ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

March 29, 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:

Japan

• Japan finds plutonium at stricken nuclear plant (Reuters)
• Extreme radiation detected at No. 2 reactor (NHK)
• Japan’s PM Pessimistic about crippled nuclear reactors (Voice of America)
• Tsunami was more than 77 feet at its peak (NPR)

Libya

• Gaddafi troops force rebels back (Reuters)
• Air rades force Gadhafi retreat: rebels seize the East (AP/Huffington Post)
• President Obama acted correctly on Libya (Congressman Duncan Hunter, editorial in San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Mother “offered cash” if Libya woman changes story

United States

• Ten giant U.S. companies avoiding income taxes (Chicago Sun-Times)
• GOP Lawmakers announce own plan to wind down Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (Washington Post)
• U.S. and U.K. uncut: `Austerity is not the solution’ (The Nation)

Israel

• Israel deplys first anti-missile defense system
• Gaza rockets strike deeper inside Israel
• Israel braces for flare-up as Gazan rockets hit

Other world news

• 6 dead in port city as Syrian crisis grows
• Canada to vote for new government May 2
• Large quake hits Myanmar near Northern Thailand

LIBYA

GADDAFI TROOPS FORCE REBELS BACK

March 29, 2011 (BBC)-- Pro-government forces have intensified their attacks on Libyan rebels, driving them back tens of kilometres over ground they had taken in recent days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12892798

AIR RAIDS FORCE GADHAFI RETREAT: REBELS SEIZE THE EAST

March 26, 2011 (AP/HUFFINGTON POST)) - Libyan rebels clinched their hold on the east and seized back a key city on Saturday after decisive international airstrikes sent Moammar Gadhafi's forces into retreat, shedding their uniforms and ammunition as they fled.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/26/air-raids-force-gaddafi-r_n_841...

PRESIDENT OBAMA ACTED CORRECTLY ON LIBYA
Editorial by Congressman Duncan D. Hunter

March 27, 2011 (San Diego Union-Tribune)--Any decision involving the commitment of American military personnel and combat resources is never easy. It requires as much personal reflection as it does strategic evaluation, all with the understanding of what is at stake and what is at risk. With Libya, it is improbable to think that the decision to create and enforce a no-fly zone was treated any differently.
 

The president and his administration were confronted with a tough choice. Either avoid the fight altogether and watch a humanitarian crisis unfold, or stand with the international community to protect others and assist rebel elements that are outnumbered and outmatched.
http://hunter.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=347&It... 

MOTHER “OFFERED CASH” IF LIBYA WOMAN CHANGES STORY

March 28, 2011 (Reuters)-- (Reuters) - The mother of a Libyan woman who said she had been raped by pro-government militiamen said she had been asked to convince her daughter to retract the allegations in return for her freedom and cash or a new home.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/29/us-libya-woman-mother-idUSTRE7...

JAPAN

JAPAN FINDS PLUTONIUM AT STRICKEN NUCLEAR PLANT

March 28, 2011 (Reuters) - Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan's protracted battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/29/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20...

EXTREME RADIATION DETECTED AT NO. 2 REACTOR

March 27, 2011 (NHK)--Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has detected radioactive materials 10-million-times normal levels in water at the No.2 reactor complex of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/27_12.html

JAPAN’S PM PESSIMISTIC ABOUT CRIPPLED NUCLEAR REACTORS

March 25, 2011 (Voice of America)-- Two weeks after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that severely damaged a Japanese nuclear power plant, the situation is still not under control.

…Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, looking somber in a nationally televised briefing, described the situation at the plant as remaining "very grave and serious."

…Scientists say chloride in the salt could also break open the zirconium alloy layer of protection around the fuel rods which prevents volatile radioactive elements from escaping. Tokyo Electric Power confirms that zirconium 95 in sea water several hundred meters from the Fukushima plant has been detected since Wednesday when testing began there for additional radioactive elements.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Japans-PM-Pessimistic-about-Crippled...

TSUNAMI WAS MORE THAN 77 FEET AT ITS PEAK
 

March 23, 2011 (NPR)--"A tsunami wave that hit a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture after the March 11 massive earthquake is estimated to have reached 23.6 meters in height, a government-commissioned field survey by the Port and Airport Research Institute showed Wednesday," Kyodo News reports.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/23/134793643/tsunami-was-mor...

UNITED STATES

TEN GIANT U.S. COMPANIES AVOIDING INCOME TAXES
 

March 27, 2011 (Chicago Sun Times)--With federal income taxes due in a few weeks, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent allied with Democrats, on Sunday released a list of ten big profitable U.S. companies paying little or no taxes. Sanders wants to close the loopholes that make this tax avoidance legal. Some people call the income tax system with generous loopholes for big companies corporate welfare or corporate entitlements. As Congress returns to work this week--after yet another break--to negotiate over big budget cuts--with social safety net programs facing reductions--Sanders is pushing for corporations to pay more of a fair "share."

The Bernie Sanders Ten, per release....
 

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.
2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.
Full list:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/03/ten_giant_us_companies_avoidin.html

GOP LAWMAKERS ANNOUNCE OWN PLAN TO WIND DOWN FANNIE MAE, FREDDIE MAC

March 28, 2011 (Washington (Post)--According to congressional sources familiar with the matter, a series of eight bills by Republicans will call for hiking fees charged to borrowers in two years and taking other steps to shrink the companies’ footprint in the housing market.
 

The bills will call on Fannie and Freddie to begin to sell their massive portfolios of mortgage investments, which keep rates low, and would take away other advantages enjoyed by the companies that banks and private-sector firms don’t have.
 

They would also formally end requirements that Fannie and Freddie direct a portion of their business to low- and moderate-income housing (these have been suspended for several years) and pay the employees of the companies only what counterparts in the federal government earn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gop-lawmakers-to-unveil-o...

US AND UK UNCUT: `AUSTERITY’ IS NOT THE SOLUTION
 

March 28, 2011 (The Nation) -- This past Saturday, March 26, nearly half a million people flooded the streets of London to protest austerity measures that will likely lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and will result in huge cuts to vital public services. According to Johann Hari and Allison Kilkenny, both frequent contributors to The Nation, hundreds of those protesters were spurred to action by UK Uncut's demonstrations against tax dodging corporations. In fact, as Hari and Kilkenny reported on Democracy Now! [1] this morning, Saturday also saw a large-scale occupation of Fortnum & Mason, a food store which has skipped out on £14 million in taxes.
Hari says the companies' refusal to pay taxes is part of a larger class war: for just one example, the conservative mayor of London recently said that his policies that will result in 200,000 poor people being forced out of their homes will be a kind of “social cleansing.”
 

For her part, Kilkenny talks about US Uncut, the group inspired by UK Uncut, which is taking on corporate tax dodging in the US. She reports that US Uncut has been able to shut down a Bank of America branch in Washington, DC and that Bank of America is just one of several corporations that engage in a tax haven scheme that costs the US government around $100 billion every year. As in the UK, Kilkenny says, there are no revenue problems in the US, just corporations just stealing from their country.

Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/video/159522/us-and-uk-uncut-austerity-not-solu...
Links:
[1] http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/28/this_is_economic_treason_500_000

ISRAEL

ISRAEL DEPLOYS FIRST ANTI-MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
 

March 27, 2011 (Reuters) -- Israel deployed a long-anticipated rocket shield outside the Gaza Strip on Sunday but cautioned Israelis under fire from the Hamas-run territory that they would not be completely protected.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/27/us-palestinians-israel-rockets...

GAZA ROCKETS STRIKE DEEPER INSIDE ISRAEL
 

March 23, 2011 (Reuters) -- Palestinian rockets struck deep inside Israel Thursday close to the urban sprawl south of Tel Aviv, and Israel pounded targets in Gaza in a surging conflict that has raised fears of a new war.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-palestinians-israel-violenc...

ISRAEL BRACES FOR FLARE-UP AS GAZAN ROCKETS HIT

March 23, 2011 (Reuters) - Palestinian rockets struck two cities deep in Israel on Wednesday, wounding a resident and prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to threaten lengthy "exchanges of blows" with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
 

Islamic Jihad, a smaller Gaza faction and occasional Hamas ally, claimed responsibility for the attacks on Beersheba and Ashdod.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/us-palestinians-israel-idUSTRE...

OTHER WORLD NEWS

6 DEAD IN PORT CITY AS SYRIAN CRISIS GROWS
 

March 26, 2011 (Reuters) Syrian security forces have killed six people in two days of anti-government protests in the key port city of Latakia, reformist activists living abroad told Reuters on Saturday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/27/us-syria-idUSTRE72N2MC20110327

CANADA TO VOTE FOR NEW GOVERNMENT MAY 2
 

Canada's federal election will be held on 2 May.
March 26, 2011 (BBC)--Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement in the capital, Ottawa, after asking Governor-General David Johnston, Queen Elizabeth's II representative in Canada, to dissolve parliament.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12872973

LARGE QUAKE HITS MYANMAR NEAR NORTHERN THAILAND
 

March 23, 2011 (Reuters)-- (Reuters) - A large 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar near the border with northern Thailand on Thursday, killing a woman and shaking buildings in three big cities.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-thailand-quake-idUSTRE72N41...