ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS

June 6, 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.

• Report: Secret court order requires Verizon to turn over phone records of millions (CNN)
• A new civil rights movement frees communities from corporate control (Positive News)
• Chinese cyberattacks hit key US weapons systems. Are they still reliable? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Mothers are breadwinners in record 40% of U.S. households: Study (Marketplace.org)
• Bike-Sharing Programs Roll Into Cities Across The U.S. (NPR)

WORLD

• U.S. genetically modified wheat strain stokes fears, Japan cancels tender to purchase U.S. wheat (Reuters)
• Israel warns Russia it's prepared to strike weapon shipments to Syria (Christian Science Monitor)
• Russians proving that small-scale organic farming can feed the world (Reclaim, ,Grow, Sustain)
• Report: Iranian and Russian arms giving Assad edge in Syria (Jerusalem Post)
• Ethiopia diverts Blue Nile for dam (BBC)
• Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes Taiwan, some damage (Reuters)
• Court says Egypt legislature illegally elected (U-T San Diego)
• Thousands take to streets in Turkey, clash with police (Reuters)
• Thousands march for rights in rare Ethiopia protest (Reuters)  
• Czech PM declares emergency as floods threaten Prague (Reuters)  

UPBEAT STORY OF THE WEEK:

• A guerilla farmer in South Central Los Angeles (You Tube)

For excerpts and links to full stories, scroll down or click “read more.”

 U.S.

Report: Secret court order requires Verizon to turn over phone records of millions (CNN)

The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order that requires Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency on an "ongoing daily basis," the UK-based Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.

A new civil rights movement frees communities from corporate control (Positive News)

In their latest victory a Pennsylvania Judge holds that corporations are not persons.…In a departure from the usual David and Goliath story, with one tiny community battling a giant corporation, today there are over 150 “Davids” in eight states that have followed the lead of those Pennsylvania townships. Community by community, they’ve banned corporate “fracking” for shale gas, factory farming, sludge dum-ping, large-scale water withdrawals, and industrial-scale energy projects.

Chinese cyberattacks hit key US weapons systems. Are they still reliable? (Christian Science Monitor)

A new report suggests that many advanced US weapons systems have been hacked, and experts say China was behind the cyberattacks. If there were a war with China, the weapons might not be reliable.

Mothers are breadwinners in record 40% of U.S. households: Study (Marketplace.org)

4 in 10 households in America have mothers as the principal breadwinner, compared to about 1 in 10 in 1960

Bike-Sharing Programs Roll Into Cities Across The U.S. (NPR)

New York launched a bike-sharing system this week, and Chicago and San Francisco are expected to launch similar systems this summer. Gabe Klein, who helped start Washington's pioneering Capital Bikeshare, expects we'll see more cycling "across the board."

WORLD

U.S. genetically modified wheat strain stokes fears, Japan cancels tender to purchase U.S. wheat (Reuters)

A strain of genetically modified wheat found in the United States fuelled concerns over food supplies across Asia on Thursday, with major importer Japan cancelling a tender offer to buy U.S. grain.

Israel warns Russia it's prepared to strike weapon shipments to Syria (Christian Science Monitor)

Israel's defense minister on Tuesday signaled that his military is prepared to strike shipments of advanced Russian weapons to Syria, in a rare implied threat to Moscow.  Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon issued his warning shortly after a top Russian official said his government reserves the right to provide Syria with state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missiles.

Russians proving that small-scale organic farming can feed the world (Reclaim, ,Grow, Sustain)

On a total of approximately 8 million hectares (20 million acres) of land, 16.5 million Russian families grow food in small-scale, organic gardens on their Dachas (a secondary home, often in the extra urban areas). Because growing your own food happens to be a long-lived tradition in Russia, even among the wealthy.Based on the 1999 "Private Household Farming in Russia" Gosmkostat (State Committee for Statistics) statistics, these Dacha families produced 38% of Russia's total agricultural output…

Report: Iranian and Russian arms giving Assad edge in Syria (Jerusalem Post)

'Washington Post' quotes intelligence officials as saying technology including surveillance drones, advanced monitoring systems to gather intel helping Assad beat back rebels in some areas of country.

Ethiopia diverts Blue Nile for dam (BBC)

Ethiopia starts diverting a stretch of the Blue Nile to make way for a dam that has caused a dispute with countries downstream, state media say.

Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes Taiwan, some damage (Reuters)

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the island of Taiwan on Sunday and caused some damage, Taiwan media reported

Court says Egypt legislature illegally elected (U-T San Diego)

Egypt's highest court ruled on Sunday that the nation's interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately, in a decision likely to fuel the tensions between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary.

Thousands take to streets in Turkey, clash with police (Reuters)

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Turkey's four biggest cities on Sunday and clashed with riot police firing tear gas on the third day of the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Thousands march for rights in rare Ethiopia protest (Reuters)  

About 10,000 Ethiopians staged an anti-government procession on Sunday in the first large-scale protest since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 200 people.

Czech PM declares emergency as floods threaten Prague (Reuters)  

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas declared a state of emergency for most of the nation on Sunday as swollen rivers caused by days of heavy rain threatened Prague's historic center and forced evacuations from low-lying areas.

COOL STORY OF THE WEEK:

A guerilla farmer in South Central Los Angeles (You Tube)