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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
Ayyan Ali: Supermodel in a Pakistani jail
For the last two weeks Adiala jail in Rawalpindi has hosted an unlikely prisoner: 23-year-old Pakistani supermodel Ayyan Ali.
Ever since then Pakistani media outlets have been concerned to find out if she is living in the jail under especially favourable conditions.
On 14 March Ayyan Ali was detained at Islamabad airport on charges of money laundering: the $500,000 in her suitcase exceeded the legal limit of cash that can be carried out of the country, which is $10,000.
Ms Ali denies the charge and says the money was acquired legitimately from the proceeds of property sales and that she was unaware of these customs rules.
Prosecutors have said that if convicted of smuggling the money out of Pakistan, the model could be forced to pay a heavy fine and face a 14-year jail term.
Two weeks of legal wrangling went by and finally at the end of March her application for bail was dismissed - so she faces yet more time in Adiala.
BBC
Spanish cavers die in Morocco's Atlas mountains
Two Spanish cavers have died and one has survived after being trapped for days at the bottom of a deep ravine in Morocco's Atlas mountains.
A 27-year-old was rescued late on Sunday, but his two companions died of their injuries before they could be rescued.
Local media report that he is uninjured but suffering from hypothermia and post traumatic stress.
All three potholers had been discovered alive on Saturday morning.
They had separated from the rest of their group to explore different caves, and were reported missing on Tuesday, reports said.
The three men had seemed well on Saturday morning and reacted to signals from a search flight, Mr Martinez's wife said in quotes carried by El Mundo.
Morocco's High Atlas mountain range includes peaks with heights of over 4,000 metres (13,100ft). Many tourists visit the mountains for trekking or skiing.
I took a tourist bus on those mountains. Summer at the base to blizzard near the top.
BBC
Kenya mourns victims of Garissa al-Shabab attack
Kenya is holding three days of mourning for the 148 victims of an attack on students by militant group al-Shabab.
Easter ceremonies are being held to remember those who died on Thursday at Garissa University.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to respond to the attack "in the severest way possible".
One of the four gunmen who carried out the attack has been identified as the son of a government official, the interior ministry has said.
He was named as Abdirahim Abdullahi, whose father is a local chief in Mandera County in the north-east of the country.
"The father had reported to security agents that his son had disappeared from home... and was helping the police try to trace his son by the time the Garissa terror attack happened," ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said.
Abdullahi studied law in Nairobi and was an "upcoming lawyer", Mr Njoka added.
BBC
Italians rescue 1,500 migrants in Mediterranean
Some 1,500 migrants have been rescued from boats trying to cross to Italy in the space of 24 hours, the Italian coastguard has said.
The navy and coastguard despatched vessels to rescue the migrants from five different boats.
The UNHCR says almost 3,500 people died and more than 200,000 were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe last year.
The chaotic political situation in Libya has added to the crisis.
The coastguard despatched four vessels and the navy another after receiving satellite telephone distress calls from three migrant boats.
Two more boats were found to be in trouble when the rescuers arrived.
Al Jazeera America
Nigeria releases detained Al Jazeera journalists
Two journalists held by the Nigerian military since March 24 have been released, the network has confirmed.
Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustapha were allowed to leave the Maiduguri hotel where they were detained, and they have now completed the journey back to Al Jazeera's bureau in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
"We’re pleased for Ahmed and Ali that their ordeal is over. They’re looking forward to spending some time with their families and loved ones," Salah Negm, director of news for Al Jazeera English, said.
"I know that both of them want to thank everyone that helped secure their release, including NGOs, politicians and fellow journalists."
The Doha-based network had called for an immediate end to their detention, which began on March 24 in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno. The pair were covering the Nigerian military's operations against Boko Haram, an armed grouped that has been fighting the government since 2009.
N Y Times
Old Haunt of U.S. Spies Becomes a Playground for Istanbul’s Elite
ISTANBUL — For more than a century, the grand Italianate mansion that serves as an anchor of this city’s European quarter was a beehive of American diplomacy and espionage. Spies toiled within and met their agents at the bar across the street, reporters dropped by for after-work drinks, and any Turk could walk in off the street to see the latest art exhibition or browse the library. There seemed to be a celebration every night.
“We were partying all the time,” said Ayse Ozakinci, who was a librarian for four decades in the imposing structure, the American Consulate in Istanbul. “There was a festive mood for everyone.”
And then, a dozen years ago, the party stopped and security walls enclosed the mansion, as the threat of terrorism sent American diplomats to a fortified hillside compound on the city’s outskirts, overlooking the Bosporus.
That put the American government in the real estate business, thanks to a law that required the State Department to keep ownership of the historic building as a space to foster relations between the United States and the Middle East.
[snip]
The walls came down recently, offering breathing room to a crammed neighborhood and unveiling the building’s rebirth as an opulent clubhouse for Istanbul’s social elite. With a new luxury hotel beside it, the mansion, under a 51-year, roughly $25 million lease with the United States government, is the latest outpost of the private club empire Soho House.
Raw Story (Insane war on drugs)
Bronx teen dies after falling six stories while running from police
17-year-old boy died on Saturday from injuries he sustained falling six stories from a New York City building rooftop as he tried to escape police investigating a report of teenagers smoking marijuana, law enforcement said.
Hakeem Kuta, of the Bronx, died Saturday morning after being in critical condition for nearly two days, police said.
Kuta fell from a roof ledge as he and a 14-year-old friend attempted to escape police, who repeatedly told the teens to stop and “relax,” a spokesman for the New York City Police Department said.
In a statement, police said four uniformed officers responded to a complaint on Thursday evening about a group of teenagers smoking marijuana in the lobby of a Bronx apartment building, police said.
NPR
Utah Brings Back Firing Squad Executions; Witnesses Recall The Last One
Last month, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill bringing back the firing squad as a method of execution. The state abandoned firing squads in 2004 but now, it's returned as the backup option — partly because of a shortage of lethal injection drugs, the state's default execution method.
Utah is now the only state in the U.S. that authorizes execution by firing squad.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah says the bill makes the state look "backward and backwoods," while proponents argue the firing squad is more humane, considering the recent botched lethal injection executions in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona.
What does a modern firing squad execution actually look like? The answer lies in Utah's past — it's the only state to carry out such an execution in the last four decades.
[snip]
"And it was so quiet," Ortiz says. "It was so, so quiet."
"There was a hood placed over him, and a target placed over his heart," Yi says.
"That was where they were going to shoot," Ortiz says. "There were five marksman: They're all volunteers and they're police officer trained."
Of the five rifles, one is loaded with blanks so that no one knows for sure who fired the bullets.
"And so you're just waiting there," Ortiz says. "And then all of a sudden there was this, 'boom-boom-boom-boom.' "
C/Net
David Lynch leaves Showtime's 'Twin Peaks' series
The owls really won't be what they seem now that the original "Twin Peaks" co-creator and director isn't at the reins of Showtime's new take on "Twin Peaks."
David Lynch tweeted and posted on Facebook his announcement on Sunday:
"Dear Facebook Friends: Showtime did not pull the plug on Twin Peaks. After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done. This weekend I started to call actors to let them know I would not be directing. Twin Peaks may still be very much alive at Showtime. I love the world of Twin Peaks and wish things could have worked out differently."
Showtime issued a statement shortly after Lynch's announcement.
"We were saddened to read David Lynch's statement today since we believed we were working towards solutions with David and his reps on the few remaining deal points," Showtime said in the statement, according to Variety. "Showtime also loves the world of 'Twin Peaks' and we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, at its helm.
L A Times
The Pentagon’s $10-billion bet gone bad
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
If North Korea launched a sneak attack, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar — SBX for short — would spot the incoming missiles, track them through space and guide U.S. rocket-interceptors to destroy them.
Crucially, the system would be able to distinguish between actual missiles and decoys.
SBX “represents a capability that is unmatched,” the director of the Missile Defense Agency told a Senate subcommittee in 2007.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.
Although it can powerfully magnify distant objects, its field of vision is so narrow that it would be of little use against what experts consider the likeliest attack: a stream of missiles interspersed with decoys.
BBC
Large Hadron Collider restarts after two-year rebuild
The Large Hadron Collider has restarted, with protons circling the machine's 27km tunnel for the first time since 2013.
Particle beams have now travelled in both directions, inside parallel pipes, at a whisker below the speed of light.
Actual collisions will not begin for at least another month, but they will take place with nearly double the energy the LHC reached during its first run.
Scientists hope to glimpse a "new physics" beyond the Standard Model.
Rolf Heuer, the director-general of Cern, which operates the LHC, told engineers and scientists at the lab: "Congratulations. Thank you very much everyone… now the hard work starts".
Cern's director for accelerators and technology, Frédérick Bordry, said: "After two years of effort, the LHC is in great shape.
"But the most important step is still to come when we increase the energy of the beams to new record levels."
The beams have arrived a week or so later than originally scheduled, due to a now-resolved electrical fault.
The protons are injected at a relatively low energy to begin with. But over the coming months, engineers hope to gradually increase the beams' energy to 13 trillion electronvolts: double what it was during the LHC's first operating run.
If they create a black hole and we all disappear, I will report it on the next OND.