ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

October 8, 2014 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's 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.

• Justice Dept. will review practice of creating fake Facebook profiles (Washington Post)
• Dems ask for hearing on Ebola response funding (The Hill)
• Contact lost with planes one by one as FAA fire spread (Bloomberg News)
• Sen. Warren: We Need Regulators Who 'Work For The American People' (NPR)
• Walmart cuts healthcare for 30,000 workers (The Hill)
• Oklahoma reconsiders energy plans (Spokesman)

WORLD

• North Korea, already under U.N. sanctions, prepares launch site for longer-range rockets (Reuters)
• Kobane:  IS and Syria Kurds in fierce gun battle (BBC)
• Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution': the politest protests ever? (CS Monitor)
• Special Report: In 'Umbrella Revolution,' China confronts limits of its power (Reuters)
• UN: At least 1,119 Iraqis killed in September (UT San Diego)
• At least 10 people killed in shelling on and near school in Ukraine's Donetsk: city authorities (Reuters)

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

U.S.

Justice Dept. will review practice of creating fake Facebook profiles (Washington Post)

The Justice Department said Tuesday that it will review federal law enforcement practices in light of an incident in which a federal agent used a woman’s photographs and other personal information to create a fake Facebook account as part of a drug investigation.

Dems ask for hearing on Ebola response funding (The Hill)

Democrats on a House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are calling for a hearing on funding to combat the Ebola outbreak.

Contact lost with planes one by one as FAA fire spread (Bloomberg News)

The first radio links with pilots were lost just as the pre-dawn crush of flights into Chicago began. Air-traffic controllers in a nondescript Federal Aviation Administration building about 40 miles from the city switched to backup channels. Then those failed. They tried emergency connections, which also went dead. Within minutes, radar feeds, flight plans and other data controllers rely on to direct more than 6,000 aircraft a day above five U.S. states had vanished as a fire was being set in a communications room one floor below.

Sen. Warren: We Need Regulators Who 'Work For The American People' (NPR)

Elizabeth Warren tells NPR that newly released recordings of conversations by Federal Reserve officials show that the same kind of cozy relationships that led to the 2008 meltdown have continued.

Walmart cuts healthcare for 30,000 workers (The Hill)

Wal-Mart is eliminating health coverage for roughly 30,000 U.S. employees who work less than 30 hours a week, according to a report. The decision by the largest private employer in America is a response to a rise in projected healthcare costs and a lower-than-expected number of workers enrolled in ObamaCare's coverage options.

Oklahoma reconsiders energy plans (Spokesman)

…now that wind turbines stand tall across many parts of the nation’s windy heartland, some leaders in Oklahoma and other states fear their efforts succeeded too well, attracting an industry that gobbles up huge subsidies, draws frequent complaints and uses its powerful lobby to resist any reforms. The tension could have broad implications for the expansion of wind power in other parts of the country.  

WORLD

North Korea, already under U.N. sanctions, prepares launch site for longer-range rockets: report

(Reuters)

 North Korea, already heavily sanctioned by the United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests, has completed a major overhaul of its rocket launch site, a U.S. think tank said on Thursday, enabling it to fire larger, longer-range rockets.

Kobane:  IS and Syria Kurds in fierce gun battle (BBC)

Kurdish fighters are engaged in fierce gun battles with Islamic State (IS) in the Syrian border town of Kobane, as US-led coalition air strikes continue. In its latest report, the US Central Command said six air strikes had destroyed IS weaponry around Kobane.

Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution': the politest protests ever? (CS Monitor)

The future of China could depend on a bunch of kids, some of them so young they need their parents’ permission to stay out late to demonstrate / If the pro-democracy protesters now blocking the streets of Hong Kong end up winning their demand for a more open electoral system, they will have forced the Chinese Communist Party to back down – an achievement nobody else has managed since the 1949 revolution put Mao Zedong in power.

Special Report: In 'Umbrella Revolution,' China confronts limits of its power (Reuters)

In the heart of Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated districts on earth, an abandoned Hong Kong police van is enveloped in the student-led demonstrations paralyzing swathes of the city. Along with yellow ribbons and flowers, symbols of the city’s pro-democracy movement, protesters have taped a hand-written placard in Chinese and English to the side of the locked and undamaged vehicle. ...

UN: At least 1,119 Iraqis killed in September (UT San Diego)

The United Nations said Wednesday that at least 1,119 Iraqis died in violence in September but that the real figure was likely much higher since the reported death toll did not include killings in areas controlled by the Islamic State group.

At least 10 people killed in shelling on and near school in Ukraine's Donetsk: city authorities

(Reuters)

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a mini-van in a nearby street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, city authorities and Reuters witnesses said.