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April 26, 2012 -- (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 reflecting 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.
- Feds make first arrest in BP Gulf Coast oil spill (CBS)
- Justices to hear appeal over controversial Arizona immigration law (CNN)
- Obama takes on college costs, eyes young voters (Bloomberg)
- Radioactive particles from Japan detected in California kelp (Los Angeles Times)
- Romney sweeps five northeast primaries (USA Today)
- Mitt Romney: Mothers should be required to work outside home or lose benefits (HuffingtonPost)
WORLD
- Stirring Mexico volcano closes schools, raises alert (Reuters)
- Afghan girls in school after poison attack (BBC)
- Japan fears nuclear plant sits atop active geological fault (Reuters)
- Hollande and Sarkozy head for runoff in French election (NY Times)
Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.
U.S.
Feds make first arrest in BP Gulf Coast oil spill (CBS)
April 24, 2012 -- A BP engineer intentionally deleted more than 300 text messages that said the company's efforts to control the Gulf of Mexico oil spill were failing, and that the amount of oil leaking was far more than what the company reported, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
In the first criminal charges related to the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, the Justice Department arrested Kurt Mix and charged him with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence sought by federal authorities, officials announced in a statement.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57420077/feds-make-1st-arrest-in-bp-oil-spill/?tag=stack
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57420077/feds-make-1st-arrest-in-bp-oil-spill/?tag=stack
Justices to hear appeal over controversial Arizona immigration law (CNN)
April 23, 2012 -- The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Arizona can enforce its controversial immigration law over the strong objections of the Obama administration. Oral arguments will be held Wednesday.
A ruling during a presidential election year could generate renewed political attention on an issue that has been building in intensity in recent years.
Obama takes on college costs, eyes young voters (Bloomberg)
April 24, 2012 -- Wooing young voters, President Barack Obama is on a blitz to keep the cost of college loans from soaring for millions of students, taking his message to three states strategically important to his re-election bid. By taking on student debt, Obama is speaking to middle-class America and targeting an enormous burden that threatens the economic recovery.
Before Obama got his road trip under way, Republican opponent Mitt Romney found a way to steal some thunder from the president's campaign argument: He agreed with it.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9UBC5B82.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9UBC5B82.htm
Radioactive particles from Japan detected in California kelp (Los Angeles Times)
April 9, 2012 -- Radioactive particles released in the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami were detected in giant kelp along the California coast, according to a recently published study.
Radioactive iodine was found in samples collected from beds of kelp in locations along the coast from Laguna Beach to as far north as Santa Cruz about a month after the explosion, according to the study by two marine biologists at Cal State Long Beach.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/calif-kelp-radioactivity-study.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/calif-kelp-radioactivity-study.html
Romney sweeps five northeast primaries (USA Today)
April 24, 2012 -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney swept five Northeastern primaries Tuesday as he pivoted from a hard-fought GOP nomination battle and moved to challenge President Obama in November.
He declared the nomination battle over at a celebration in New Hampshire, the site of his first primary victory in January and a battleground state in the general election.
"After 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days and not a few long nights, I can say with confidence — and gratitude — that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility," he told a cheering crowd in Manchester. "And, together, we will win on Nov. 6th."
Mitt Romney: Mothers should be required to work outside home or lose benefits (HuffingtonPost)
April 15, 2012 -- Poor women who stay at home to raise their children should be given federal assistance for child care so that they can enter the job market and "have the dignity of work," Mitt Romney said in January, undercutting the sense of extreme umbrage he showed when Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen quipped last week that Ann Romney had not "worked a day in her life."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/15/mitt-romney-mothers-welfare-moms_n_1426113.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/15/mitt-romney-mothers-welfare-moms_n_1426113.html
WORLD
Stirring Mexico volcano closes schools, raises alert (Reuters)
April 17, 2012 -- A powerful plume of steam and ash rose from the Popocatepetl volcano in central Mexico on Tuesday, prompting local schools to cancel classes and emergency teams to prepare for evacuations.
The volcano's lava dome started to expand on Friday, suggesting fresh magma may be pushing upwards. It spewed red-hot fragments and lightly dusted cars and streets in some small towns in the state of Puebla, television images showed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/us-mexico-volcano-idUSBRE83G1DG20120417?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/us-mexico-volcano-idUSBRE83G1DG20120417?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
Afghan girls in school after poison attack (BBC)
April 17, 2012 -- More than 100 schoolgirls in northeastern Afghanistan are in hospital suffering from suspected poisoning.
The health director of Takhar province said the girls fell ill shortly after drinking water at their school.
An education official in Kabul said preliminary investigations suggested the water had been poisoned.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17751105
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17751105
Japan fears nuclear plant sits atop active geological fault (Reuters)
April 25, 2012 -- A nuclear plant in northwestern Japan may be sitting right on top of an active geological fault, the country's nuclear watchdog has said, raising the risk that the facility may never resume power generation for fear of an earthquake.
For the first time in more than 40 years, Japan faces the prospect of having no nuclear power within weeks, after last year's crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crushed public trust in nuclear power and prevented the restart of reactors shut for regular maintenance checks. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-japan-nuclear-idUSBRE83O06620120425
Hollande and Sarkozy head for runoff in French election (NY Times)
April 22, 2012 -- The Socialist candidate, François Hollande, won a narrow victory in Sunday’s first round of France’s presidential elections, riding promises of economic growth and a general dislike for the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, into a favorable position before a runoff with Mr. Sarkozy on May 6.
The strong showing by the left and anger on the political extremes seemed to reflect a desire for change in France after 17 years of centrist, conservative presidents. And it could continue an anti-incumbency trend that began with the economic crisis in Western Europe, where center-right governments dominate from Britain to Spain to Germany.
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