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:Serbia to investigate Ratko Mladic's 'protectors'
Serbia to investigate Ratko Mladic's 'protectors'
Serbian President Boris Tadic has said the investigation into ex-Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic will be extended to anyone thought to have helped him avoid arrest for 16 years.
Mr Tadic told the BBC anyone who protected him would be prosecuted.
Gen Mladic would be transferred to The Hague to be tried for war crimes, despite an extradition appeal by his lawyers, the president insisted.
Arrested on Thursday, he faces genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
BBC:Greek leaders fail to agree as IMF deadline looms
Greek leaders fail to agree as IMF deadline looms
Greek leaders meeting in Athens have failed to agree on Prime Minister George Papandreou's new austerity plan.
Conservative leader Antonis Samaras rejected the measures, saying they would "flatten the Greek economy and destroy Greek society".
Mr Papandreou, a Socialist, had been trying to secure cross-party agreement for further cuts.
The chairman of the eurozone finance ministers has warned the IMF may not extend further bail-out payments.
BBC:Missouri tornadoes: First funeral held as toll hits 132
Missouri tornadoes: First funeral held as toll hits 132
The first funeral of a confirmed victim of last Sunday's devastating tornado in the city of Joplin in the US state of Missouri has been held.
It came as the death toll from the tornado - the deadliest in more than 60 years - rose from 125 to 132, local officials said.
But they say a new list of 232 missing has dropped to 156 after dozens of people were accounted for.
Rescuers with dogs are continuing their search for more survivors in Joplin.
BBC:G8: Libya's Gaddafi 'should go', say world leaders
G8: Libya's Gaddafi 'should go', say world leaders
World leaders at the G8 summit in France have issued a joint call for the embattled Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down.
Russia, which has criticised Nato's campaign in Libya, said it agreed Col Gaddafi had lost all legitimacy.
In a communique issued at the end of a two-day summit, the G8 also criticised Syria's deadly crackdown on protesters.
The bloc's statement included plans for a $20bn (£12bn) package for Tunisia and Egypt over the next two years.
BBC:Astronauts complete final shuttle space-walk at ISS
Astronauts complete final shuttle space-walk at ISS
The last ever space-walk in the 30-year history of the US shuttle programme has been completed at the International Space Station.
Astronauts Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff's seven-and-a-half-hour walk completed Nasa's part in constructing the ISS.
The astronauts will return to Earth in a few days on space shuttle Endeavour's last voyage.
One final shuttle is scheduled for July to bring supplies to the ISS.
BBC:Sudan: 150,000 flee Abyei clash, says southern minister
Sudan: 150,000 flee Abyei clash, says southern minister
The number of people displaced from Sudan's disputed Abyei region after its seizure by northern troops has reached 150,000, a southern minister says.
"The situation is terrible - they are running in fear from brutal violence, without shelter," Humanitarian Affairs Minister James Kok Ruea said.
The BBC's Peter Martell in Juba says the figure is a huge leap from UN estimates of between 30,000 and 40,000.
Meanwhile, the north says it can start talks on the crisis this weekend.
Reuters:Serb court says Mladic fit for genocide trial
Serb court says Mladic fit for genocide trial
(Reuters) - Ratko Mladic is fit enough to face genocide charges in The Hague, a Belgrade court ruled on Friday after the Bosnian Serb wartime general's son said he appeared too frail after more than 15 years on the run.
The court said Mladic, arrested on Thursday in a Serbian village, had until Monday to appeal against extradition to the international criminal tribunal in The Hague to be tried for a massacre in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
European officials hailed his capture at a farmhouse belonging to his cousin also with the surname Mladic as a milestone on Serbia's path toward the European Union and said they expected his extradition within 10 days.
The U.N. Security Council also issued a statement welcoming Mladic's arrest and Serbia's plan to send him to The Hague.
Reuters:Yemen on brink of civil war as clashes spread
Yemen on brink of civil war as clashes spread
(Reuters) - Yemeni tribesmen said they wrested a military compound from elite troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh outside the capital Sanaa on Friday as fighting spread, threatening to tip the country into civil war.
Yemeni fighter jets broke the sound barrier as they swooped over Sanaa, where battles between Saleh loyalists and the Hashed tribal alliance led by Sadeq al-Ahmar erupted this week after failure of a deal to ease the president out.
Clashes spread northeast of Sanaa on Friday, where tribes said in addition to seizing a military post in the Nahm region, they were also fighting government troops at two other positions south of the capital.
In Sanaa, tens of thousands of people gathered after Friday prayers for what they branded a "Friday of Peaceful Revolution" against Saleh, releasing white doves and carrying the coffins of about 30 people killed in clashes this week.
Reuters:Exclusive: GM cancels Cadillac plug-in hybrid: sources
Exclusive: GM cancels Cadillac plug-in hybrid: sources
(Reuters) - General Motors Co has canceled plans to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the current Cadillac SRX crossover platform, deciding the project was not financially viable, three people with direct knowledge of the project said.
While two of the sources said the plans could still be revived on a future platform, they and two others familiar with the matter said engineers involved had been reassigned to other projects.
The Cadillac plug-in shared much of the same technology that GM developed for its battery-powered Chevrolet Volt, which has been the centerpiece of the automaker's effort to convince consumers of its turnaround after its bankruptcy and government bailout in 2009.
Reuters spoke with six people about the GM decision. They could not be named because the project was never made public by the company. GM officials declined to discuss the company's plans.
Reuters:Fiat to gain Chrysler majority by buying U.S. stake
Fiat to gain Chrysler majority by buying U.S. stake
(Reuters) - Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) plans to exercise an option to buy the Treasury's stake in Chrysler, which paves the way for the Italian automaker to clinch a majority share in the company by early next month.
Fiat notified the Treasury of its intent on Friday. The purchase price will be based on the equity value of Chrysler agreed by Treasury and Fiat within 10 business days.
If Fiat and Treasury cannot settle on the price, the amount will be determined by two of three investment banks appointed by the company and the U.S. government.
The option would allow Fiat to increase its stake in Chrysler by 6 percent, Fiat said in a release on Friday.
Reuters:G8 pledges $20 billion to foster Arab Spring
G8 pledges $20 billion to foster Arab Spring
(Reuters) - The Group of Eight promised $20 billion in aid to Tunisia and Egypt on Friday and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings.
Likening it to the fall of the Berlin Wall that changed Europe, G8 leaders ending an annual summit in France launched a partnership for North Africa and the Middle East that ties aid and development credits to progress on political and economic reforms by states which have thrown off autocratic rulers.
Most is in the form of loans rather than outright grants, to the two countries in the vanguard of protest movements which have swept the Arab world from the Atlantic to the Gulf. Egypt and Tunisia are planning to hold free elections this year.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that on top of $20 billion of credits provided by the World Bank and similar regional lenders dominated by the major powers, there would be as much again from other sources -- $10 billion from oil-rich Gulf Arab states and $10 billion from other governments.
Reuters:IMF forum: No easy fixes for hot emerging markets
IMF forum: No easy fixes for hot emerging markets
(Reuters) - Policy-makers in emerging markets need to keep reaching for a broad mix of tools to cope with the heavy capital flows that have caused strong-currency headaches and led to fears of asset bubbles -- because such flows are here to stay.
That is largely good news, said economists and officials at a conference on capital flows held by the IMF and Brazil's finance ministry. Hot economies such as Brazil and Indonesia may see less fallout than some fear when the U.S. Federal Reserve eventually raises interest rates, tightening the tap on cheap funds that flooded into Latin America and Asia in search of higher returns.
But they will need to keep adjusting their policy mixes to distinguish between "good flows" that help economic growth and "bad" short-term flows that can cause volatility, said IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard. While countries should adjust fiscal and monetary policies before moving to capital controls, there is no one-size-fits-all response, he said.
"We have to be open to exploration here," he told reporters at a beach-side hotel in Rio de Janeiro, which is experiencing many of the symptoms of Brazil's boom, like soaring real estate prices and strong credit growth.
The Ledger.com:Google: Who Needs a Wallet?
Google: Who Needs a Wallet?
Google is among the first out of the gate in the attempt to make leather wallets go the way of the typewriter.
On Thursday, the technology giant introduced Google Wallet, a mobile application that will allow consumers to wave their cellphones at a retailer's terminal to make a payment instead of using a credit card. The app, for the Android operating system, also will enable users to redeem special coupons and earn loyalty points.
Starting this summer, the wallet will be available on the Nexus S 4G phone on Sprint and able to hold certain MasterCards issued by Citibank. It also will hold a virtual Google Prepaid MasterCard, which can be loaded with money charged from plastic credit cards.
The mobile wallet will work at any of the 124,000 merchants that accept MasterCard's PayPass terminals, which take contactless payments, and more than 300,000 merchants outside the United States. The wallet is powered by a technology called near-field communications, which is incorporated into a chip in mobile phones and sends a message to the merchants' terminals.