ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

East County News Service

December 27, 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.

• More borrowers are losing Social Security benefits over old student loans (Market Watch)
• Trump says he plans to shut down his charitable foundation (Washington Post)
• Four More Michigan Officials Charged Over Flint Water Crisis (NPR)
• How Trump’s plan to gut Obamacare will take down Medicare (Forbes)
• This latest Trump appointee may worry Social Security recipients (NASDAQ)
• Five fights for Trump’s first 100 days (CNN)
• Five Republicans who could buck Trump in 2017 (The Hill)

WORLD

• Christmas reborn in Iraqi town freed from ISIS (CNN)
• Nigeria: Boko Haram crushed, forced out of last enclave (USA Today)
• U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity (Washington Post)
• Deadly Explosion Rips Through Fireworks Market Near Mexico City (NPR)
• A bigger problem than ISIS? (New Yorker)
• Fake story spurs Pakistani official to threaten Israel with nuclear response (CS Monitor)
• Chile's government works to re-establish connectivity in quake-affected zone (Reuters)
• EU court says mass data retention illegal  (Reuters)
• Lithuania said found Russian spyware on its government computers  (Reuters)
• Russian hackers tracked Ukrainian artillery units using Android implant: report (Reuters)

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

U.S.

More borrowers are losing Social Security benefits over old student loans (Market Watch)

…About 114,000 student loan borrowers over 50-years-old are losing out on a portion of their Social Security benefits because of an old student loan and the number of borrowers over age 65 facing this predicament has increased 540% over the last decade, according to a report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

Trump says he plans to shut down his charitable foundation (Washington Post)

President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to shut down his charitable foundation, a decision that comes after repeated controversies over how it collected and disbursed funds….Trump offered no timeline for when his foundation would close down but said he had directed his attorney to take the steps needed to close it. It was not immediately clear when the foundation would be able to dissolve, given an ongoing investigation in New York.

Four More Michigan Officials Charged Over Flint Water Crisis (NPR)

Four more people have been charged in connection to the ongoing Flint, Mich., water crisis. Those charged include two former Flint emergency managers, and they face felony charges of false pretenses, misconduct in office, and a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty in office.

How Trump’s plan to gut Obamacare will take down Medicare (Forbes)

Donald Trump's campaign vow to repeal Obamacare is now fast-tracked in Congress and will embraced by his nominees to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). But the promise will also have another intended consequence if fully repealed: It will severely damage Medicare, which Republicans also fervently want to dismantle and privatize.

This latest Trump appointee may worry Social Security recipients (NASDAQ)

The importance of Social Security for our nation's retired workers simply can't be overstated. Though the average payout, as of November 2016, of $1,355 to the nearly 41.2 million retired workers may not seem like a lot, an analysis conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated a 32-percentage-point decline in elderly poverty rates as a result of Social Security income being available to seniors during their golden years.

Five fights for Trump’s first 100 days (CNN)

…GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration are eager to move quickly after winning control of both Congress and the White House for the first time in nearly a decade. But divisive fights with Democrats, and within the party, could grind Congress to a halt, and quickly test that ambitious GOP agenda.

Five Republicans who could buck Trump in 2017 (The Hill)

Donald Trump’s biggest hurdles next year might not come from Democrats but from within his own party. With a narrow 52-seat majority in the Senate, the president-elect will need to keep Republicans unified if he wants to clear nominations and legislation through the upper chamber in the face of likely Democratic opposition.

WORLD

Christmas reborn in Iraqi town freed from ISIS (CNN)

In the ancient Iraqi Christian town of Bartella -- recently liberated from ISIS -- Christmas was celebrated for the first time in more than two years on Saturday.

Nigeria: Boko Haram crushed, forced out of last enclave (USA Today)

Nigeria’s president said Saturday that his forces had crushed the notorious Boko Haram extremist group and driven them out of their forest encampment, but have yet to locate scores of Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants in 2014.

U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity (Washington Post)

The U.N. Security Council on Friday passed a resolution demanding that Israel cease Jewish settlement activity on Palestinian territory in a unanimous vote that passed when the United States abstained rather than using its veto as it has reliably done in the past.

Deadly Explosion Rips Through Fireworks Market Near Mexico City (NPR)

A fireworks market outside Mexico City exploded Tuesday. Mexican authorities say 29 people were killed, but that number could climb higher. Dozens of people were injured.…  This wasn't the first time the San Pablito Market, well-known for its fireworks vendors, has been leveled by explosions (disturbing video)

A bigger problem than ISIS? (New Yorker)

The Mosul dam is falling.  A breach would cause a colossal wave that could kill as many as a million and a half people.

Fake story spurs Pakistani official to threaten Israel with nuclear response (CS Monitor)

A Pakistani official threatened a nuclear response against Israel after reading a fake news report, raising concerns about the power of false information. 

Chile's government works to re-establish connectivity in quake-affected zone (Reuters)

 Chile's government set to work on Monday repairing roads and restoring electricity to southern regions affected by a major earthquake that struck on Christmas Day, frightening thousands but resulting in no fatalities or major damage.

EU court says mass data retention illegal  (Reuters)

 The mass retention of data is illegal, the European Union's highest court said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Britain's newly passed surveillance law and signaling that security concerns do not justify excessive privacy infringements.

Lithuania said found Russian spyware on its government computers  (Reuters)

 The Baltic state of Lithuania, on the frontline of growing tensions between the West and Russia, says the Kremlin is responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers over the last two years.

Russian hackers tracked Ukrainian artillery units using Android implant: report  (Reuters)

 A hacking group linked to the Russian government and high-profile cyber attacks against Democrats during the U.S. presidential election likely used a malware implant on Android devices to track and target Ukrainian artillery units from late 2014 through 2016, according to a new report released Thursday.