THE TOP 3: GLOBAL, U.S., AND CALIFORNIA NEWS AND VIEWS

Top Global News
The African Union is sending 2,000 more Ugandan and Burundian troops to Somalia, boosting troop strength to 8,000.  The U.S. is largely funding the mission to take on the Islamist al-Shabab terror front, which has been reinforced with foreign fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  See story.

Top U.S. News
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) docks his yacht in Rhode Island, not Massachusetts – saving $500,000 in taxes. (And the hypocritically funny thing is, Kerry will say with a straight face that tax rates do not impact the economy by affecting behavior. I wonder how many jobs were lost in Massachusetts but created in Rhode Island to maintain Kerry’s yacht?)  See story.

Top California News
The City of Bell, recently in the news for the corruption of its leaders, has a new issue to deal with: they have higher property tax rates than Beverly Hills (of course, with expensive houses, a lower rate still yields more money per house). See story.