Printer-friendly version
July 5, 2012 -- (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
- Al Jazeera: tests suggest Arafat died of radioactive polonium poisoning (USA Today)
- Mexico’s president-elect may double security spending – aide (Reuters)
- Iran long range missiles attack ‘mock’enemy bases (ABC news)
- Report describes brutal torture centers in Syria (CNN)
U.S.
- Obama, Romney campaign to square off over energy (The Hill)
- Congress passes student loan bill (Huffington Post)
- The bomb buried in Obamacare explodes today – Hallelujah! (Forbes)
- More state leaders considering opting out of Medicare expansion (Washington Post)
- Romney campaign enters ‘message mayhem’ on insurance mandate (USA Today)
- The Nation: Guns blamed for started wildfires in parched west (North County Times)
- This summer is ‘what global warming looks like’ (AP/Associated Press)
- Deadly land hurricane strikes Midwest, Atlantic states (Accuweather)
- A health care Judas recounts his conversion (CNN)
Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.
WORLD
Al Jazeera: tests suggest Arafat died of radioactive polonium poisoning (USA Today)
July 3, 2012 -- Recent tests conducted on Yasser Arafat's personal belongings at the time of his unexpected death in 2004 suggest his body contained abnormal levels of radioactive polonium, the same poisonous substance that killed Russian spy-turned-dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Al-Jazeera TV reports.
Al-Jazeera says its nine-month investigation found that Arafat was in good health until he fell suddenly ill Oct. 12, 2004, at his compound in Ramallah on the West Bank. He was flown to a French miitary hospital in Paris, where he died several days later.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/07/al-jazeera-tests-hint-yasser-arafat-died-of-polonium-poisoning/1#.T_O-KfUjah0
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/07/al-jazeera-tests-hint-yasser-arafat-died-of-polonium-poisoning/1#.T_O-KfUjah0
Mexico’s president-elect may double security spending – aide (Reuters)
July 3, 2012 -- Mexico's President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto will seek to double security spending to around 2 percent of GDP to fight drug violence and organized crime while proposing new tactics to the United States, a top aide said on Tuesday.
Emilio Lozoya, touted as a possible pick for foreign minister, said Pena Nieto's administration would try to boost efforts to tackle money laundering and propose trans-border infrastructure projects to help create jobs, cut business costs and increase security.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/04/us-mexico-election-security-idUSBRE86301S20120704
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/04/us-mexico-election-security-idUSBRE86301S20120704
Iran long range missiles attack ‘mock’enemy bases (ABC news)
July 3, 2012 -- The Iranian military has launched a barrage of missiles at "mock enemy bases" as part of a major war games exercise aimed at dissuading any potential outsider attack, the nation's state-run media reported today.
During what is called "The Great Prophet 7" drills, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "targeted and destroyed hypothetical bases of ultra-regional forces set up in desert areas," according to Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency. The reports did not identify the "ultra-regional forces" but alluded to the ongoing diplomatic conflict between Iran and the U.S., which has several major military installations in the region.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/iran-long-range-missiles-attack-mock-enemy-bases/story?id=16702586#.T_O7iPUjah0
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/iran-long-range-missiles-attack-mock-enemy-bases/story?id=16702586#.T_O7iPUjah0
Report describes brutal torture centers in Syrica (CNN)
July 3, 2012 -- "Basat al reeh." "Dulab." "Falaqa." They are Arabic names for torture techniques that send chills through the hearts of Syrians, particularly the untold thousands who are believed to have been detained during the uprising of the last 15 months.
"We suffered torture all the time," said Tariq, an opposition activist from the port city of Latakia who spent 40 days in solitary confinement in spring 2011.
US
Obama, Romney campaign to square off over energy (The Hill)
July2 , 2012 -- President Obama and rival Mitt Romney will trade blows over energy policy — albeit through a pair of surrogates — at a debate next week.
The Business Roundtable will host the July 11 debate in Washington, D.C., that will span controversial energy matters including the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, hydraulic fracturing and nuclear power.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/235961-obama-romney-campaigns-to-square-off-over-energy
Congress passes student loan bill (Huffington Post)
July 3, 2012 -- A growing number of Republican state leaders are revolting against the major Medicaid expansion called for under President Obama’s health-care overhaul, threatening to undermine one of the law’s most fundamental goals: insuring millions of poor Americans.
The Supreme Court opened the door Thursday when it announced that although the rest of the law is constitutional, the federal government cannot punish states that refuse to adopt the measure’s more generous eligibility rules for Medicaid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/more-state-leaders-considering-opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion/2012/07/03/gJQADvMsLW_story.html?hpid=z1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/more-state-leaders-considering-opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion/2012/07/03/gJQADvMsLW_story.html?hpid=z1
The bomb buried in Obamacare explodes today – Hallelujah! (Forbes)
December 2, 2012 -- Not a chance-and they know it. Indeed, we are already seeing the parent companies who own these insurance operations fleeing into other types of investments. They know what we should all know – we are now on an inescapable path to a single-payer system for most Americans and thank goodness for it.
Whether you are a believer in the benefits of single-payer health coverage or an opponent, mark this day down on your calendar because this is the day seismic shifts in our health care system finally get under way.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/12/02/the-bomb-buried-in-obamacare-explodes-today-halleluja/2/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/12/02/the-bomb-buried-in-obamacare-explodes-today-halleluja/2/
More state leaders considering opting out of Medicare expansion (Washington Post)
July 3, 2012 -- A growing number of Republican state leaders are revolting against the major Medicaid expansion called for under President Obama’s health-care overhaul, threatening to undermine one of the law’s most fundamental goals: insuring millions of poor Americans.
The Supreme Court opened the door Thursday when it announced that although the rest of the law is constitutional, the federal government cannot punish states that refuse to adopt the measure’s more generous eligibility rules for Medicaid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/more-state-leaders-considering-opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion/2012/07/03/gJQADvMsLW_story.html?hpid=z1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/more-state-leaders-considering-opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion/2012/07/03/gJQADvMsLW_story.html?hpid=z1
Romney campaign enters ‘message mayhem’ on insurance mandate (USA Today)
July 3, 2012 -- Republicans spent the weekend deriding a key part of the Affordable Care Act as a tax, but they were blindsided Monday when a top adviser for Mitt Romney said the presidential candidate disagrees.
The Supreme Court concluded Thursday that the health care law's requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine is constitutional because it is a form of taxation. This provided Republicans with a fresh rallying point against the law and Democrats in the November elections, citing the health care law as a massive tax increase.
The Nation: Guns blamed for started wildfires in parched west (North County Times)
July 3, 2012 -- Campfires, fireworks and even lit cigarettes can spark wildfires. In the tinder-dry West, there is growing concern about the threat from guns.
This year, officials believe target shooting or other firearms use sparked at least 21 wildfires in Utah and nearly a dozen in Idaho. Shooting is also believed to have caused fires in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
Those concerns come as states grapple with ways to cut the risk of new fires ahead of the Fourth of July holiday when many people fire their guns to celebrate the nation's independence.
http://www.nctimes.com/ap/national/nation-guns-blamed-for-starting-wildfires-in-parched-west/article_b794b50c-c2e3-52d4-b79c-99d5805de733.html
http://www.nctimes.com/ap/national/nation-guns-blamed-for-starting-wildfires-in-parched-west/article_b794b50c-c2e3-52d4-b79c-99d5805de733.html
This summer is ‘what global warming looks like’ (AP/Associated Press)
July 3, 2012 -- If you want a glimpse of some of the worst of global warming, scientists suggest taking a look at U.S. weather in recent weeks.
Horrendous wildfires. Oppressive heat waves. Devastating droughts. Flooding from giant deluges. And a powerful freak wind storm called a derecho.
These are the kinds of extremes climate scientists have predicted will come with climate change, although it's far too early to say that is the cause. Nor will they say global warming is the reason 3,215 daily high temperature records were set in the month of June.
Deadly land hurricane strikes Midwest, Atlantic states (Accuweather)
July 2, 2012 -- A "super derecho" of violent thunderstorms left a more than 700-mile trail of destruction across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic on Friday, cutting power to millions and killing thirteen people.
More than 600 damaging wind reports were received by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) as the derecho took roughly 12 hours to race from northern Indiana to the southern mid-Atlantic coast.
A health care Judas recounts his conversion (CNN)
June 27, 2012 -- When Wendell Potter first saw them, he froze.“It felt like touching an electrical fence,” he says. “I remember tearing up and thinking, how could this be real.”
Thousands of them had lined up under a cloudy sky in an open field. Many had camped out the night before. When their turns came, doctors treated them in animal stalls and on gurneys placed on rain-soaked sidewalks.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/27/a-health-care-judas-recounts-his-conversion/?hpt=hp_c1
Recent comments