December 19, 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 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.

Mass shooting at Connecticut elementary school:

• Fear of being committed may have caused Connecticut gunman to snap (Fox)
• After a 1996 mass shooting, Australia enacted strict gun laws. It hasn’t had a similar massacre since. (Slate)
• Feinstein says bills to ban assault weapons will be a priority (La Mesa Patch)
• Newtown tragedy could put mental health in spotlight (USA Today)
• 'I Am Adam Lanza's Mother'  (Huffington Post)
• How many more Mondays? Changing a culture of glorified violence (San Diego Free Press)
• Sandy Hook: Police say shooter forced his way into school (Christian Science Monitor)
• School adviser: Gunman a loner who felt no pain (U-T San Diego)

Other national news:

• Kerry favorite to become Secretary of State (CBS)
• Deficit deal offers chance for salvation for 112th Congress (The Hill)
• Boehmer offers debt ceiling increase in cliff compromise (Washington Post)
• Obama’s new offer on fiscal cliff could lead to deal (New York Times)
• Flight of hypocrisy: Feds fine oil companies, give pass to wind farms killing birds (Fox)
• Cyberattacks on US banks resume, aiming to block their websites-tied to Hamas (Christian Science Monitor)
• Good Tidings Of Great Joy: Google Maps App Released For iPhone (NPR)
• Turn that down: FCC orders TV ads to lower volume (RawStory)
• Government PR surges amid media cuts (UT-San Diego)
• Illegal immigration drops after decade-long rise (U-T San Diego)
• 'We've Got Bigger Fish To Fry' Than Going After Pot Smokers, Obama Says (NPR)
• Mormon Women Dare To Wear Pants To Church (NPR)

WORLD

• Death toll from Typhoon tops 1,000 in Philippines (CNN)
• 'Syrian jets bomb Palestinian camp in Damascus' (Jerusalem Post)
• Codex committee: you can’t tell people that nutrients prevent disease! (Alliance for Natural Health)
• U.S. Officials: Syria Has Prepared Several Dozen Chemical Bombs (NPR)
• Police in Facebook global arrests (BBC)
• Egyptian women claim judge barred them from voting (U-T San Diego)
• Why Africa's lions are rapidly disappearing (Christian Science Monitor)
• Lack of food stunts Chad children, damages minds (U-T San Diego)
• New Palestinian group declares 3rd Intifada (Jerusalem Post)
• Russia raids activists in 'revolution' probe (Jewish World Review)
• Egypt court gives Christian 3 years for blasphemy (U-T San Diego)
• The Israeli Periphery (Jewish World Review)
• Israeli expansion threatens West Bank Bedouin (Al Jazeera)
• E.U. Votes To Have A Single Regulator For Its Banks (NPR)
• Japan’s ABE sees difficult road ahead (Al Jazeera)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

September 27, 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.

• Judge rules Arizona can enforce strict provision to immigration law (Reuters)
• Worrisome levels of arsenic in rice (Consumer Reports)
• Massive tumors in rats fed genetically modified corn (CA Right to Know blog)
• More than 1,000 pastors plan to challenge IRS by endorsing candidates (Fox)
• As tax credit wanes, jobs vanish in wind power industry (New York Times)
• Tesla offers free solar travel with new super-charged tech (RawStory)
• Senators to Hilary: Show us the ambassador’s cables (ForeignPolicy)
• Mormons want to expel Romney critic (Daily Beast)
• Whose next in line for a kidney transplant? The answer is changing (NPR)

WORLD

• Out with color: Islamists force Timbuktu women to wear black veils or face corporal punishment (Observers)
• Fake Italian pilot traveled in cockpit, police say (Reuters)
• Marijuana and cancer: Researchers find cannabis stops metastasis in aggressive forms of cancer (Huffington Post)
•  Report: restrictions on religious views rise worldwide (Jerusalem Post)
• Second day of anti-Japan attacks rock China (NPR)
• Man held in revenge plot over Muslim cartoons (Christian Science Monitor)
• Russia reveals shiny state secret: It’s awash in diamonds (Christian Science Monitor)
• Pakistani TV stations air a real ‘made in USA’ video. Will it calm violence? (Christian Science Monitor)
• The terrorist veto (City Journal)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

September 15, 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.

• Obstacles may delay drones access to U.S. skies (UT San Diego)
• State court ruling deals blow to U.S. mortgage system (Reuters)
• FBI warns of U.S. violence over anti-Islamic movie (ABC)
• Republicans split on Mitt Romney remarks (Politico)
• Debunking Romney’s attack on Americans who don’t pay income taxes (L.A. Times) 
• New Romney ad rips Obama on coal energy (The Hill)

WORLD

• Libyans see Al Qaeda hand in U.S. embassy attack (Wall Street Journal)
• Anti-American fury sweeps Middle East over film (Reuters)
• Protests sweep Islamic world, fueled by domestic politics and anti-U.S. anger (CS Monitor)
• Prince Harry targeted in Taliban attack in Afghanistan (Telegraph)
• Police clash with Muslims at protest in East Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post)
• Peacekeepers attacked in Egypt’s Sinai Penninsula; foreigners injured (CS Monitor)
• Large anti-austerity protests in Spain, Portugal (UT San Diego)
• India opposition parties protest economic reforms (UT San Diego)
• Anti-Japan protests sweep China on anniversary of invasion (Reuters) 

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

• 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)

• 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)

January 12, 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. economy creates 200,000 jobs in December: 6^th month of gains in a row as unemployed drops to 8.5% (BBC)
• South Carolina in spotlight after Romney win in New Hampshire (CNN)
• Richard Cordray appointment turns “lights on” at consumer bureau (Los Angeles Times)
• Obama recess appointments anger GOP (CNN)
• President Obama has made far fewer recess appointments than any recent president (ThinkProgress)
• Tweak in rules to ease a path to green card (New York Times)
• Families of dead Blackwater contractors settle suits (San Diego Union-Tribune)
   

• Assad promises victory, Syria accused of war crimes (Reuters)
• Iran Court sentences American to death (Washington Post)
• Japan to issue new limits on atomic reactor use (NPR)
• Wholesale approval of genetically engineered foods: Obama administration disappoints, angers public (Cornucopia)
• Egypt Islamists win nearly two-thirds of seats (Jerusalem Post)
   

• Experimental magnetic pulses may help heal a brain after stroke (NPR)
• New ‘seek and destroy’ method to fight cancer (Jerusalem post)
• Study: parasitic fly could explain bee die-off (NPR)

May 13, 2011 (Japan) Officials at Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of the hard-hit Fukushima nuclear facility, yesterday publicly confirmed that a meltdown has occurred at Reactor number one.

Now Japan’s nuclear safety agency states that efforts to cool the reactor with water may be pointless, since fuel rods are believed to have melted and sunk to the bottom of the containment vessel—where highly radioactive water is now leaking through holes at the bottom, Japan’s NHK World news agency reports.

By Miriam Raftery

May 11, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Several of our readers have asked for updates on the crisis at the Fukushima, Japan nuclear reactors. I expected that since the story seems to have fallen off the radar of most major media, the situation might have stabilized.

The truth is quite the opposite. The best site I found with reliable updates is Energy News, a site dedicated to reporting the Fukushima crisis with links to top news stories and videos from reputable news agencies worldwide. High radiation levels have been found consistently outside the official exclusion zone. Yesterday’s headlines alone make clear that a resolution is nowhere in site:

By Higuchi Takayuki

April 16, 2011 (Tokyo)—After living in San Diego for three years, while I attended grad school at SDSU and worked as an intern for East County Magazine, I returned home to Tokyo and now live about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from where the powerful 9.0 earthquake struck. My friend, a student in Sendai, witnessed the devastation first-hand near the epicenter of the quake, then experienced a harrowing survival following the tsunami.

Each person has his or her own story in life. Yet, often we are too busy to share it. Strangely, a tragedy like this gives us the opportunity to show we are each a piece of a moment in time. So, I would like to share our stories.

Nothing but the Truth!

April 7, 2011 (San Diego) -- Ecologists have been saying for years that continued buildup of radioactive waste with no safe storage would haunt us. They also reminded us nuclear reactors are vulnerable to earthquakes and terrorist attacks.

Now albacore tuna, the tasty white-meat fish so beloved of afternoon sandwiches and tuna salads, are showing up with high levels off radiation from the Japanese tsunami.

By Tracy Emblem

March 19, 2011 (San Diego) -- No new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the late 1970's. However, in 2009, Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee unveiled his blueprint to build 100 nuclear power plants within the next 20 years.

Even with the nuclear power plant crisis unfolding in Japan, the senator insists that nuclear energy is safe and continues to call on the federal government to guarantee loans for nuclear power plants with tax payer dollars.

March 18, 2011 (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 global and national news stories include:

• U.N. Security Council authoritizes action against Moammar Kadafi: U.S. and allied forces begin preparing for military operations against Libya despite doubts the outgunned rebels can be saved (Los Angeles Times)

• Libya announces ceasefire; violence reported in Misrata (CNN)
• ‘Chernobyl solution’ could be last resort for Japanese reactors (MSNBC)
• House votes to end money for NPR, and Senate passes spending bill (New York Times)
• Saudi king offers more handouts, security boost (Reuters)
• Japan to move part of high-tech production to Mexico in wake of disaster (Rian)
• Japan races to restore power at reactors (Reuters)
• U.S. reactor pools store more spent fuel than Japan’s (Anchorage Daily News)
• Japan nuclear fears lift solar stocks (CNN Money)
• With U.S. nuclear plants under scrutiny, too, a report raises safety concerns (New York Times)
• AT&T & Verizon offer free calls to Japan (MSNBC)
• World considers nuclear-free future (Russian Times)
• Radiation sickness: who’s most at risk? (CBS)
• Quake sell-off wipes $287 billion off Tokyo stock market (Reuters)
• Volcano in Southern Japan erupts (Los Angeles Times)
• Escalating Yemen violence kills 3, injures hundreds (Reuters)

March 16, 2011 (San Diego) – CNN reports that the U.S. military has temporarily blocked access to 13 major sites including YouTube, eBay, Amazon. Sites are blocked across the Department of Defense’s .mil computer system at the request of the Pacific Fleet, which is off the Japan coast aiding in rescue and relief efforts.

The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, based in San Diego, has been posting photos and updates on Facebook about crews' efforts to assist following the 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and now, nuclear crisis. 

The blocked sites are:

Rescued dogs now trained to rescue people

March 15, 2011 (San Diego) –Twelve search dog teams, including six from California and six from Virginia, are now on the ground in Japan searching for survivors. “It’s a very warm story. These were all shelter dogs,” Janet Reineck of the National Search Dog Foundation in Ojai, California, told East County Magazine.

Now the rescued dogs help rescue humans following some of the most devastating disasters in history.

Radiation levels around the crippled reactors now high enough to cause “immediate harm to human health” Japanese authorities say, adding core containment may be breached.

“I wouldn’t be within 50 km right now. If I was not a Japanese national, I would be making plans to leave.” – Murray Jennex, nuclear expert at San Diego State University, tells ECM in exclusive interview

Updated March 15, 2011 1:40 a.m. - Russia, S. Korea on "high alert" for possible radiation poisoning

By Miriam Raftery

March 14, 2011 (San Diego) – NHK TV in Japan this evening has broadcast the latest grim twists in the nuclear crisis at plants in Fukushima. Radiation levels over 400 milisieverts--that's 1,000 times higher than the microsievert measurements earlier reported (the equivalent of 400,000 microsieverts)-- are now present following a third explosion-- this one at reactor #2 and considered more serious than two prior explosions at reactors #1 and #3.

According to a radiation expert interviewed on NHK, exposure at these levels can cause infertility. “Just in an instance you mean?” a reporter asked. “Yes,” the expert confirmed, adding that at 500 ML, lymphocytes (white cells) in blood will decrease. Anyone without protective clothing is at risk, he emphasized, adding that radiation at these levels “can affect your genes….It is very dangerous.”

March 13, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – A string of catastrophies in Japan, starting with one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, which triggered a tsunami and multiple nuclear plant failures, is epic in scale.

Here are the latest headlines on the crisis in Japan, and how it may impact the rest of the world:

 
• Japanese earthquake: footage of moment tsunami hit (BBC)
• Japan death toll estimates surpass 10,000 (CBS News)
• Six injured in another Fukushima nuclear power blast (NHK)
• Exodus from Japan nuclear power plant (BBC)
• Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted earth on its axis (CNN)
• Meltdown caused nuclear power plant explosion: Safety body (Nikkei)
• Japan declares emergency at third reactor; 170,000 evacuated (Honolulu Star Advertiser)
• Criticism of Japan’s nuclear response (CNN)
• Japan declares nuclear emergency (BBC)
• Japan brings money home to rebuild: Could send dollar plummeting; lead to sharp slide in treasuries (Reuters)
• Toyota, other automakers suspend production (Kyodo News)
• Japan’s quake, tsunami could have lessons for U.S. (NPR)
• Quake is 5th biggest, but Japan best prepared (Yahoo News)

MASS EVACUATIONS UNDERWAY DUE TO NUCLEAR CRISIS;

80,000 MISSING, 1,300 CONFIRMED DEAD FROM QUAKE & TSUNAMI

Update March 12, 2011 (8 a.m.) -- An explosion rocked the nuclear plant at Fukishima Daiichi during the night, sending plumes of smoke billowing forth. However Japanese authorities say the fire was at a pumping station that failed, not the reactor core. 

The threat of a melt-down remains as officials try to cool reactors at two facilities damaged by the earthquake (upgraded to a 9.1), tsunami and now, fire. 

TOKYO FLOODED BY TSUNAMI

TSUNAMI COULD REACH SAN DIEGO FRIDAY  

AT 8:41 A.M.

TSUNAMI WATCHES/WARNINGS ISSUED FOR HAWAII, ALASKA, CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON, AUSTRALIA, RUSSIA, TAIWAN, GUAM, PHLIPPINES, INDONESIA, MARIANAS ISLANDS, SOUTH AMERICA, ANTARCTICA & MORE