ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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October 24, 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.

WORLD

For excerpts and links to full stories, click "read more" and scroll down.

 

U.S.

Toyota recall: spiders are causing airbag problems (CS Monitor)

Toyota recall involves 885,000 vehicles with leaky air conditioning filters that could cause problems with airbags. In some cases, spiders may be at the heart of the problem that prompted the Toyota recall. Some 803,000 of the affected vehicles, both sedans and crossovers, were sold in the United States. Recalled US models include year 2012 and 2013 Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and Venza vehicles.

Schumer to introduce debt limit legislation (The Hill)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will propose legislation that would make permanent a scheme to take the decision to raise the country’s debt limit out of Congress’s hands. By making the so-called “McConnell rule” permanent, the president would have ultimate authority to raise the debt limit and prevent the United States from defaulting.

Study: Wind power costs taxpayers billions of dollars (Townhall)

According to a new study conducted by Texas Tech University Professor Dr. Michael Giberson for the Institute for Energy Research, the government and wind lobby aren't telling taxpayers the whole truth about how much wind energy really costs.

Obamacare said to take in almost a half million applications (Bloomberg)

Almost 500,000 Americans have submitted applications for health insurance through the online exchanges being run by the federal government and 14 states, according to an Obama administration official.  

California health exchange reports 94,500 application starts (Los Angeles Times)

After two weeks of open enrollment, Californians have started nearly 95,000 applications for health insurance through the state's new exchange. Covered California, the state marketplace, announced the latest figures Tuesday and it said consumer interest in the federal healthcare law remains strong. State officials had previously reported 43,616 complete and partial applications for the first five days of enrollment through Oct. 5. These latest numbers would indicate more than 50,000 new applications through Oct. 12. Those applications could reflect a household with more than one person. The state didn't provide further details.

Healthcare.gov: What works and what doesn’t (CNN)

The government-run health insurance exchanges have been open for business for 20 days. But a host of issues have plagued the highly anticipated launch, making it difficult for both consumers and insurance providers.

Oregon launching new program to tax drivers per mile (Fox News)

Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy

AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a `false choice’ (U-T San Diego)

Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a "false choice" that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday. 

Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare (Salon)

…Nothing these folks were saying jibed with the basic facts of the Affordable Care Act as I understand them. I understand them fairly well; I have worked as a senior adviser to a governor and helped him deal with the new federal rules. I decided to hit the pavement. I tracked down Hannity’s guests, one by one, and did my own telephone interviews with them.

U.S. high court declines to hear privacy lawsuit against Thomson Reuters (Reuters)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether a unit of Thomson Reuters Corp can obtain and sell information on drivers provided by state agencies without violating a federal privacy law.

Protecting Detroit pensions may violate bankruptcy code: judge(Reuters)

- The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy filing called the city's pension funds "unsecured creditors" and stated that any special protections for them would violate federal bankruptcy law. A class action lawsuit against West Publishing Corp, which, like the Reuters news agency, is part of Thomson Reuters, alleged that the practice of acquiring and selling the data violated the Driver's Privacy Protection Act.  The plaintiffs, holders of state identity cards, said that West had obtained such information directly from 29 states…

WORLD

High temperatures and winds worse Australian wildfires (CS Monitor)

Firefighters in New South Wales and Lithgow continued to battle some of the most destructive wildfires Australia has ever seen. Since Thursday, the fires have killed one man, destroyed at least 208 homes, and damaged another 122. 

Oops! Azerbaijan Releases Election Results Before Voting Begins (NPR)

Ilham Aliyev was re-elected president of Azerbaijan this week. In itself, that's not much of a newsflash. He succeeded his father in office 10 years ago. Human rights groups say that he has since suppressed free speech, curtailed dissent, and dominated the official state media; all of which can run up your vote totals. But there was still some surprise this week when Azerbaijan's central election commission announced President Aliyev had been re-elected a full day before voting begun.

EU Parliament urges ending data agreement with US (AP) -- European lawmakers narrowly approved a resolution seeking to scrap an agreement that grants U.S. authorities access to bank data for terrorism-related investigations.  The non-binding resolution on Wednesday followed leaks by Edward Snowden alleging the U.S. National Security Agency targeted a Belgium-based system of international bank transfers, known as SWIFT.  The resolution - adopted 280-254 with 30 abstentions - comes as a major rebuke, and shows the continuing outrage in Europe over Washington's surveillance programs.

China smog: Super smog blankets China city, 40 times higher than international safety standard (CS Monitor)

China smog: Winter typically brings the worst air pollution to northern China because of a combination of weather conditions and an increase in the burning of coal for homes and municipal heating systems, which usually starts on a specific date.

Mexico calls alleged U.S. spying on Calderon ‘unacceptable’ (Reuters)

Mexico scolded the United States on Sunday over new allegations of spying after a German magazine reported that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had hacked Felipe Calderon's public email account while he was president.

Images show new work at NKorea's nuclear test site (U-T San Diego)

A U.S. research institute says North Korea has made new tunnel entrances at its nuclear test site in a sign it is preparing to conduct more underground explosions there in the future.

Did Turkey Sell Out Israeli Agents To Iran? (NPR)

Once, Israel and Turkey were covert allies but ties between the two countries have been shaky for a few years now. And Washington Post columnist David Ignatius reported Thursday on a new twist in the complex relationship. Ignatius joins Robert Siegel to talk about the latest developments

Japan delaying cleanup of towns near nuclear plant (U-T San Diego)

Radiation cleanup in some of the most contaminated towns around Fukushima's nuclear power plant is far behind schedule, so residents will have to wait a few more years before returning.

China to restrict satellite TV stations to one foreign program  (Reuters)

 China will allow satellite television stations to buy the right to broadcast only one foreign program each year from 2014 as part of new restrictions to push "morality-building" and educational shows, state media reported on Monday.


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