By Susan A. Mahalick

August 5, 2014 (Baja, Mexico) - Want to be outside, see waves splash up onto volcanic rocks, watch dolphins swim by and sea birds perch everywhere? Add to this some of the finest hospitality, drinks and food and this is a sure winner.

By Susan A Mahalick

Photos by Sitara Monica Perez and the author

April 12, 2014 (Baja, Mexico)--Sitara Monica Perez, the woman with the lyrical name, arrived here almost two years ago to accomplish her dream of making wine. She is not only doing that, but also becoming an expert on the winemakers and wineries in the process. Originally from Alaska, she has lived in Costa Rica and Argentina before coming to Baja to learn winemaking.

By Nadin Abbott

October 20, 2013 (San Diego) The 12^th District Judge for Civil Matters in Mexico City has ordered no further commercial distribution of genetically modified (GMO) corn for the moment. The Judicial order temporarily prohibits “the suspension of permits, release and pilot field studies and commercialization of transgenic corn.”  

The judge cited “risk of imminent harm to the environment” as the basis for his ruling, which bans multinational corporations such as Monsanto from releasing GMO corn into the Mexican countryside as long as lawsuits filed by citizens, farmers, scientists and other groups are working their way through the court system.

Health Impact News reports that Mexico has over 100 varieties of corn threatened by GMO crops from the U.S.  Since 2001, studies have found Mexico’s native corn has been contaminated by GMO strains such as Monsanto’s Round-up Ready corn, which contains an herbicide spliced into the seed, Food First has reported.

March14, 2013 (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. 

• Ryan budget plan combines old cuts, new tax revenues (Washington Post) 
• Paul Ryan’s budget: Social engineering and a side of deficit reduction (Washington Post) 
• The hot air in wind power (Wall Street Journal)
• A Lasting Legacy of the Fukushima Rescue Mission: Part 1 Radioactive Contamination of American Sailors (Energy Matters)
• Journalism schools try out drones—and test legal boundaries (U.S. News)
• House Democrats demand President release full legal basis for drone strikes (RawStory)
• Rand Paul's Filibuster: The Latest Example of Why We Need "President's Questions"  (Reason)
• State of Ore. backs Klamath Tribes water rights (Sacramento Bee)
• The fire sale at the White House (Jewish World Review)
• Justice issues order supporting photojournalist taking pictures of police  (Media Law)
• How more than $8 billion in US taxpayers' money went to waste in Iraq (Christian Science Monitor)
• Dow's 'Record Highs' Misleading Without Including Inflation (NPR)
• Dianne Feinstein ignites debate over veterans with PTSD and guns  (Daily Beast)
• Judge: DHS Must Release Body Scanner Safety Reports (Reason)

WORLD

• Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Who is the new pope? (Global Post)
• Francis is first Pope from Americas: Austere Jesuit who modernized Argentine church (Fox News)
• Mexico's lower house passes bill to remove lawmaker immunity  (Reuters)
• Chinese Farmers Revolt Against Government Land Grab  (NPR)
• U.N. Security Council Hits North Korea With More Sanctions After Nuclear Test (NPR)
• Bomber kills at least nine people in Kabul during Hagel’s visit to Afghanistan  (The Hill)
• U.S. envoy walks out of nuclear meeting over Iran's Israel remark (Reuters)
• Syrian rebels seize U.N. peacekeepers near Golan Heights  (Reuters)
• Christian homes torched by Pakistani mob (Christian Science Monitor)
• Khmer Rouge genocide: justice delayed may be justice denied (Reuters)

HEALTH/SCIENCE

• Microsoft fined $730 million over browser choice (Christian Science Monitor)
• Flights from NY airport fueled by cooking oil (UT San Diego)
• National Security Letters Target Thousands of Google Accounts (Reason)
• Newly discovered cell could heal damaged tissue, organs, researchers say  (Jewish World Review)
• Can Milk Sweetened With Aspartame Still Be Called Milk? (NPR)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

February 21, 2013 (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:

NATIONAL

• States join battle over drone fights (The Hill)
• The Voting Rights Act: Under fire (Ebony)
• Sequestration could mean across the board pain (CBS)
• FTC advises consumers to keep eye out for unauthorized charges on credit card bills (ABC)
• Kerry comes out swinging on climate change (The Hill)
• Pentagon informs Congress of plans to furlough 800K civilian workers (The Hill)
• In US, big strides in reducing domestic violence (CS Monitor)
• Farmer's Fight With Monsanto Reaches The Supreme Court (NPR)
• Who will clean up after the nuclear plants? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Alaska brewery plans to use beer as source of green energy (Fox)

WORLD

• Meteor blast injures 1,000 in Russia (CNN)
• Ozone hole shrinks to new low (Christian Science Monitor)
• Journalist rips ‘pro-life’ Republicans for seeking to cut infant nutrition program (Raw Story)
• GOP lawmakers propose $30 million a year to fund cops in schools program (The Hill)
• India farmers’ rice revolution (UK Guardian)
• U.K. Slaughterhouses Raided As Europe's Horse Meat Scandal Widens (NPR)
• A glimpse of Mexico's new crime fighting strategy (Christian Science Monitor)
• Chernobyl hit by roof collapse (BBC)
• The Afghan Battle Over A Law To Protect Women (NPR)
• Foreigners arrested for trying to spread Christianity in Libya (Reuters)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

Travels With A Road Dog: Hitchhiking Along the Roads of the Americas, by R.K. (Charleston, SC, 2012, 364 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

December 26, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--Reading East County resident R.K.s’ memoir, Travels With A Road Dog: Hitchhiking Along the Roads of the Americas, immediately conjures up thoughts of Woodstock to me, and all things associated with that time and place in American history and lore. It was a time of expression of freedom and adventure, which the author certainly demonstrates in her book.

By Patrick Osio

“By virtue of his father’s birth in Mexico where he was automatically a Mexican citizen by birth, makes US born Mitt Romney a second generation Mexican American. His actions against the Hispanic immigrant community reflect a loss of gratitude for Mexico granting the Romney family refuge from religious persecution they suffered in the U.S.” – Patrick Osio

September 14, 2012 (San Diego) -- Anyone born in the United Sates is a native-born citizen. Also, anyone who is born of American parents visiting or living in a foreign country, and is registered by those parents with the nearest U.S. consulate or Embassy, becomes a “native-born” citizen, though not born in U.S. territory. The child thus enjoys dual citizenship as a native-born in both the country of birth and the U.S.

Update, 6:20 p.m.: Smoke south of I-8 is from fire on the Mexican side of the border, per CalFire. A Border Patrol agent told ECM the fire was about two miles south of the international border. 

PAN also rebuked in governor races

By Nadin Abbott

July 2, 2012 (San Diego)-- Enrique Peña Nieto has been declared the winner of  Mexico’s federal election yesterday. Mexico, unlike the United States, has a one-term limit for every office, from Mayor to President. His defeat of the PAN counterpart, Josefina Vazquez Mota, was not unexpected. All polling going into the election had Peña Nieto ahead by five to ten points.

Hooked On Baja, By Tom Gatch, (The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont, 2007, 206 pages.)

Book Review: By Dennis Moore

November 11, 2010 (San Diego) -- Tom Gatch, who has built a solid reputation as one of the foremost writers and photographers focusing on outdoor and recreational topics in Southern California and the Baja Peninsula, has written the definitive book on where and how to fish Mexico’s legendary waters, Hooked On Baja.