ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

September 5, 2024 (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.

• Homeowners are rushing to refinance their mortgages after rates finally dropped (CNN)
• Judge in Texas orders pause on Biden program that offers legal status to spouses of US citizens (AP)
• Cooling July Inflation Sets Stage for Fed’s September Rate Cut (Wall Street Journal)
• Grocery price gouging to feature prominently in Harris economic plan (Politico)
• Special counsel reindicts Trump with narrower set of accusations after Supreme Court immunity decision (CBS News)
• RFK endorses Trump as he suspencts campaign (Politico)
• Potential 2024 ‘Chaos’: Election Deniers Refusing to Certify Results (Rolling Stone)
• Trump allies test a new strategy for blocking election results (Washington Post)
• FBI concludes Iran was behind Trump campaign hack (The Hill)
• Trump seeks to delay his hush money sentencing until after the election (Politico)
• Biden, Harris hail Medicare drug price cuts that will save billions  (Reuters)
• US FAA requires inspections of Boeing 787 planes following mid-air dive (FAA)

WORLD

• Large-scale polio vaccinations begin in war-ravaged Gaza after first case in 25 years  
•  US charges Hamas leaders over Oct. 7 attack on Israel (Reuters)
• Ukraine racks up gains with Russia incursion, faces challenge holding territory (Reuters)
• What we know about the six hostages killed in Gaza (CNN)
• West Bank Palestinians Fear a Gaza-Like War  (Time)
• France investigating synagogue explosion as suspected terrorism (BBC)
• Japan urges 4 million to evacuate as lumbering Typhoon Shanshan threatens south with up to a meter of rain (CNN)

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

U.S.

Homeowners are rushing to refinance their mortgages after rates finally dropped (CNN)

The standard, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.49% this week...Mortgage applications surged 17% last week, driven by homeowners seeking to refinance, up by a staggering 35%, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Mortgage rates plummeted last week to their lowest level in more than a year, according to figures from mortgage financing giant Freddie Mac. And borrowing costs are expected to fall even further later this year if the Federal Reserve delivers on the interest rate cuts widely expected by economists and investors.

Judge in Texas orders pause on Biden program that offers legal status to spouses of US citizens (AP)

A federal judge in Texas on Monday paused a Biden administration policy that would give spouses of U.S. citizens legal status without having to first leave the country, dealing at least a temporary setback to one of the biggest presidential actions to ease a path to citizenship in years.

Cooling July Inflation Sets Stage for Fed’s September Rate Cut (Wall Street Journal)

U.S. inflation edged lower in July, extending a run of encouraging readings and likely sealing the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September.

Grocery price gouging to feature prominently in Harris economic plan (Politico)

Harris will lay out actions she plans to take in her first 100 days as president to lower food and other everyday costs during a speech this Friday in North Carolina.

Special counsel reindicts Trump with narrower set of accusations after Supreme Court immunity decision (CBS News)

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday in which he again accused Trump of resisting the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. Smith narrowed the allegations after a landmark Supreme Court ruling on presidential power earlier this year...Prosecutors maintained the four counts against Trump that he previously faced — including conspiracy to defraud the United States — but limited the evidence included in the indictment and even removed one unnamed individual from a list of unindicted co-conspirators

RFK endorses Trump as he suspencts campaign (Politico)

The independent candidate’s exit will add yet another twist to the already chaotic 2024 race.

Potential 2024 ‘Chaos’: Election Deniers Refusing to Certify Results (Rolling Stone)

Election officials in eight states have delayed or refused to certify results since Trump’s 2020 loss — a likely preview of this year’s elections

Trump allies test a new strategy for blocking election results (Washington Post)

In five battleground states, county-level officials have tried to block the certification of vote tallies — which election experts worry is a test run for trying to thwart a Biden victory.

FBI concludes Iran was behind Trump campaign hack (The Hill)

The FBI, alongside other intelligence agencies, announced Monday it concluded Iran was behind the hacking of the Trump campaign and that the country has attempted to disrupt both presidential campaigns.

Trump seeks to delay his hush money sentencing until after the election (Politico)

His lawyers are seeking to have the conviction overturned on immunity grounds.

Biden, Harris hail Medicare drug price cuts that will save billions  (Reuters)

The United States has negotiated down the prices of 10 top-selling prescription drugs used by Medicare by as much as 79%, hoping to save $6 billion in the first year as part of a plan hailed on Thursday by President Joe Biden with the aim to ease anger about high prices ahead of November elections.

US FAA requires inspections of Boeing 787 planes following mid-air dive (FAA)

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it would require inspections of Boeing  787 Dreamliners following an incident in March when a LATAM Airlines  plane went into a sudden mid-air dive that injured more than 50 passengers. The FAA said the apparent reason for the dive was the uncommanded movement of the captain's seat, which caused the auto-pilot to disconnect. The agency said it had received a total of five reports of similar problems with the captain and first officer seats on 787s

 WORLD

Large-scale polio vaccinations begin in war-ravaged Gaza after first case in 25 years  

 Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

US charges Hamas leaders over Oct. 7 attack on Israel (Reuters)

The United States announced criminal charges on Tuesday against Hamas' top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

Ukraine racks up gains with Russia incursion, faces challenge holding territory (Reuters)

Ukraine has chalked up a string of victories more than a week since blindsiding Russia with a lightning cross-border assault, but the risks are piling up as its troops make plans to hold territory and Russia recovers its footing.

What we know about the six hostages killed in Gaza (CNN)

The bodies of six hostages held by Hamas have been recovered in an underground tunnel in Gaza, Israel’s military said Sunday. The captives, including an Israeli American, were among the more than 200 people taken by the militants into Gaza following their deadly cross-border rampage on October 7.

West Bank Palestinians Fear a Gaza-Like War  (Time)

I t’s easy, amid all the destruction and suffering in Gaza, to overlook what is happening as little as 34 miles away in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. For much of the past 11 months—during which Israel has waged a brutal war of retaliation against Hamas that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and made much of the coastal enclave uninhabitable—many people have. But as Israeli military action ramps up in the West Bank, and as Israeli settler incursions on Palestinian land become even more brazen, attention is slowly turning back to the forgotten territory.

France investigating synagogue explosion as suspected terrorism (BBC)

An explosion outside a synagogue in southern France is being investigated by authorities as "attempted terrorist murder". / Police said the explosion was caused by two cars being set alight outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the resort town of La Grande-Motte. One of the vehicles contained a hidden gas cannister. / Police sources told French media a man caught on CCTV setting fire to the vehicles was carrying a Palestinian flag and possibly a handgun. 

Japan urges 4 million to evacuate as lumbering Typhoon Shanshan threatens south with up to a meter of rain (CNN)

Almost 4 million people in southern Japan were urged to evacuate as Typhoon Shanshan made landfall Thursday, leaving thousands of residents without power and lashing Kyushu island with hurricane-force winds, torrential rain and dangerous storm surges.