World Watch:  Top U.S. and global news

 

(Washington D.C.) – As of Aug.20, 2026, hot topics include economists warning of recession as national debt hits record high, ICE officers getting electric shock gloves, children at risk from Head Start cuts and a shift in legal protections for migrant minors,  Treasury Dept. deletes database of shell companies amid Trump money laundering probe,  Senate holds Dr. Fauci in contempt, UK boosts support for Ukraine,  U.S. mislabels every African nation at global conference, three European nations condemn Israel’s occupation of West Bank, and climate change creates crisis as Romania tries to cool nuclear plant.

U.S.

Economy

• An economist who studies financial crises says the US is on the brink of recession. These are the 2 warning signs. (Business Insider)
• US national debt exceeds $40 trillion for the first time, fuelled in part by Trump tariffs (France 24)

Immigration and I.C.E.

• ICE’s plan to give officers electric shock gloves draws outrage and fears of misuse (AP)
• No ID, No Money, No Way Out: DHS Deports a Man to a Country He Doesn’t Know (NOTUS)
• Private prisons announce $1.4 billion in revenue as immigration detentions climb (NPR)
• The U.S. Spent $2.2 Billion on Immigration Detention Centers, With More to Go (NOTUS)
• ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says (AP)
• Federal Judge Holds DHS in Contempt Over Immigration Agents’ Text Records (NOTUS)
• A veteran was detained by the National Guard in her front yard. Now she’s suing (NPR)

Disaster relief

• Trump overrode his own agencies to deny 4 Democratic disaster requests (Politico)

Children at risk

• More than 25,000 children lose previous legal protections, as federal contract ends (NPR)
• Tim Ballard’s group awarded $158 million contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children (MSN/e / Washington Examiner)
• As Trump drastically rolls back rules for Head Start, some Republicans are wary (USA Today)

Elections

• Midterm election fears run high, poll finds  (Semafor)

Security

• Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat (Washington Post)

Environment

• A federal judge lets DHS proceed with a border wall through a small Texas town’s levee system (AP)

Corruption, cover-ups, retribution and abuse of power

• Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money laundering probe (Reuters)
• A Senate Committee Voted to Hold Fauci in Contempt. Now What? (Lawfare Media)
• Trump’s Gift to the Money Launderers (The Bulwark)
• DOJ seeks to shield Trump advisers from Dem probes (Axios)
• Freedom 250 Sponsors Failed to Disclose Donations — A Potential Lobbying Law Violation (NOTUS)
• Under the Trump crypto playbook, the family always wins. Investors don’t (Reuter)
• FBI agents fired over Trump investigation get broad backing in lawsuit against administration (AP)
• Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president’s posts on US policy (AP)
• US appeals court blocks Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project (Reuters)

WORLD

• UK ‘supports Ukraine 100%’, Burnham says, after Russia’s drone warning (BBC)
• UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada condemn Israel’s West Bank settlement project
• US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference (Reuters)
• Hungary faces energy crunch as drought shuts down Paks nuclear plant, PM says (Politico)
• Romania rushes to sink 4 barges in the Danube to keep a nuclear power plant’s second reactor running (AP)
• Bus driver kicked explosive drone out of the air at German airport, lawmaker says (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Economy

An economist who studies financial crises says the US is on the brink of recession. These are the 2 warning signs. (Business Insider)

Tuomas Malinen, an economist who specializes in geopolitics and and financial crises, is laying out a grim outlook for the US. In a post on Substack this week, the Finnish professor said he analyzed several key barometers in financial markets and the economy. The findings ultimately supported the idea that the US is precariously close to another downturn, despite booming stocks and strong surface-level growth.

US national debt exceeds $40 trillion for the first time, fuelled in part by Trump tariffs (France 24)

The US gross national debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, Treasury data showed on Wednesday, exceeding earlier forecasts as borrowing, interest costs and long-term obligations rose.

Children

More than 25,000 children lose previous legal protections, as federal contract ends (NPR)

For more than two decades, the U.S. has been required by law to protect children who cross the border alone, because of fears that they could be easily exploited, abused or trafficked. After children cross the border unaccompanied, they are…transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR.  “The government is withholding payment for work that has already been performed…  ORR did not renew the contract with the network of legal providers, which expired Friday.

Tim Ballard’s group awarded $158 million contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children (MSN/e / Washington Examiner)

The Trump administration has awarded a second federal contract to legally represent unaccompanied immigrant children in court to an organization whose former leader was accused in federal court of human trafficking.  The Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement announced late last week the award of a $158 million contract to Our Rescue, a nonprofit group focused on fighting child trafficking that has been accused by five women in a 2024 federal lawsuit of sex trafficking and forced labor, according to a Washington Post report. The lawsuit is ongoing.

As Trump drastically rolls back rules for Head Start, some Republicans are wary (USA Today)

The Trump administration’s drastic deregulation of Head Start, a preschool and child care program that’s helped tens of millions of low-income kids, is generating bipartisan pushback in Congress ‒ including from members within the president’s own party

Immigration and I.C.E.

ICE’s plan to give officers electric shock gloves draws outrage and fears of misuse (AP)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers gloves that deliver painful electric shocks faced criticism Wednesday from Democratic elected officials and civil rights advocates, who called it unnecessary and cruel.  ICE plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million to outfit officers and agents…The size of the purchase suggests ICE plans to give the device to most or all of its officers…. The notice published in a DHS database indicated the solicitation for a no-bid contract to purchase the gloves could be released as early as Friday, and the contract would last through March 31, 2027.

No ID, No Money, No Way Out: DHS Deports a Man to a Country He Doesn’t Know (NOTUS)

… The 44-year-old Cuban, who’d lost months of his life inside the vast network of U.S. immigration jails, was staring at his new purgatory: southern Ecuador…his thoughts were fixed on the piles of documents that had been taken by prison guards and vanished… A document (presented on landing) was a blatant lie. Bolufé was not an “Ecuadorian born in Ecuador.” The Department of Homeland Security knew that. It was in his case file and detention records and plastered all over the internet thanks to his minor celebrity status in political circles back in Miami’s Little Havana.

Private prisons announce $1.4 billion in revenue as immigration detentions climb (NPR)

America’s two largest private prison companies, CoreCivic and GEO Group, are reporting a combined $1.4 billion in quarterly revenue over the spring as immigration detention closes in on record levels.  Those revenues announced Thursday do not include net proceeds of $1.6 billion made by CoreCivic after the recent sale of four of their facilities to the Department of Homeland Security.

The U.S. Spent $2.2 Billion on Immigration Detention Centers, With More to Go (NOTUS)

CoreCivic and the Geo Group are finding it more lucrative to let the federal government be the landlord. While DHS becomes the landlord, the deals in July and August have so far allowed CoreCivic to get paid for day-to-day operations. This change in ownership maintains the status quo on the ground but could make it harder for local officials to oversee what is happening at the centers in their communities.

ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says (AP)

… The policy says ICE will promptly release video of shootings and other encounters in which its agents cause death or serious injury only after determining “it is in the best interests of the agency” to do so. That gives its director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret, experts on body camera policies said.

Federal Judge Holds DHS in Contempt Over Immigration Agents’ Text Records (NOTUS)

DHS must pay $500 a day until it turns over data from agents’ personal cellphones used in Operation At Large in Los Angeles last year.  DHS must also reimburse the lawsuits’ plaintiffs — five Latino workers and other advocacy organizations — for the “time and costs spent by their attorneys in getting the government to comply” with the order.

A veteran was detained by the National Guard in her front yard. Now she’s suing (NPR)

Anna King was sitting on a bench one afternoon outside her home…in Washington, D.C., scrolling on her phone when three National Guard members entered her front gate…pushed her to the ground, tying her hands behind her back with zip ties… King [is] a retired U.S. Army captain who served in Iraq and earned both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star…. King’s attorneys say that they believe she was approached by the guard because she has been a vocal critic of their deployment in the city for months…

Disaster relief

Trump overrode his own agencies to deny 4 Democratic disaster requests (Politico)

Emails between state and federal officials obtained by POLITICO along with more than 150 pages of documents submitted to FEMA…(show that) Trump’s rejections came after regional offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NOAA determined that the states met government thresholds for receiving aid.

Elections

Midterm election fears run high, poll finds   (Semafor)

Nearly seven in 10 US adults worry about politicians pressuring election officials to change results…And 57% are worried about ballots not being properly handled, counted, or secured… Nearly eight in 10 expressed concerns about gerrymandering.

Security

Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat (Washington Post)

In Ankara, Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras. He was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane — an Air Force C-32A — via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, according to the U.S. official and corroborating material reviewed by The Post. That made Air Force One a “decoy” with media and some White House staff aboard, the official said.

Environment

A federal judge lets DHS proceed with a border wall through a small Texas town’s levee system (AP)

A federal judge is allowing the Department of Homeland Security to go ahead for now with plans to build a border wall through a levee system protecting a small Texas town on the border with Mexico, rejecting arguments by the town that the wall could lead to flooding.

Corruption, cover-ups, retribution and abuse of power

Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money laundering probe (Reuters)

Capital One Financial hit back on Friday against a lawsuit over its decision to close ‌the Trump Organization’s bank accounts years ago, stating that it did so after a review by anti-money laundering experts.  The disclosure marks the first time a bank has formally tied money laundering concerns to U.S. President Donald Trump’s family business.

A Senate Committee Voted to Hold Fauci in Contempt. Now What? (Lawfare Media)

The precedents set in the pursuit of Fauci could come back to haunt Republicans or possibly tee up even more politically motivated retribution campaigns in the next Congress.

Trump’s Gift to the Money Launderers (The Bulwark)

Treasury isn’t merely shutting down an anti-corruption database. It’s deleting the data so future investigators can’t use it. Treasury is by law required to maintain, so that law enforcement can more easily “follow the money” when investigating crimes.

DOJ seeks to shield Trump advisers from Dem probes (Axios)

Executive privilege can shield President Trump’s communications with “private advisers” outside of the government, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded Monday. Why it matters: Democrats have been planning to bypass expected White House stonewalling by subpoenaing companies, colleges and private citizens if they win enough seats in November. The new opinion could create a new hurdle for Democrats should they retake Congress.

Freedom 250 Sponsors Failed to Disclose Donations — A Potential Lobbying Law Violation (NOTUS)

Corporate giants such as Lockheed Martin, ExxonMobil and United Health Group could run afoul of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

Under the Trump crypto playbook, the family always wins. Investors don’t (Reuter)

…the US president and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from their main crypto ventures, while the investors they’ve wooed have taken a $2.3 billion hit, a Reuters examination found.

FBI agents fired over Trump investigation get broad backing in lawsuit against administration (AP)

An association of thousands of FBI agents and other groups are backing a lawsuit filed by three bureau employees who were fired last year for their roles in an investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president’s posts on US policy (AP)

“A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago,” said Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a plaintiff in the case along with news outlet The Intercept.

US appeals court blocks Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project (Reuters)

A U.S. federal appeals court ordered Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to stop construction on a $400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, dealing the Republican leader a major setback in a case testing his presidential authority.  “Each ‌President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House,” and cannot fundamentally reshape it without congressional approval, the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a 2-1 opinion.

WORLD

UK ‘supports Ukraine 100%’, Burnham says, after Russia’s drone warning (BBC)

Russia accuses the UK of escalating the Ukraine war by supplying British-made drones as the prime minister vows to support Kyiv in its “hour of need”.

UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada condemn Israel’s West Bank settlement project

European countries and Canada pile on pressure over Israel’s plans to expand settlements in a strategically vital part of the occupied West Bank.

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference (Reuters)

A U.S. government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at ‌a global conference taking place in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online./ Reuters viewed a video of the presentation given at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, which shows the errant map displayed halfway during a presentation about the State Department’s new health agreements.

Hungary faces energy crunch as drought shuts down Paks nuclear plant, PM says (Politico)

Hungary faces “the most critical five days” ahead as a record drought in Central Europe has forced Budapest to shut down a nuclear power plant that generates 40 percent of the country’s electricity….because of the continued drop in water levels in the Danube River, which the plant uses for cooling.

Romania rushes to sink 4 barges in the Danube to keep a nuclear power plant’s second reactor running (AP)

Romania raced on Thursday to sink four barges laden with rock into the Danube River in an attempt to redirect water downstream toward a nuclear power plant, to buy more time before its second reactor is likely forced offline due to record-low water levels.

Bus driver kicked explosive drone out of the air at German airport, lawmaker says (Reuters)

A bus driver knocked an explosive-laden drone out of the air, potentially preventing an ‌attack this week at a German airport that serves as a major NATO and cargo logistics hub, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.  The man spotted the drone flying low while he was working at Leipzig/Halle airport late on Tuesday, then kicked out at it in what Detlef Seif described as a courageous but dangerous act.

 

 

 

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