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 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 consist of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, BentLiberal and ScottyUrb, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent. We invited our readers to comment & share other news.
BBC:Watchdog contradicts Cameron on impact of austerity on growth
Watchdog contradicts Cameron on impact of austerity on growth
David Cameron has become involved in a dispute with the Office for Budget Responsibility about the impact of austerity measures on economic growth.
In a speech on the economy on Thursday, the prime minister said the independent watchdog had made it "absolutely clear" that spending cuts and tax rises were not responsible for the weak economy.
But the OBR said it had been arguing for years that this was an issue.
Labour said it was an "embarrassing rebuke" for the prime minister.
BBC:Kenya election: Uhuru Kenyatta 'wins vote count'
Kenya election: Uhuru Kenyatta 'wins vote count'
Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have won the presidential election by the tightest of margins, provisional results indicate.
After all the votes were counted, he had polled 50.03% of the vote, 4,109 votes over the threshold required for outright victory.
But the official result will not come until 11:00 on Saturday (08:00 GMT).
Rival candidate Raila Odinga is likely to file a legal challenge if he loses.
BBC:China warns against Korea escalation
China warns against Korea escalation
China has appealed for calm on the Korean peninsula, hours after North Korea said it had scrapped all peace pacts with the South and threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes.
China, the North's only major ally, said all sides should continue to talk and avoid "further escalation".
Pyongyang has reacted angrily to another round of sanctions imposed by the UN over its recent nuclear test.
The sanctions restrict luxury goods imports and banking activities.
BBC:Egypt police withdraw from Port Said
Egypt police withdraw from Port Said
The Egyptian military has taken over security duties from the police in the restive city of Port Said, the interior ministry has said.
Police were withdrawn from the streets "to calm tension", the ministry said, after days of clashes with protesters.
At least one person was shot dead as violence continued overnight.
The move comes ahead of verdicts due on Saturday in cases involving dozens of people over a deadly football riots in Port Said in February 2012.
BBC:Election for new pope to begin on Tuesday
Election for new pope to begin on Tuesday
Roman Catholic cardinals will begin electing a new pope on 12 March, the Vatican has announced after 115 cardinals gathered for talks.
Pope Benedict XVI stepped down last month after nearly eight years in office, becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.
The 85-year-old blamed his failing health for his inability to carry on.
Under the rules of the secret ballot, or conclave, cardinals will vote until one achieves a two-thirds majority.
BBC:Venezuela holds Hugo Chavez state funeral
Venezuela holds Hugo Chavez state funeral
Venezuelans have paid an emotional farewell to the late President Hugo Chavez at his state funeral in Caracas.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro told mourners Mr Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years, remained "undefeated, pure, living for all time".
Mr Maduro was due to be sworn in as acting president later on Friday. He has to call elections within 30 days.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles condemned Mr Maduro's imminent inauguration as "fraudulent".
Reuters:Analysis: New sanctions on North Korea may be tougher, but impact in doubt
Analysis: New sanctions on North Korea may be tougher, but impact in doubt
(Reuters) - New U.N. steps against North Korea over its nuclear arms program were designed to bring its sanctions regime more in line with the tough restrictions Iran is facing, but fears remain that the measures will have little impact on Pyongyang's defiant leaders.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice - who led the drafting of U.N. Security Council resolution 2094 adopted unanimously on Thursday as well as the bilateral negotiations with China that produced it - said, "These sanctions will bite and bite hard."
North Korea responded with an escalation of its bellicose rhetoric, including a threat to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States. It also repeated previous threats to cancel the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean war and moved to cut off a hotline with the South.
But will the sanctions actually bite? And, if they do bite, will they end the cycle of rocket launches and nuclear tests that have resulted in a sustained push by the United States, South Korea and Japan at the U.N. Security Council to condemn and punish Pyongyang?
Reuters:Traders see early 2015 Fed rate hike, QE3 stays for now
Traders see early 2015 Fed rate hike, QE3 stays for now
(Reuters) - A surprise pick-up in U.S. jobs growth has boosted the chances of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates sooner than had been expected, but it is likely to take several more months of strong employment data for the Fed to trim its bond purchases and rates won't rise for at least a year after that.
"The surprising improvement in the health of the labor market does not necessarily mean the Fed will start to look at an exit from its asset buying program any time soon," Markit chief market economist Chris Williamson said. "A sustained run of stronger job creation than even the nice surprise seen in February is needed to generate a significant further reduction in the unemployment level."
U.S. employers added 236,000 jobs in February, the U.S. Labor Department said on Friday, more than the 160,000 expected.
The jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent, its lowest since December 2008. The rate had been 7.9 percent.
Reuters:Rosneft moves closer to TNK-BP deal with EU clearance
Rosneft moves closer to TNK-BP deal with EU clearance
(Reuters) - Russian oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) moved closer to finalizing its $55 billion takeover of TNK-BP <TNBP.>MM after winning EU regulatory approval for one of the biggest deals in the sector.
State-owned Rosneft is buying TNK-BP from private Russian group AAR and British oil company BP (BP.L) in two separate deals that will help it leapfrog world No. 1 Exxon Mobil (XOM.N).
Reuters last week reported the European Commission was expected to give unconditional approval.
The EU antitrust authority said in a statement that its investigation did not find any competition concerns.
Reuters:Senegal worried about risk of militants entering from Mali: president
Senegal worried about risk of militants entering from Mali: president
(Reuters) - Senegal is stepping up monitoring of its borders and mounting a public education campaign in an effort to ensure that Islamist militants from neighboring Mali do not disrupt life in the West African nation, Senegalese President Macky Sall said on Friday.
Senegal, one of Africa's most peaceful countries, is keen to remain insulated from violence in northern Mali, where a French military offensive has reclaimed most of the territory seized by militants nearly a year ago.
"There is a risk of sleeper cells as everywhere else. If you will, the map of terrorist presence is a global map," Sall, who has been in power almost a year, said in an interview at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Senegal being a neighboring country to Mali, it of course pays very close attention to these developments," said Sall, who noted that Dakar was focused on preventing militants from crossing into Senegal and dissuading Senegalese residents from working with any who did.
Reuters:U.S. fines two Japanese freight forwarders for price fixing
U.S. fines two Japanese freight forwarders for price fixing
(Reuters) - Japanese freight forwarders Yusen Logistics Co Ltd (9370.T) and "K" Line Logistics Ltd have agreed to pay a combined $18.9 million in criminal fines for conspiring to fix fees, the Justice Department said on Friday.
The two companies agreed to plead guilty to fixing fuel surcharges and various security fees on shipments from Japan to the United States, the department said.
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
They are among 16 freight forwarding firms which have agreed to plead guilty. Criminal fines have totaled more than $120 million, the Justice Department said.
Reuters:Beechcraft to protest Embraer win of U.S. Air Force deal
Beechcraft to protest Embraer win of U.S. Air Force deal
(Reuters) - Beechcraft Corp said on Friday it will formally protest the U.S. Air Force's decision to award a $428 million contract for light attack planes for the Afghan military to Brazil's Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA).
After a politically charged bidding process, Embraer and its U.S.-based partner, Sierra Nevada, won the deal on February 27 to supply 20 light attack planes to be used in Afghanistan counterinsurgency missions.
Beechcraft, formerly known as Hawker Beechcraft, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. The aircraft maker said in a statement that the Air Force decision puts 1,400 jobs in jeopardy in Kansas, where it is based, and other states.
In a statement, Beechcraft Chief Executive Bill Boisture said his company was "very perplexed" by the Air Force decision and would file a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) based on concerns that there were mistakes in the selection process.
USA Today:150 years later, Navy buries USS Monitor sailors
150 years later, Navy buries USS Monitor sailors
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy laid two of its own to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, 150 years after they died at sea in the sinking by storm of the USS Monitor, famed for battling a Confederate ironclad to a draw in 1862.
The sailors, whose remains were recovered a decade ago with excavation of the wreck, were commemorated with Abraham Lincoln's reference to honored dead giving "the last full measure of devotion."
"We are joined," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a packed chapel service before burial, "as Lincoln again reminded us, by 'the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and every patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone.'"
The Monitor — with its distinctive, revolving, "cheesebox" turret — secured a place in naval history after clashing with the CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimack, off Hampton Roads, Va., 151 years ago today and Saturday.