ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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June 2, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

General news

Presidential primary

WORLD

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

U.S.

General news

Old and on the streets: the graying of America’s homeless (New York Times)

The emergence of an older homeless population is creating daunting challenges for social service agencies and governments already struggling to fight poverty.

Michigan Governor hit with federal RICO lawsuit over Flint water disaster(Bipartisan Report)

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has already cost thousands of residents sleepless nights, endless visits to doctors as they see about their poisoned children, and proven yet again that too often in this country people cannot trust their elected representatives to do what is in the public interest.Now, it will cost Michigan Governor Rick Snyder one massive headache atop the one he has already inflicted on himself and his state. Snyder, it was announced today, is now the subject of a federal racketeering (RICO) lawsuit filed by hundreds of Flint residents.

We finally know how much U.S. debt is owned by Saudi Arabia(Marketplace)

Earlier this week, the Treasury Department disclosed for the first time just how much of the U.S. debt is owned by Saudi Arabia by way of U.S. treasury bonds. Andrea Wong wrote about it forBloomberg.  The amount owned by Saudi Arabia — about $116.8 billion — seems large, but is dwarfed by the $1.2 trillion owned by the Chinese or Japan's $1.1 trillion.

Why is cheddar getting cheaper? (CS Monitor)

The United States agriculture industry is reporting a surplus of dairy and other foods, driving down prices.

New NYC rule says use transgender pronouns or risk a $250,000 fine (CS Monitor)

New York City issued new guidelines for employers and landlords, saying they must use correct transgender pronouns, or else face fines…. The guidelines require anyone who provides jobs or housing to use the transgender person's preferred pronoun, such as "ze," "hir," "they," them," "he," "she," "him," or "her."

Why is everyone moving to Texas? (CSMonitor)

Five of the 11 fastest-growing cities in America are all located in Texas, according to the latest trove of data revealed by the US Census Bureau….  California was by far the biggest contributor in the final year of that period, providing Texas with more than 60,000 immigrants, almost double the next most generous state, Florida, which gave about 33,000.

Conservative mega-funders hold conference featuring known anti-Semites(Jewish World Review)

….the Koch brothers’ decision to enter into the foreign policy fray would have been significant even if their first foray in the field was an anodyne event with standard speakers giving standard foreign policy speeches.

For First Time In 130 Years, More Young Adults Live With Parents Than With Partners(NPR)

Living with Mom and/or Dad is more popular than any other form of living arrangement among Americans ages 18-34, the Pew Research Center says.

Presidential primary

Republicans stunned after Trump admits his presidential campaign is broke (Politics USA)

When Donald Trump told Republicans that his campaign had money, it was a lie. In meeting with Senate Republicans, Trump's campaign privately admitted that they have no money and will not be able to run television ads until after the GOP convention in July.

Experts: Audit justifies FBI push for Hillary Clinton indictment (Boston Herald)

The scathing audit of Hillary Clinton’s use of a basement email server while secretary of state gives cover to the FBI chief as he weighs whether to push for an indictment against the Democratic presidential front-runner.

Bernie Sanders calls for  ‘radical transformation’ of healthcare (San Francisco Chronicle)

... “We need radical transformation of the American health care system,” Sanders said Tuesday at a hotel conference room packed with dozens of members of National Nurses United, one of his biggest and most vocal union endorsers, wearing red shirts. Sanders is calling for more wholesale systematic change than his Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton, who wants to improve the current system, or presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, who wants to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, but hasn’t proposed a replacement. Sanders wants a single-payer health care system that would cover everyone, including what he estimated to be 28 million people who still don’t have health coverage and many others who are underinsured or can’t afford to buy the medicines they’re prescribed.

Trump’s press feud boils over (The Hill)

Tensions between Donald Trump and the national media burst into the open Tuesday during a heated press conference at Trump Tower. Top anchors for major news outlets peppered the presumptive GOP presidential nominee with questions about why it took him more than four months to give veterans groups the money he touted raising in January.Some of the reporters accused the businessman of being thin-skinned and said he is seeking to avoid the scrutiny that comes with running for president. Trump responded in kind, calling a male CNN anchor “a beauty,” referring to an ABC News reporter in the audience as a “sleaze” and vowing to take his war against the press to the White House if he’s elected.

Judge orders release of documents in Trump University lawsuit (Wall St. Journal)

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s order came the same day that Donald Trump attacked him by name… Some of the documents have already surfaced online. Online political website Politico in March posted a 2010 Trump University playbook, which instructed employees to rank students by liquid assets to help determine what kind of course packages they could afford to buy.

5 ways Bernie Sanders may influence the Democratic Party platform (Huffington Post)

He looks set to shake up what’s traditionally a very staid affair.

The Democrats are making a suicidal mistake (Current Affairs)

As a report undermines her statements about the email server, and polls show Trump drawing even, the Clinton campaign is quickly becoming a disaster.

Japanese-American internment survivor hears troubling echoes in Trump rhetoric (Guardian)

‘People do not remember,’ says Madeleine Sugimoto who was locked up as a girl in the second world war, ‘and that makes it easier for Trump to fan the flames’

Can Libertarian Gary Johnson be a factor in 2016? (Time)

The only third party with a chance to be a factor are the Libertarians. That’s partly because they’re the only ones whose candidate is likely to make the ballot in all 50 states. But it’s also because they may sport a ticket with two former two-term Republican governors: Gary Johnson of New Mexico and William Weld of Massachusetts. In three recent national surveys, Johnson has cracked double-digits in a hypothetical match-up against Trump and Clinton.

Jill Stein and the Green Party set to break out in 2016 (Mint Press)

With a Trump versus Clinton general election in our sights, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the 42% of Americans who identify as Independents, as well as significant portions of Republicans and Democrats, are not adequately represented by either major party.

WORLD

Doctors: Postpone or move Olympics from Rio due to Zika (CNN)

The summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro should be postponed or moved "in the name of public health" due to the widening Zika outbreak in Brazil, more than 100 prominent doctors and professors said Friday in an open letter to the World Health Organization.

Chinese fighter jets in near collision with US aircraft, Pentagon says (+video) (CS Monitor)

In the latest episode of the ongoing saga in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials said Wednesday that two Chinese fighter jets had carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a US reconnaissance plane.  

China is restructuring itself for war (Business Insider)

China's military underwent a major restructuring last year in a bid to prepare its military for conflict, the Pentagon said in its latest annual assessment of the Communist Party-controlled People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Rule of Law Collapses in Venezuela As Maduro Continues to Push Socialist Agenda (Reason)

The AP reports that vigilante violence has grown rampant, as exemplified by an incident where a mob beat a man suspected of stealing the equivalent of five dollars, before burning him alive. The work-week has been limited to two days, irregular electricity blackouts are common, babies are dying at a rate of seven per day, and as the New York Times noted, more people died in Venezuela in the first three months of 2016 than all the civilians killed in war-torn Afghanistan in 2015 combined.

Saudi Arabia gives women the right to a copy of their marriage contract (Guardian)

Kingdom’s justice ministry announces move to ‘protect the rights of the woman’, ending practice of only supplying document to husbands


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