ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

April 27, 2017 (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.

• White House unveils dramatic plan to overhaul tax code  (Washington Post)
• U.S. Chief Justice alarmed at Trump administration immigration case stance (Reuters)
• Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal (MSN)
• Changes to federal insurance plans could hurt parents of chronically ill children (NPR)
• Trump not going to terminate NAFTA (CNN)
• Flynn may have broken law, say Oversight leaders (The Hill)
• House Republicans introduce one-week spending bill  (Washington Post)
• Far-right Trump advisor tied to anti-Semitic paramilitary group (Vanity Fair)
• A third of US millennials still live at home, census report finds (BBC)
• Symantec attributes 40 cyber attacks to CIA-linked hacking tools (Reuters)
• House oversight panel has questions about Trump businesses, foreign emoluments (NPR)
• Trump makes his first big changes to Obamacare (Huffington Post)
• The rich are living longer and taking more from taxpayers (Bloomberg)
• Dead giant rabbit on United flight creates new problem for airline (Patch.com)
• Vaping venture poses potential conflict for Trump’s FDA nominee (Bloomberg)

WORLD

• Facing death for being gay, men flee Russia’s Chechnya (Yahoo News)
• Russia court outlaws 'extremist' Jehovah's Witnesses (BBC)
• Hezbollah's defiant signal to Israel, Lebanon, and the UN (CS Monitor)
• To fight domestic violence among Syrian refugees, an outreach to men (CS Monitor)
• Russia hacked Danish defense for two years, minister tells newspaper (Reuters)
•  Venezuela death toll hits 29, protesters battle security forces (Reuters)
• Sealed Files of United Nations War Crimes Commission Will Finally See Light of Day (Smithsonian)
• U.S., Uganda Call Off Search for Infamous Warlord Joseph Kony (NPR)
• Turkey Arrests More Than 1,000 in Massive Purge of its Police Forces (NPR)
• Turkey investigation 17, some Americans, in failed coup (New York Times)

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

U.S.

White House unveils dramatic plan to overhaul tax code in major test for Trump (Washington Post)

… [Trump] wants to replace the seven income tax brackets with three new ones, cut the corporate tax rate by more than 50 percent, abolish the alternative-minimum tax and estate tax, and create new incentives to simplify filing returns. But the White House stopped short of answering key questions that could decide the plan’s fate. For example, Trump administration officials didn’t address how much the plan would reduce federal revenue or grow the debt. They also didn’t specify what income levels would trigger inclusion in each of the three new tax brackets.

U.S. Chief Justice alarmed at Trump administration immigration case stance (Reuters)

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts took issue on Wednesday with the Trump administration's stance in an immigration case, saying it could make it too easy for the government to strip people of citizenship for lying about minor infractions.. Roberts described the administration's interpretation as inviting "prosecutorial abuse" because the government could likely find a reason for stripping citizenship from most naturalized citizens.

Republicans exempt their own insurance from their latest health care proposal (MSN)

Republican legislators want to keep popular Obamacare provisions for themselves and their staff…The new Republican amendment, introduced Tuesday night, would allow states to waive out of Obamacare’s ban on pre-existing conditions. This means that insurers could once again, under certain circumstances, charge sick people higher premiums than healthy people. Republican legislators liked this policy well enough to offer it in a new amendment. They do not, however, seem to like it enough to have it apply to themselves and their staff.

Changes to federal insurance plans could hurt parents of chronically ill children (NPR)

The research, published in the April issue of Health Affairs, examines the spending impact of shifting chronically ill kids from the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to policies offered on the marketplaces established under the federal health law. The out-of-pocket costs to these children's families would likely rise — in some cases dramatically — following a change to marketplace coverage, the study finds.

Trump not going to terminate NAFTA (CNN)

President Trump agreed to not terminate NAFTA at this time after speaking with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada. CNN's Fareed Zakaria reports.

Flynn may have broken law, say Oversight leaders (The Hill)

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have broken the law by taking money from Russia and Turkey without permission, the top lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday. “As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else,” Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told reporters Tuesday.”

House Republicans introduce one-week spending bill to continue budget talks (Wash. Post)

…White House officials notified lawmakers earlier in the day that President Trump abandoned a threat to end subsidy payments under the Affordable Care Act, a concession to Democrats that is expected to clear the way for a bipartisan budget agreement. Trump had threatened to cut off the subsidies in an attempt to force Democrats to pay for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, a fight that became less serious after Republicans withdrew their border wall request this week.

Far-right Trump advisor tied to anti-Semitic paramilitary group (Vanity Fair)

In 2007, Sebastian Gorka openly supported the efforts of a Hungarian militia later condemned for trying to establish an “essentially racist” political order.  Past reporting by the Jewish Daily Forward has detailed Gorka’s lifetime membership in the Vitézi Rend, a far-right Hungarian military organization that supported the Nazis during World War II. Gorka, who wore a medal honoring the group to an inauguration party, has defended the group …The State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual says that members of the Vitézi Rend who apply for visas to the U.S. are “presumed to be inadmissible”…

A third of US millennials still live at home, census report finds (BBC)

This may not surprise anyone aged 18-34 but according to US Census data, if you're in that age bracket, your life differs wildly from your parents.

Symantec attributes 40 cyber attacks to CIA-linked hacking tools (Reuters)

Past cyber attacks on scores of organizations around the world were conducted with top-secret hacking tools that were exposed recently by the Web publisher Wikileaks, the security researcher Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) said on Monday. That means the attacks were likely conducted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.. The files posted by WikiLeaks appear to show internal CIA discussions of various tools for hacking into phones, computers and other electronic gear, along with programming code for some of them...

House oversight panel has questions about Trump businesses and foreign emoluments (NPR)

The Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are taking a look into the slowly brewing controversy of foreign cash flowing into President Trump's hotel in Washington, D.C.

Trump makes his first big changes to Obamacare (Huffington Post)

New rules are supposed to help the markets work better even as Trump threatens to blow them up.

The rich are living longer and taking more from taxpayers (Bloomberg)

Social Security is becoming a much better deal for the wealthy.

Dead giant rabbit on United flight creates new problem for airline (Patch.com)

.. In 2016, United's level of animal deaths and injuries was the second-highest among U.S. airlines, the AP reports. According to the Department of Transportation, 2.11 per 10,000 animals died or were hurt while flying with the carrier, the report stated. Hawaiian Airlines had the highest level in 2016 at 3.99, the report added.

Vaping venture poses potential conflict for Trump’s FDA nominee (Bloomberg)

President Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Scott Gottlieb, will be in charge of implementing new rules governing the e-cigarette industry after serving for more than a year on the board of a company that sells vaping products.

WORLD

Facing death for being gay, men flee Russia’s Chechnya (Yahoo News)

Ilya looks tired and drawn. After being beaten and tortured by men in military uniform in Russia's Chechnya region, he fled to Moscow but still fears for his life -- because he is gay."In Chechnya, I had no choice but to lie or die," says the 20-year-old.

Russia court outlaws 'extremist' Jehovah's Witnesses (BBC)

Russia's Supreme Court has accepted the government's request to designate Jehovah's Witnesses as an outlawed religious group, deeming it to be an extremist organisation.

Hezbollah's defiant signal to Israel, Lebanon, and the UN (CS Monitor)

On a press tour of Lebanon's sensitive southern border, the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah performs a seemingly choreographed breach of the UN resolution that helped end its last war with Israel.

To fight domestic violence among Syrian refugees, an outreach to men (CS Monitor)

Domestic violence is reported to have risen sharply among Syrians forced to flee their homeland. While many aid programs target women, some groups in Lebanon are putting new focus on men, hoping to address the problem at the source.

Russia hacked Danish defense for two years, minister tells newspaper (Reuters)

 Russia has hacked the Danish defense and gained access to employees' emails in 2015 and 2016, NATO member Denmark's defense minister told newspaper Berlingske on Sunday.

Venezuela death toll hits 29, protesters battle security forces (Reuters)

Venezuelan security forces fired scores of tear gas volleys and turned water cannons on rock-throwing protesters on a bridge in Caracas on Wednesday as the death toll from this month's anti-government unrest hit at least 29.

Sealed Files of the United Nations War Crimes Commission Will Finally See Light of Day (Smithsonian)

While the vast trove of material promises to keep historians busy for years, there are some intriguing revelations already coming out of the documents, such as proof that the Allies were aware of the scale of the Holocaust as early as 1942.

U.S., Uganda Call Off Search for Infamous Warlord Joseph Kony (NPR)

The U.S. announced late last month they'd be redirecting troops hunting the Lord's Resistance Army; Uganda followed suit this week. The U.S. says Kony's followers have shrunk to fewer than 100 people.

Turkey Arrests More Than 1,000 In Massive Purge of its Police Forces (NPR)

Just over a week after a vote consolidating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power, his government has undertaken a new nationwide operation to detain alleged supporters of last year's failed coup. / And these arrests are by no means the end of the operation. Anadolu Agency, a state-run news service, says the government aims to arrest another 2,000 people.

Turkey investigation 17, some Americans, in failed coup (New York Times)

Turkish prosecutor has opened an investigation into 17 people accused of fomenting last year’s failed coup, including many prominent American officials, academics and politicians, state news media reported on Saturday. Among those placed under investigation by the chief prosecutor in Istanbul are John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. chief; Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York; Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York; and David Cohen, who at the time of the coup was the deputy director of the C.I.A….