OND is a community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
OND Editors consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, guest editor and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains
BBC:Egypt crisis: Protesters clash with army in Cairo
Egypt crisis: Protesters clash with army in Cairo
Egyptian opposition protesters have demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Cairo, after breaking through a barricade erected by security forces.
Tens of thousands had gathered near the palace after rejecting a call for dialogue by President Mohammed Morsi.
Opposition leaders say Mr Morsi has offered no concession on his decisions to expand his powers and to put a new draft constitution to a referendum.
A top official later said the president could conditionally postpone the vote.
BBC:Syria rebels aim to seize Damascus airport
Syria rebels aim to seize Damascus airport
Rebel fighters in Syria say that they are aiming to seize Damascus airport, saying it is a "fair target".
Rebel spokesmen say the airport is being used by the Syrian military and that it should be avoided by civilians.
There has been fierce fighting in recent weeks in the countryside around Damascus, known as the Ghouta.
The city's international airport has been inaccessible or closed to civilian flights repeatedly over the past two weeks.
BBC:Ghana election: Glitches force extension of voting
Ghana election: Glitches force extension of voting
Voting in Ghana's presidential and parliamentary elections has been extended in many areas where technical glitches led to long delays.
Electoral officials say polling in the affected areas will resume on Saturday.
Many voters endured long queues before the polls closed at 17:00 GMT. Counting has begun where voting was completed.
A tight race is expected between President John Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo in the new oil producer - one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
Mr Mahama took over as president after John Atta Mills died in July.
BBC:Japan earthquake sparks tsunami scare
Japan earthquake sparks tsunami scare
A 7.3-magnitude quake has struck off Japan's eastern coast, triggering a small tsunami and sparking evacuations.
A one-metre wave hit Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture and many people heeded calls to move to higher ground before all alerts were later lifted.
The quake epicentre was about 245km (150 miles) south-east of Kamiashi at a depth of about 36km, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Miyagi was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
BBC:Venezuela's Chavez returns from treatment in Cuba
Venezuela's Chavez returns from treatment in Cuba
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned from cancer-related treatment in Cuba, amid renewed speculation about his health.
In his first public appearance since 15 November, he was shown on state TV arriving at Caracas airport.
"I'm happy to be back again, happy and enthused," he said, jokingly asking: "So where's the party?"
He was said to be receiving "hyperbaric oxygenation" therapy, which can ease ailments caused by radiation treatment.
But speculation has been rife that the unspecified cancer he was first diagnosed with in July 2011 has returned.
BBC:Nexen sale to China's CNOOC backed by Canada government
Nexen sale to China's CNOOC backed by Canada government
The Canadian government has approved the sale of oil company Nexen to state-owned Chinese firm CNOOC, but said it would likely block any such future takeovers.
Nexen shareholders approved the $15.1bn (£9.4bn) deal back in September, but it needed final backing from Ottawa.
The sale has proved controversial in Canada, amid concerns that it will give China too much influence over Canada's oil industry.
It is China's largest foreign takeover.
Reuters:Exclusive: Authorities probe SAC Capital for Weight Watchers trading - sources
Exclusive: Authorities probe SAC Capital for Weight Watchers trading - sources
(Reuters) - Authorities are investigating Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund for alleged insider trading in the shares of the popular diet company Weight Watchers International Inc, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sources said on Friday the investigation could implicate the billionaire hedge fund manager and focuses on trading in Weight Watchers shares in the first half of 2011, when SAC Capital had taken a sizeable position in the stock.
An SAC Capital spokesman said the firm was not aware of any investigation involving Weight Watchers. A spokeswoman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment. A spokesperson for Weight Watchers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Regulatory filings show that Cohen's $14 billion fund briefly held 2.1 million shares in Weight Watchers during the period under scrutiny by authorities - at which time the diet company's stock price roughly doubled.
Reuters:Iran's long-range missiles said to lag U.S. intelligence fears
Iran's long-range missiles said to lag U.S. intelligence fears
(Reuters) - An internal report for the U.S. Congress has concluded that Iran probably is no longer on track, if it ever was, to having an ocean-crossing missile as soon as 2015.
The study casts doubt on a view long held by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran could be able to test-fly by 2015 an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, if it receives "sufficient foreign assistance."
"It is increasingly uncertain whether Iran will be able to achieve an ICBM capability by 2015," said the report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which works exclusively for lawmakers.
Iran does not appear to be receiving as much help as would likely be necessary, notably from China or Russia, to reach that goal, according to the 66-page report dated Thursday.
Reuters:Chinese group in talks to buy AIG air lease arm
Chinese group in talks to buy AIG air lease arm
(Reuters) - A group of Chinese companies, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), is in talks to buy nearly all of American International Group Inc's (AIG.N) aircraft leasing unit for about $5.5 billion, AIG said on Friday.
The deal is expected to be announced as soon as early next week, a source familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
AIG, which has been selling assets to pay back a $182 billion U.S. government bailout from 2008, had long been hoping to float its ILFC aircraft leasing unit through an initial public offering, but poor market conditions forced it to delay those plans.
An IPO was expected to value the company at $6 billion to $8 billion, according to previous reports on the plans.
Editorial Note:The Movie Version of Two Big to Fail makes mention of AIG and it's Aircraft arm William Hurt as Hank Paulson and His Senior Staff rode on a AIG leased plane http://www.youtube.com/...
Reuters:U.S. trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties
U.S. trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties
(Reuters) - The Senate's passage of legislation to punish Russians who violate human rights is the first big test of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama's resolve to improve relations since each won elections.
Obama, who launched a "reset" in relations with Russia less than four years ago, is likely to sign the law even though Moscow sees it as "aggressively unfriendly". Damage to U.S.-Russian relations is all but inevitable.
But there are signs that Putin, who won the presidency despite the biggest protests of his 13-year rule, may want to put the bad blood of a campaign in which he whipped up anti-American sentiment behind him.
"I do not think that this will lead to a serious crisis in Russian-American relations," said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre think tank.
Reuters:Russia set to halt imports of U.S. beef, pork
Russia set to halt imports of U.S. beef, pork
(Reuters) - U.S. pork and beef exports to Russia could come to a halt on Saturday following Moscow's requirement that the meat be tested and certified free of the feed additive ractopamine, a move analysts said smacked of political retaliation.
The move could jeopardize the more than $500 million a year in exports of U.S. beef and pork to Russia, and comes on the heels of U.S. Senate approval of a bill to expand bilateral trade that also sought to punish Russian human rights violators.
The United States asked Russia, the sixth-largest market for U.S. beef and pork, to suspend the requirement even as it warned domestic meat companies that Moscow might reject their pork shipments that contained ractopamine and stop buying pork from processing plants that produced pork with the drug.
Ractopamine is used as a feed additive to make meat leaner, but countries such as China have banned its use despite scientific evidence that it is safe. The United Nations has agreed on acceptable levels of the drug.
Reuters:Clinton to testify on Benghazi attack report: U.S. lawmaker
Clinton to testify on Benghazi attack report: U.S. lawmaker
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on a report expected to be released next week on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, a top Republican lawmaker said on Friday.
"I have just received confirmation from Secretary Clinton's office that the secretary of state will appear before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss, in an open hearing, the findings and the recommendations in the report," Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.
Ros-Lehtinen is chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, which has already held several hearings and classified briefings on the attack.
The attack killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, and raised questions about the adequacy of security in far-flung posts.
Sun Times:On anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack, WWII plane recovered from Lake Michigan
On anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack, WWII plane recovered from Lake Michigan
Seventy-one years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a World War II relic was pulled from Lake Michigan Friday as recovery crews reeled in an Eastern Aircraft FM-2 Wildcat fighter that crashed during carrier-qualification training in December 1944.
“It’s a pretty inspiring thing to see an aircraft come out of the water after that many years,” said Chuck Greenhill, an aviation buff who financed the endeavor and was the first to sit in the waterlogged cockpit. “You think you’d get used to it, but you don’t.”
The Wildcat actually came ashore at Waukegan’s Larsen Marine in two pieces. A crowd of more than 200 onlookers, including several World War II veterans, watched as the otherwise intact fuselage slowly settled onto a tarp. Greenhill reported that the stick was in place and the rudder pedals still worked.
“It’s so important for to have these airplanes available for the public to see so people can appreciate what happened back in this era,” Greenhill said. “If this thing laid in the lake, it would just be completely forgotten — it would be junk.”