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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 28

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“Just because it’s biodegradable does not mean it’s good.” — Peter Skelton of the U.K.’s Waste and Resources Action Program, on bioplastics (see “Plastics,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
U.S. Fourth Fleet returns, heads south
Monsanto loses Canadian GMO dispute
*Plastics*
Bioplastics: Friend or foe? *Japan*
Memories of old Japan stir island dispute

TOP STORIES
* U.S. Fourth Fleet Returns, Heads South
Some Latin American nations are wondering if the return of the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet to their coastlines signals the return of “gunboat diplomacy” as well, Agence France-Presse reports.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 27

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“You can’t fly planes on photovoltaic panels.” — Researcher Harvey Blanch on “second generation” biofuels that he says don’t compete with food crops (see “Energy,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Colombia’s disappeared return to view
Immigration: Filipinos in EU spotlight
The other kind of green beer
*Africa*
Zimbabwe troubles may bust borders
*Energy*
Fly the cellulose skies: Will second-generation biofuel take off? TOP STORIES
* Colombia’s Disappeared Return to View
Thousands of Colombians who have “disappeared” over the decades were commemorated in prose and pictures at a June conference in Bogota on political kidappings, Inter Press Service reports.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 26

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“A common refrain in the messages we have received from members since the Web site was shut down is: ‘I love my country but my country doesn’t love me.'”
— Lu Jun Lu runs a Chinese Web site for people with hepatitis that was shut down by the government over protest concerns (see “China,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Medical bills spur India suicide plan
Pumped up for public water
For forests under fire, a slight return
*China*
A million mutinies now
*Carbon Tax*
Canada in heated debate over global warming tax

TOP STORIES
* Medical Bills Spur India Suicide Plan
A woman stricken with kidney disease and her husband have petitioned a municipal official in Kolkart, India to allow them to commit suicide. The Times of India reported that Swapna Das and husband Biswanath Das wrote to the district magistrate asking permission to die together because of health care costs they find staggering. She is on dialysis, which costs 6,000 rupees or U.S.$138, and cannot afford a kidney replacement.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 25

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“We don’t look at it through the prism of Democrats and Republicans. We look at it in terms of those who support free market policies and those who don’t.” — A pharmaceutical industry spokesman on record-breaking lobbying expenses aimed at Congressional Democrats (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Big year for (Democratic) drug deals
U.K. jouralist gets some source protection
Australia’s billion-dollar land grab
*Transportation*
Who resurrected the electric car?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 24

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“They’re a hate group. We’re trying to drum up charges against them, but, unfortunately, we’ll probably have to let them go.” — A Philadelphia police spokesman on four people who were detained without charges after criticizing security cameras in their neighborhood (see “Law & Justice,” below). CONTENTS:

*Top Stories*
Philippines: Activist deaths persist
Pa.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 24

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“This agreement in no way limits our ability to prosecute anyone or any violation of the voter fraud statute.” — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, on the settlement of a lawsuit over his alleged targeting of minorities in voter fraud investigations (see “Elections,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Food crisis renews biotech farming debate
A Russian bear is bullish on big oil
U.K. faces diabetes “explosion”
*Elections*
When is “voter fraud” a fraud? *Par Avion*
German zeppelins target London, San Francisco

TOP STORIES
* Food Crisis Renews Biotech Farming Debate
As global food prices climb, the debate over genetically modified agriculture is once again heating up.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 23

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“This is not a good place to do interviews. In a disaster like this, there will be a lot of opinions. The government will solve their problems.” — A Chinese official on protests by the parents of earthquake victims who blame shoddy school construction for the deaths of their children (see “Top Stories,” below).

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 22

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“This town has every nationality … but Muslims do not fit in this town.” — Bias is widespread in one Australian town, amid debate over plans for a new Islamic school (see “Islam,” below). CONTENTS:
*Islam*
Muslims Down Under: Bias and Sketch Comedy
*Olympics*
Olympic stadium mobile home
*Nation*
Where did all the dead bodies go?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 21

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“A lot of people are very angry at the situation in Burma but they won’t come out. They won’t speak to the radio, they won’t come in front of the TV because of the fear of repercussions and their family left behind.” — Dr. Kyaw Myint Malia of the Burmese Friendship Association on children of the Myanmar junta who are studying in Australia (see “Burma/Myanmar,” below). CONTENTS:
*Politics*
Household-name Republican fighting for her political life
*Burma/Myanmar*
Australian press points to children of Burmese junta
*War & Peace*
Gathering around cluster bombs

POLITICS
* Household-Name Republican Fighting for Her Political Life
With congressional elections coming up this fall, many Republican incumbents are looking vulnerable even in states where their party previously seemed to have a lock on the vote.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 20

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“At the end of the day, life and death in India for the poorer convicts on death row is a like a lottery.” — Activist Mukul Sharma on what he says is a biased capital punishment policy in India (see “Crime & Punishment,” below). CONTENTS:
*War & Peace*
Japan’s military dilemma
*Capital Punishment*
New execution inquiries

WAR & Peace
* Japan’s Military Dilemma
Japanese activists turned out in the thousands last week to oppose changes to the nation’s pacifist constitution. At issue is the so-called Article 9, a charter which severely restricts the activity of the Japanese military, and which has been targeted for updating as the nation’s international role has changed in recent years.