ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

April 8, 2015 (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.

• South Carolina policeman charged with murder after video of shooting emerges (CNN) 
• Money Rules: Candidates Go Around The Law, As Cash Records To Be Smashed (NPR) 
• Rand Paul’s terrifying vision for America: the truth about his plan for “economic freedom zones” (Salon.com) 
• Lindsey Graham: Too green for the GOP? (Politico)
• China peeved as Hillary Clinton denounces women’s detention (Reuters)
• Appeals court sides with Obama over 2012 deportation program (The Hill)
• Obama supports reduction in military retirement pay (Washington Post) 
• GPS monitoring of sex offenders for life? Supreme Court reverses N.C. case. (CS Monitor)

WORLD

• In Iraq, a historic Christian library saved from militants (UT San Diego) 
• U.S. supports, would cooperate with proposed Arab force: Carter (Reuters)
• Canadian Parliament backs air strikes on Islamic State in Syria (Reuters) 
• Hezbollah praises US-Iran nuclear deal as 'victory' (JPost)
• Palestinian Camp In Syria Reportedly Seized By Extremist Fighters (NPR)
• Kenya attack targets Christians, putting new pressure on religious leaders (CS Monitor) 
• Ukrainian Protestants Say Religious Intolerance Rising In Donetsk (NPR) 
• Boko Haram attacks polling stations as voting continues in Nigeria (+video) (CS monitor)
• Pemex oil platform fire kills four in Gulf of Mexico, 302 evacuated (Reuters) 
• Latest Trends in Religious Restrictions and Hostilities (Pew Forum) 

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

U.S.

South Carolina policeman charged with murder after video of shooting emerges  (CNN)

A South Carolina officer has been charged with murder after a video surfaced that appears to show him shooting an unarmed black man who was running away.

Money Rules: Candidates Go Around The Law, As Cash Records To Be Smashed (NPR) 

More money is expected to be raised and spent in 2016 than in any election in U.S. history. But, as candidates ditch old ways of campaigning, more of it is expected to be undisclosed and untraceable.

Rand Paul’s terrifying vision for America: the truth about his plan for “economic freedom zones” (Salon.com)

…Unlike Cruz, and many of his eventual contenders for the nomination, Sen. Rand Paul, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday, has offered up a detailed vision for how to change America: his “Economic Freedom Zones” plan, an exhaustive 50-page blueprint for giving the country a radical free-market face lift.

Lindsey Graham: Too green for the GOP? (Politico)

…The South Carolina senator and potential GOP presidential contender is one of the few Republicans left on Capitol Hill to embrace the idea that humans play a sizable role in warming the planet. He spent months negotiating with Democrats on an attempt at major climate legislation during President Barack Obama’s first two years, and he’s received both praise and fundraising help from the Environmental Defense Fund, a centrist voice in the green movement. That could offer a big contrast between Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who opened his own long-shot White House bid late last month with a message of unabashed conservatism

China peeved as Hillary Clinton denounces women’s detention (Reuters)

China called on other countries on Tuesday to respect its judicial sovereignty after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced as "inexcusable" the detention of five women activists. China has previously rejected calls from Britain and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to release the women activists, who had planned to demonstrate against sexual harassment on public transport.

Appeals court sides with Obama over 2012 deportation program (The Hill)

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against an Obama administration program delaying deportations of certain illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. The unanimous opinion from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals comes as a separate case on whether President Obama's expanded immigration executive actions can proceed.

Obama supports reduction in military retirement pay (Washington Post)

President Obama said Monday he supports the recommendations of a military commission that would reduce the size of traditional military retirement pay by about 20 percent and offer a new defined-contribution benefit for troops who leave before 20 years of service.

GPS monitoring of sex offenders for life? Supreme Court reverses N.C. case. (CS Monitor)

The US Supreme Court reversed lower court rulings that upheld a North Carolina law allowing a sex offender to be put under GPS monitoring for the rest of his life.

WORLD

In Iraq, a historic Christian library saved from militants (UT San Diego)

As Islamic State group militants advanced toward this monastery perched on a mountain in northern Iraq, the monks rushed to protect a cherished piece of their heritage: Their library of centuries-old Christian manuscripts. Dozens of the handwritten tomes were spirited to safety in nearby Kurdish-ruled areas.

U.S. supports, would cooperate with proposed Arab force: Carter (Reuters)

The United States supports Arab plans to create a unified military force to counter growing security threats in the Middle East, and the Pentagon will cooperate with it where U.S. and Arab interests coincide, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday.

Canadian Parliament backs air strikes on Islamic State in Syria (Reuters)

Canadian legislators on Monday voted to back the government's plans to bomb Islamic State positions in Syria, a move that opposition parties say threatens to drag Canada into a long war.

Hezbollah praises US-Iran nuclear deal as 'victory'

(JPost) -- A Hezbollah lawmaker in the Lebanese parliament, Nawar Sahli, told the English-language newspaper Daily Star that that the deal gives Iran "global recognition as a member of the nuclear club.”

Palestinian Camp In Syria Reportedly Seized By Extremist Fighters

(NPR) -- The self-declared Islamic State and al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, al-Nusra Front, appear to have cooperated on an assault to capture the camp earlier this week.

Kenya attack targets Christians, putting new pressure on religious leaders

(CS Monitor) -- Al Shabab gunmen freed Muslims and targeted Christians in a 13-hour siege at a majority Christian university that killed at least 147 people. 

Ukrainian Protestants Say Religious Intolerance Rising In Donetsk (NPR)

Protestants from the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine say they are being persecuted by the Russian Orthodox Church. Many evangelicals have left because of a crackdown on religious freedom.

Boko Haram attacks polling stations as voting continues in Nigeria (+video) (CS monitor)

Nigerian residents said Boko Haram fighters were advancing on the northeastern city of Bauchi Sunday. Officials say extremists killed at least 41 people and scared hundreds away from polling stations as Nigeria votes in presidential elections.

Pemex oil platform fire kills four in Gulf of Mexico, 302 evacuated (Reuters)

At least four people died after a fire broke out on a Pemex oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of 302 workers, the Mexican state-run oil company said.

Latest Trends in Religious Restrictions and Hostilities (Pew Forum)

Overall Decline in Social Hostilities in 2013, Though Harassment of Jews Worldwide Reached a Seven-Year High.