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September 27, 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.
- Judge rules Arizona can enforce strict provision to immigration law (Reuters)
- Worrisome levels of arsenic in rice (Consumer Reports)
- Massive tumors in rats fed genetically modified corn (CA Right to Know blog)
- More than 1,000 pastors plan to challenge IRS by endorsing candidates (Fox)
- As tax credit wanes, jobs vanish in wind power industry (New York Times)
- Tesla offers free solar travel with new super-charged tech (RawStory)
- Senators to Hilary: Show us the ambassador’s cables (ForeignPolicy)
- Mormons want to expel Romney critic (Daily Beast)
- Whose next in line for a kidney transplant? The answer is changing (NPR)
WORLD
- Out with color: Islamists force Timbuktu women to wear black veils or face corporal punishment (Observers)
- Fake Italian pilot traveled in cockpit, police say (Reuters)
- Marijuana and cancer: Researchers find cannabis stops metastasis in aggressive forms of cancer (Huffington Post)
- Report: restrictions on religious views rise worldwide (Jerusalem Post)
- Second day of anti-Japan attacks rock China (NPR)
- Man held in revenge plot over Muslim cartoons (Christian Science Monitor)
- Russia reveals shiny state secret: It’s awash in diamonds (Christian Science Monitor)
- Pakistani TV stations air a real ‘made in USA’ video. Will it calm violence? (Christian Science Monitor)
- The terrorist veto (City Journal)
Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.
U.S.
Judge rules Arizona can enforce strict provision to immigration law (Reuters)
September 18, 2012 -- Arizona police can begin enforcing a controversial "show-your-papers" provision of a state law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, after a federal judge lifted an injunction against the law on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, in a written order, lifted an injunction blocking the measure, which requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop and suspect are in the country illegally.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-usa-immigration-arizona-idUSBRE88I00Z20120919?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Worrisome levels of arsenic in rice (Consumer Reports)
September 19, 2012 -- Eating rice once a day can increase arsenic levels in the body by at least 44%, according to a new study from Consumer Reports.The study surveyed more than 60 different rice products ranging from infant cereals to rice pasta and rice drinks and found “worrisome” levels of inorganic arsenic in most of the products. Others suggest, however, the levels are not cause for concern.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, inorganic arsenic has been linked to liver, bladder, and lung cancer.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/19/report-worrisome-levels-of-arsenic-in-rice/?hpt=hp_t3
Massive tumors in rats fed genetically modified corn (CA Right to Know blog)
September 19, 2012 -- The results are in from the first-ever peer-reviewed long-term health study of the most common type of genetically engineered corn – and they are worrying. For two years, researchers fed rats a diet of genetically engineered corn that is common in the US food supply, and found massive mammary tumors, kidney and liver damage, and premature death. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology.
http://www.carighttoknow.org/tumors?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=tumors
More than 1,000 pastors plan to challenge IRS by endorsing candidates (Fox)
September 23, 2012 -- More than 1,000 pastors plan to openly defy the IRS by telling their congregation on October 7 to vote for a particular presidential candidate, according to Fox News.
The annual event, dubbed “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” has been organized by the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom. The pastors participating in the event plan to preach about the election, endorse a candidate, and send video of their sermon to the IRS.
“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/23/more-than-1000-pastors-plan-to-challenge-irs-by-endorsing-presidential-candidate/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=0e2bb3c62d-9_239_23_2012&utm_medium=email
As tax credit wanes, jobs vanish in wind power industry (New York Times)
September 20, 2012 -- On Tuesday, Siemens, the German-based turbine-maker, announced it would lay off 945 workers in Kansas, Iowa and Florida, including part-timers. Last week Katana Summit, a tower manufacturer, said it would shut down operations in Nebraska and Washington if it could not find a buyer. Vestas, the world’s largest turbine manufacturer, with operations in Colorado and Texas, recently laid off 1,400 workers globally on top of 2,300 layoffs announced earlier this year. Clipper Windpower, with manufacturing in Iowa, is reducing its staff by a third, to 376 from 550. DMI Industries, another tower producer, is planning to lay off 167 workers in Tulsa by November.
Tesla offers free solar travel with new super-charged tech (RawStory)
September 25, 2012 -- Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors announced Monday that it will roll out a network of solar-powered charging stations across the United States over the next two years, enabling owners of the company’s all-electric “Model S” vehicles to “travel for free, forever, on pure sunlight.”
Appearing at an unveiling event Monday in Hawthorne, California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the same creative force behind PayPal and SpaceX, said the company’s new charging technology is an important advancement in human history because it could soon free zero-emission vehicles from limited areas of operation.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/25/tesla-promises-free-solar-powered-travel-with-new-supercharger-tech/
Senators to Hilary: Show us the ambassador’s cables (ForeignPolicy)
September 25, 2012 -- Two top senators on the Foreign Relations Committee don't want to wait for the State Department to do its own investigation into the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens; they want Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to show them Stevens's diplomatic cables and other correspondence now.
"While we appreciate the sensitivities associated with this ongoing investigation, we must insist on more timely information regarding the attacks and the events leading up to the attacks," wrote Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Johnny Isaakson (R-GA) in a letter to Clinton Tuesday.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/25/senators_to_clinton_show_us_the_aambassador_s_cables
Mormons want to expel Romney critic (Daily Beast)
September 21, 2012 -- David Twede, 47, a scientist, novelist, and fifth-generation Mormon, is managing editor of MormonThink.com, an online magazine produced largely by members of the Mormon Church that welcomes scholarly debate about the religion’s history from both critics and true believers.
A Mormon in good standing, Twede has never been disciplined by Latter Day Saints leadership. But it now appears his days as a Mormon may be numbered because of a series of articles he wrote this past week that were critical of Mitt Romney.
On Sunday, Twede says his bishop, stake president, and two church executives brought him into Florida Mormon church offices in Orlando and interrogated him for nearly an hour about his writings, telling him, "Cease and desist, Brother Twede."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/21/mormons-want-to-excommunicate-romney-critic.html
Whose next in line for a kidney transplant? The answer is changing (NPR)
September 20, 2012 -- There's some big news out today about one of the most sensitive issues in medicine: Who's next in line for a transplant?
The United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, a nonprofit in charge of distributing organs, wants to revamp the system for distributing the most sought-after organ — kidneys — for the first time in 25 years.
"We're now faced with very long waiting times for kidney transplants that are worse in certain areas of the country than others," says John Friedewald of Northwestern University, who chaired the UNOS committee that developed the proposal.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/09/20/161475405/whos-next-in-line-for-a-transplant-the-answer-is-changing?ft=1&f=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NprProgramsATC+%28NPR+Programs%3A+All+Things+Considered%29
WORLD
Out with color: Islamists force Timbuktu women to wear black veils or face corporal punishment (Observers)
September 24, 2012 -- To avoid being whipped, mutilated, and jailed, women in Timbuktu now have to wear black veils and loose-fitting clothing. Radical Islamists, who took control of the city months ago, are laying down their law – Sharia law – and for the first time since they’ve arrived, they’re specifically targeting women.
Over the past few weeks, Islamists from two armed groups – Ansar Dine and Mujao, who took over northern Mali in April – have increasingly made use of corporal punishment against the local population. This includes whipping, amputations, and even stoning people to death who do not obey Sharia law.
http://observers.france24.com/content/20120924-out-colour-islamists-force-timbuktu-women-wear-black-veils-northern-mali-sharia-law-corporal-punishment-jail
Fake Italian pilot traveled in cockpit, police say (Reuters)
September 22, 2012 -- A man who posed as an airline pilot and traveled in the cockpit of at least one plane was arrested in Turin Airport using forged identity cards and wearing a pilot's uniform, Italian police said on Saturday.
The 32-year-old, whose real name was not released, allegedly created a fake identity as a Lufthansa pilot named "Andrea Sirlo," complete with a Facebook page that included fake flight attendant friends.
Police said they were alerted several months ago after "Sirlo" introduced himself as a captain to a Civil Aviation lieutenant, who became suspicious because he seemed too young for the job.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/23/us-italy-fakepilot-idUSBRE88M00A20120923?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
Marijuana and cancer: Resarchers find cannabis stops metastasis in aggressive forms of cancer (Huffington Post)
September 19, 2012 -- A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.
"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."
Report: restrictions on religious views rise worldwide (Jerusalem Post)
September 20, 2012 -- Legal limits and social pressures against religion have risen to the point where three-quarters of the world's population live in states where practicing their faith is restricted in some way, a new study said on Thursday.
Restrictions on religion, ranging from a Swiss ban on minarets to Islamist attacks on churches, rose in all major regions of the world during the study period from mid-2009 to mid-2010, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey said.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=285718&R=R4
Second day of anti-Japan attacks rock China (NPR)
September 16, 2012 -- It's been a weekend of huge anti-Japanese protests in as many as 85 cities across China, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to denounce Japan's purchase of a disputed chain of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea, prompting the Japanese prime minister to urge China to protect Japanese citizens and companies. This rising tide of anti-Japanese nationalism is now escalating into violence, with some Japanese businesses reporting attacks, while in the southern city of Shenzhen, police were forced to use tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray to disperse the protests.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/16/161228298/chinese-flood-streets-in-anti-japan-demonstrations?ft=1&f=10
Man held in revenge plot over Muslim cartoons (Christian Science Monitor)
September 20, 2012 -- Police detained a young man in southern France on Thursday on suspicion that he was planning a revenge attack on the staff of a satirical magazine which published cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad.
Anti-terrorism magistrates near the Mediterranean port city of Toulon questioned the 18-year-old after he threatened in a message on Facebook to cut the throats of anyone he could find at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a judicial source said.
Russia reveals shiny state secret: It’s awash in diamonds (Christian Science Monitor)
September 17, 2012 -- Russia has just declassified news that will shake world gem markets to their core: the discovery of a vast new diamond field containing "trillions of carats," enough to supply global markets for another 3,000 years.
The Soviets discovered the bonanza back in the 1970s beneath a 35-million-year-old, 62-mile diameter asteroid crater in eastern Siberia known as Popigai Astroblem.
They decided to keep it secret, and not to exploit it, apparently because the USSR's huge diamond operations at Mirny, in Yakutia, were already producing immense profits in what was then a tightly controlled world market.
Pakistani TV stations air a real ‘made in USA’ video. Will it calm violence? (Christian Science Monitor)
September 20, 2012 -- The United States is taking steps to head off new rounds of anti-American violence in some Muslim countries, even as it moves to get to the bottom of last week’s violent attacks against US interests.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Thursday the creation of an investigative board to study last week’s deadly attack on the US Consulate inBenghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of four diplomats, including US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.
The terrorist veto (City Journal)
September 20, 2012 -- Using riots, mayhem, and murder to “protest” an asinine trailer for an anti-Mohammad video on the Internet, the Middle East’s mobs, assassins, and hostile regimes have vetoed freedom of speech in the United States. Not only did America’s overseas diplomatic officers and staff have to hunker down under siege for a week, individual citizens here at home have good reason to fear that if they criticize the wrong religion, the response could be catastrophic for themselves, for others, or both. Neither the First Amendment nor the United States government, it seems, can do much about it.
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