April 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.
- Perfect recipe for wildfires as season starts early (NBC)
- With Santorum’s exit, Romney shifts focus (Washington Post)
- FDA details clot risk on birth control pills (USA Today)
- Romney blames Obama for women job losses actually caused by GOP (Rawstory)
- Obama: We could call the Buffet rule the Reagan rule (CBS news)
- Hill insider trading bill signed
- Where is George Zimmerman? Treyvon Martin shooting (CBS News)
- Apple, publishers accused of fixing e-book prices (Reuters)
WORLD
- Defiant North Korea begins injecting fuel into rocket (Reuters)
- Syria pledges truce, if rebels hold fire (Reuters)
- Warnings over medical implant hacks (BBC)
- No sign of tsunami after powerful Indonesia quake (KPBS)
- Haitian orphans long wait is over (Fox)
- China braces for next act in leadership drama (Reuters)
- Norway’s mass killer Breivik found sane (BBC)
Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.
U.S.
Perfect recipe for wildfires as season starts early (NBC)
April 10, 2012 -- The U.S. wildfire season that typically starts in late spring has taken off this month, with crews tackling fires up and down the East Coast in recent days.
Twenty-five states, all east of the Rockies, posted their warmest January-March periods on record, and many Northeastern states have had their driest starts ever.
"Those two factors, and recent wind, is a perfect recipe for fire" in the eastern U.S., Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel told NBC News.
With Santorum’s exit, Romney shifts focus (Washington Post)
April 10, 2012 -- Rick Santorum’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign Tuesday effectively ended the race for the Republican nomination, giving likely nominee Mitt Romney the opportunity to repair the damage he sustained in the primary contests, rally reluctant conservatives behind his candidacy and shift his focus to President Obama.
The general-election contest already was taking shape, with the Obama and Romney campaigns engaging each other more directly in the past few weeks. That will accelerate rapidly, with Americans now looking at a probable seven-month campaign between two candidates who have strikingly different visions about where to take the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-rick-santorum-out-mitt-romney-shifts-to-obama/2012/04/10/gIQAsey58S_story.html?hpid=z1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-rick-santorum-out-mitt-romney-shifts-to-obama/2012/04/10/gIQAsey58S_story.html?hpid=z1
FDA details clot risk on birth control pills (USA Today)
April 11, 2012 -- Federal health regulators said Tuesday they are adding labeling to Yaz and other newer birth control pills emphasizing that the drugs may be more likely to cause blood clots than older contraceptive pills.
The labeling will apply to Bayer's Yaz, its predecessor Yasmin and similar drugs containing the manmade hormone called drospirenone, which mimics the naturally occurring female hormone progesterone. The drugs are among the best-selling contraceptives in the U.S., due to marketing emphasizing their ability to clear up acne and other hormone-related issues.
Romney blames Obama for women job losses actually caused by GOP (Rawstory)
April 11, 2012 -- Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney says that President Obama’s economic policies amount to the real “war on women,” according to a post at CNN’s “Political Ticker” blog.
The presumptive 2012 nominee was speaking at a Delaware factory when he delivered the remarks. He claimed that 92.3 percent of the “jobs lost” under the Obama administration were positions held by women. Romney was fighting back against news that the president is currently beating him in polls by 19 percentage points with women voters.
Obama: We could call the Buffet rule the Reagan rule (CBS news)
April 11, 2012 -- Opposed to the "Buffett Rule"? What about the "Reagan Rule"?
Facing sharp opposition to his proposal to level the tax playing field, President Obama changed rhetorical tactics Wednesday and said that his so-called "Buffet Rule" on taxes could be renamed the "Reagan Rule" since the Republican icon supported the basic concept -- which he called America's fair share plan.
"It's time for Congress to stand up for the middle class and make our system fairer by passing the Buffett rule," Mr. Obama said from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House as he pushed a proposal to ensure the wealthiest Americans don't pay a lower tax rate than middle class Americans.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57412386-503544/obama-we-could-call-the-buffett-rule-the-reagan-rule/?tag=stack
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57412386-503544/obama-we-could-call-the-buffett-rule-the-reagan-rule/?tag=stack
Hill insider trading bill signed
April 4, 2012 -- President Obama signed into law a bill strengthening the ban on insider trading by members of Congress and other government officials who might profit on private knowledge they gain from their work.
“We were sent here to serve the American people and look out for their interests, not to look out for our own interests,” Obama said at a signing ceremony in Washington, joined by Republican and Democratic members of Congress. “There is a deficit of trust between this city and the rest of the country.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hill-insider-trading-bill-signed/2012/04/04/gIQA5dQ6vS_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hill-insider-trading-bill-signed/2012/04/04/gIQA5dQ6vS_story.html
Where is George Zimmerman? Treyvon Martin shooting (CBS News)
April 11, 2012 -- The attorney representing the parents of slain teen Travyon Martin said Tuesday he's worried that no one knows the whereabouts of the shooter, George Zimmerman.
"We're concerned that he might be a flight risk, that nobody knows where he's at," said Ben Crump. "That he can get in contact with you, but you can't get in contact with him."
Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense after following the teenager in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. He said after he followed Martin for a time, he was returning to his truck when the teen attacked him. He shot the unarmed teen to death during the altercation.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57412307/where-is-george-zimmerman/?tag=mncol;lst;8
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57412307/where-is-george-zimmerman/?tag=mncol;lst;8
Apple, publishers accused of fixing e-book prices (Reuters)
April 11, 2012 -- The U.S. government sued Apple Inc and five publishers, saying they conspired to fix the prices of electronic books, and reached a settlement with three of the publishers that could lead to cheaper e-books for consumers.
The Justice Department accused Apple of colluding with the five publishers as the Silicon Valley giant was launching its iPad in early 2010 and was seeking to break up Amazon.com's low-cost dominance in the digital book market.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE8391JW20120411
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE8391JW20120411
WORLD
Defiant North Korea begins injecting fuel into rocket (Reuters)
April 11, 2012 -- Impoverished North Korea rejected international protests over its planned long-range rocket launch and said on Wednesday that it was injecting fuel "as we speak", meaning it could blast off as early as Thursday.
If all goes to plan, the launch, which North Korea's neighbors and the West say is a disguised ballistic missile test, will take a three-stage rocket over a sea separating the Korean peninsula from China before releasing a satellite into orbit when the third stage fires over waters near the Philippines.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-korea-north-rocket-idUSBRE83A04T20120411
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-korea-north-rocket-idUSBRE83A04T20120411
Syria pledges truce, if rebels hold fire (Reuters)
April 11, 2012 -- Syria was due to observe a ceasefire from dawn on Thursday, but its fierce attacks on opposition neighborhoods in the run up to the U.N. deadline fuelled widespread doubts it would comply.
The Syrian army also showed few signs of withdrawing troops from urban areas, something supposed to have begun on Tuesday under the peace plan agreed with international envoy Kofi Annan.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-syria-idUSBRE83602720120411
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-syria-idUSBRE83602720120411
Warnings over medical implant hacks (BBC)
April 9, 2012 -- Many medical implants are vulnerable to attacks that could threaten their users' lives, according to studies.
Security researchers have developed attacks that locate and compromise implants used to manage conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
One attack identified a radio signal that, if re-broadcast, would have switched off a heart defibrillator.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17623948
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17623948
No sign of tsunami after powerful Indonesia quake (KPBS)
April 11, 2012 -- Two massive earthquakes triggered back-to-back tsunami warnings for Indonesia on Wednesday, sending panicked residents fleeing to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles. There were no signs of deadly waves, however, or serious damage, and a watch for much of the Indian Ocean was lifted after a few hours.
Women and children were crying in Aceh province, where memories are still raw of a 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province alone. Others screamed "God is great" as they poured from their homes or searched frantically for separated family members.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/apr/11/no-sign-tsunami-after-powerful-indonesian-quake/
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/apr/11/no-sign-tsunami-after-powerful-indonesian-quake/
Haitian orphans long wait is over (Fox video)
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1557001453001/
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1557001453001/
China braces for next act in leadership drama (Reuters)
April 11, 2012 -- "We can't keep a lid on this," China's disgraced leader Bo Xilai was reportedly told by his police chief when the murder scandal now engulfing Bo's family first began to unravel.
With a once-in-a-decade leadership handover months away, the Communist Party's elite must be thinking the same thing as they confront the first very public turmoil at the centre of power in more than 20 years.
Revelations about the former Chongqing party chief issued by the government on Tuesday, and above all that his wife Gu Kailai is suspected of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood, have upset China's carefully staged power succession, turning it into a drama that could still claim victims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-china-politics-bo-drama-idUSBRE83A1F220120411
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-china-politics-bo-drama-idUSBRE83A1F220120411
Norway’s mass killer Breivik found sane (BBC)
April 10, 2012 -- A second psychiatric evaluation of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has found him sane enough to face trial and a jail term.
The findings contradict a previous evaluation, published in November, that found him legally insane.
Breivik is due to stand trial on Monday over a bomb attack and shooting spree last July that killed 77 people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17663958
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17663958
