Why elections matter

May 12, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Elections are the great legitimizer of government.

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Armed men identified as Ukrainian national guard opened fire Sunday on a crowd outside a town hall in eastern Ukraine, and an official for the region’s insurgents said there were fatalities. The bloodshed in the town of Krasnoarmeisk occurred hours after dozens of armed men shut down voting in a referendum on sovereignty for the region. One of them identified the group as being national guardsmen. An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the shooting said two people were seen lying unmoving on the ground and insurgent leader Denis Pushilin was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying there were an unspecified number of deaths.

The lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden said Sunday he wouldn’t represent him any longer after facing threats from militants, even as America pushes for the man to be freed. Lawyer Samiullah Khan Afridi said he made the decision after he received what he described as a “final” warning from militants. Afridi said he represented Dr. Shakil Afridi on humanitarian grounds, but said it is now not possible for him to continue. The two Afridis are not related.

The government has failed to inspect thousands of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination and other environmental damage, congressional investigators say. The report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release, highlights substantial gaps in oversight by the agency that manages oil and gas development on federal and Indian lands. Investigators said weak control by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management resulted from policies based on outdated science and from incomplete monitoring data.

Fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar province, now in its fifth month, appears to have bogged down, with government forces unable to drive out Islamic militants who took over one of the area’s main cities. But the impact is being felt much further, with the repercussions rippling through the country’s economy to hit consumers and businesses.

A New Mexico librarian discovered a blast from the past, specifically 1967. Lola Delaney tells The Daily Times that she was recently cleaning the library of Hermosa Middle School in Farmington when she went through a cardboard box. Delaney says inside were 31 letters all dated April 1967. According to the letters, they were written by students and meant to be given to the class of 1987. In the letters, the students touch on numerous topics including the Vietnam War, the space race and miniskirts. Delaney says the students who wrote the letters have been invited to an annual celebration May 19 at the school, where the letters will be available to read. She says she doesn’t know if students in 1987 ever received them.

Dozens of people rode their ATVs and motorcycles on an off-limits trail in southern Utah on Saturday in a protest against what the group calls the federal government’s overreaching control of public lands.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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