ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

June 7, 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.

• Hurricane season starts with no one in charge at FEMA or NOAA (Tampa Bay Times)
• Trump urges end to political correctness in wake of London attack (Reuters)
• Comey told Sessions: Don’t leave me alone with Trump (New York Times)
• Special counsel investigation includes Manafort case, may expand to attorney general (AP)
• Portland attack: man slits throats of would-be heroes who stepped into stop Islamophobic abuse on MAX train (Independent)
• AG Sessions offered to resign in exchange with Trump (CNN)
• Traveling abroad in the Trump era? For some legal residents, not so fast (Los Angeles Times)
• Federal judge calls Trump deportation of Hawaiian coffee farmer ‘inhumane’ (NBC)
• A House rules change you didn’t hear much about—and prosecutors won’t like (OpenSecrets)

WORLD

• UNICEF: Children used as human shields in Mosul NBC)
• As the battle of Mosul rages on, so does terror, suffering for civilians (CNN)
• Six killed as militants plow van into crowd on London Bridge, stab others (Reuters)
• ‘Enough is enough.’ Theresa May makes call to action after London Bridge attack (Time)
• Seizing of Philippines city by Islamic militants a wakeup call for Southeast Asia (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Hurricane season starts with no one in charge at FEMA or NOAA (Tampa Bay Times)

Five months after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, no one has taken the reins at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of preparing for and then dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane.

Trump urges end to political correctness in wake of London attack (Reuters)

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged the world to stop being "politically correct" in order to ensure security, after three attackers drove a van into pedestrians and stabbed revelers in London, killing seven.

Comey told Sessions: Don’t leave me alone with Trump (New York Times)

The day after President Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials…But Mr. Sessions could not guarantee that the president would not try to talk to Mr. Comey alone again, the officials said.

Special counsel investigation includes Manafort case, may expand to attorney general (Associated Press)

The special counsel investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned

Portland attack: man slits throats of would-be heroes who stepped into stop Islamophobic abuse on MAX train (Independent)

Witnesses who saw a triple stabbing on a train in Oregon say it may have been racially motivated, after a man who launched into a racist rant against two Muslim women then attacked passengers when they tried to intervene. The attacker slashed the throats of three people as the Metro Area Express (MAX) train was pulling into a station in the north-east corner of Portland – leaving two dead and one injured.

AG Sessions offered to resign in exchange with Trump (CNN)

President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have had a series of heated exchanges in the last several weeks after Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, a source close to Sessions told CNN Tuesday.

Traveling abroad in the Trump era? For some legal residents, not so fast (Los Angeles Times)

 It has nothing to do with his legal status. He’s a legal permanent U.S. resident. But the 32-year-old East Los Angeles resident worries that his appearance, combined with the fact that he’s not yet an American citizen, could cause him to be flagged somehow. Gupta moved to California more than a decade ago to work at a friend's garment business and later got a green card.

Federal judge calls Trump deportation of Hawaiian coffee farmer ‘inhumane’ (NBC)

…"President Trump has claimed that his immigration policies would target the 'bad hombres," said Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The government decision in the immigration case "shows that even the 'good hombres' are not safe."  Reinhardt's comments came as the appeals court turned down a request from Andres Magana Ortiz to delay his deportation. The judge said the court was compelled to deny the request "because we do not have the authority to grant it. We are not, however, compelled to find the government's action in this case fair or just."  Magana Ortiz, now 43, came illegally to the U.S. when he was 15 and became a coffee farmer in Hawaii's Kona region. He has three children, all of them U.S. citizens because they were born in Hawaii…

A House rules change you didn’t hear much about—and prosecutors won’t like (OpenSecrets)

The Office of Congressional Ethics was saved from the landfill — where House Republicans had tried to bury it — by public outcry and a couple of tweets from President-elect Donald Trump.  But few noticed a sentence that did make it into the package of House rules changes passed Tuesday, making it more difficult to access documents having to do with the operations of a lawmaker’s office.“

WORLD

UNICEF: Children used as human shields in Mosul NBC)

An estimated 100,000 children are in serious danger in western Mosul with some used as human shields and others forced to fight against their will, UNICEF said Monday.

As the battle of Mosul rages on, so does terror, suffering for civilians (CNN)

A Humvee screams into the field clinic a few kilometers from western Mosul's current front line. A teenage girl is carried out, listless. An elderly man is in complete shock, unable to utter a word, and is helped towards a bed. A woman struggling to breathe is quickly given oxygen.

UNICEF: Children used as human shields in Mosul NBC)

An estimated 100,000 children are in serious danger in western Mosul with some used as human shields and others forced to fight against their will, UNICEF said Monday.

As the battle of Mosul rages on, so does terror, suffering for civilians (CNN)

A Humvee screams into the field clinic a few kilometers from western Mosul's current front line. A teenage girl is carried out, listless. An elderly man is in complete shock, unable to utter a word, and is helped towards a bed. A woman struggling to breathe is quickly given oxygen.

Six killed as militants plow van into crowd on London Bridge, stab others (Reuters)

Militants drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing Saturday night revelers on the street and in nearby bars, killing at least six people and wounding more than 30. Armed police rushed to the scene and shot dead the three male attackers in the Borough Market area near the bridge, as authorities urged Londoners on Twitter to "run, hide, tell" if they were caught up in the violence.

‘Enough is enough.’ Theresa May makes call to action after London Bridge attack (Time)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the country is experiencing a "new trend" in the terrorism threat after experiencing three fatal attacks in the space of just three months, hinting at a broad crackdown on extremism in the country.

Seizing of Philippines city by Islamic militants a wakeup call for Southeast Asia (Reuters)

At the beginning of the battle that has raged for the past 12 days in Marawi City at the southern end of the Philippines, dozens of Islamist militants stormed its prison, overwhelming the guards."They said 'surrender the Christians'," said Faridah P. Ali, an assistant director of the regional prison authority. "We only had one Christian staff member so we put him with the inmates so he wouldn't be noticed,” he said….over the next few hours the militants took control of most of the city…The assault has already led to the death of almost 180 people and the vast majority of Marawi's population of about 200,000 has fled.