Welcome to the Overnight News Digest
The OND is published each night around midnight, Eastern Time.
The originator of OND was Magnifico.
Current Contributors are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent.
Stories and Headlines
- BP pipeline leak in Alaska rattles oil prices
Oil prices rose and BP shares fell last night amid nervousness about the leak that caused the shutdown of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the supply route for more than 10 per cent of US crude oil.
BP, which is still recovering from the fallout of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill over the summer, is the biggest shareholder in Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the operator of the 800-mile long system which carries oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field. The shutdown, which entered its third day on Monday, was prompted by the discovery of a leak at the north end of the pipeline.
As a result, oil companies, including BP, have temporarily cut their output from the field by 95 per cent. The operator said there were "no injuries or apparent impacts to the environment as a result" of the incident. |
- CA Gov. Brown seeks $12.5 billion in budget cuts
Calling for a "vast and historic" reworking of state government finances, Gov. Jerry Brown Monday said he would release a $127.4 billion state budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year that includes dramatic spending cuts of $12.5 billion - including as much as a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for some state employees.
Brown also is counting on voters to approve an extension of taxes that are set to expire this year to prevent even deeper cuts. He said that even though voters rejected taxes in 2009, he believes it's time for voters to reconsider the issue ...
His budget plan makes deep cuts to the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges while protecting funding for kindergarten through 12th grade education.
sfgate |
See also: NYT: Deep Social Services Cuts Outlined in California
- Queensland flood death toll rises
Officials in the Australian state of Queensland say at least 72 people are missing after flash floods which have already claimed eight lives so far. |
- Clashes during south Sudan referendum
People in southern Sudan have been waiting patiently in line to cast their vote on the second day of an independence referendum.
This is widely expected to result in the birth of the world's newest state. (BBC Video Report – link)
NYT: Voting Is Peaceful in South Sudan Despite Border Clashes
JUBA, Sudan — As voters continued flooding the polls on Monday for a landmark referendum on southern Sudan’s independence, officials said more than 40 people had been killed over the weekend in intense skirmishes in a contested area along Sudan’s north-south border.
The voting, which began Sunday, is proceeding jubilantly and remarkably smoothly, with high expectations and few serious complaints anywhere across southern Sudan. But if the referendum passes and the south breaks off from the north, the disputed border will become the next issue to resolve, and some fear that the specter of an all-out border war is rising. |
- U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal from ‘birther’ attorney Orly Taitz
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from "birther" attorney Orly Taitz, who sought to overturn a decision by Columbus federal judge Clay Land fining her $20,000 ...
The high court on Monday did not comment in refusing to hear the appeal filed by the California lawyer and dentist. Taitz said on Monday that she would ask the Supreme Court to reconsider.
"If it is denied, I will go to an international court," Taitz told the Ledger-Enquirer. "I will be filing a proper complaint with the Committee of the Judiciary with the U.S. House." |
No word yet on whether Taitz has contacted the Intergalactic Court ...
- Posada trial opens in El Paso as groups demonstrate in front of federal courthouse
McClatchy Newspapers -
EL PASO, Texas Luis Posada Carriles, a man the Cuban government calls a CIA-trained killer and anti-Castro militants call a hero, went on trial Monday on 11 charges that could send him to prison for up to eight years.
But the word "terrorism" was not uttered until well into the jury selection process, when U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone noted that the one count of obstruction he faces involves a case of "international terrorism."
Instead, Posada is being tried on charges of lying under oath - about his role in a string of Havana bombings in 1997, about exactly how he entered the United States and about a fake Guatemalan passport that he once had. |
- Tunisia closes schools and universities following riots
The Tunisian government has ordered all schools and universities to be indefinitely closed following continuing violent protests.
The announcement came after students marched in the capital, Tunis, to protest against police violence.
At least 14 people were killed over the weekend in the protests. They have been linked to anger over unemployment and frustrations with the ruling elite. |
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3 Years Ago in the OND
From Magnifico - Thu Jan 10, 2008
U.S. hits targets near Baghdad
The L.A. Times: U.S. bombers and fighter jets continued an aggressive attack on the southern outskirts of Baghdad this morning, unleashing 38 bombs in 10 minutes on suspected havens of the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq. In all, they dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on Arab Jabour, in an area of mostly farmland, the U.S. military said in a statement... A booby-trapped home exploded Wednesday, killing six American soldiers and an interpreter and injuring nine others. The U.S. military also reported that three service members were killed by small-arms fire the day before. The two-day toll makes the latest effort to flush out Al Qaeda in Iraq the deadliest operation in months. |
Bush Predicts Peace Treaty
The Guardian: "George Bush today called on Israel to end its 41-year occupation of Palestinian land and predicted a peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office. Speaking after a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Bush said: 'There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. An agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people.'" |
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Arizona News
- Obama coming to Ariz. on Wed. for memorial
by Dan Nowicki - Jan. 10, 2011 07:23 PM
The Arizona Republic
President Barack Obama will travel to Tucson Wednesday in the wake of the shooting rampage Saturday that critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed U.S. District Judge John Roll and five others.
A senior administration official confirmed the trip, but other details were unavailable late Monday. |
- Arizona shootings: Bill would provide 'funeral protection zone'
by Mary Jo Pitzl - Jan. 10, 2011 06:49 PM -- The Arizona Republic
Democrats in the Arizona Legislature say they will introduce a bill Tuesday to create a "funeral protection zone" to keep protestors from disrupting the funerals of the victims of the Tucson mass shooting.
The Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas responded to the shooting by saying, "Thank God for the violent shooter." He vowed to have his band of followers picket at the funerals.
State Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, said Democrats are asking to waive the rules so the bill can be debated and passed in one day, in time for funerals that will begin this week. |
- Arizona Republican Rep. Jack Harper blames shooting on Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik
State Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, partly blamed the shooting on Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who has himself blamed caustic political rhetoric and lax gun-control as contributing to the massacre.
"If he would have done his job, maybe this doesn't happen," Harper told USA Today on Monday. "Sheriff Dupnik did not provide for the security of a U.S. congresswoman."
"When everyone is carrying a firearm, nobody is going to be a victim," Harper continued. "The socialists of today are only one gun confiscation away from being the communists of tomorrow." |
- The Nation: After Arizona Shooting, Obama Should Fight Fringe Extremism Like Clinton Did
On May 6, 1995, two weeks after the Oklahoma City bombing, Bill Clinton gave the commencement speech at Michigan State University and used the opportunity to assail the rise of antigovernment, pro-militia sentiment among America‘s far right. "There is nothing patriotic about hating your government," Clinton said, "or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."
In the wake of Saturday‘s horrific shooting in Arizona, those words are as true today as they were fifteen years ago.
Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to change the tone in Washington beyond the partisan bickering that defined the Clinton and Bush years, so that Americans could "disagree without being disagreeable." But his political opponents never agreed to play by those terms. |
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