ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS HEADLINES

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January 13, 2011—ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about the most important issues globally and nationally.

Top world and U.S. headlines recently include:

 

 

• US Banks foreclosed on record 1M homes in 2010 (BBC)
• Brazil flood and mudslide death rises as rescue goes on (BBC)
• 90 missing in Australia as flood deluges Brisbane (Reuters)
• Dem planning bill that would outlaw threats to lawmakers (The Hill)
• Funeral pickets to be met by `angels’ (CNN)
• Jerry Brown’s budget for California is `honest and very painful’ (Christian Science Monitor)
• Will Jerry Brown’s budget save California? (Atlantic Wire)
• Sudanese Refugees in U.S. Vote on Independence (San Diego Union-Tribune/AP)
• Thousands of Egyptian muslims show up as `human shields’ to defend Coptic Christians from terrorism (Think Progress)
• 14 decapitated bodies found in Mexico City resort (AP)
• More small businesses offering healthcare to employees thanks to Obamacare (Forbes)

Scroll down for links and details.


US BANKS 'FORECLOSED ON RECORD 1M HOMES IN 2010
January 13, 2011 (BBC)--Banks repossessed a record one million US homes in 2010, and could surpass that number this year, figures show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12184365


BRAZIL FLOOD AND MUDSLIDE DEATH RISES AS RESCUE GOES ON

January 13, 2011 (BBC)--More than 420 people have now been killed by flooding and mudslides in south-eastern Brazil, officials say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12180079

 

90 MISSING IN AUSTRALIA AS FLOOD DELUGES BRISBANE
Janary 11, 2011 (Reuters) - Thousands of residents of Australia's third-largest city evacuated homes on Wednesday as massive floods threatened to inundate the financial district, sparked panic buying of food and left authorities despairing for more than 90 people missing.
The biggest floods in decades have so far killed 14 people since starting their devastating march across the northern mining state of Queensland last month, crippling the coking coal industry, destroying infrastructure, putting a brake on the economy and sending the local currency to four-week lows.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BU09620110111

DEM PLANNING BILL THAT WOULD OUTLAW THREATS TO LAWMAKERS

January 11, 2011 (The Hill) -- Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress.
Brady told CNN that he wants federal lawmakers and officials to have the same protections against threat currently provided to the president. His call comes one day after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot, along with 19 other people, at a public event in Tucson. A suspect is currently in custody.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/136895-dem-planning-bil...
 

FUNERAL PICKETS TO BE MET BY `ANGELS’
January 11, 2011 (CNN) Tucson, Arizona--Tucson just isn't that kind of town, says Christin Gilmer.
Gilmer is talking about Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, that has made its name picketing the funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even Coretta Scott King.
But when the church announced its intention to picket the funeral of a 9-year-old girl -- one of six people who died Saturday during the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- Gilmer and others in the college town put their feet down.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/11/arizona.funeral.westboro/index.html?hpt=T1


JERRY BROWN’S BUDGET FOR CALIFORNIA IS `HONEST’ AND 1 VERY PAINFUL’

January 10, 2011 (Christian Science Monitor)--Gov. Jerry Brown proposes a balanced California budget that has something 'for everyone to hate.' A plan to shift some programs to local governments will be a tough sell.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0110/Jerry-Brown-s-budget-for...

 

WILL JERRY BROWN’S BUDGET SAVE CALIFORNIA?
January 10, 2011 (Atlantic Wire) -- How do you solve a problem like California's $28 billion deficit? If you're newly-elected Governor Jerry Brown, you introduce a fresh series of cuts to California's already reduced operating budget. Brown won't officially unveil his program until later today, but the Sacramento Bee already has the details on the governor's plan for "deep program cuts, a June election to extend tax increases, and a broad reordering of state and local government."

Is Brown taking the right approach? Is the state's budget crisis even solvable? A variety of opinions from around the Web:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Will-Jerry-Browns-B...

 

SUDANESE REFUGEES IN THE U.S. VOTE ON INDEPENDENCE
January 9, 2011 (San Diego Union-Tribune/AP) — Thousands of jubilant Sudanese refugees living in the United States turned polling places into victory parties Sunday with chanting, singing and flag-waving as they voted on a historic referendum that could separate their homeland, Southern Sudan, from the north and create the world's newest country.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/09/sudanese-refugees-in-the-...

 

THOUSANDS OF EGYPTIAN MUSLIMS SHOW UP AS ‘HUMAN SHIELDS’ TO DEFEND COPTIC CHRISTIANS FROM TERRORISM
January 8, 2011 (Think Progress)--On New Year’s Day, a devastating terrorist bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. Although the identity of the culprits was not known, it was assumed that they were Muslim extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics. Religious tensions immediately rose in the country, and angry Copts stormed streets, battled with police, and even vandalized a nearby mosque. The riots and heightened tensions between the Muslim and Coptic communities was likely what the terrorists wanted — to divide the Egyptian community and create sectarian strife between different religious groups.
Yet by Coptic Christmas Eve, which took place Thursday night in Egypt, things had changed completely. As Egyptian Copts attended mass at churches across the country, “thousands” of Muslims, including “the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak,” joined them, acting as “human shields” to protect from terrorist attacks by extremists. The Muslims organized under the slogan “We either live together, or we die together,” inspired by Mohamed El-Sawy, an Egyptian artist:
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/08/thousands-muslims-human-shields

 

14 DECAPICATED BODIES FOUND IN MEXICO RESORT CITY
January 8, 2010 (AP) Acapulco, Mexico - Police found the bodies of 15 slain men, 14 of them headless, on a street outside a shopping center in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco on Saturday.

The victims, all of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were discovered in an area not frequented by tourists.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KKBACO1&show_article=1

 

MORE SMALL BUSINESSES OFFERING HEALTH CARE TO EMPLOYEES THANKS TO OBAMACARE
December 6, 2011 (Forbes Magazine)--The first statistics are coming in and, to the surprise of a great many, Obamacare might just be working to bring health care to working Americans precisely as promised.
The major health insurance companies around the country are reporting a significant increase in small businesses offering health care benefits to their employees.
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/06/more-small-businesses-offer...
 


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