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 Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, rfall, Doctor RJ and JML9999. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw. The guest editor is annetteboardman.
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BBC
Ukraine conflict: Putin 'was ready for nuclear alert'
President Vladimir Putin has said he was ready to put Russia's nuclear weapons on standby during tensions over the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea.
In comments in a documentary aired on state TV on Sunday, Mr Putin said the life of ex-Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych had been in danger.
He also said Russians in Crimea were in danger before Russia annexed it.
In a previously released clip from the film, he said he ordered the annexation weeks before a referendum was held.
Crimea was formally absorbed into Russia on 18 March, to international condemnation, after unidentified gunmen took over the peninsula.
The documentary aired amid speculation over Mr Putin's whereabouts with the Russian leader having not been seen in public since 5 March.
The Kremlin has denied rumours that the president might be sick or even dead and says Mr Putin will meet his Kyrgyz counterpart, Almazbek Atambayev, on Monday.
BBC
Speculation rife as world waits for Putin to reappear
Can there ever have been such importance attached to a planned meeting between the Russian and Kyrgyz presidents, in which they will discuss trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian co-operation?
Such is the strange atmosphere in Moscow nowadays that Monday's meeting in St Petersburg - assuming it takes place - will be scrutinised like no other.
And all this because there's been no verifiable sighting of the omnipotent and normally omnipresent Vladimir Putin since 5 March.
Such a long, unexplained absence from public view has fuelled rumours among the chattering classes here and across the internet, that something is wrong - that the president might be sick or even dead or he could be the victim of a palace coup.
With persistent denials from the Kremlin doing little to dampen the speculation, Monday's meeting could be a key moment.
BBC
Turkey sends teenagers back to UK after Syria attempt
Three teenagers who were stopped from travelling to Syria from Turkey have been flown back to the UK and arrested, Scotland Yard has said.
Two boys aged 17 from north-west London and a man aged 19 were returned to the UK on Saturday night, the Met said.
They were arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and have been released on bail.
They were reported as missing on Friday and were detained after UK police alerted Turkish officials, it added.
Scotland Yard said counter-terrorism officers had initially been made aware that the two 17-year-old boys had gone missing and were believed to be travelling to Syria.
BBC
US tycoon Robert Durst arrested over Berman murder
US tycoon Robert Durst has been arrested on a murder charge ahead of the finale of a TV show investigating the alleged crime.
He was held in New Orleans after a warrant was issued by Los Angeles police investigating the murder of Susan Berman.
Mr Durst is the subject of HBO's The Jinx, which is investigating three unsolved murder cases linked to him.
The show says it has new evidence implicating him in Berman's shooting.
The 71-year-old had been previously questioned by police investigating her execution-style killing.
Mr Durst will appear in a New Orleans court on Sunday but his lawyer says he will not oppose being transferred to Los Angeles.
In 2003 he admitted killing Morris Black, dismembering his body and throwing the remains into a bay in Galveston, Texas, but a jury accepted his claim of self-defence.
The property heir was also questioned by police following the disappearance of his first wife Kathleen in 1982 in New York.
Mr Durst has always denied any involvement in the deaths of his wife or Miss Berman.
Al Jazeera America
Vanuatu president: Cyclone-ravaged country must 'start over'
The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has lost years of development progress and must "start over" following a powerful cyclone that destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the buildings on the main island of Port Vila, the country's president said Monday.
Baldwin Lonsdale, visibly weary and red eyed from lack of sleep, said in an interview that he and other top government officials were preparing to return home later Monday from Sendai, in northeastern Japan, where they were attending a disaster conference when the cyclone hit.
Australia, which along with New Zealand and France is providing rescue and relief help, offered transport from Sydney to Port Vila, his staff said.
Lonsdale said that the limited information he was able to get from home showed six people confirmed dead on Port Vila after the Category 5 typhoon smashed across the Vanuatu archipelago. He said information from other islands was not available because most communication links were still not working. But the airport in Port Vila has reopened, allowing aid and relief flights to reach the country.
"This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster. It's a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu. After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out."
I'm sure you east-coasters know this:
Al Jazeera America
Boston's winter is snowiest since 1872
Boston's miserable winter is now also its snowiest going back to 1872.
The National Weather Service (NWS) sent a tweet with news of record-breaking flurries at 7 p.m. Sunday night, “Congratulations Boston! Snowiest Season on Record” adding the 2.9 inches that day gave the city a 108.6 inch total for the season.
Boston.com trumpeted the achievement, saying “Boston is a city of champions. Orr scoring the Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal. … And now you, the average Bostonian, shoveling out your buried vehicle, … are added to the annals of glory.”
Meteorologist Mike Wankum of Boston’s WCVB said “Congratulations are pouring in from all over the country.”
Most of the snow has fallen since Jan. 26, according to The Washington Post, which meant recent discussions of the seemingly endless snowfalls in Boston have had a less triumphant, more cabin-fevered tone.
On Feb. 8, while issuing the latest blizzard warning, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said, "I'm frustrated. The last thing I want to be talking about is another 24 inches of snow. I want to move on to something else."
Schools closed repeatedly. Transportation snarls became the norm. Workers struggled to get to work, and those paid hourly, struggled to make rent. There was so much snow the city had dump it in the harbor to get rid of the stuff.
Euronews
China threatens ‘decisive’ response after alleged Myanmar bombing
China says it will take “decisive” measures if Myanmar commits another attack on its territory.
The threat comes amid allegations that Myanmar warplanes crossed the border and dropped a bomb, apparently killing four farmers, during recent fighting against rebels.
Premier Li Keqiang said the government has the ability and is responsible for defending the stability of the border.
“The Chinese Foreign Ministry and military side have both made stern representations to the side of Myanmar,” he said.
“We have the responsibility and the capacity to firmly safeguard stability in the border area between the two countries, to protect the life and property of our people.”
Myanmar denies the bombing, saying that rebels may have fired into China to create “misunderstanding.”
Myanmar government forces have been battling rebels on the border since last month. Beijing has urged its neighbour to “lower the temperature.”
Euronews
Brazil protests call for Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment
Anti-government protesters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday kicked off a wave of nationwide demonstrations against President Dilma Rousseff.
A stalling economy and unpopular measures to reduce unemployment are among her problems, however what angers ,many people the most is a scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras.
On Friday, Brazil’s Supreme Court announced all but one member of Rousseff’s ruling coalition are under investigation for allegedly receiving kickbacks from overpriced contracts with Petrobras.
The protest could deepen a political crisis that has given rise to calls for Rousseff’s impeachment.
L A Times
Islamic State suffers serious reversals in northern Iraq
Peering from his trench on a ridgeline fortified with sandbags, the Kurdish commander gazed toward an Islamic State-held village next to a swath of territory recently seized from the extremist forces. Smoke wafted into the sky from natural gas burning off a well in a broad basin known as Wadi al Naft, or Valley of Oil, west of Kirkuk, Iraq's strategic northern energy hub.
"Daesh is weaker now, no doubt," said Hussein Yazdanpana, who heads an Iranian-Kurdish front-line unit, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "We've heard that many of their fighters are running away," said the militiaman, who incongruously wore an American flag pocket patch — a gift from "Jack," one of the U.S. military advisors here.
While media attention has focused on Iraqi government advances north from Baghdad on the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit, the Sunni militants have also been suffering a series of significant reversals in the Kurdish north.
Unlike in the Tikrit assault — where Iran is a major partner and the U.S.-led coalition has been absent — the role of American air power is clearly evident here.
The Guardian
Circular thinking: Stonehenge's origin is subject of new theory
Whether it was a Druid temple, an astronomical calendar or a centre for healing, the mystery of Stonehenge has long been a source of speculation and debate. Now a dramatic new theory suggests that the prehistoric monument was in fact “an ancient Mecca on stilts”.
The megaliths would not have been used for ceremonies at ground level, but would instead have supported a circular wooden platform on which ceremonies were performed to the rotating heavens, the theory suggests.
Julian Spalding, an art critic and former director of some of the UK’s leading museums, argues that the stones were foundations for a vast platform, long since lost – “a great altar” raised up high towards the heavens and able to support the weight of hundreds of worshippers.
“It’s a totally different theory which has never been put forward before,” Spalding told the Guardian. “All the interpretations to date could be mistaken. We’ve been looking at Stonehenge the wrong way: from the earth, which is very much a 20th-century viewpoint. We haven’t been thinking about what they were thinking about.”