ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

October 3, 2013 (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 reflect 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.

• Obamacare open enrollment begins: What you need to know Oct. 1 (CBS)
• U.S. government shuts down as Congress can’t agree on spending deal (CNN)
• GOP puts new price on debt hike (The Hill)
• Why the healthcare law scares the GOP (New York Times)
• Soaring number of elderly women living in extreme poverty (RawStory)
• "For Their Own Protection": Children in Long-Term Solitary Confinement (Reason)
• Fighting fires with aging tankers from another era (Los Angeles Times)
• Immigrant activists will attempt to cross back into U.S. (Raw Story)
• US sending bankrupt Detroit $300 million. Think 'stimulus,' not 'bailout.' (+video) (CS Monitor)
• U.S. deputy nuclear commander suspended during investigation (Reuters)
• JPMorgan In Talks To Avoid Criminal Charges (NPR)

WORLD

• Defected Syrian general: Assad will never cede chemical arsenal
• How Likely is a Nairobi-Style Attack in the US? (Reason)
•  Unleashing Boy Scouts To Counter Drug Cartels (KPBS)
• Two Marine Generals Forced To Retire After Taliban Attack On Base(AP)
• Kenya says 'at war' with al Shabaab, faces security questions (Reuters)
•  New leak at Japan nuke plant due to tank overflow (U-T San Diego)
• Jellyfish invade, shutdown Swedish nuclear reactor (CS Monitor)
•  Pakistan rocked by another major earthquake (CS Monitor)
• Hundreds rally in Spain protesting the monarchy (U-T San Diego)
• Greek Neo-Nazi Party Arrests Follow High-Profile Murder
• Multiple Car Bombs Wreak Havoc In Baghdad, Killing Dozens (NPR)
• China's power capacity will double by 2030, report says (CS Monitor)
• Fugitive Snowden short-listed for European rights prize (Reuters)
• Tropical storm Wutip hammers Vietnam, Thailand (+video) (CS Monitor)
• Mexico rescues 73 suspected kidnap victims near U.S. border (Reuters)

Click “read more” and scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.

U.S.

Obamacare open enrollment begins: What you need to know Oct. 1 (CBS)

Even with the government shutdown looming, a key part of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is set to begin on Tuesday. So what do you need to know for the program's open enrollment period?

U.S. government shuts down as Congress can’t agree on spending deal (CNN)

The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after lawmakers in the House and the Senate could not agree on a spending bill to fund the government.  The two sides bickered and blamed each other for more than a week over Obamacare, the president's signature health care law. House Republicans insisted the spending bill include anti-Obamacare amendments. Senate Democrats were just as insistent that it didn't.

GOP puts new price on debt hike  (The Hill)

Rank-and-file members want Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to return to the so-called “Boehner Rule,” which they say means any debt limit hike must be matched by an equal amount of spending cuts. An earlier GOP measure to raise the debt ceiling included a host of GOP priorities, including defunding ObamaCare and constructing the Keystone XL pipeline, but not dollar-for-dollar spending cuts.

Why the healthcare law scares the GOP (New York Times)

… There is a plausible alternative to irrationality. Flawed though it may turn out to be, Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act is popularly known, could fundamentally change the relationship between working Americans and their government. This could pose an existential threat to the small-government credo that has defined the G.O.P. for four decades.

Soaring number of elderly women living in extreme poverty (RawStory)

According to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), the number of elderly U.S. women who live in extreme poverty has spiked abruptly since the previous year. Think Progress reported that a study by the NWLC showed an 18 percent increase in the population of women over 65 who are living on less than $5,500 per year.

"For Their Own Protection": Children in Long-Term Solitary Confinement (Reason) –

 Solitary confinement was once a punishment reserved for the most-hardened, incorrigible criminals. Today, it is standard practice for tens of thousands of juveniles in prisons and jails across America. Far from being limited to the most violent offenders, solitary confinement is now used against perpetrators of minor crimes and children who are forced to await their trials in total isolation. Often, these stays are prolonged, lasting months or even years at a time… In recent years, seven states – Maine, Connecticut, West Virginia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Alaska – have enacted laws to restrict the use of punitive isolation on young people.

Fighting fires with aging tankers from another era (Los Angeles Times)

Many of the tankers used by the Forest Service are retired military aircraft that are costly to maintain and dangerous to fly. Wings break off, engines catch fire and parts must be scrounged... Critics also say the planes are dangerous. Since 2001, tanker crashes have killed 22 aviators. Six died last year. "It's pathetic," said Tony Kern, former Forest Service chief of aviation. "We have brave aviators using ancient technologies and as a result they're losing their lives.

Immigrant activists will attempt to cross back into U.S. (Raw Story)

At 1 p.m. Monday, Rocio Hernandez Perez and 29 other young people will walk in a convoy across the bridge over the Rio Bravo and head for the Nuevo Laredo border crossing between Mexico and the US. Dressed uniformly in graduation caps and gowns in the style of American students, which most of them once were, they will present themselves to U.S. border guards on the Texas side of the crossing and in effect beg to be arrested.

US sending bankrupt Detroit $300 million. Think 'stimulus,' not 'bailout.' (+video) (CS Monitor)

 At a closed summit in Detroit, US officials pledged $300 million to help the nation's largest-ever bankrupt city invest in infrastructure, public safety and transit, and begin eradicating blight.

U.S. deputy nuclear commander suspended during investigation (Reuters)

 The deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the American military's nuclear arsenal and its space operations, has been suspended during an investigation into issues related to gambling, a U.S. official said on Saturday.

JPMorgan In Talks To Avoid Criminal Charges (NPR)

 The financial giant is also facing civil charges and fines that could cost it $11 billion. JPMorgan is negotiating with the Justice Department over the company's handling of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the housing crisis. Host Scott Simon talks with New York Times columnist Joe Nocera about the significance of the talks

WORLD

Defected Syrian general: Assad will never cede chemical arsenal

(JPost) -- President Bashar Assad will never cede his chemical arsenal, a defected Syrian general said on Tuesday.... / Sakat has said he defected from the Syrian army after he was ordered to use “lethal chemical agents” and replaced them with nontoxic substances. / According to Sakat, the regime has four secret storage locations in the country for its chemical weapons and has also been transferring chemical arms to Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

How Likely is a Nairobi-Style Attack in the US? (Reason)

 How on earth did the terrorists do it? Why, they rented a store....  Several months before the attack, possibly a year, they rented a property in Nairobi’s Westgate mall and began a business. All the while, they were using the property to store huge quantities of ammunition, explosives, and grenades.

Unleashing Boy Scouts To Counter Drug Cartels (KPBS)

The United States has started funding community programs in Mexico in an effort to prevent young people from joining drug cartels.

Two Marine Generals Forced To Retire After Taliban Attack On Base(AP)

 In a rare move, the top Marine on Monday forced two generals into retirement after concluding.... that Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant "did not take adequate force protection measures" at Camp Bastion, a sprawling British-run airfield in southwestern Afghanistan that was the Taliban target.

Kenya says 'at war' with al Shabaab, faces security questions (Reuters)

 Kenya is "at war" with Islamist militants who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall, the government said on Saturday as it faced questions about whether it had received advance intelligence warnings of the deadly strike.

New leak at Japan nuke plant due to tank overflow (U-T San Diego)

Japan's crippled nuclear plant has a new leak of highly radioactive water entering the Pacific Ocean after a storage tank overflowed.

Jellyfish invade, shutdown Swedish nuclear reactor (CS Monitor)

 Gelatinous plankton shutdown the Oskarshamn nuclear plant.... / Jellyfish are not a new problem for nuclear power plants. Last year the California-based Diablo Canyon facility had to shut its reactor two after gobs of sea salp — a gelatinous, jellyfish-like organism — clogged intake pipes.

Pakistan rocked by another major earthquake (CS Monitor)

 A 6.8 - 7.2 magnitude quake hit Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province Saturday in the same area struck by a major earthquake which left 359 people dead earlier this week.

Hundreds rally in Spain protesting the monarchy (U-T San Diego)

Hundreds of protesters have marched in Spain's capital to call for the abdication of King Juan Carlos, the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. 

 Greek Neo-Nazi Party Arrests Follow High-Profile Murder

(NPR) -- The Golden Dawn party has long been suspected of carrying out violent attacks against immigrants, but the Sept. 18 killing of an anti-fascist rapper incited national outrage.  Greek police arrested the leader of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party Saturday on charges of establishing a criminal organization. The police also issued warrants for more than 30 party members — including six members of parliament — on charges of murder, money laundering and other crimes.

Multiple Car Bombs Wreak Havoc In Baghdad, Killing Dozens (NPR)

 A spate of car bombs exploded during Baghdad's morning rush hour Monday, killing at least 47 people and wounding dozens more. Most of the bombs struck areas with large Shiite populations; various news agencies are reporting that from nine to 14 separate bombs were detonated.

China's power capacity will double by 2030, report says (CS Monitor)

China's power generation capacity will more than double by 2030, according to a new report. Half of China's new plants will run on renewable energy but coal will continue to dominate the mix.

Fugitive Snowden short-listed for European rights prize (Reuters)

  Fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden has made the shortlist for a European human rights prize whose past winners include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Tropical storm Wutip hammers Vietnam, Thailand (+video) (CS Monitor)

Tropical storm Wutip damaged at least 1,000 homes as it made landfall in Vietnam. Tropical storm Wutip, downgraded from a typhoon, sank three Chinese ships and 74 people are missing.

Mexico rescues 73 suspected kidnap victims near U.S. border (Reuters)

 Seventy-three suspected kidnap victims were rescued in northern Mexico near the border city of Reynosa after police followed their alleged captors to a house and heard frantic calls for help, authorities said on Monday.