ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

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February 11, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's 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.

Obama asks Congress to authorize 3-year ISIS fight (NY Times)

President Barack Obama formally asked Congress on Wednesday to authorize a three-year military campaign against the Islamic State that would avoid a large-scale invasion and occupation. The offensive could include limited ground operations to hunt down enemy leaders or rescue American personnel from the Sunni militants.

U.S. leads 12 air strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military (Reuters)

The United States and its coalition partners struck four units of Islamic State militants amid 11 air strikes in Iraq since early Monday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Electrified rail pierced New York train in crash, official says (Reuters)

Hundreds of feet of electrified rail skewered the first two carriages of a New York commuter train in a collision with a car at a railroad crossing, a federal investigator said on Wednesday, describing the area's worst rail crash in decades.

Could a Single Food-Safety Agency be the Answer? (Reason)

This week, with little fanfare, the Obama administration released a proposed 2016 budget that would dramatically remake the FDA and USDA. The plan would strip each agency of its extensive food-safety oversight responsibilities and hand them over to a new food-safety agency, to be housed within the Department of Health and Human Services.

This Valentine's Day growers hope 'slow flower' movement will take root  (CS Monitor)

- A growing number of "farmer florists" are intent on providing consumers the option to buy local — much as the slow food movement has sought to increase the use of locally grown, sustainable food. About 80 percent of the cut flowers used in florists' bouquets are imported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

Three in St. Louis indicted for helping ISIS and Al Qaeda (CS Monitor) -- Six Bosnian immigrants, including three in St. Louis, two in Illinois, and one in New York, were accused of sending money and military equipment to terrorists overseas, including Al Qaeda in Iraq, says a federal indictment.  

 

WORLD

The TransAsia crash and the rise of dashcam journalism (+video) (CS Monitor)

The dramatic footage of the TransAsia plane that crashed into a river inTaiwan on Wednesday comes to us via a device aimed to protect the rights of drivers: a dashboard video camera.

Troops kill eight in highway battles in northern Mexico (Reuters)

Mexican federal troops killed eight alleged gang members on Wednesday in battles along a highway near the U.S. border in the northern state of Tamaulipas, a region plagued by a bloody dispute between the Gulf and the Zetas drug cartels..

September 11 conspirator Moussaoui says Saudi royals backed al Qaeda (Reuters)

A former al Qaeda operative imprisoned for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has told lawyers for victims of the attacks that members of the Saudi royal family supported the Islamic militant group.  Zacarias Moussaoui made the statements in testimony filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday by lawyers for attack victims who accuse Saudi Arabia in a suit of providing material support to al Qaeda.

Muslim clerics demand 'crucifixion' of ISIS terrorists who burned Jordanian pilot to death (JPost)

Egypt's top Muslim authority, the 1,000 year old Al-Azhar university revered by Sunni Muslims around the world, issued a statement expressing "deep anger over the lowly terrorist act" by what it called a "Satanic, terrorist" group. The Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, said the killers themselves deserved to be "killed, crucified or to have their limbs amputated."  Saudi cleric Salman al-Odah wrote on his Twitter account: "Burning is an abominable crime rejected by Islamic law regardless of its causes."

UK anti-Semitic incidents hit record in 2014, says charity (AP)

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain hit a record high last year, with reactions to the conflict in Israel and Gaza last summer the biggest factor accounting for the jump, a charity said Thursday.  The Community Security Trust said it recorded 1,168 incidents across the country in 2014 — more than double the 535 cases documented in 2013, and the highest yearly total since the group began monitoring anti-Semitism in Britain in 1984....

Jewish groups rap German anti-Semitism commission for omitting Jews (Reuters)

Jewish groups in Germany sharply criticized a new government commission on anti-Semitism on Tuesday, saying the lack of a single Jewish member on the panel was scandalous and pledging to set up a rival body.

Boko Haram kill more than 100 in Cameroon: local leader (Reuters)

Boko Haram fighters have killed more than 100 people in the north Cameroon town of Fotokol, murdering residents inside their homes and a mosque, a local civic leader said on Wednesday.

After Horrific Taliban Massacre, Pakistani Teachers Are Bringing Concealed Weapons to School (AP)

 Some Pakistani teachers are now bringing concealed weapons to school with local government approval after Pakistani Taliban gunmen massacred nearly 150 students and teachers in December.


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