ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

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September 1, 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:

 

WORLD
• CIA drone is said to kill Al Qaeda’s #2 (New York Times)
• Mexico deploys 1,500 troops after ‘terrorist’ casino attack (CNN)
• 140 Mexican schools shut down amid extortion fears (NPR)
• Fukushima caesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshimas' (UK Telegraph)
• Luxury, horror lurk in Gadhafi family compound (CNN)

• Astronomers discover planet made of diamonds (Yahoo News)
• Anti-cancer virus shows promise (BBC)
U.S.
• Disaster aid account faces shortfall (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Hurricane Irene and the staggering cost of climate change (Nelson Daily)
• Hurricane Irene blamed for at least 44 deaths in 13 states (Washington Post)
• Did fracking cause the Virginia earthquake? (OpEd News)
• Bachmann says she’d consider minimum wage changes (Yahoo News)
• Ron Paul on hurricane watch: “We should be like 1900” (Salon)
• Make it in America: How we can bring back manufacturing (Truthout)
• 6 years after Katrina, lower 9th ward still bleak (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• NOAA Warns of gap in future forecasting abilities (NPR)

 

WORLD

CIA DRONE IS SAID TO KILL AL QAEDA’S #2
 

August 27, 2011 (New York Times)-- A drone operated by the Central Intelligence Agency killed Al Qaeda’s second-ranking figure in the mountains of Pakistan on Monday, American and Pakistani officials said Saturday, further damaging a terrorism network that appears significantly weakened since the death of Osama bin Laden in May.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/asia/28qaeda.html?hp


MEXICO DEPLOYS 1,500 TROOPS AFTER “TERRORIST” CASINO ATTACK
 

August 27, 2011 (CNN)-- Hundreds of troops headed to northern Mexico Saturday as authorities continued investigations into the torching of a casino that left at least 52 people dead.

Mexico's president, who described the attack as an act of terrorism, ordered the deployment of 1,500 troops to the city of Monterrey over the next three days, the country's defense department said in a statement.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/08/27/mexico.attack/index.html?hp...

 

140 MEXICAN SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN AMID EXTORTION FEARS
 

August 31, 2011 (NPR) -- The casino arson last week in Monterrey in which 52 people were killed really put a face on just how serious the drug violence in Mexico has become. Police believe that arson was likely the result of extortion.
 

Today, we get news that 140 schools in the city of Acapulco will not open for the new school year because teachers, who have been threatened with violence, are too afraid to show up.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/31/140087396/140-mexican-sch...


FUKUSHIMA CAESIUM LEAKS `EQUAL TO 168 HIROSHIMAS’
 

August 25, 2011 (UK Telegraph)--Japan's government estimates the amount of radioactive caesium-137 released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far is equal to that of 168 Hiroshima bombs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8722400/Fukushima-c...

 

LUXURY, HORROR LURK IN GADHAFI FAMILY COMPOUND

August 28, 2011 (CNN)--Moammar Gadhafi told his people he lived modestly during his nearly 42-year rule over Libya, often sleeping in a Bedouin tent.
 

Even if that was true for the leader, it certainly wasn't for his sons.
 

At a seaside compound in western Tripoli, the Gadhafi boys enjoyed a decadent lifestyle that his people could only dream about, while perpetrating unspeakable horrors on the staff that served their every whim.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/28/libya.gadhafi.nanny/index.htm...

ASTROMERS DISCOVER PLANET MADE OF DIAMOND

 

August 25, 2011 (Reuters)--Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.
http://news.yahoo.com/astronomers-discover-planet-made-diamond-180427124...

ANTI-CANCER VIRUS SHOWS PROMISE
 

August 31, 2011 (BBC)--An engineered virus, injected into the blood, can selectively target cancer cells throughout the body in what researchers have labelled a medical first.
 

The virus attacked only tumours, leaving the healthy tissue alone, in a small trial on 23 patients, according to the journal Nature.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14730608

 

U.S.


DISASTER AID ACCOUNT FACES SHORTFALL

 

August 27, 2011 San Diego Union-Tribune)-- The government's main disaster aid account is running woefully short of money as the Obama administration confronts damages from Hurricane Irene that could run into billions of dollars.

With less than $800 million in its disaster aid coffers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been forced to freeze rebuilding projects from disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina to conserve money for emergency needs in the wake of Irene. Lawmakers from states ravaged by tornadoes this spring, like Missouri and Alabama, are especially furious.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/30/disaster-aid-account-face...
 

HURRICANE IRENE AND THE STAGGERING COST OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 

August 31, 2011 (Nelson Daily)--Extreme weather events like Hurricane Irene illustrate the costs of man’s impact on the earth.

…Guided by its research, the insurance industry expects that extreme weather events will become routine. …Although scientists are reluctant to make definitive statements, in 2011, most will agree that there is a strong and growing body of evidence supporting the existence of anthropogenic global warming.
 

…This year, there have been ten separate disasters that caused an economic loss of $1 billion or more in the U.S, beating the record set in 2008. “The “new reality” is that both the frequency and the cost of extreme weather are rising, making the nation more economically vulnerable and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk” the NOAA’s Hayes said.
 

…According to property and casualty reinsurer Munich Reinsurance America, the number of U.S. natural disasters has tripled in the last 20 years and 2010 broke records with about 250. Average thunderstorm losses have increased five-fold since 1980. For the first half of 2011 there have been $20 billion in thunderstorm losses, double the previous three-year average of $10 billion, NOAA said.
 

There is widespread agreement that the cost of the financial crisis of 2007/8 was monumental, but far too few are concerned about the costs associated with anthropogenic environmental damage.
http://thenelsondaily.com/news/hurricane-irene-and-staggering-costs-clim...

HURRICANE IRENE BLAMED FOR AT LEAST 44 DEATHS IN 13 STATES
 

August 30, 2011 (Washington Post)-- Hurricane Irene has led to the deaths of at least 44 people in 13 states, according to an Associated Press tally. Additionally, Irene is responsible for at least eight deaths in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The information is derived from law enforcement agencies, emergency officials and family members.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hurricane-irene-blamed-for-at-lea...


DID FRACKING CAUSE THE VIRGINIA EARTHQUAKE?

 

August 23, 2011 (OpEd News)--Earthquakes in the nation's capitol are as rare as hen's teeth. The epicenter of Tuesday's quake was in Mineral, Virginia, which is located on three very quiet fault lines. ..Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of initiating and subsequently propagating a fracture in a rock layer, employing the pressure of a fluid as the source of energy.

…Braxton County West Virginia (160 miles from Mineral) has experienced a rash of freak earthquakes (eight in 2010) since fracking operations started there several years ago. According to geologists fracking also caused an outbreak of thousands of minor earthquakes in Arkansas (as many as two dozen in a single day). It's also linked to freak earthquakes in Texas, western New York, Oklahoma and Blackpool, England (which had never recorded an earthquake before).
 

…I think it's really hard to deny there's a connection when the frequency of Arkansas earthquakes dropped by two-thirds when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission banned fracking...Braxton County West Virginia also experienced a marked reduction in their quakes after the West Virginia Oil and Gas Commission forced fracking companies to cut back on the pressure and rate of salt water injection into the bedrock …
 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Did-Fracking-Cause-the-Vir-by-Dr-Stuart...
 

BACHMANN SAYS SHE’D CONSIDER MINIMUM WAGE CHANGES
 

August 27, 2011 (Yahoo News)--Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Friday she wouldn't rule out changes to the federal minimum wage as a way to lower the cost of doing business and lure corporations back to the United States.

The Minnesota congresswoman told supporters at a packed sandwich shop that the corporate income tax needs to be reduced because companies are moving to other countries to save money. She was later asked by a reporter whether changes to the minimum wage should also be considered to balance the cost of labor here and overseas.
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110827/ap_on_el_pr/us_bachmann2012

 

RON PAUL ON HURRICANE WATCH: “WE SHOULD BE LIKE 1900”
 

August 25, 2011 (Salon)--After a lunch speech today, Ron Paul slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary.
.http://www.salon.com/news/ron_paul/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2...

MAKE IT IN AMERICA: HOW WE CAN BRING BACK MANUFACTURING
 

August 24, 2011 (Alternet) -- In this highly polarized country, one idea about fixing America's economic woes reverberates across ideological, partisan, geographic and class lines: "Let's make things in America again."
http://www.truth-out.org/make-it-america-how-we-can-bring-manufacturing-...

6 YEARS AFTER KATRINA, LOWER 9TH WARD STILL BLEAK

August 28, 2011 (San Diego Union-Tribune)-- New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, the grasses grow taller than people and street after street is scarred by empty decaying houses, the lives that once played out inside their walls hardly imaginable nowhttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/28/6-years-after-katrina-low...
 

NOAA WARNS OF GAP IN FUTURE FORECASTING ABILITIES
 

August 26, 2011 (NPR)--It's been a record-setting year for disasters in the U.S. There was a Snowmageddon in the Northeast this winter, a huge number of deadly tornadoes in the spring, we had fires and drought and heat waves in the Southwest, record flooding on the Mississippi. And recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that, so far, we've had nine disasters totaling over $1 billion in damages each. That makes the total bill about $35 billion in damage, and we have barely scratched the hurricane season. Irene is headed up to, you know, wreak more havoc.
 

Who knows how much damage we might see from hurricanes before this year is out? How do we track all of these disasters? Well, for a lot of them, we rely on satellites. But Congress has already slashed NOAA's budget, threatening the future of a pair of satellites that do precisely this sort of severe weather monitoring, helping us predict the strength of blizzards and tornadoes. So does this make any sense? Don't we need to keep tabs on impending weather disasters to know whom to evacuate and when?
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/26/139972671/noaa-warns-of-gap-in-future-fore...


 


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