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August 24, 2011 (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 reflecting 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.
• Earthquake aftermath: National landmarks damaged (ABC News)
• White House issues new rules to cut bureaucratic red tape (Washington Post)
• A new era in foreign policy (CNN)
• Gold price drops sharply on U.S. economy hopes (BBC)
• Hurricane Irene marks 1st big U.S. threat in years (Yahoo News/AP)
• Report: Government probe of Standard & Poors (AP)
• Obama plan to review deportation cases stokes heated debate (Los Angeles Times)
WORLD
• Price put on Gadhafi’s head (Reuters)
• No Gadhafi kids in custody: Escapes and false reports (ABC News)
• Analysis: West looks to avoid Iraq errors in post-Gadhafi Libya (Reuters)
• Russian Progress space freighter lost (BBC)
• Large zone near nuclear reactors to be off limits (New York Times)
U.S.
EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH: NATIONAL LANDMARKS DAMAGED
August 24, 2011 (ABC News)— The strongest earthquake to hit the East Coast of the U.S. in seven decades damaged landmark buildings in the Washington, D.C. area, while rattling the nerves of tens of millions, just three weeks ahead of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Though there are no known deaths after the quake that struck at 1:58 p.m. Tuesday, damage overall was estimated at $100 million.
The National Park Service discovered cracking in the stones at the top of the Washington Monument, which will be closed indefinitely, according to the Associated Press. While inspecting it via helicopter the NPS noticed a crack in what they refer to as the paramedian – at the very top of the triangle.
At the historic National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. damage has been confirmed to three of four pinnacles atop the tower, while reports indicated cracks appeared in the flying buttresses around the east end of the cathedral.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/earthquake-aftermath-national-monuments-damaged/story?id=14368908
WHITE HOUSE ISSUES NEW RULES TO CUT BUREAUCRATIC RED TAPE
August 23, 2011 (Washington Post)--The Obama administration released final plans Tuesday to streamline the federal bureaucracy by eliminating hundreds of regulatory requirements across two dozen agencies, an overhaul that officials said could save $10 billion over five years.
Administration officials hailed the reforms, which came in response to President Obama’s January decree to cut red tape, as a way to spur job creation by freeing businesses from burdensome rules that hindered growth.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-issues-new-rules-to-end-bureaucratic-red-tape/2011/08/23/gIQAfAy4YJ_story.html
A NEW ERA IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
August 23, 2011 (CNN)--Back in March, many neoconservatives in Washington were extremely dismissive of the way President Obama was handling the intervention in Libya. They argued that he was doing too little and acting too late – that his approach was too multilateral and lacked cohesiveness. ...
But the Libya intervention is so significant precisely because it did not follow the traditional pattern of U.S.-led interventions. Indeed, it launched a new era in U.S. foreign policy.
…The new model does two things:
First, it ensures that there's genuinely a local alliance committed to the same goals as the external coalition. This way, there is more legitimacy on the ground. And if there is anything Afghanistan and Iraq have taught us, it is that local legitimacy is key.
Second, this model ensures that there is genuine burden sharing so that the United States is not left owning the country as has happened so often in the past.
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/23/a-new-era-in-u-s-foreign-policy/?hpt=hp_c1
GOLD PRICE DROPS SHARPLY ON US ECONOMY HOPES
August 24, 2011 (BBC News)-- The price of gold has dropped almost 6% at the end of the London trading session, a fall of more than $100.
Gold stood at $1,770 an ounce, down from Tuesday's price of $1,876 an ounce.
The perceived haven investment had topped $1,900 an ounce during Tuesday's trading, before starting to drop back.
Analysts put the falls down to profit-taking and hope that new measures will be announced in the US this week to try to bolster its sluggish recovery.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14656210
HURRICANE IRENE MARKS 1ST BIG US THREAT IN YEARS
August 23, 2011 (Yahoo News/AP) -- Officials and residents from Florida to the Carolinas stocked up on supplies, dusted off evacuation plans and readied for the worst as Irene, the first hurricane to threaten the U.S. in three years, churned over tropical waters after cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean.
Federal officials warned the storm could flood streets and knock down power lines as far north as New England.
http://news.yahoo.com/hurricane-irene-marks-1st-big-us-threat-years-071828290.html
REPORT: GOVERNMENT PROBE OF STANDARD AND POOR’S
August 17, 2011 (Associated Press)--The Justice Department is investigating whether the Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The investigation began before Standard & Poor's cut the United States' AAA credit rating this month, but it's likely to add to the political firestorm created by the downgrade, the newspaper said. Some government officials have since questioned the agency's secretive process, its credibility and the competence of its analysts, claiming to have found an error in its debt calculations.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/17/report-government-probe-of-standard-and-poors/
OBAMA PLAN TO REVIEW DEPORTATION CASES STOKES HEATED DEBATE
August 19, 2011 (Los Angeles Times)--The Obama administration's plan to review the cases of 300,000 illegal immigrants currently in deportation proceedings to identify "low-priority" offenders has sparked a debate in Washington and beyond.
Officials said that by launching the case-by-case review, they are refocusing deportation efforts on convicted felons and other "public safety threats." Those who have not committed crimes could be allowed to remain in the U.S.
WORLD
PRICE PUT ON GADHAFI’S HEAD
August 24, 2011 (Reuters)-- TRIPOLI - Libya's new masters offered a million-dollar bounty for the fugitive Muammar Gaddafi, after he urged his men to carry on a battle that kept the capital in a state of fear.
A day after rebel forces overran his Tripoli headquarters and trashed the symbols of his 42-year dictatorship, rocket and machinegun fire from pockets of loyalists kept the irregular fighters at bay as they tried to hunt down Gaddafi and his sons.
Western leaders who backed the revolt with NATO air power remained wary of declaring outright victory while the 69-year-old Gaddafi is at large. He issued a rambling but defiant audio message overnight to remaining bastions of his supporters, some of whom may be tempted to mount an Iraq-style insurgency.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/24/us-libya-idUSTRE77A2Y920110824
NO GADHAFI KIDS IN CUSTODY: ESCAPES AND FALSE REPORTS
August 24, 2011 (ABC News)--Of the three sons of Moamar Gadhafi reportedly arrested by rebel forces, none is actually in custody and, according to the rebel representative to the U.S., one of them never was.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/gadhafi-kids-custody-escapes-false-reports/story?id=14370842
ANALYSIS: WEST LOOKS TO AVOID IRAQ ERRORS IN POST-GADDAFI LIBYA
Aug 24 (Reuters) - If there is one pitfall Western officials appear determined to avoid in Libya, it is making the same mistakes that were made in Iraq eight years ago.
It is not so much the way the six-month conflict in Libya has been pursued, with France, Britain and others providing support to the rebels from afar, operating under a NATO banner and with a U.N. mandate, but the thinking and planning of the post-Muammar Gaddafi phase.
Gaddafi, in power for 42 years, has still not left the scene and his whereabouts and that of his sons remains unclear.
But for several weeks, and in coordination with the rebel National Transitional Council -- now recognized by more than 30 countries including the United States and the EU's member states -- detailed planning has been going on over how to administer Libya once Gaddafi and his backers are gone.
In Iraq, the approach taken by the United States after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was haphazard -- asked days after Baghdad had fallen what his plan was, the U.S. administrator, Lieutenant-General Jay Garner, responded: "I'm just going to carry the football downfield and see what happens."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/24/us-libya-europe-planning-idUSTRE77N55120110824
RUSSIAN PROGRESS SPACE FREIGHTER LOST
August 24, 2011 (BBC) -- An unmanned freighter launched to the International Space Station (ISS) has been lost.
The Russian space agency said the Progress M-12M cargo ship was not placed in the correct orbit by its rocket and fell back to Earth.
The vessel was carrying three tonnes of supplies for the ISS astronauts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14653371
LARGE ZONE NEAR JAPANESE REACTORS TO BE OFF LIMITS
August 22, 2011 (New York Times) — Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.
The formal announcement, expected from the government in coming days, would be the first official recognition that the March accident could force the long-term depopulation of communities near the plant, an eventuality that scientists and some officials have been warning about for months.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/world/asia/22japan.html?_r=2
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