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.
The OND concept was borne under the keen keyboard of Magnifico - proper respect is due.
Current Contributers are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader,Oke, rfall, JML9999 and Neon Vincent.
BBC:Ivory Coast: '800 die in Ivory Coast ethnic violence'
Ivory Coast: '800 die in Ivory Coast ethnic violence'
At least 800 people have been killed in the western Ivory Coast city of Duekoue this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
They died in inter-communal violence in one district of the city, it added.
The head of the ICRC delegation in the country said the event was particularly shocking in its scale and brutality.
Fighting has continued in Abidjan between forces loyal to the UN-recognised president Alassane Ouattara and the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo.
BBC:UN staff killed during protest in northern Afghanistan
UN staff killed during protest in northern Afghanistan
At least seven foreign UN workers have been killed after protesters stormed a UN compound in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials say.
The compound was set alight as hundreds protested over the burning of the Koran in a US church last month. Several demonstrators were killed by guards.
Witnesses said the protest began peacefully but suddenly turned violent.
A local police spokesman told the BBC the city was now under control and a number of people had been arrested.
BBC:Libya air raid 'killed civilians'
Libya air raid 'killed civilians'
Seven civilians died and 25 were hurt in a coalition air strike on a pro-Gaddafi convoy in eastern Libya, a doctor there has told the BBC.
Dr Suleiman Refardi said Wednesday's raid happened in the village of Zawia el Argobe, 15km (9 miles) from Brega.
The strike hit a truck carrying ammunition, and the resulting explosion destroyed two nearby homes.
All the dead were between the ages of 12 and 20, Dr Refardi said. Nato says it is investigating the claim.
BBC:Syria unrest: New protests erupt across country
Syria unrest: New protests erupt across country
New anti-government protests have erupted in several Syrian cities after Friday prayers, despite heavy security.
Witnesses said thousands of people took to the streets chanting "freedom". The state news agency said protesters were calling for reforms to be speeded up.
Reports suggest four protesters died as security forces opened fire in the Damascus suburb of Duma.
Activists had dubbed Friday a Day of Martyrs to honour the dozens of people killed during two weeks of protests.
BBC:Brazil banks sued for Amazon deforestation
Brazil banks sued for Amazon deforestation
Brazil's biggest bank - the state-run Banco do Brasil - is being sued for allegedly funding deforestation in the Amazon.
Public prosecutors say the bank lent money to companies that illegally cleared the rainforest and used labour practices bordering on slavery.
The smaller state-owned Banco da Amazonia is also being sued.
Brazil says it has drastically reduced the rate of deforestation in the Amazon in recent years.
BBC:Japan nuclear evacuation 'will be long-term'
Japan nuclear evacuation 'will be long-term'
The evacuation of residents near Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant will be long-term, officials say.
Many of the tens of thousands of people evacuated from the area around the plant are living in temporary shelters.
The announcement came as high levels of radiation were detected for the first time in groundwater near one of the facility's six reactors.
Meanwhile, a massive search has begun to find the remains of those missing since the devastating tsunami hit.
Reuters:Japan PM visit tsunami-devastated village, enters nuke
Japan PM visit tsunami-devastated village, enters nuke
(Reuters) - Japan's prime minister made his first visit to the country's tsunami-devastated region on Saturday and entered a nuclear exclusion zone to meet workers grappling to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke with refugees living in a makeshift camp in the fishing village of Rikuzentakata, decimated by the tsunamis which struck on March 11 when Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake, leaving 28,000 dead and missing.
"It will be kind of a long battle, but the government will be working hard together with you until the end. I want everyone to do their best, too," Kan told one survivor in a school that was now an evacuation shelter.
Despite its tsunami-seawalls, Rikuzentaka was flattened into a wasteland of mud and debris and most of its 23,000 population killed or injured, many swept away by the waves.
Reuters:Libyan government dismisses rebels' "mad" truce offer
Libyan government dismisses rebels' "mad" truce offer
(Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's government scorned rebel conditions for a nationwide ceasefire, and there was no sign of international diplomatic efforts cooling the Libyan conflict.
Western-led forces bombarded "civilian and military locations" late on Friday in the towns of Khoms, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Tripoli, and Arrujban, about 190 km to the southwest, state-controlled Libyan television said.
A rebel leader, speaking after talks with a U.N. envoy in Benghazi, earlier on Friday offered a truce on condition that Gaddafi left Libya and his forces quit cities now under government control.
"They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities .... If this is not mad then I don't know what this is. We will not leave our cities," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli a few hours later.
Reuters:Obama issues warning about government shutdown
Obama issues warning about government shutdown
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama warned lawmakers on Friday that it would be the "height of irresponsibility" to shut down the government over a spending battle, pressuring Republicans not to pursue deeper cuts.
Obama's comments set the stage for an attempt to blame Republicans should congressional negotiations collapse and the U.S. government runs out of cash when a short-term funding measure expires on April 8.
"We know that a compromise is within reach. And we also know that if these budget negotiations break down, it could shut down the government and jeopardize our economic recovery," Obama said at a UPS shipping facility in Landover, Maryland.
Obama weighed in at a sensitive time in the negotiations.
Reuters:White House GDP forecasts look low: Goolsbee
White House GDP forecasts look low: Goolsbee
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top economist gave a clear hint on Friday that White House growth forecasts would be raised later this year, potentially good news as the 2012 U.S. election campaign gets underway.
"The official forecast we locked in November, that was the one that was in the budget, that now looks very conservative for 2011 and 2012," Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told Reuters.
Goolsbee was speaking after a stronger-than-expected March payroll report underlined the progress made by the U.S. economy since pulling out of a severe 2007-2009 recession.
Data released by the Labor Department showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls advanced 216,000 last month, the largest increase since May, following a solid gain of 194,000 in February.
Reuters:Snafus forced Twitter datacenter move: sources
Snafus forced Twitter datacenter move: sources
(Reuters) - An ambitious plan to prevent "Fail Whales," the cartoon icon that greets frustrated Twitter users during network outages, turned into a fail whale of its own.
A new, custom-built facility in Utah meant to house computers that power the popular messaging service by the end of 2010 has been plagued with everything from leaky roofs to insufficient power capacity, people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
The botched move threatened new product development and forced Twitter -- whose user accounts have burgeoned to 200 million in just five years -- to seek another location despite committing significant investment to the facility.
The data center move reflects growing pains faced by red hot tech start-ups as they aim to justify soaring valuations and transform into reliable channels for advertising and commerce.
Reuters:April Fool's jokes range from hilarious to disastrous
April Fool's jokes range from hilarious to disastrous
(Reuters) - Internet business networking service LinkedIn allowed users to connect with Ernest Hemingway. Coupon hawker Living Social offered salami-based spa treatment. Photography giant Eastman Kodak offered pain-free permanent photo tattoos.
Has the world gone mad?
No. It was just another April Fool's Day, the international day of tomfoolery when pranks, hoaxes, and practical jokes remind us not to take ourselves too seriously.
And April 1, 2011 fit the bill with a wide range of good humor-and a few mishaps.
BLOOMBERG:GE’s Immelt, Tokyo Electric to Meet Amid Japan Reactor Crisis
GE’s Immelt, Tokyo Electric to Meet Amid Japan Reactor Crisis
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt will meet officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co. as the Japanese utility battles a crisis at nuclear reactors designed by the U.S. company.
Immelt is going to Japan “to meet with employees, partners and customers including Tepco,” as the utility is known, Deirdre Latour, a GE spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and Immelt are to meet tomorrow or April 4, said Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for the Japanese company.
GE has put the “full force” of its employees and engineering teams into supporting Tepco as the power producer battles to stabilize the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear power station, GE Vice Chairman John Krenicki said March 29. The facility’s reactors are based on a four-decade-old design from Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE.
A 9-magnitude temblor and subsequent tsunami on March 11 severed power and damaged reactors at the Fukushima complex about 220 kilometers (136 miles) north of Tokyo. Workers have been spraying water on the reactors to cool radioactive fuel rods in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.