ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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January 14, 2016 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect 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.

WORLD

Middle East

Europe, Asia and Africa

Mexico

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Obama’s last State of the Union: Strong on energy and climate (Huffington Post)

Last night President Obama took a quasi-victory lap during his last State of the Union address. He laid out four big themes that boiled down to fairness and opportunity, using technology to solve our biggest challenges, keeping us safe, and more civility (and actual progress) in politics.

Nikki Haley’s speech divides the Republican field (Politico)

Nikki Haley was not shy about calling out her party to step it up during her GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address Tuesday, but the South Carolina governor's speech turned out to be a litmus test for the Republicans running for president: Establishment candidates praised it, while the political outsiders criticized her for going after people in her own party. During her speech, Haley warned against "the siren call of the angriest voices" — a comment universally interpreted as a laser aimed at Donald Trump.

Clinton attacks produce windfall of campaign cash for Sanders (Washington Post)

Sanders’s underdog campaign said it is seeing a surge of contributions as a direct result of the new attention it is getting from the Democratic front-runner, with money coming in at a clip nearly four times the average daily rate reported in the last quarter of 2015.

U.S. bomb  ‘millions’ in ISIS cash (CNN)

In an extremely unusual airstrike, the U.S. dropped bombs Sunday in central Mosul, Iraq, destroying a building containing huge amounts of cash ISIS was using to pay its troops and for ongoing operations, two U.S. defense officials told CNN.

Deportation raids to continue despite outcry (Washington Post)

It is quiet now, a little too quiet, along the suburban avenues lined with Salvadoran pupusa shops and Guatemalan bakeries. The stores are emptier than usual, and some of the waitresses and clerks are not showing up at work. Everyone seems to know about last weekend’s raids, when immigration agents pounded on doors before dawn and took mothers and children away.

Two Middle East refugees arrested in U.S. on terrorism charges (Reuters)

Two men from the Middle East who came to the United States as refugees were arrested on federal terrorism charges in California and Texas for supporting Islamic militant groups…Both men are Palestinians who were born in Iraq. 

Anti-Semitic letter sent to officials in New York towns(JPost)

Police in Rockland County in New York State are investigating the origins of an anti-Semitic letter sent to mayors and other town officials… If tracked down, the author of the letter could face a harassment charge, but police would also weigh whether the act constitutes a hate crime.

A blizzard's toll: 30,000 dairy cows (Marketplace.org)

Though the numbers are still being calculated, it looks like more than 30,000 cows are dead because of a blizzard over Christmas weekend in Texas and New Mexico. Tara Vander Dussen runs Rajen Dairy in Clovis, New Mexico.

Study: Mexico violence caused drop in male life expectancy (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A new study suggests that Mexico's drug violence was so bad at its peak that it apparently caused the nation's male life expectancy to drop by several months.

Do old US Coast Guard cables present a risk of explosion? (CS Monitor)

Old US Coast Guard cables, similar to one involved in an explosion at a Rhode Island beach last summer, have been reported in 48 areas throughout the US. States and the Coast Guard are uncertain about what to do with them.

WORLD

Middle East

Dying in slow motion: Videos show horror of Syrian town’s starvation (CBS)

Disturbing new evidence of the barbarity of Syria's civil war, now nearly five years old, has emerged on social media.Not far from the capital, the town of Madaya is being starved by the dictator's forces. Men, women and children are "dying in slow motion," as one resident put it.

Syria to allow aid to starving residents after release of graphic images (CS Monitor)

More than 40,000 people are trapped in the city of Madaya, including at least 20,000 civilians. Pro-government forces have been surrounding the city for months, cutting off supplies.

Israel busts Hamas terror cell planning abduction and murder (JPost)

The Shin Bet intelligence agency thwarted a Hamas plot last month to kidnap and murder Israelis and trade their bodies for Palestinian prisoners, security forces said on Thursday.

Iran Offers A Rare Peek At An Underground 'Missile City’  (NPR)

At a time when regional tensions are running hot, Iran has taken the unusual step of displaying its missiles that are stored in a vast underground complex...There appear to be long-range ballistic missiles, which United Nations experts say are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Bombs laid by Islamic State hamper Iraqi troops in Ramadi after victory (Reuters)

 Islamic State militants left Ramadi's streets and buildings boobytrapped with bombs, hampering efforts to rebuild the city two weeks after Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces claimed victory against the militant group there, officials said.

Hezbollah commanders say Russia directly arming them with long-range missiles (JPost)

Lebanon's Hezbollah is surreptitiously being armed by Russia, the Daily Beast reported Sunday, with no conditions being placed on the acceptable use of the traded arms. 

Few Russian strikes in Syria are against Islamic State, U.S. official says (Reuters)

Only a third of Russia's air strikes in Syria are targeting Islamic State and its imprecise attacks are forcing the population to flee, fuelling Europe's refugee crisis, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday.

Europe, Asia and Africa

Paris police shoot dead knife-wielding man on Charlie Hebdo anniversary (Reuters)

Paris police shot dead on Thursday a man wielding a knife after he tried to enter a police station shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.

Cameron upbeat but poll shows Britons tilting toward leaving EU (Reuters)

A majority of Britons who have made up their minds would vote to leave the European Union in a forthcoming referendum, making Britain by far the most reluctant member of the 28-nation bloc, an opinion poll published on Thursday showed.

In wake of Cologne attacks, Germans ask: Are we handling immigration honestly? CS Monitor

At least some of those suspected of a rash of sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne on New Year's Eve are asylum seekers – leading some Germans to wonder whether their country has ignored uncomfortable aspects of immigration. ..police described the suspects as “Arab or North African,” and the government confirmed today that half of them so far are asylum seekers

'Mein Kampf' back in print. Informative or inflammatory? (CS Monitor)

An annotated version of the book in which Hitler laid out his Nazi ideology has been republished for the first time in 70 years in Germany

After Israelis barred from Malaysia, World Sailing to draft new guidelines (JPost)

World Sailing said it will level sanctions against any host nation that doesn't allow competitors from all countries to participate equally after Israel's windsurfers were not able to take part in the Youth World Sailing Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia earlier this month…. to defend their titles.

South Africa: Drought leads to failed crops, water shortages (AP)

The main street of this dusty South African town is lined with empty buckets, marking each residents' place in line as they wait for their daily water ration to be brought in by unreliable trucks…. / Weather officials said Sunday that just in the past week there have been 11 fatalities from heatstroke in the North West province after a week of record high temperatures.

Mexico

Mexican drug lord El Chapo captured  (Reuters)

Mexico recaptured the world's top drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in a pre-dawn shootout and chase through drains on Friday, returning him to the same prison he escaped from six months ago, in a boost for the beleaguered government.

Interview With 'El Chapo' Draws Backlash From Mexican Journalists( NPR)

….to describe Penn's meeting with Guzmán as an interview "is an epic insult to journalists who died in the name of truth.”

Study: Mexico violence caused drop in male life expectancy (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A new study suggests that Mexico's drug violence was so bad at its peak that it apparently caused the nation's male life expectancy to drop by several months.

 


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