ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

August 28, 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.

• Obama orders release of report justifying Syria strike (CNN)
• Facebook says countries sought data on 38,000 users in first half of 2013 (Reuters)
• After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged  (Washington Post)
• A face in the crowd: say goodbye to anonymity (CBS)
• Secret Ruling Found NSA's Surveillance Violated Constitution (NPR)
• Inside The Beef Industry's Battle Over Growth-Promotion Drugs (NPR)
• Beware of Warrior Cops (Reason)
• The FISA Court Didn’t Even Know NSA Was Collecting Some Domestic Communications (Reason)
• New Details On How U.S. 'Helped Saddam As He Gassed Iran'(NPR)
• Bradley Manning: 'I Am A Female,' Call Me Chelsea (NPR)  

WORLD

• Fears of food and water poisoning after Damascus gassings
• Tens Of Thousands Flee Syria After Alleged Chemical Attacks (NPR)
• Mexico officials find mass grave east of capital (U-T)
• Do rockets in Israel indicate Al Qaeda presence in Lebanon? (CS Monitor)
• Israel says bombed Lebanon in retaliation for rocket attack (Reuters)
• Israel military: 4 rockets fired, none hit country (AP)
• Bodies still being found after alleged Syria chemical attack: opposition (Reuters)

For excerpts and links to full stories, scroll down.

U.S.

Obama orders release of report justifying Syria strike (CNN)

President Barack Obama called his national security team together Saturday to talk about the next move in Syria. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper led off the three-hour White House meeting with detailed analysis of the evidence about the chemical weapons attack, the disposition of victims and what the administration now believes is a near air-tight circumstantial case that the Syrian regime was behind it.  Obama ordered a declassified report be prepared for public release before any military strike commences.

Facebook says countries sought data on 38,000 users in first half of 2013 (Reuters)

Governments sought information on over 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of 2013 and the No.1 social network complied with most requests, the firm said in its first report on the scale of data inquiries it gets from countries around the world.

After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged  (Washington Post)

After 21 / 2 years of budget battles, this is what the federal government looks like now:  It is on pace, this year, to spend $3.455 trillion.  That figure is down from 2010 — the year that worries about government spending helped bring on a tea party uprising, a Republican takeover in the House and then a series of ulcer-causing showdowns in Congress.  But it is not down by that much. Back then, the government spent a whopping $3.457

A face in the crowd: say goodbye to anonymity (CBS)

Even if your picture isn't on the Internet, computerized facial recognition makes it virtually impossible to keep your "faceprint" private. Lesley Stahl reports.

Secret Ruling Found NSA's Surveillance Violated Constitution (NPR)

 The U.S. intelligence community is releasing a secret court opinion concerning an National Security Agency surveillance program. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court opinion is known to have found the NSA program unlawful. But civil liberties advocates have called for it to be made public.

Inside The Beef Industry's Battle Over Growth-Promotion Drugs (NPR)

 Beta agonists, a class of drugs widely fed to cattle and hogs to make them put on weight faster, are coming under increasing scrutiny. Reports suggest animals fed these drugs can seem reluctant to move — lethargic, unable to walk properly — and may die more often, too.

Beware of Warrior Cops (Reason)

 In the 1970s, there were about 300 SWAT raids per year. “As of 2005,” says Balko, “100 to 150 per day.” 

The FISA Court Didn’t Even Know NSA Was Collecting Some Domestic Communications (Reason)

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) provided another redacted information data dump today, which ends the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s legal battle with them over a Freedom of Information Act request.  At the heart of the matter was a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decision from 2011 that determined that the National Security Agency and the FBI were somehow violating the Fourth Amendment with its surveillance methods. The details were unknown because the report was classified. EFF sued and won, and today the 85-page document was released....

New Details On How U.S. 'Helped Saddam As He Gassed Iran'(NPR)

 CIA documents and interviews with former officials reveal more about how the U.S. gave the dictator intelligence that helped him during Iraq's 1980s war with Iran, Foreign Policy reports. The information was then allegedly used when Iraq deployed chemical weapons

Bradley Manning: 'I Am A Female,' Call Me Chelsea (NPR)  

The Army private responsible for the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history is asking for hormone therapy. His lawyer will push for that to happen during Manning's long stay in prison.

WORLD

Fears of food and water poisoning after Damascus gassings

(Reuters) -- (This story was reported by a journalist whose name has been withheld for security reasons) -- Days after a suspected poison gas attack killed hundreds of people in crop-growing suburbs, residents of the Syrian capital say they are afraid their food and water supplies may be contaminated....

Tens Of Thousands Flee Syria After Alleged Chemical Attacks (NPR)

Thousands of Syrian refugees entered Iraq last week, fleeing the violence between extremist groups and Kurdish militias in northeastern Syria. Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin speaks with Alan Paul of the charity Save the Children about the flow of refugees entering Iraq.

Mexico officials find mass grave east of capital (U-T)

Mexican authorities said Thursday that they have found a mass grave east of Mexico City and are testing to determine if it holds some of the 12 people who vanished from a bar in an upscale area of the capital nearly three months ago.

Do rockets in Israel indicate Al Qaeda presence in Lebanon? (CS Monitor)

That's one theory. The distance the rockets were able to travel indicated use of a long-range weapon that only a local Al Qaeda-linked group is believed to have.

Israel says bombed Lebanon in retaliation for rocket attack (Reuters)

 Israel's air force bombed a militant target in Lebanon on Friday in retaliation for a cross-border rocket salvo on Thursday, a spokesman said.

Israel military: 4 rockets fired, none hit country (AP)

Militants in Lebanon fired four rockets toward Israel on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens and startling a nation already on edge over turmoil along its northern and southern fronts.

Bodies still being found after alleged Syria chemical attack: opposition (Reuters)

Bodies are still being discovered after an alleged chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus that killed hundreds of people and the death toll will rise, a Syrian opposition spokesman said on Thursday. The opposition accused government forces of gassing hundreds of people on Wednesday by firing rockets that released deadly fumes over rebel-held Damascus suburbs, killing men, women and children as they slept.