ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

April 17, 2014 (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 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.

• IRS Chasing Children For Dead Parents' Debts (NPR)
• Three border officials face charges (SD Reader)
• A look at chances of getting audited by IRS (UT San Diego)
• Obama Administration Slapped With 'Muzzle Awards' for Threatening Free Expression (Reason)
• Senate report: Interrogation methods 'far worse' than CIA acknowledged (CS Monitor)
•  Three people killed in shootings at Jewish centers in Kansas (Reuters)

WORLD

• Water flows to Colorado River Delta  (U-T San Diego)
• Rwanda, the world's swiftest genocide (CS Monitor)
• (2 powerful earthquakes hit Solomon Islands (AP)
• A look at Ukraine's fast-growing Russian gas bill (UT San Diego)
• Can Russia's military fly without Ukraine's parts? (CS Monitor)

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

U.S.

IRS Chasing Children For Dead Parents' Debts (NPR)

 The IRS is going after taxpayers to pay their deceased parents' decades-old debts. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Marc Fisher of The Washington Post about the collection efforts. 

Three border officials face charges (SD Reader)

On Tuesday (April 8), the United States Office of Special Counsel filed complaints against three Customs and Border Protection officials, alleging they unlawfully manipulated the hiring process to put the favored candidates of Alan Bersin — assistant secretary of international affairs and chief diplomatic officer for the Department of Homeland Security — in career appointments.

A look at chances of getting audited by IRS (UT San Diego)

The Internal Revenue Service audited less than 1 percent of the income tax returns filed last year. But your odds of getting audited vary greatly, depending on income.

Obama Administration Slapped With 'Muzzle Awards' for Threatening Free Expression (Reason)

(Reason) -- In its write-up of the Justice Department, the Center points out that "the current administration has pursued more prosecutions for leaks under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined."  

Senate report: Interrogation methods 'far worse' than CIA acknowledged (CS Monitor)

 Lawmakers and the CIA are wrangling over releasing details of a Senate report on the “enhanced interrogation” techniques used on terrorist suspects. Leaked portions of the report say such techniques were “brutal and far worse” than the agency acknowledged.

Three people killed in shootings at Jewish centers in Kansas (Reuters)

 Three people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed on Sunday at two different Jewish community facilities in the Kansas City area, and a man was in custody as police investigated whether the shootings were anti-Semitic, authorities said....  The suspect was identified as Frazier Glenn Cross, Jr., 73, by authorities in Kansas, and by the Southern Poverty Law Center as Frazier Glenn Miller, a longtime anti-Semite who is the former grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan....

WORLD

Water flows to Colorado River Delta  (U-T San Diego)

Fresh infusions of water reached a key Colorado River restoration site in Baja California this week as part of a bi-national effort aimed at reviving the river’s few remaining natural areas in Mexico…

Rwanda, the world's swiftest genocide (CS Monitor)

 Initially reported to be spontaneous, 1994's genocide was long planned, and left more than 800,000 people dead, including about 70 percent of all the Tutsis in Rwanda

2 powerful earthquakes hit Solomon Islands (AP) — Two strong earthquakes struck the Solomon Islands on Sunday, triggering tsunami warnings, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.  …The Solomon Islands, home to 600,000 people, was already reeling from devastating flash floods that struck Honiara and other areas April 3. The floods have killed 23 people and left 9,000 more homeless. Herming said up to 30 more people remain missing.

A look at Ukraine's fast-growing Russian gas bill (UT San Diego)

The amount Russia says it is owed by Ukraine's cash-strapped government for natural gas has ballooned as if by magic — from $1.7 billion at the beginning of April to a staggering $35.4 billion, according to a letter sent by President Vladimir Putin this week to 18 European leaders

Can Russia's military fly without Ukraine's parts? (CS Monitor)

Russia's sleek new military machine, currently poised on Ukraine's eastern borders, has a problem: It runs on components produced in Ukraine, which are still being delivered by Ukrainian companies.  And now, Ukraine's beleaguered interim government is warning that it might call a halt to all arms supplies to Russia: "Manufacturing products for Russia that will later be aimed against us would be complete insanity," Vitaliy Yarema, Kiev's first deputy prime minister, said.