ECM WORLD WATCH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL NEWS

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May 20, 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:

 


US.
• 2012 GOP Presidential candidates: Who’s in, who’s out (CNN)
• Gas prices could plummet for summer driving (USA Today)
• Obama announces ‘new chapter’ in U.S.-Mideast diplomacy (CNN)

WORLD
• Osama bin Ladin: Al Qaeda releases posthumous message (BBC)
• Japan readies new tactics for Fukushima after setback (Reuters)
• War crimes prosecutor targets Gaddafi and allies (Reuters)
• North Korea, Japan trade missile technology (Reuters)
• Israeli-Palestinian violence erupts on 3 borders (Reuters)
• Argentinian Jewish group gets Google to nix hate ads (Jerusalem Post)
• Jordan police use force to stop demonstrators from reaching Israeli border (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. to impose sanctions on Syrian president (Al Jazeera)
• Army shelling kills 7 in Syrian protest town (Reuters)
• Saudi woman defies driving ban (AFP)
• Wind farm ordered dismantled (La VanGuardia)

 

2012 GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT (video)
 

May 11, 2011 (CNN) Video: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/11/2012.gop.presidential/index.html?...

 

GAS PRICES COULD PLUMMET FOR SUMMER DRIVING
 

May 19, 2011 (USA Today) -- Gasoline prices could dive as the summer driving season begins.
 

Gas futures are heading for the biggest monthly drop in a year as demand shrinks, refiners bring spare capacity back on line after maintenance and plants in Louisiana avoid damage from Mississippi River floods, Bloomberg reports.
 

Prices this month have plummeted 16%. The Energy Department said that gas use in the four weeks ended May 13 was 2.3% lower than the same time last year. And inventories are growing. A gallon of gas averages about $3.90 a gallon in AAA's daily survey today, down 8 cents a gallon in just a week.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/05/gas-prices-...


OBAMA ANNOUNCES ‘ NEW CHAPTER’ IN US-MIDEAST DIPLOMACY
 

May 19, 2911 (CNN) - Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama placed the United States squarely on the side of democratic reform in the Middle East and North Africa on Thursday, declaring that the wave of change sweeping the region "cannot be denied."
 

Addressing a global audience, Obama condemned the use of force against protesters by longtime allies and adversaries alike. He also said the eruption of demands for greater opportunity in Arab nations could be used to kick-start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/19/obama.mideast/index.html?npt=NP1


OSAMA BIN LADIN: AL QAEDA RELEASES POSTHUMOUS MESSAGE

 

May 19, 2011 (BBC)-- In the audio message, Bin Laden praises the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt
 

A recording purported to have been made by Osama Bin Laden shortly before he died has been released by al-Qaeda.
 

In the message, he praises the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and speaks of a "rare historic opportunity" for Muslims to rise up.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13451158


JAPAN READIES NEW TACTICS FOR FUKUSHIMA AFTER SETBACK
 

May 17, 2011 (Reuters) - Japanese officials are readying a new approach to cooling reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant after discovering an Olympic swimming pool-sized pond of radioactive water in the basement of a unit crippled by the March earthquake and tsunami.
 

The discovery has forced officials to abandon their original plan to bring under control the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant as they focus on how to deal with the rising pool that some experts see as a threat to groundwater and the Pacific coast.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/15/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE74E0RD...


WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR TARGETS GADDAFI AND ALLIES
 

May 16, 2011 (Reuters) - The world's top war crimes prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, accusing him of killing protesters who want an end to end his four-decade rule.
 

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also asked judges, who must now see if there is enough evidence to issue warrants, for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and his spy chief brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110516...


NORTH KOREA, IRAN TRADE MISSILE TECHNOLOGY: U.N.
 

May 14, 2011 (Reuters)--North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a confidential U.N. report obtained by Reuters on Saturday. / The report said the illicit technology transfers had "trans-shipment through a neighboring third country." That country was China, several diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/14/us-korea-north-iran-un-idUSTRE...

 

ARGENTINIAN JEWISH GROUP GETS GOOGLE TO NIX HATE ADS
 

Search engine's "suggest" options had been directing people to anti-Semitic websites which violated incitement to violence laws.
 

May 18, 2011 (Jerusalem Post) -- An Argentinean judge on Tuesday ordered Internet giant Google to remove ‘suggested’ results for anti-Semitic Websites which appeared on its popular search engine.
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?ID=221167&R=R1


ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE ERUPTS ON 3 BORDERS
 

May 15, 2011 (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot Palestinian protesters who surged toward its frontiers with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 13 people on the day Palestinians mourn the establishment of Israel in 1948.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/15/us-palestinians-israel-idUSLDE...

 

JORDAN POLICE USE FORCE TO STOP ACTIVISTS FROM REACHING ISRAELI BORDERS

 

May 15, 2011 (Haaretz)--At least 19 people injured as police use teargas to disperse hundreds of activists near King Hussein border crossing.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/jordan-police-use-force-to...

U.S. TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON SYRIAN PRESIDENT
 

May 17, 2011 (Al Jazeera) -- The United States is to impose sanctions on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and six senior Syrian officials for human rights abuses over their brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
 

…Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of clashes between goverment forces and protesters seeking an end to his 11-year rule.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/05/2011518164713908756.html


ARMY SHELLING KILLS SEVEN IN SYRIAN PROTEST TOWN
 

May 15, 2011 (Reuters) - At least seven Syrian civilians were killed Sunday when Syrian troops shelled the town of Tel Kelakh near the border with Lebanon to quell a pro-democracy uprising, an activists' protest group said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/15/us-syria-idUSLDE73N02P20110515...
 

SAUDI WOMAN DEFIES DRIVING BAN

 

May 15, 2011 (AFP) — A Saudi mother said Sunday she defied a ban on women drivers in the ultra-conservative kingdom by getting behind the wheel for four days without being stopped.
 

Najla al-Hariri, a housewife in her mid-30s, said she drove non-stop for four days in the streets of the Red Sea city of Jeddah "to defend her belief that Saudi women should be allowed to drive."
 

"I don't fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of," Hariri told AFP, adding she was offering driving lessons for women. Hariri said she was an experienced motorist as she had driven for five years in Egypt and another five years in Lebanon, while she could not drive in her own country.
 

...Meanwhile, a group of Saudi women have launched a Internet-based campaign calling for a nationwide protest drive on June 17 in a bid to get rid of the ban once and for all.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gvGDHKR6WNHRMODi-n8Js...

 

WIND FARM ORDERED DISMANTLED
 

May 19, 2011 (La VanGuardia) reported on Watts Up With That: Mark Duchamp writes in with this news from the Lerida, Autonomous Community (state) of Catalonia, Spain:
 

A judge ordered the removal of 45 wind turbines on the grounds that planning laws were violated. There was no “general municipal plan” establishing a “reserva del suelo” – i.e. the land was not legally declared appropriate for the erection of wind turbines.
Find original Spanish plus English translation here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/05/18/wind-farm-ordered-dismantled/
 


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