ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

August 14, 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.

• Amber Alerts: How successful have they been in saving abducted kids? (CS Monitor)
• Why Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post (Business Week)
• U.S. Fast Food workers protests growing over ‘starvation’ wages (RawStory)
• Justice Department to Investigate DEA Surveillance Operations (Reason)
• Rep. McClintock Says the US Should Grant Snowden Amnesty  (Reason)

WORLD

• Yemen says it stopped massive militant operation (CS Monitor)
•  Drone strike kills six suspected militants in Yemen (Reuters)
•  Israel says it intercepts rocket launch near Egypt's Sinai
• US providing $15m to fund for Syrian opposition (AP)
• UN: Nearly 35 million migrants are under age 20 (AP)

 Click “read more” and scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.

U.S.

Amber Alerts: How successful have they been in saving abducted kids? (CS Monitor)

Amber Alerts, which played a key role in the rescue of Hannah Anderson from her alleged abductor James Lee DiMaggio, have helped save more than 600 kidnapped children. New technology and social media have expanded this successful program.

Why Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post (Business Week)

Over the past two decades, Jeff Bezos has assembled what appears to be an inexplicable collection of unrelated businesses. There’s Amazon.com’s (AMZN) traditional retail website and its 50 massive fulfillment centers around the U.S., designed to get books, clothes, garden gnomes—whatever—to customers within days or even hours; the Kindle; movie streaming; music streaming; and Amazon Web Services, a rapidly growing enterprise business that runs the computer operations of other companies. ...Bezos stunned the world on Aug. 5 by buying the storied but troubled Washington Post. Woodward and Bernstein’s old stomping ground has suffered a 44 percent drop in revenue over the past six years

U.S. Fast Food workers protests growing over ‘starvation’ wages (RawStory)

… McDonald’s, along with dozens of profitable Wall Street-listed fast food and retail chains, is being rocked by unprecedented workforce- and consumer-led protests over wages and conditions. Since last year, when Walmart faced the first co-ordinated strikes in its history over pay and conditions, similar protests have been spreading through America’s low-wage workforce.

Justice Department to Investigate DEA Surveillance Operations (Reason)

It looks like it’s not just the president but the Department of Justice that learns about what’s going on in the government from the news. From The Guardian: The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into revelations that the Drug Enforcement Agency uses surveillance tactics – including wiretapping and massive databases of telephone records – to arrest Americans, amid growing concerns from lawyers and civil rights groups over its lack of transparency.

Rep. McClintock Says the US Should Grant Snowden Amnesty  (Reason)

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) says that the U.S. government should grant NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden amnesty so that he can answer questions without the threat of prosecution. Snowden was recently granted temporary asylum in Russia.  

WORLD

Yemen says it stopped massive militant operation (CS Monitor)

 Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot involved blowing up oil pipelines and taking control of certain cities – including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen's oil exports and is where a number of foreign workers are employed. "There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer," said Mr Badi. "This would be co-ordinated with attacks by al-Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city."

Drone strike kills six suspected militants in Yemen (Reuters)

 A U.S. drone killed at least six suspected al Qaeda militants in southern Yemen on Wednesday, officials said, a day after U.S. and British embassies evacuated some staff because of growing fears of attacks. It was the fifth strike in less than two weeks and follows warnings of potential attacks by militants that pushed Washington to shut missions across the Middle East, and the United States and Britain to evacuate staff from Yemen

Israel says it intercepts rocket launch near Egypt's Sinai

(Reuters) - Israel intercepted a rocket near Egypt's Sinai Peninsula early on Tuesday, exploding it in the air over the southern Israeli city of Eilat, a military official said. No damage or injury was reported in the incident, but explosions reverberated in the dark skies over the desert hills surrounding the Israeli resort city, where it also set off air raid sirens, witnesses and Israeli news media said.

US providing $15m to fund for Syrian opposition (AP)

 The U.S. is providing $15 million to an international fund to help Syria's opposition govern territory under its control.  The Obama administration says the money will finance reconstruction and provide civilians with water, energy, food and health care.

UN: Nearly 35 million migrants are under age 20 (AP)

 The United Nations says international migration is becoming a key issue in the lives of young people with the latest preliminary data revealing that nearly 35 million migrants are under the age of 20.  UNICEF Deputy Director Christian Salazar said the data collected by the U.N. children's agency and the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs showed that 62 percent of the young people are living in developing countries.