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East County News Service
December 13, 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.
- CIA reportedly concludes Russia interference aimed to elect Trump (NPR)
- The Russian Hacking Controversy: What We Do And Don't Know (NPR)
- McConnell, warning of ‘dangerous’ debt, wants tax cut offsets (Bloomberg)
- Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking (Reuters)
- Federal judge nixes Pennsylvania ballot recount. Why? (CS Monitor)
- Who's to blame for fake news? (Los Angeles Times)
- Inspired by Trump, Ohio Legislature passes “heartbeat” bill that would ban most abortions (Washington Post)
- Trump picks Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State (CBS)
- Trump Questionnaire Raises Concerns About Retaliation Against Energy Department Staff (NPR)
- DOE won’t provide names of climate change staffers to Trump team (Politico)
- Trump to name Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA(Washington Post)
- Trump: Boeing should lose Air Force One contract over ‘out of control’ cost (Guardian)
- Trump nominates CKE’s Puzder for Labor Secretary (Pacific Business Times)
WORLD
- Aleppo has fallen to Syrian regime control, Russia says (CNN)
- How a 7-year-old Aleppo girl on Twitter became our era’s Anne Frank (Wash. Post)
- Cease-fire has been reached to evacuate civilians from Aleppo: Syrian rebels (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Palmyra: ‘Chemical gas attack’ hits IS-held Syria area (BBC)
- New Zealand policy makers in the dark after quake upends stats bureau (Reuters)
- Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians (Reuters)
For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.
U.S.
CIA reportedly concludes Russia interference aimed to elect Trump (NPR)
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, specifically to help Donald Trump win the presidency, The Washington Post first reported on Friday.
The Russian Hacking Controversy: What We Do And Don't Know (NPR)
McConnell, warning of ‘dangerous’ debt, wants tax cut offsets (Bloomberg)
President-elect Donald Trump’s race to enact the biggest tax cuts since the 1980s went under a caution flag Monday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned he considers current levels of U.S. debt “dangerous” and said he wants any tax overhaul to avoid adding to the deficit.
Exclusive: Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking - sources (Reuters)
The overseers of the U.S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican President-elect Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on Monday.
Federal judge nixes Pennsylvania ballot recount. Why? (CS Monitor)
In a stinging rebuke, US District Judge Paul Diamond rejected the Green Party's bid for a statewide recount in Pennsylvania of paper ballots and a review of some election systems for evidence of hacking.
Who's to blame for fake news? (Los Angeles Times)
When the problem of fake news first started making headlines, I was traveling across Southeast Asia and the Middle East. That vantage point provided a striking contrast: While we in America waste the right to a free press, half a world away, the right is so precious that people routinely risk their lives to support it.
Inspired by Trump, Ohio Legislature passes “heartbeat” bill that would ban most abortions (Washington Post)
Ohio lawmakers passed a bill late Tuesday that would prohibit abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected — at around six weeks, before many women realize they are pregnant. If Gov. John Kasich (R) signs the bill, it would pose a direct challenge to Supreme Court decisions that have found that women have a constitutional right to abortion until the point of viability, which is typically pegged around 24 weeks.
Trump picks Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State (CBS)
… The confirmation process could prove highly contentious, with some leading lawmakers already voicing concern about Tillerson’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and in light of reports that U.S. intelligence agencies believe Moscow was working not only to interfere in the U.S. election, but to actively promote Mr. Trump… There is also the issue of Exxon and climate change. Tillerson himself is not a skeptic and has called the threat “real” and “serious.” But Exxon’s role in submerging scientific evidence about fossil fuel burning’s role in climate … could prove politically damaging.
Trump Questionnaire Raises Concerns About Retaliation Against Energy Department Staff (NPR)
Among the queries included in a questionnaire sent by President-elect Donald Trump's transition team to workers at the Department of Energy is a request for an inventory of all agency employees or contractors who attended meetings or conferences on climate change..The 74-point questionnaire has raised fears among civil rights lawyers specializing in federal worker whistleblower protections, who say the incoming administration is at a minimum trying to influence or limit the research at the Department of Energy. And at worst, attempting to target employees with views that run counter to the president-elect.
DOE won’t provide names of climate change staffers to Trump team (Politico)
… We will be forthcoming with all publicly available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team," DOE spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder said in an email. Burnham-Snyder said questions from Trump's team had "left many in our workforce unsettled." "We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department," he said.
Trump to name Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA (Washington Post)
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of the oil and gas-intensive state of Oklahoma, to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a move signaling an assault on President Obama’s climate change and environmental legacy. Pruitt has spent much of his energy as attorney general fighting the very agency he is being nominated to lead.
Trump: Boeing should lose Air Force One contract over ‘out of control’ cost (Guardian)
Speaking to journalists in the lobby of Trump Tower the president elect elaborated on his Twitter post: “The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4bn for Air Force One programme and I think it’s ridiculous” …Trump’s statements briefly sent Boeing’s share price into a tailspin. Shares dropped more than $1 before recovering… “We are currently under contract for $170m to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States,” spokesman Todd Blecher wrote on Boeing’s website.
Trump chooses former WWE executive Linda McMahon for small business(Denver Post)
President-elect Donald Trump is adding former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to his Cabinet as leader of the Small Business Administration. McMahon and her husband, Vince, founded and built World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., now a publicly traded sports entertainment company. She stepped down as the company’s chief executive in 2009 and earlier this year launched a joint venture, Women’s Leadership LIVE, which promotes opportunities for women in business and public service.
Trump nominates CKE’s Puzder for Labor Secretary (Pacific Business Times)
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants and subsidiaries Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, could pave the way toward business deregulation. While there are many layers to his appointment, Puzder has taken strong anti-labor stances, long decrying California’s minimum wage policy and other regulations that he claims have driven businesses out of the state.
WORLD
Aleppo has fallen to Syrian regime control , Russia says (CNN)
The Russian government said Tuesday that military action in eastern Aleppo has stopped and the Syrian government is now in control of the long-fought-over city.
How a 7-year-old Aleppo girl on Twitter became our era’s Anne Frank (Washington Post)
The harrowing farewell message came Sunday, just three short sentences. “We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.” It was signed “Fatemah,” the mother of Bana al-Abed, a 7-year-old Syrian girl who amassed more than 200,000 Twitter followers as she and her family have documented their struggle to survive in war-ravaged Aleppo.
Cease-fire has been reached to evacuate civilians from Aleppo: Syrian rebels (San Diego Union-Tribune)
… Pro-government forces reportedly killed 82 civilians "on the spot" as they closed in on the last rebel enclave in Syria's Aleppo Tuesday, the U.N. human rights office said, while world leaders and aid agencies issued dramatic appeals on behalf of trapped residents. That and other reports of mass killings, which could not be independently confirmed, reinforce fears of atrocities in eastern Aleppo in the final hours of the battle for the city, which has been split between rebel and government control since 2012.
Palmyra: ‘Chemical gas attack’ hits IS-held Syria area (BBC)
Dozens of people have been killed in air strikes and a suspected gas attack near the Syrian city of Palmyra, monitoring groups say… The Syrian government and its Russian backers have previously denied using chemical weapons.
New Zealand policy makers in the dark after quake upends stats bureau (Reuters)
New Zealand policy makers are flying blind as the nation's statistics agency struggles to restore the flow of vital economic data more than two weeks after a major earthquake battered its Wellington base.
Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians (Reuters)
A bombing at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt's Christian minority in years.
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