ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

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April 6, 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 global and national news stories include:

 

UNITED STATES
• FAA to order more 737s inspected for cracks (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• GOP budget would remake health policy (New York Times)
• Tapping the earth for energy savings year-round (NPR)
CARIBBEAN
• Haiti’s Michel Martelly: From pop star to presidency (CNN)
AFRICA
• Libya targeted civilian protesters: war crimes court (BBC)
• Ivory Coast: Aid workers find 1,000 bodies in Duekoue (London Telegraph)
SOUTH AMERICA
• Al Qaeda members hide in Brazil, raise money: report (Reuters)
EUROPE
• Libyan foreign minister resigns post, flies to UK (NPR)
• UK prosecutors seek to question Koussa on Lockerbie (Reuters)
ASIA
• Japan stops leaks from nuclear plant (Reuters)
• Japan nuclear plant: radioactive waste continues to pour into the sea (AP)
• Japan seeks Russian help to end nuclear crisis (Reuters)
• Up to 20 U.N. staff killed in north Afghan city
• Ten dead on second day of Afghan Koran burning protests (Reuters)
MIDDLE EAST
• Suicide blasts at Sufi shrine in Pakistan kill 41 (Reuters)
• Israel charges Gaza engineer as rocket mastermind (Reuters)
• Dozens of Yemeni protesters wounded in new clash (Reuters)
• Bahrain says suspend suspend opposition over ‘lies’ (Reuers)
• No votes for women in Saudi municipal elections (Reuters)
• Israel asks UN to block planned Gaza flotilla

 

U.S.

FAA TO ORDER MORE 737s INSPECTED FOR CRACKS
 

April 4, 2011 (San Diego Union-Tribune)--The Federal Aviation Administration is planning to issue an emergency directive on Tuesday, requiring 175 older Boeing 737 model airplanes in operation worldwide to be inspected for cracks.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/faa-order-more-737s-inspe...

 

G.O.P. BLUEPRIT WOULD REMAKE HEALTH POLICY

 

The Republican budget proposal aims to replace traditional Medicare with private health plans. Will this reduce costs?
 

April 5, 2011 (New York Times)--House Republican aides said the budget blueprint to be issued by the chairman of the Budget Committee, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, would slice more than $5 trillion from projected federal spending in the coming decade. Health care accounts for much of the savings.
 

But while saving large sums for the federal government, the proposals on Medicaid and Medicare could shift some costs to beneficiaries and to the states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/health/policy/05health.html?_r=1&hp


TAPPING THE EARTH FOR ENERGY SAVINGS YEAR-ROUND

 

March 30, 2011 (NPR) -- Increasing numbers of homeowners are installing geothermal heat pumps, which take advantage of the constant temperature underground to provide more efficient heating and cooling. Initial costs are high, but a 30 percent federal tax credit can make the systems more affordable.
 

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134602533/tapping-the-earth-for-energy-sav...

 

CARIBBEAN

HAITI’S MICHEL MARTELLY: FROM POP STAR TO PRESIDENCY
 

April 5, 2011 (CNN) -- It was just before Christmas when Michel Martelly mulled over events in his troubled land and concluded that everything had been done to ensure loss for him at the polls.
 

An election rife with fraud had ousted him from the race. Martelly's dreams of leading Haiti were all but dead. But four months of recounts and reviews and then a runoff changed everything, and the unexpected candidate is poised now to move into the presidential office.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/05/haiti.martelly/index.html?h...


AFRICA

LIBYA TARGETED CIVILIAN PROTESTS: WAR CRIMES COURT
 

April 6, 2011 (BBC) The government planned to crush protests by killing civilians even before the uprising in Libya broke out, the International Criminal Court says.
 

The chief prosecutor said the plans had been a reaction to street protests that led to the fall of the Tunisian regime.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12983054
 

IVORY COAST: AID WORKERS FIND 1,000 BODIES IN DUEKOUE
 

April 3, 2011 (London Daily Telegraph)-The single biggest atrocity in the long battle for control of Ivory Coast has emerged after aid workers discovered the bodies of up to 1,000 people in the town of Duekoue.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8423651/Ivory-Coast-aid-workers-find-100...


SOUTH AMERICA

 

AL QAEDA MEMBERS HIDE IN BRAZIL, RAISE MONEY: REPORT

 

April 2, 2011 (Reuters) -- Al Qaeda operatives are in Brazil planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading news magazine reported Saturday, renewing concerns about the nation serving as a hide-out for Islamic militants.
 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/02/us-brazil-qaeda-idUSTRE7312LJ2...
 

EUROPE

LIBYAN FOREIGN MINISTER RESIGNS POST, FLIES TO U.K.

 

March 30, 2011 (NPR) -- A major blow to Moammar Gadhafi Wednesday: his foreign minister has resigned his post and flown to London. The British Foreign Office, in a statement, says Moussa Koussa traveled to Britain "under his own free will." Koussa is a top regime insider, and his departure is sure to embarrass leader Moammar Gadhafi. Melissa Block talks to NPR's Tom Gjelten.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134990991/libyan-foreign-minister-resigns-...


UK PROSECUTORS SEEK TO QUESTION KOUSSA ON LOCKERBIE

 

March 31, 2011 (Reuters) -- Scottish authorities said on Thursday they wished to interview the former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/31/us-libya-moussa-lockerbie-idUS...

 

 

ASIA

 

JAPAN STOPS LEAKS FROM NUCLEAR PLANT

 

April 5, 2011 (Reuters)-- Engineers have stopped highly radioactive water leaking into the sea from a crippled Japanese nuclear power plant, the facility's operator said on Wednesday, a breakthrough in the battle to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, but contaminated water was still being pumped into the ocean.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/06/us-japan-idUSTRE72A0SS20110406...

 

JAPAN NUCLEAR LEAK: RADIOACTIVE WATER CONTINUES POURING INTO THE SEA

 

April 3, 2011 (AP/The Huffington Post) TOKYO -- Engineers pinned their hopes on chemicals, sawdust and shredded newspaper to stop highly radioactive water pouring into the ocean from Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant Sunday as officials said it will take several months to bring the crisis under control, the first time they have provided a timetable.
 

Concrete already failed to stop the tainted water spewing from a crack in a maintenance pit, and the new mixture did not appear to be working either, but engineers said they were not abandoning it.
 

Just how much is leaking? According to the New York Times: Experts estimate that about 7 tons an hour of radioactive water is escaping the pit. Safety officials have said that the water, which appears to be coming from the damaged No. 2 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi, contains one million Becquerels per liter of iodine 131, or about 10,000 times levels normally found in water at a nuclear facility.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/03/japan-nuclear-leak-radioactive-...


JAPAN SEEKS RUSSIAN HELP TO END NUCLEAR CRISIS

 

TOKYO, April 5 (Reuters) - Japan has asked nuclear superpower Russia to send a special radiation treatment ship used to decommission nuclear submarines as it fights to contain the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, Japanese media said late on Monday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/japan-idUSL3E7F42CD20110404


TEN DEAD ON SECOND DAY OF AFGHAN KORAN BURNING PROTESTS

 

April 2, 2011 (Reuters) -- At least 10 people have been killed and 83 wounded in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials said on Saturday, on a second day of violent protests over the burning of a Koran by a radical fundamentalist Christian in the United States.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/02/us-afghanistan-violence-kabul-...

 

UP TO 20 U.N. STAFF KILLED IN NORTH AFGHAN CITY

 

April 1, 2011 (Reuters) -- Afghan protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by an obscure U.S. pastor killed up to 20 U.N. staff, beheading two foreigners, when they over-ran a compound in a normally peaceful northern city on Friday in the worst ever attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/01/us-afghanistan-unitednations-d...


MIDDLE EAST


SUICIDE BLASTS AT SUFI SHRINE IN PAKISTAN KILL 41

 

April 3, 2011 (Reuters) -- Two Taliban suicide bombers caused carnage on Sunday at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores in the latest bloody attack on minority religious groups.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/03/us-pakistan-blast-idUSTRE73217...


ISRAEL CHARGES GAZA ENGINEER AS ROCKET MASTERMIND

 

April 4, 2011 (Reuters) -- Israel Monday charged a detained Palestinian engineer with hundreds of counts of attempted murder, accusing him of developing missiles that the Islamist group Hamas fired from Gaza against Israelis.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-palestinians-israel-detaine...

 

 

DOZENS OF YEMENI PROTESTERS WOUNDED IN NEW CLASH

 

April 3, 2011 (Reuters) -- - Dozens of Yemeni protesters were wounded on Sunday when police used live rounds, tear gas and batons to try to break up demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who called for an end to weeks of unrest.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/03/us-yemen-idUSTRE7310ON20110403...


BAHRAIN SAYS SUSPENDS OPPOSITION PAPER OVER “LIES”

 

April 3, 2011 (Reuters) -- Bahrain suspended the Gulf Arab state's main opposition newspaper on Sunday, after accusing it of falsifying news about recent sectarian unrest and a government crackdown on protests.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/03/us-bahrain-newspaper-idUSTRE73...


 

NO VOTES FOR WOMEN IN SAUDI MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

 

March 28, 2011 (Reuters) -- Women in Saudi Arabia will not be allowed to vote in the long-delayed municipal elections to be held in September, the election commission said on Monday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/28/us-saudi-elections-idUSTRE72R6...

 


ISRAEL ASKS U.N. TO BLOCK PLANNED GAZA FLOTILLA

 

April 1, 2011 (Reuters) -- Israel asked the United Nations on Friday to help prevent activists sailing to Gaza on the first anniversary of the bloody Israeli seizure of a Turkish ship that tried to reach the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/01/us-palestinians-israel-flotill...
 


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