Yes, there is an election tomorrow, and yes, that’s probably the biggest story on the radar screesn of most Americans the next few days. However, despite the narrowly focused reality portrayed on the Cable News shows, the world doesn’t revolve around our elections. Here are some of the stories that may go unnoticed over the next few days, but which are significant in their own right and deserve greater coverage:
Global Warming to lead to an insect population explosion:
A rise in the Earth’s temperature could lead to an increase in the number of insects worldwide, with potentially dire consequences for humans, a new study suggests. […]
The consequences could be more serious than just a few extra bug bites each summer. “If they’re crop species, we could count on needing to use more pesticides and it could be very costly,” said Melanie Frazier, a doctoral student at the University of Washington and lead author of the study.
Insect-borne diseases are also a worry. Malaria, Lyme Disease and a host of others rely on insect vectors to spread among humans, and a swell in their populations could mean more infections.
Families of British soldiers go to court to seek inquiry on Iraq:
Relatives of British troops killed in Iraq Monday were seeking a judicial review into the government’s refusal to hold independent inquiry into the legality of the joint UK-US invasion in 2003.
The legal action launched by Military Families Against the War were arguing at the Court of Appeal in London that the decision to go to war breached Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the “right to life”.
Iran is seeking talks with the United States on Iraq:
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran would consider talks with the U.S. over regional issues, including Iraq, if Washington requested. He would not elaborate, and there was no immediate response from the United States on the offer.
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Pakistan is offering to fence it’s border with Afghanistan to stop Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, including the use of mines:
Pakistan has repeatedly said it is willing seal its border with Afghanistan. But officials say Afghanistan has rejected proposals to build a fence or mine the frontier.
Bush administration drops support for UN peacekeeping force in Darfur:
In a major policy reversal, Washington’s special envoy for Sudan has confirmed the US is backing away from demands for deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to halt what it has called genocide in the the war-torn region of Darfur.
Andrew Natsios, US President George W. Bush’s personal envoy to Sudan, said Washington and other Western governments were looking for an “alternate way” to deal with the violence in Darfur which has left at least 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million homeless in the past three-and-a-half years.
US Supreme Court heard arguments last week on the validity of regulations under the Clean Air Act:
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in an important environmental case – important both for clean air and for preserving the proper order for resolving disputes over regulatory questions. The case, Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy Corp., involves the rules governing when coal-fired energy plants must be upgraded with modern, pollution-fighting equipment. It presents two distinct questions. The first is what counts as an “increase” in pollution; the second is which court gets to decide. If the Supreme Court sides with Duke Energy – as several justices seemed inclined to do – it will do a great deal of damage.
In Brooklyn, five orthodox Jewish teenagers are charged with a hate crime in the beating of a Pakistani man:
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has filed hate crime charges againsts five Brooklyn teens, three of whom were charged as adults. The charges stem from an apparent assault of a Pakistani man. […]
The DA has identified the victim as Shahid Amber, 24, a lab technician of Midwood, who says he was beaten by a group of Jewish teens wearing yarmelkes. Amber says they injured his jaw and broke his nose. “When this kind of thing happens, this completely shakes me up,” Amber says.
Military lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay detainees petitioned the federal US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to declare that the Military Commissions Act is uncontitutional:
Lawyers representing detainees held in the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay … Wednesday petitioned … the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to declare a portion of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) … unconstitutional. A key provision in the act, which was signed into law … by US President George Bush last month, strips US courts of jurisdiction to consider writs of habeas corpus filed by detainees who are detained as enemy combatants… The lawyers argued that the MCA as written still permits detainees who have not been charged to pursue habeas claims and that the US Constitution gives prisoners the right to challenge their detentions in civil court. After the measure was signed, the US Justice Department sent letters … to the DC district and appeals courts, notifying the lower court that it no longer had jurisdiction over some 200 pending cases filed by Guantanamo detainees, and urging the appeals court to reach the merits on two cases currently on its docket in light of the MCA. Wednesday’s briefs were filed in the two appeals court cases.
