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, Oke, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent.
Stories and Headlines
- Director of Policy on Climate Will Leave, Her Goal Unmet
(nytimes) Carol M. Browner is leaving at a time when it appears that no major climate change legislation is on the horizon. |
- Medvedev Calls Blast at Airport in Moscow a Terrorist Act
(nytimes) By ELLEN BARRY
President Dmitri A. Medvedev said that a suicide bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport that killed more than 30 people was a terrorist act, and he ordered the police to find the perpetrators. |
- Egypt activists to hold Tunisia-inspired 'action day'
(BBC) Anti-government activists in Egypt are preparing for a rare day of protest, inspired by the recent political upheaval in Tunisia.
Organisers have called for a "day of revolt against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment".
But the government has warned they face arrest and is calling its supporters out in a counter-demonstration. |
- Iranian opposition activists hanged for protest footage
(BBC) Iranian authorities have hanged two men convicted of taking part in protests following the disputed presidential election in 2009.
Iranian prosecutors said Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei had taken photos and footage of the protests and distributed them on the internet.
They were also found guilty of chanting slogans promoting the exiled People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI). |
- UN defends Ban Ki-moon against rights 'cowardice' claim
(BBC) The UN has defended its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over accusations that he has failed to speak out over human rights issues.
Mr Ban has been singled out for harsh criticism by Human Rights Watch in its annual report.
The group said he had been "notably reluctant to put pressure on abusive governments".
Mr Ban's office denied this, saying he used both quiet diplomacy and public pressure to promote human rights. |
- Mobile phone to blast into orbit
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News
British engineers are planning to put a mobile phone in space.
The team at SSTL and the Surrey Space Centre in Guildford want to see if the sophisticated capabilities in today's phones will function in the most challenging environment known.
The mobile will run on Google's Android operating system but the exact model has not yet been disclosed.
It will be used to control a 30cm-long satellite and take pictures of the Earth in the mission later this year.
Although mobile phones have been flown on high altitude balloons before, this would likely be the first time such a device has gone into orbit several hundred kilometres above the planet. |
- France investigates Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
(BBC) The Paris state prosecutor's office says it has opened a preliminary investigation into the property assets held by ousted Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in France.
Mr Ben Ali fled his country earlier this month following a number of violent protests.
Separately, the head of Tunisia's armed forces has warned a power vacuum there could lead to a dictatorship. |
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3 Years Ago in the OND
from Magnifico
NYT - "Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey suggested Friday that he might never provide an answer to the question that threatened his Senate confirmation last year: Does the harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding amount to torture? 'I didn’t say I wouldn’t answer it,' he said at a news conference. 'I didn’t say that I would,'"
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NYT- "John Edwards accused his Democratic rivals of bringing 'New York and Chicago politics to South Carolina' on Friday, and told voters on the day before the primary here that he is the only candidate who will represent their interests in the White House... The Edwards campaign released a new television ad on Friday, with the title 'Grown Up', using footage from the Democratic debate on Monday when Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama fired back at each other and Mr. Edwards intervened, calling it 'squabbling'."
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Other News
- Obama climate adviser Browner departing White House
(Reuters) - White House climate change adviser Carol Browner will step down in coming weeks, Obama administration sources said on Monday.
Browner's departure is the latest in a number of staff changes at the While House after President Barack Obama completed the first two years of his presidency.
Obama entered the White House with an ambitious climate change agenda but has been unable to advance legislation that he campaigned on ... |
- Halliburton tops profit forecast on U.S. oil surge
(Reuters) - Oilfield service company Halliburton Co (HAL.N) posted higher-than-expected profits, boosted by oil projects in North America ...
The rise in oil prices to near $90 a barrel during the period spurred a bout of spending on new wells, ... |
- Palestinian Documents Open a Door on Peace Talks
(nytimes)
JERUSALEM — Israeli-Palestinian peace talks over the past 17 years have operated at two levels, one public, the other behind closed doors. To the world and their own people, each side spoke of sacred, nonnegotiable demands, while in the Jerusalem hotel suites where the officials met those very demands were under negotiation.
Internal Palestinian documents leaked to Al Jazeera and published this week illustrate that dichotomy. The public Palestinian posture is that every inch of East Jerusalem that was taken must be yielded. In reality, Palestinian officials have acknowledged that much would stay part of Israel in exchange for land swaps elsewhere.
The documents, a mix of friendly banter and sharp exchanges illustrating the complex interpersonal relations between top Israelis and Palestinians, also suggest that the thorniest problems were not only those widely assumed — how to divide Jerusalem and what to do about the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel — but also which side would get certain large settlements. |
- Al Jazeera Reporters Harassed in West Bank for Publishing Leaked Documents
(nytimes) After a senior Palestinian official angrily denounced Al Jazeera on Monday for publishing more than 1,600 leaked Palestinian records of peace negotiations, a small group of protesters tried to break in to the network’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. |
- Vancouver man gets life in prison for 1975 U.S. murder of aboriginal* activist
(* i.e. "Native American" --BL)
(Vancouver Sun) Nearly 35 years after Canadian aboriginal activist Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash was gunned down in an execution-style murder in the South Dakota badlands, Vancouver resident John Graham was sentenced Monday to life in prison.
The sentence comes after the jury at the murder trial convicted him of felony murder Dec. 10.
Still, Graham maintained his innocence until the end, according to the Rapid City Journal, a daily newspaper in the South Dakota city where Graham was being held. |
See also The Rapid City Journal: Graham sentenced to life in prison
- Senate Nears Compromise to Ease Slowdown Tactics
(nytimes) Senate leaders are nearing agreement on rules changes intended to ease the procedural logjam on the floor after rising complaints from Democrats that Republicans were abusing the filibuster and other tools to slow action.
Officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity since talks were continuing, said the potential changes would cut the length of time senators would be allowed to impose anonymous objections against bills and nominations. Another change would exempt hundreds of less senior executive branch nominees from Senate confirmation votes. |
- Bush White House Broke Elections Law, Report Says
(nytimes) The Bush White House, particularly before the 2006 midterm elections, routinely violated a federal law that prohibits use of federal tax dollars to pay for political activities by creating a "political boiler room" that coordinated Republican campaign activities nationwide, a report issued Monday by an independent federal agency concludes. |
I can't believe this had to go all the way to the Supreme Court (or as my niece would say, "duh."):
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Fiancé’s Firing Is Ruled an Illegal Reaction to a Discrimination Claim
(nytimes) WASHINGTON — Firing a worker’s fiancé in retaliation for a sex discrimination claim filed by the worker is itself unlawful, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. |
- A 2nd I.R.S. Amnesty for Offshore Accounts
(nytimes) The Internal Revenue Service said on Monday that it would soon announce a new amnesty program aimed at encouraging wealthy Americans with hidden offshore bank accounts to come forward, declare their money and pay taxes owed. |
- Does Contraception Count as Prevention?
(The Nation) If an Institute of Medicine–appointed committee says yes, health insurance plans could be required to cover birth control free of charge for policyholders. |
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