ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

September 30, 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.

• Hurricane Helene's death toll tops 100 as Southeast digs out from storm's devastation (CBS)
• Feds file new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, keeping charges intact but narrowing allegations (AP)
• Third day of bomb threats inspired by Trump lies sends Springfield hospitals into lockdown (Salon)
• Hunter Biden enters guilty plea in federal tax case, avoiding a trial (NBC)
• Former vice president Dick Cheney says he will vote for Harris (Washington Post)
• Judge delays Trump sentencing in hush money case until after November election (NBC)
• FAA investigating after Delta passengers report bleeding ears and noses (AP)
• What we know about Iran's alleged threats to assassinate Trump  (NPR)
• Trump touts police union endorsement, signals he would encourage ‘stop and frisk’ (The Hill)
• James Murdoch, Mark Cuban and dozens of other business leaders endorse Kamala Harris for president (CNN)
• Pro-Trump Media Firm Abruptly Folds After Russia Scheme Exposed (New Republic)
• Sham U.S. news site spreads false claims about Kamala Harris (CBS)
• 'Let him die': Trump's nephew shares what he says Trump told him when he asked for help with his son (CNN)
• Teen charged in Georgia school shooting and his father to stay in custody after hearings  (AP)
• The real story of Jan. 6 is found in mountains of shocking evidence (AP)
• Trump threatens to jail adversaries in escalating rhetoric ahead of pivotal debate (AP)

WORLD

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli strike in Beirut  (CBS)
• Hezbollah members among hundreds wounded after pagers explode in Lebanon and Syria, officials say (AP)
• Hezbollah exploding pager trail runs from Taiwan to Hungary (CA.news)
• Russian hawk pushes case for Putin to toughen policy on nuclear weapons (Reuters)
• Death toll in Vietnam from typhoon impacts rises to 226, as pressure eases in Hanoi (Reuters)
• U.N. staff among 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school, rescuers say   (CBS)
• Opposition presidential candidate González flees Venezuela for asylum in Spain (AP)
• Turkey's Erdogan calls for Islamic alliance against Israel (Reuters)
• Russia hammers Ukrainian rail and transport hubs near key fronts (Reuters)
• Exclusive: Russia has secret war drones project in China, intel sources say (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Hurricane Helene's death toll tops 100 as Southeast digs out from storm's devastation (CBS)

As the number of storm-related deaths climbed past 100 across the Southeast, authorities were rushing to airdrop supplies, restore power and clear roads after massive rains from Hurricane Helene left people stranded and without shelter...Mr. Biden's homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, told reporters Monday over 3,500 federal response personnel were deployed to the area and the number of urban search and rescue personnel would be up to 1,250 in the coming days.

Feds file new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, keeping charges intact but narrowing allegations (AP)

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment Tuesday against Donald Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents.

Third day of bomb threats inspired by Trump lies sends Springfield hospitals into lockdown (Salon)

The threats, which already closed government offices and caused school evacuations, come as Trump pushes racist lie.

Hunter Biden enters guilty plea in federal tax case, avoiding a trial (NBC)

The dramatic development came shortly before jury selection was expected to begin in what would have been Biden’s second trial this year.

Former vice president Dick Cheney says he will vote for Harris (Washington Post)

Former vice president Dick Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s No. 2 and served in other Republican administrations, will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election...“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in his endorsement, which confirmed remarks his daughter had made hours earlier. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

FAA investigating after Delta passengers report bleeding ears and noses (AP)

The flight was traveling Sunday from Salt Lake City to Portland, Oregon, when pilots of the five-year-old Boeing 737-900ER aircraft noticed a pressurization problem and made an emergency landing back in Utah’s capital, according to the flight log.

Judge delays Trump sentencing in hush money case until after November election (NBC)

A New York judge has delayed former President Donald Trump's sentencing on felony criminal charges until Nov. 26.

What we know about Iran's alleged threats to assassinate Trump  (NPR)

American intelligence officials briefed former President Donald Trump yesterday on assassination threats against him from Iran. A Trump campaign spokesman says the focus was on, quote, "real and specific threats" against the Republican presidential nominee.

Trump touts police union endorsement, signals he would encourage ‘stop and frisk’ (The Hill)

Former President Trump on Friday accepted the endorsement of the nation’s largest police union and indicated he would pursue policies in a second term to bolster police immunity and encourage the use of controversial practices such as stop and frisk.

James Murdoch, Mark Cuban and dozens of other business leaders endorse Kamala Harris for president (CNN)

Dozens of business leaders are throwing their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she is the stronger candidate for the American economy and the future of democracy. In a three-page letter, a group of 88 business leaders — including high-profile current and former executives from major public companies across tech, media, and finance — emphasized that they believe a Harris administration can better nurture the private sector... Trump has gained the support of a number of CEOs, too, including some prominent names in tech – most notably Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump in July.

Pro-Trump Media Firm Abruptly Folds After Russia Scheme Exposed (New Republic)

Tenet Media is no more. The conservative media network folded Thursday night, just one day after the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing it of being funded by Russian state-controlled media, according to Tenet Media field reporter Tayler Hansen.

Sham U.S. news site spreads false claims about Kamala Harris (CBS)

A website claiming to be a local San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV published a baseless claim on Monday alleging that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a June 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed...Analysis of the article and site indicate the story is false; public records and news reports show no evidence of the hit-and-run incident. The San Francisco Police Department told CBS News that they could not find records of the incident. A CBS News analysis of a video that accompanied the article found it contained several photos from other unrelated news stories... Despite this, the story spread widely on social media before the site disappeared. ...

'Let him die': Trump's nephew shares what he says Trump told him when he asked for help with his son (CNN)

Fred Trump, former President Donald Trump's nephew, details an exchange he says he had with his uncle after he requested financial help for his disabled son's extensive medical expenses. 

Teen charged in Georgia school shooting and his father to stay in custody after hearings  (AP)

... Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of murder, is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings... Colt Gray denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday.

The real story of Jan. 6 is found in mountains of shocking evidence (AP)

...AP reporters have reviewed hours of video footage and thousands of pages of court documents. They have sat through dozens of court hearings and trials for the rioters who descended on the Capitol and temporarily halted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory... Day after day, judges and jurors silently absorb the chilling sights and sounds from television screens of rioters beating police, shattering windows and hunting for lawmakers as democracy lay under siege. But as he seeks to reclaim the White House, Donald Trump continues to portray the defendants as patriots worthy of admiration, an assertion that has been undercut by the adjudicated truth in hundreds of criminal cases where judges and juries have reached the opposite conclusion...

Trump threatens to jail adversaries in escalating rhetoric ahead of pivotal debate (AP)

…. former President Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.   ... “Please beware,” he went on, “that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials.

WORLD

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli strike in Beirut  (CBS)

Israel's military said Saturday that it killed Hassan Nasrallah, the overall leader of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, in a Friday airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. The militant group confirmed Nasrallah's death, saying its longtime leader "has joined his fellow martyrs."

Hezbollah members among hundreds wounded after pagers explode in Lebanon and Syria, officials say (AP)

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, wounding members of the militant group Hezbollah, the Iranian ambassador and dozens of other people. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack at a time of rising tensions across the Lebanon border….

Hezbollah exploding pager trail runs from Taiwan to Hungary (CA.news)

A Taiwanese pager maker denied on Wednesday that it had produced devices that wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives…Gold Apollo said the devices were made by under license by a company called BAC, based in Hungary's capital Budapest…. The senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered 5,000 pagers from Gold Apollo, which several sources say were brought into the country earlier this year.

Russian hawk pushes case for Putin to toughen policy on nuclear weapons (Reuters)

Russia should clearly state its willingness to use nuclear weapons against countries that "support NATO aggression in Ukraine", according to an influential foreign policy hawk who is pressing President Vladimir Putin to adopt a more assertive nuclear posture towards the West.

Death toll in Vietnam from typhoon impacts rises to 226, as pressure eases in Hanoi (Reuters)

... The Southeast Asian country is reeling from the impact of Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm to hit Asia this year, which made landfall in Vietnam's northeastern coast on Saturday. More than 100 people remain missing, while some 800 people have been injured...

U.N. staff among 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school, rescuers say   (CBS)

 Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, killing 18 people including two staffers with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, according to rescuers. The Israeli military described it as a "precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center embedded within a compound that previously served as the Al-Jaouni School" in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat.

Opposition presidential candidate González flees Venezuela for asylum in Spain (AP)

Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule.

Turkey's Erdogan calls for Islamic alliance against Israel (Reuters)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called "the growing threat of expansionism" from Israel, drawing a rebuke from the Israeli foreign minister.

Russia hammers Ukrainian rail and transport hubs near key fronts (ReuterS)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had anticipated Moscow's counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk, his first comments on the pushback this week more than a month after Ukraine's cross-border incursion. Ukraine's troops captured an enclave of western Russian territory in a surprise raid that began in early August, a move aimed at wresting the battlefield initiative from Russia including by diverting Moscow's forces from the eastern front.

Exclusive: Russia has secret war drones project in China, intel sources say (Reuters)

Russia has established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine, according to two sources from a European intelligence agency and documents reviewed by Reuters.