatives were handed the European Union’s top human rights prize Wednesday for their resistance to Russia’s invasion and defiance during the ongoing war….  “We have witnessed the inspiring resistance of ordinary citizens making the ultimate sacrifice to delay a column of tanks, senior citizens standing up to face down Russian troops with nothing but pride as their weapons. Brave women forced to give birth in underground metro stations,” said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola….  

Russia: U.S. air defense systems could be targets in Ukraine (AP)

Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that if the U.S. delivers sophisticated air defense systems to Ukraine, those systems and any crews that accompany them would be a “legitimate target” for the Russian military, a blunt threat that was quickly rejected by Washington.

Hit by COVID wave, companies in China strain to keep operations running normally (Reuters)

After unprecedented protests against oft-draconian COVID curbs, the world's second-largest economy abruptly dropped its zero-tolerance COVID stance last week. The ensuing fierce spread of the virus has even forced certain businesses to shut their doors for the time being.

Peru's president ousted after trying to dissolve Congress (AP)

The president of Peru was ousted by Congress and arrested on a charge of rebellion Wednesday after he sought to dissolve the legislative body and take unilateral control of the government, triggering a grave constitutional crisis.  Vice President Dina Boluarte replaced Pedro Castillo and became the first female leader in the history of the republic after hours of wrangling between the legislature and the departing president, who had tried to prevent an impeachment vote.

Nigerian military ran secret mass abortion program in war against Boko Haram  (Reuters)

Since at least 2013, the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters.  The abortions mostly were carried out without the person’s consent – and often without their prior knowledge….

The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has been knocked offline for more than a month  (NPR)

The newly elected government in Pacific island nation of Vanuatu encountered a serious problem from the very first day of its term on Nov. 6 — no one could use their government email accounts.  But then the situation got worse. Much worse. Officials could not use any government computer services, from renewing a drivers' license to paying taxes or accessing medical and emergency information.  They were forced to turn to 20th century technology — pen and paper. 

Japan lifts a longtime restriction to allow a major defense buildup   (NPR)

Japan has made a significant policy change to allow it to get the ability to strike other nations, a move widely seen as a major step toward rearming the nation more than seven decades since it demilitarized after World War II.

A massive Berlin aquarium bursts, flooding streets with 1,500 tropical fish (NPR)

The AquaDom aquarium was touted as the largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium in the world. The aquarium dominated the large atrium of the Radisson Collection Hotel — where the mass of water blew parts of the hotel's façade into the road and left the building badly damaged, the Berlin fire brigade said…. sending 1 million liters (more than a quarter of a million gallons) of salt water — and fish — pouring into the hotel's atrium and lobby and out into the street.

Adultery becomes a punishable offense in Indonesia's criminal code 

A copy of the amended criminal code obtained by The Associated Press includes several revised articles that make sex outside marriage punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation by six months, but adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by their spouse, parents or children.  It also says the promotion of contraception and religious blasphemy are illegal, and it restores a ban on insulting a sitting president and vice president, state institutions and national ideology…