ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

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August 23, 2012 --  (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 world and U.S. headlines include:   

 
U.S.
  • Hurricane threat for GOP convention in Tampa? (CBS)
  • USDA eyes whether tainted beef entered the food supply (Sacramento Bee)
  • U.S. health officials brace for spike in West  Nile cases (USA Today)
  • Accused Colorado gunman saw three mental health experts (Reuters)
  • How Paul Ryan and Todd Akin partnered to redefine rape (Think Progress)
  • Todd Akin, Senate candidate: `Legitimate  rape’ rarely causes pregnancy (Washington Post)
  • Bill calls for more distributed generation to guard against infrastructure failures in grid emergencies (Power Magazine)
  • Renewable energy projects on public lands: Obama not living up to his promises (Native News)
  • Indian leaders share concerns about sacred sites (Missoulan)
  • CDC calls for Hepatitis C testing for all boomers (NPR)
WORLD
  • Ecuador grants asylum to Assange, angering Britain (Reuters)
  • Iran: Israel’s existence “insult to all humanity” (AP)
  • Arab spring runs amok: Muslim brotherhood starts crucifixions in Egypt (WND) 
Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

 

 

U.S.
 
Hurricane threat for GOP convention in Tampa? (CBS)
 
August 21, 2012 -- Forecasters are keeping a wary eye on Tropical Storm Isaac in the Atlantic Ocean that poses a potential threat to Florida during next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa.
National Hurricane Center computer models Tuesday predicted the storm would grow into a hurricane over the next few days. Some models had the storm striking Florida or passing close after moving across Cuba as early as Sunday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57497629/hurricane-threat-for-gop-convention-in-tampa/?tag=stack
USDA eyes whether tainted beef entered the food supply (Sacramento Bee)
 
August 21, 2012 -- Federal regulators who shut down a Central California slaughterhouse after receiving an animal welfare video were investigating Tuesday whether beef from sick cows reached the human food supply.
The video appears to show workers bungling the slaughter of cows struggling to walk and even stand. Under federal regulations, sick animals cannot be slaughtered for human consumption.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/21/4745579/usda-eyes-whether-tainted-beef.html#mi_rss=AP%20State%20News
U.S. health officials brace for spike in West  Nile cases (USA Today)
 
Health officials nationwide are bracing for a sharp escalation in West Nile virus cases as the disease peaks over the next six weeks. They worry that this year's high case count could be just a taste of the future, as changing weather patterns allow the mosquitoes that carry the deadly disease to flourish.
Lyle Petersen, director of CDC's Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, said the agency has learned that "hot weather seems to promote West Nile virus outbreaks."
 
Accused Colorado gunman saw three mental health experts (Reuters)
 
August 21, 2012 -- Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes, charged with killing 12 people in a movie theater rampage last month, saw at least three mental health professionals at the University of Colorado before the shooting, a CBS News affiliate reported on Tuesday.

Holmes is accused of opening fire in a midnight screening of the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" in a Denver suburb, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others. His attorney has said in court that Holmes suffers from an unspecified mental illness and had tried to get help.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/us-usa-shooting-denver-psychiatrists-idUSBRE87L02120120822?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
 
How Paul Ryan and Todd Akin partnered to redefine rape (Think Progress)
 
August 19, 2012 -- Earlier today, Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) claimed that “legitimate rape” does not often lead to pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” This is not the first time the biologically challenged senate candidate tried to minimize the impact of rape. Last year, Akin joined with GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as two of the original co-sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill which, among other things, introduced the country to the bizarre term “forcible rape.”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/19/712251/how-todd-akin-and-paul-ryan-partnered-to-redefine-rape/ 
 
Todd Akin, Senate candidate: `Legitimate  rape’ rarely causes pregnancy (Washington Post)
 
August 19, 2012 -- Rep. Todd Akin, the newly-christened GOP Senate nominee in Missouri, said in an interview airing Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy. Explaining his no-exceptions policy on abortions, Akin was asked why he opposes abortion even when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in a clip posted to YouTube by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
 
 
Bill calls for more distributed generation to guard against infrastructure failures in grid emergencies (Power Magazine) 
August 9, 2012 -- Tea Party Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (Md.) on Friday introduced H.R. 762, a bill that encourages communities and organizations to generate at least 20% of their own electricity demand to ensure independent operation of critical infrastructure in the event of a grid emergency.  

“The U.S. electric grid is one of our nation’s 18 critical infrastructures. However, none of the other 17 will function without electricity. America’s grid is vulnerable to widespread blackouts of extended duration," the lawmaker noted.

 
Renewable energy projects on public lands: Obama not living up to his promises (Native News)
 
Representatives of the Department of the Interior in attendance at the listening session on sacred sites got an earful from tribal officials earlier this week in Albuquerque who are upset about the Obama administration "fast tracking" certain renewable energy projects.
At least one tribal official feels the Obama administration is fast tracking the projects for political reasons during this presidential campaign.
http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/renewable-energy-projects-on-indian-lands-obama-not-living-up-to-his-promises.html
 
Indian leaders share concerns about sacred sites (Missoulan)
 
August 14, 2012 -- The Obama administration on Monday began reaching out to Native American political and spiritual leaders to address concerns over the protection of sacred sites on federal land.
Tribal leaders said they're frustrated. Some feel consultation between the federal government and tribes has become just a formality despite promises by the administration to improve discussions.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/indian-leaders-share-concerns-about-sacred-sites/article_5943756e-e61f-11e1-b0da-001a4bcf887a.html
CDC calls for Hepatitis C testing for all boomers (NPR)
 
August 16, 2012 -- Listen up, baby boomers. The government wants every one of you to get tested for the hepatitis C virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a sweeping recommendation official amid growing concern about the estimated 2 million boomers infected with the virus, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. The advice was published in the latestMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
CDC officials say most of these people don't know they are infected and will develop liver disease unless they get treatment that clears the virus from the body.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/08/16/158935794/cdc-recommends-hepatitis-c-testing-for-all-boomers?ft=1&f=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NprProgramsATC+%28NPR+Programs%3A+All+Things+Considered%29
 
WORLD
 
Ecuador grants asylum to Assange, angering Britain (Reuters)
 
August 16, 2012 -- Ecuador granted political asylum to WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange on Thursday, a day after it said Britain had threatened to raid the Ecuadorean embassy in London to arrest the former hacker.

Britain has said it is determined to extradite him to Sweden, where he is accused of rape and sexual assault. Assange fears he will ultimately be sent to the United States which is furious that his WikiLeaks website has leaked hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic and military cables.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-wikileaks-assange-idUSBRE87F0KQ20120816?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
Iran: Israel’s existence “insult to all humanity” (AP)
 
August 18, 2012 -- Israel's existence is an "insult to all humanity," Iran's president said Friday in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, as Israel openly debates whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said confronting Israel is an effort to "protect the dignity of all human beings."
"The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to all humanity," Ahmadinejad said. He was addressing worshippers at Tehran University after nationwide pro-Palestinian rallies, an annual event marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
 
Arab spring runs amok: Muslim brotherhood starts crucifixions in Egypt (WND)
 
August 17, 2012 -- The Arab Spring takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood has run amok, with reports from several different media agencies that the radical Muslims have begun crucifying opponents of newly installed President Mohammed Morsi.
Middle East media confirm that during a recent rampage, Muslim Brotherhood operatives “crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others.”

 

 

 


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