ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

August 8, 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:

WORLD

• Interpol issues global security alert after prison breaks (Reuters)
• U.S. to extend some embassy closures up to a week (BBC)
• Exclusive: Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an 'emergency' (Reuters)
• Cafes shut, sports fields empty as war returns to Iraq (Reuters)
• Arab Gulf countries plan tougher anti-Hezbollah sanctions than EU (Jerusalem Post)
• Snowden gets job offer from Russia's Facebook (Reuters)
•  Dozens dead, stranded after flash floods in Afghanistan, Pakistan (Reuters)
• Yemen drone strike and US evacuation: Signs of drone war intensification? (CSS Monitor)
• Sudan ejects U.N. refugee agency staff from North Darfur (Reuters)

U.S.

• Mom sues US government in Indian girl's adoption (U-T San Diego)
• Bradley Manning faces up to 128 years in prison  (AP)
• Whistleblower: Protection Act Doesn't Cover Enough People (NPR)
• What is XKeyscore, and can it 'eavesdrop on everyone, everywhere'? (+video) (CS Monitor)
• N.S.A. Said to Search Content of Messages to and From U.S. (NY Times)
  

Click “Read more” for excerpts and links to full stories

WORLD

Interpol issues global security alert after prison breaks (Reuters)

Interpol issued a global security alert on Saturday advising its members to increase their vigilance against attacks after a series of prison breaks in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan that the agency is investigating to determine if they were linked. border=0 apple-width=yes apple-height=yes v:shapes="_x0030_54a1d0c-fdce-4a99-b036-d7f4b2ac339b">  The Lyon, France-based Interpol said given that al Qaeda was suspected to be involved in some of the incidents.

U.S. to extend some embassy closures up to a week (BBC)

The US says it will keep a number of embassies in north Africa and the Middle East closed until Saturday, due to a possible militant threat. Twenty-one US embassies and consulates closed on Sunday.

Exclusive: Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an 'emergency'

(Reuters) - Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an "emergency" that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country's nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

Cafes shut, sports fields empty as war returns to Iraq

(Reuters) - In an evening in late June, Yasir al-Nuaimi draped an Iraqi flag over his shoulder and headed out to watch a soccer match being shown on television at a cafe in western Baghdad. The 20-year-old told his mother to pray for his team to win.

Arab Gulf countries plan tougher anti-Hezbollah sanctions than EU (Jerusalem Post)

The six Arab country members of the Gulf Cooperation Council  (GCC) plan to impose robust sanctions on Hezbollah, which will surpass the potency of last week’s EU sanctions labeling the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist entity.

Snowden gets job offer from Russia's Facebook (Reuters)

 American fugitive Edward Snowden was offered a job by Russia's top social networking site on Thursday, hours after the former intelligence contractor received a year-long asylum in Russia.

Dozens dead, stranded after flash floods in Afghanistan, Pakistan (Reuters)

 Flash floods caused by unusually heavy rain across Afghanistan and Pakistan killed more than 160 people and stranded villagers in remote areas without shelter, food or power in one of South Asia's worst natural disasters this year, officials said on Monday.

Yemen drone strike and US evacuation: Signs of drone war intensification? (CSS Monitor)

Yemen drone strike: The State Department called on all Americans to leave Yemen immediately, even as a US drone strike in Yemen Tuesday killed four Al Qaeda militants. It was the fourth US drone strike in two weeks.

Sudan ejects U.N. refugee agency staff from North Darfur (Reuters)

Sudan has ejected 20 United Nations staff working to help hundreds of thousands of people who have been uprooted by war in Darfur region, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.

U.S.

Mom sues US government in Indian girl's adoption (U-T San Diego)

The biological mother of a girl at the center of an adoption dispute has sued the federal government over a law governing the placement of Indian children.  In her lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in South Carolina, Christy Maldonado asks U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a declaration that parts of the Indian Child Welfare Act are illegal.

Bradley Manning faces up to 128 years in prison  (AP) -- U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning faces up to 128 years in prison after a military judge found him guilty of espionage, theft and other charges for sending reams of classified material to WikiLeaks.

Whistleblower: Protection Act Doesn't Cover Enough People (NPR)

A number of high-profile whistleblowers from the national security sector have come out in support of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who revealed details of massive government surveillance programs to the press. Jesselyn Radack, former whistleblower and now attorney for the Government Accountability Project, is among them.

What is XKeyscore, and can it 'eavesdrop on everyone, everywhere'? (+video) (CS Monitor)

- XKeyscore is apparently a tool the NSA uses to sift through massive amounts of data.  An analyst has to enter only an individual e-mail address … to get a trove of personal e-mail sorted by time period...The program can also apparently determine which computers visited a website and when, as well as searching chats, usernames, buddy lists, and cookies. One slide in an XKeyscore document features corporate logos of a number of familiar online social media companies, saying the program lets analysts see “nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet.”

N.S.A. Said to Search Content of Messages to and From U.S.

(NY Times) -- … The N.S.A. is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, a practice that government officials have openly acknowledged. It is also casting a far wider net for people who cite information linked to those foreigners.../ Jameel Jaffer, a senior lawyer at the A.C.L.U., said Wednesday that such “dragnet surveillance will be poisonous to the freedoms of inquiry and association” because people who know that their communications will be searched will …”hesitate before visiting controversial Web sites, discussing controversial topics or investigating politically sensitive questions,” Mr. Jaffer said.