ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

December 4, 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.

• Health law business site delayed one year (UT San Diego)
• Boeing: 15 airlines warned over high-altitude ice (BBC)
• Reid, Democrats trigger ‘nuclear’ option, eliminate filibusters on most nominees (Washington Post)
• Reason Foundation Study Details Depths of Green Energy Crony Capitalism (Reason)
• Obama: Iran nuclear deal limits Iran ability to create nuclear weapons (CNN)
• Ford recalls 2013 Escape SUVs for seventh time (Reuters)
• Pot smokers arrested for DUI: A record high in Washington (CS Monitor)
• U.S. May Be Producing 50 Percent More Methane Than EPA Thinks (NPR)
• Judge Suspends Sentencing Of Would-Be Bomber After NSA Revelations(NPR)
• Intelligence committee heads: Terror threat rising  (AP)

 WORLD

• Pope Francis attacks ‘tyranny’ of unfettered capitalism,’idolatry of money’ (ABC news)
• Pope ramps up charity to be near poor, sick (USA Today)
•  Israel says kills three Qaeda-linked militants in West Bank (Reuters)
•  Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, Turkey retaliates (Reuters)
•  Tiananmen Square attack was 'jihadi operation,' claims Islamist group (CS Monitor)
•  Islamist rebels capture Syria's largest oilfield: activists (Reuters)
•  Adulterers may be stoned under new Afghan law, official says  (Reuters)
•  Iran says to continue building at Arak nuclear site despite deal
• Syrian refugee children are becoming the family breadwinners (CS Monitor)
• Dutch privacy watchdog says Google breaks data law (Reuters)
• North Korea says U.S. citizen Merrill E. Newman is a criminal, arrested for hostile acts (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Health law business site delayed one year (UT San Diego)

The Obama administration is delaying yet another aspect of the health care law, putting off until next November the launch of an online health insurance marketplace for small businesses….In a conference call with reporters, administration officials said employers who want to buy marketplace plans for their workers now will need to go through an agent, broker or insurance company this year, instead of using a government website. The administration said the plan will still allow small businesses to buy coverage but avoid slowing technical repairs to the hobbled federal online site.

Supreme Court to take up Obamacare contraception case (CNN)

The high-stakes fight over implementing parts of the troubled health care reform law will move to the U.S. Supreme Court in coming months, in a dispute involving coverage for contraceptives and "religious liberty."

Boeing: 15 airlines warned over high-altitude ice (BBC)

 Fifteen airlines have been warned about the risk of ice forming on Boeing's new 747-8 and 787 Dreamliner planes. The issue - affecting some types of engines made by General Electric when planes fly near high-level thunderstorms - prompted Japan Airlines to cancel two international routes.There have been six incidents since April when aircraft powered by GE engines lost power at high altitude.

Reid, Democrats trigger ‘nuclear’ option, eliminate filibusters on most nominees (Washington Post)

Senate Democrats took the dramatic step Thursday of eliminating filibusters for most nominations by presidents, a power play they said was necessary to fix a broken system but one that Republicans said will only rupture it further. Democrats used a rare parliamentary move to change the rules so that federal judicial nominees and executive-office appointments can advance to confirmation votes by a simple majority of senators, rather than the 60-vote supermajority that has been the standard for nearly four decades.

 Reason Foundation Study Details Depths of Green Energy Crony Capitalism

A new Reason Foundation study finds 22 out of 26 projects were rated as “junk” grade investments before they were awarded taxpayer-backed loans as part of the Department of Energy’s Section 1705 loan program, which was part of the 2009 stimulus bill that focused on renewable energy, electric power transmission, and biofuels projects..According to the Reason Foundation study, the companies that spent the most on lobbying received the biggest Section 1705 loans…Also of note: The completed projects so have far produced less than 100 permanent jobs.

Obama: Iran nuclear deal limits Iran ability to create nuclear weapons (CNN)

A historic deal was struck early Sunday between Iran and six world powers over Tehran's nuclear program that slows the country's nuclear development program in exchange for lifting some sanctions while a more formal agreement is worked out.

Ford recalls 2013 Escape SUVs for seventh time (Reuters)

 Ford Motor Co's bad safety streak with its 2013 Escape continued on Tuesday as the automaker issued two more recalls for the second most popular sport utility vehicle in the U.S. market.

Pot smokers arrested for DUI: A record high in Washington (CS Monitor)

In the first six months with pot legal in the state, 745 drivers stopped by police tested positive for the drug's psychoactive ingredient, THC, in their blood, the data show. Over half of those were over the state's new legal limit of 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. By contrast, in each of the last two full years, about 1,000 drivers who were pulled over tested positive for THC. The increase comes despite the fact that recreational-use pot stores will not open in Washington state until next year.

U.S. May Be Producing 50 Percent More Methane Than EPA Thinks (NPR)

Previous estimates of the climate-warming gas were based on the rough number of methane-emitting sources on the ground — such as factories, refineries, stoves, swamps, landfills and cattle herds. But by directly measuring levels of methane in the air instead, a new study puts the total much higher.

Judge Suspends Sentencing Of Would-Be Bomber After NSA Revelations(NPR)

The sentencing of a Somali-American man convicted of trying to bomb a holiday tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., in 2010 is in limbo. The hold comes days after the Justice Department notified his lawyers that part of the case against him had been "derived from" secret NSA electronic surveillance.

Intelligence committee heads: Terror threat rising  (AP)

 The leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees say the terrorism threat against the United States is increasing and Americans aren't as safe as they were a year or two ago. / Sen. Dianne Feinstein says there are more terrorist groups than ever, with more sophisticated and hard-to-detect bombs. The California Democrat says — quote — "there is huge malevolence out there."

WORLD

Pope Francis attacks ‘tyranny’ of unfettered capitalism,’idolatry of money’ (ABC news)

Pope Francis called for renewal of the Roman Catholic Church and attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny," urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality in the first major work he has authored alone as pontiff.

Pope ramps up charity to be near poor, sick (USA Today)

 When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was known to sneak out at night and break bread with the homeless, sit with them literally on the street and eat with them, as part of his aim to share the plight of the poor and let them know someone cared. That's not so easy to do now that he's pope. But Francis is still providing one-on-one doses of emergency assistance to the poor, sick and aged through a trusted archbishop. Konrad Krajewski is the Vatican Almoner, a centuries-old job of handing out alms — and Francis has ramped up the job to make it a hands-on extension of his own personal charity.

Israel says kills three Qaeda-linked militants in West Bank (Reuters)

 Israeli security officials said their forces killed three Palestinian militants on Tuesday who were part of an al Qaeda-linked network in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, which administers the territory, denied the three had had any relation to al Qaeda and accused Israeli of setting out to kill the men

Egypt expels Turkish ambassador, Turkey retaliates (Reuters)

 Egypt said on Saturday it was expelling Turkey's ambassador and accused Ankara of backing organizations bent on undermining the country - an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi.

Tiananmen Square attack was 'jihadi operation,' claims Islamist group (CS Monitor)

The Turkestan Islamic Party Saturday released a Uighur-language speech from its leader Abdullah Mansour. He said the Oct. 28 attack, and other  jihadi operations by holy warriors, was only the beginning of attacks on Chinese authorities.

 Islamist rebels capture Syria's largest oilfield: activists (Reuters)

 Islamist rebels led by al Qaeda-linked fighters seized Syria's largest oilfield on Saturday, cutting off President Bashar al-Assad's access to almost all local crude reserves, activists said.

Adulterers may be stoned under new Afghan law, official says  (Reuters)

 Death by stoning for convicted adulterers is being written into Afghan law, a senior official said on Monday, the latest sign that human rights won at great cost since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 are rolling back as foreign troops withdraw.

Iran says to continue building at Arak nuclear site despite deal

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will pursue construction at the Arak heavy-water reactor, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was quoted as saying on Wednesday, despite a deal with world powers to shelve a project they fear could yield plutonium for atomic bombs.

Syrian refugee children are becoming the family breadwinners (CS Monitor)

According to a new UN report, nearly one in two Syrian refugee families living outside a camp rely entirely or partly on income generated by a child.

Dutch privacy watchdog says Google breaks data law (Reuters)

 Google's practice of combining personal data from its many different online services violates Dutch data protection law, the country's privacy watchdog said on Thursday after a seven-month investigation.

North Korea says U.S. citizen Merrill E. Newman is a criminal, arrested for hostile acts (Reuters)

 North Korea said on Saturday it had arrested U.S. citizen Merrill E. Newman for "hostile acts" against the state and accused him of being "a criminal" who was involved in the killing of civilians during the 1950-53 Korean War.

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