ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

June 2, 2011 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflecting 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 global and national news stories include:

U.S.
• Pentagon to treat cyber attacks as ‘acts of war’ (BBC)
• Judge scraps ban on corporate contributions (Washington Post)
• Top court upholds Arizona employer sanctions law (NPR)
• Consumer spending rose less than forecast (NPR)
• Patriot Act extension came down to the wire (NPR)
• Single family home prices hit 5-year low (NPR)
WORLD
• Killer e-coli strain is described as deadliest yet (Reuters)
• Mladic faces Hague court on Bosnia genocide charges (Reuters)
• Syrian site was ‘very likely’ an atom reactor- U.N. (Reuters)
• Report: Iran aiding Syria in crackdown (Washington Post)
• Japan takes shine to renewable energy (Washington Post)
• 12 years for bomber who targeted Danish newspaper (Reuters)

U.S.

US PENTAGON TO TREAT CYBER ATTACKS AS `ACTS OF WAR’
 

BBC (June 1, 2011)-- The US is set to publish plans that will categorise cyber-attacks as acts of war, the Pentagon says.
 

In future, a US president could consider economic sanctions, cyber-retaliation or a military strike if key US computer systems were attacked, officials have said recently.
 

The planning was given added urgency by a cyber-attack last month on the defence contractor, Lockheed Martin.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13614125
 

JUDGE SCRAPS BAN ON CORPORATE CONTRIBUTIONS
 

May 27, 2011 (Washington Post)— A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that the U.S. law banning direct corporate contributions to candidates is unconstitutional, the first such ruling since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision giving corporations and unions a bigger role in campaign spending.
 

U.S. District Judge James Cacheris made the ruling Thursday in a case involving federal charges against two men alleged to have made illegal donations to the Senate and presidential campaigns of now-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-judge-rules-against-us-ban-on-...

TOP COURT UPHOLDS ARIZONA EMPLOYER SANCTIONS LAW
 

May 26, 2011 (NPR) - The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an Arizona law that would allow the state to penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants. NPR's Nina Totenberg tells Robert Siegel about the opinion.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136690537/top-court-upholds-arizona-employ...

CONSUMER SPENDING ROSE LESS THAN FORECAST
 

May 27, 2011 (NPR) - Spending rose 0.4 percent in April but much of the increase was eaten up by higher food and energy prices. After discounting for the jump in prices, spending inched up 0.1 percent. After-tax incomes were flat for a second straight month.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/27/136712423/consumer-spending-rose-less-than...

PATRIOT ACT EXTENSION CAME DOWN TO THE WIRE
 

May 27, 2011 (NPR) - Congress scrambled to renew three controversial provisions of the anti-terror Patriot Act that otherwise would have expired at midnight Thursday. Minutes before that deadline, President Obama was awakened in France; there he ordered an automated signing into law of the four-year extension.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/27/136704247/renewing-the-patriot-act-came-do...

SINGLE FAMILY HOME PRICES HIT 5-YEAR LOW
 

May 31, 2011 (NPR) – rices for single-family homes have fallen to their lowest level since the housing bubble burst in 2006. The latest S&P/Case-Shiller index for March shows prices dropping in 18 out of 20 major metro areas. The nationwide index fell for the eighth straight month. A glut of foreclosures is a major reason home values continue to deteriorate.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136821017/single-family-home-prices-hit-5-...

WORLD

KILLER E-COLI STRAIN IS DESCRIBED AS DEADLIEST YET
 

June 2, 2011 (Reuters) -- A highly infectious new strain of E.coli bacteria is causing a deadly outbreak of food poisoning in Germany, scientists said on Thursday, with cases in Europe and the United States raising the alarm worldwide.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-ecoli-idUSTRE7511UX20110602

MLADIC FACES HAGUE COURT ON BOSNIA GENOCIDE CHARGES
 

June 2, 2011 (Reuters) -- Ratko Mladic will face his judges at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday to answer charges of genocide in the Bosnia war.
 

The former Bosnian Serb Army commander, once a burly and intimidating figure on the battlefield, is now in frail health, looking much older than his 69 years.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/03/us-mladic-tribunal-idUSTRE7516...
 

SYRIA SITE WAS “VERY LIKELY” AN ATOM REACTOR: U.N.
 

May 24, 2011 (Reuters) - A Syrian site bombed by Israel in 2007 was "very likely" to have been a nuclear reactor, the U.N. atomic agency said in a report, a conclusion which may lead to Damascus being referred to the U.N. Security Council.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/us-nuclear-syria-iaea-idUSTRE7...

REPORT: IRAN AIDING SYRIA IN CRACKDOWN
 

May 27, 2011 (Washington Post)--U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force — into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran’s most important ally in the region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-reportedly-ai...
 

JAPAN TAKES SHINE TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
 

May 27, 2011 (Washington Post)--In the now-abandoned town of Futuba, inside the 12-mile evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a sign that arches over the entrance to a main street reads: “Nuclear power is the energy of a bright tomorrow.”
 

But today, as workers continue their struggle to contain radioactive leakage at the plant, resource-poor Japan has been forced to scale back that commitment to nuclear power and is scrambling to find alternatives. A new energy policy, which Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan began to outline this week, would emphasize solar and wind power and require pricey investment and yet-to-be-determined innovation.
 

In a speech this week, Kan mentioned several precise targets. By 2020, he said, solar power should cost one-third of what it does now. By 2030, it should be down to one-sixth. And in a decade or so, Japan should be receiving 20 percent of its total energy supply from renewable sources, more than doubling the current share. Kan also said that, by 2030, about 10 million buildings should have solar panels.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-takes-a-shine-to-...

JAPAN MOVES TO PROTECT CHILDREN AS NEW NUCLEAR LEAK REVEALED
 

May 27, 2011 (Reuters)- (Reuters) - Japan will pay schools near the quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to remove radioactive top soil and set a lower radiation exposure limit for schoolchildren after a growing outcry over health risks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/27/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE74P217...
 

12 YEARS FOR BOMBER WHO TARGETED DANISH NEWSPAPER
 

May 31, 2011 (Reuters) - A man was jailed for 12 years Tuesday for triggering an explosion in a Danish hotel while preparing a letter bomb to send to a Danish newspaper that had stirred controversy with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/31/us-denmark-bomber-sentence-idU...