ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

November 21, 2024 -- 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 wants to close the Education Department. It's far easier said than done. (USA Today)
• Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations (ABC)
• Trump transition team compiling list of current and former U.S. military officers for possible courts-martial (NBC)
• Trump picks Pam Bondi for US Attorney General after Gaetz withdraws (Reuters)
• Once Again, Donald Trump Misreads the Senate (Time Magazine)
• Republicans retain control of House,  CNN predicts (CNN)
• Special counsel Jack Smith taking steps to wind down federal cases against Trump (NPR)
• Trump advisers contemplating cuts to Medicaid and other welfare programs (Guardian)
• Thune elected Senate majority leader (The Hill)
• Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter in ‘Project 2025.’ Now he’s Trump’s pick for the agency (CNN)
• Lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education pick, enabled sexual abuse of children (CNN)
• ‘Who the f--k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick (Politico)
• Health stocks tumble after Kennedy nomination  (Semafor)

INTERNATIONAL

• ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader (Reuters)
• Ukraine fires US-made longer-range missiles into Russia   (CNN)
• Putin lowers the threshold for using his nuclear arsenal after Biden's arms decision for Ukraine          (AP)
• Russia suspected of sending incendiary devices on US- and Canada-bound planes, Wall Street Journal reports (CNN)
• Mexico’s ex-public security chief sentenced to 38-plus years in US for taking cartel bribes (AP)
• .Iran signals possible change in its nuclear doctrine and says it has the capacity to make nukes (NBC)
• Biden’s final meeting with Xi Jinping reaps agreement on AI and nukes
• China targets critical metal exports in anticipation of further US tech, trade curbs  (Semafor)

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

U.S.

Trump wants to close the Education Department. It's far easier said than done. (USA Today)

Here are four things to know about the U.S. Department of Education, and why Donald Trump's idea to dismantle it could hit roadblocks.

Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations (ABC)

He's already tapped immigration hard-liners for key administration posts.

Trump transition team compiling list of current and former U.S. military officers for possible courts-martial (NBC)

All of the officers were involved in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which independent reviews have blamed on both the Trump and Biden administrations.

Trump picks Pam Bondi for US Attorney General after Gaetz withdraws (Reuters)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be U.S. Attorney General, moving swiftly to replace former nominee Matt Gaetz who withdrew from consideration earlier on Thursday.

Once Again, Donald Trump Misreads the Senate (Time Magazine)

Inside Donald Trump’s hermetically sealed bubble of supporters, it’s become something of a given that the former and future President can simply bypass Congress and magically fill his Cabinet with the loyalists of his choosing.  That might have been the case if Trump didn’t want Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth as Attorney General and Secretary of Defense, or Tulsi Gabbard overseeing the nation’s spy agencies—not to mention Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting anywhere near the CDC. These are picks almost tailor-made to ensure the Constitution’s Advice and Consent clause remains on sturdy ground.

Republicans retain control of House,  CNN predicts (CNN)

Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives, CNN projects, a victory for the party that has had a majority in the chamber since 2023.  The House gives Republicans a sweep of the federal government, with control of the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Special counsel Jack Smith taking steps to wind down federal cases against Trump (NPR)

Donald Trump started this year fighting two federal prosecutions that threatened to send him to prison. But he will end it free and clear of his most significant criminal legal problems. With his resounding victory at the polls, and a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president, the key question is not if, but when, prosecutors move to dismiss or delay his federal election interference case in Washington, D.C.  Trump recently said he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” after he returned to the White House. Now, that won’t be necessary to bring his federal criminal troubles to an end.

Trump advisers contemplating cuts to Medicaid and other welfare programs (Guardian)

Donald Trump’s economic advisers and congressional Republicans are discussing possible cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other government welfare programmes to cover the costs of extending the president-elect’s multitrillion-dollar 2017 tax cut.

Thune elected Senate majority leader (The Hill)

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has been elected Senate majority leader, setting the stage for him to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has held the top Senate GOP leadership job for the past 18 years.

Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter in ‘Project 2025.’ Now he’s Trump’s pick for the agency (CNN)

... The media reform group Free Press, which opposes Carr, said in a statement that “Carr doesn’t care about protecting the public interest; he got this job because he will carry out Trump and Musk’s personal vendettas.”

Lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education pick, enabled sexual abuse of children (CNN)

A recent lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Department of Education, knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s — allegations she denies. McMahon is the former CEO of the WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince.... the filing alleges Phillips would recruit children to work as “Ring Boys” helping him set up and take down wrestling rings...However, the job was a guise for sexually exploiting the children, which Phillips would do even in front of wrestlers and executives in the locker area, the lawsuit alleges. He also would often film his sexual abuse...

‘Who the f--k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick (Politico)

President-elect Donald Trump’s Tuesday night surprise pick of a conservative commentator and television host as his Pentagon chief shocked Washington, which had expected the nominee to be a seasoned lawmaker or someone with defense policy experience.... “Hegseth is undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history,” one veterans’ advocate said.

Health stocks tumble after Kennedy nomination  (Semafor)

 Trump’s choice of a vaccine skeptic for the top country’s top health job hit stocks of major US vaccine makers: Moderna’s dropped nearly 8% Friday, while Pfizer fell 4.5%. Share prices of the world’s two biggest vaccine makers by sales, GSK and Sanofi, also took a hit, Financial Times reported. Kennedy’s nomination impacted biotech and pharmaceutical stocks more broadly, Bloomberg reported, as shares of US-exposed European health companies, including Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, dropped.

INTERNATIONAL

ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader (Reuters)

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

Ukraine fires US-made longer-range missiles into Russia   (CNN)

The attack comes just two days after the Biden administration gave Kyiv the green light to use the weapons against targets inside Russia.

Putin lowers the threshold for using his nuclear arsenal after Biden's arms decision for Ukraine (AP)

The new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.

Russia suspected of sending incendiary devices on US- and Canada-bound planes, Wall Street Journal reports (CNN)

Incendiary devices that ignited in Germany and the United Kingdom in July were part of a covert Russian operation that aimed to start fires aboard cargo and passenger flights heading to the US and Canada, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday, citing Western security officials…. The devices, which were reportedly electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance, were sent to the UK from Lithuania and “appear to have been a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America,” the WSJ reported.

Mexico’s ex-public security chief sentenced to 38-plus years in US for taking cartel bribes (AP)

The man once heralded as the architect of Mexico’s war on drug cartels was sentenced to more than 38 years in a U.S. prison on Wednesday for taking massive bribes to aid drug traffickers.  Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former secretary of public security, was convicted by a New York jury in 2023 of taking millions of dollars in bribes to protect the violent Sinaloa cartel that he was supposedly combating. He is the highest-level Mexican government official to be convicted in the United States.

Iran signals possible change in its nuclear doctrine and says it has the capacity to make nukes (NBC)

Comments by an adviser to the supreme leader were the latest bellicose statement from Iran amid its high-stakes tit-for-tat with Israel.

Biden’s final meeting with Xi Jinping reaps agreement on AI and nukes

Politico - The two leaders agreed to avoid giving artificial intelligence control of nuclear weapons systems, and they made progress toward the release of the two U.S. citizens behind bars in China that the State Department considers “wrongfully detained.”Biden also pressured Xi to rein in North Korea’s support of Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.

China targets critical metal exports in anticipation of further US tech, trade curbs  (Semafor)

Beijing will expand export controls on critical minerals like tungsten, graphite, and magnesium needed to make electronics, a move analysts say is in anticipation of expected sweeping US tariffs on Chinese goods and increased curbs on advanced semiconductor chips and AI technology to China following the re-election of US President Donald Trump...China controls more than 80% of the world’s supply of tungsten and about 90% of global magnesium production, according to one official estimate; the minerals are indispensable in building defense technology, weapons, aviation equipment, and spacecraft.