The Overnight News Digest is an ongoing evening series dedicated to chronicling the day's news that the editor du jour finds of import or interest. Everyone is welcome to add their own news items in the comments. Tonight, I am featuring news from around the world.
Headline News
More news after the jump.
USA
- NYT - U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years
The portion of Americans living in poverty last year rose to the highest level since 1993, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, fresh evidence that the sluggish economic recovery has done nothing for the country’s poorest citizens.
And in new evidence of economic distress among the middle class, real median household incomes declined by 2.3 percent in 2010 from the previous year, to $49,400.
An additional 2.6 million people slipped below the poverty line in 2010, census officials said, making 46.2 million people in poverty in the United States, the highest number in the 52 years the Census Bureau has been tracking it, said Trudi Renwick, chief of the Poverty Statistic Branch at the Census Bureau. That represented 15.1 percent of the country.
The poverty line in 2010 was at $22,113 for a family of four. |
- WaPo - Study: College graduates driving increase in bankruptcy filings
College graduates are the fastest-growing group of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past five years, according to a new study by a financial nonprofit, which underscores the broad reach of the Great Recession.
The survey by the Institute for Financial Literacy, slated for release Tuesday, found that the percentage of debtors with a bachelor’s degree rose from 11.2 percent in 2006 to 13.6 percent in 2010. The group tracked similar but smaller increases in consumers with two-year associate and graduate degrees. Meanwhile, the percentage of debtors with a high school diploma or who did not finish college declined.
“We’re told that if you do go and get advanced education, you’re going to be almost guaranteed this economic success,” said Leslie Linfield, the group’s executive director. But the recession proved that “higher education was no guarantee that you weren’t going to be at risk.” |
- WSJ - Coal Industry Gives $1.5 Million to Boehner
U.S. coal companies have pumped $1.5 million into House Speaker John Boehner's political operation this year, a sign of the industry's beefed-up efforts to fight new and proposed regulations from the Obama administration.
The coal industry now ranks as one of the top sources of cash for the Ohio Republican, rivaling such perennial GOP donors as Wall Street and the real-estate industry. A large part of the coal industry's donations came in a single week at the end of June...
One top donor to Mr. Boehner this year has been William Koch, president of Oxbow Corp., which owns a coal-mining operation. Mr. Koch and his wife contributed a total of $70,000 to Mr. Boehner, according to fund-raising records. Two of Mr. Koch's brothers are well-known Republican contributors.
"We are a big supporter of John Boehner. We think he is good for business," said Brad Goldstein, a spokesman for Oxbow, based in West Palm Beach, Fla. |
- Salon - Obama poised to break Iraq pullout promise
If Obama leaves any troops in Iraq, he will be violating one of the first major promises of his presidency. In February 2009, just a month into his tenure, Obama delivered an Iraq speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, declaring:
"I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned."
Obama is now poised to break that promise. Administration and military officials have talked about leaving anywhere between 3,000 and 17,000 U.S. troops in the country...
Obama's original promise about withdrawing all troops was always a bit of a red herring. As the New York Times recently reported, all sorts of armed U.S. personnel and contractors will be staying in Iraq well beyond 2011, no matter how many uniformed military stay behind:
Even as the military reduces its troop strength in Iraq, the C.I.A. will continue to have a major presence in the country, as will security contractors working for the State Department.
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Europe
- Guardian - Phone hacking: James Murdoch recalled by MPs
James Murdoch is to be recalled to give evidence to MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee.
Murdoch, who oversees News International as deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, will face fresh questions about whether he knew that phone-hacking at the News of the World went wider than one "rogue reporter".
The date of his appearance has not yet been finalised, but it is understood that he could appear in November. |
- RIA Novosti - Russia says 'progress absent' in U.S. missile shield talks
Russia complained on Tuesday of a lack of progress in its talks with NATO on a new U.S. missile defense shield for Europe.
The comments come after Romania agreed to host missile interceptors as part of the U.S.-led defense shield. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi signed the agreement in Washington on Tuesday...
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "This is happening against the backdrop of the absence of progress in the Russia-NATO and Russia-U.S. dialogues on the topic of the missile shield." |
- Guardian - Turkey's PM rallies Arab world in Cairo
Turkey's prime minister has called for the Palestinian flag to finally be raised at the United Nations, insisting that international recognition of the state was now an obligation, not an option.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a much-anticipated speech to the Arab League in Cairo to rally opposition to Israel, and promised that Turkey would stand in solidarity with those struggling for political change in the Arab world.
"Freedom and democracy and human rights must be a united slogan for the future of our people," Erdogan told an audience of Arab foreign ministers and millions more watching on television across the region. "The legitimate demands of the people cannot be repressed with force and in blood." |
- EU Observer - EU border agency gets extra powers
The European Parliament on Tuesday (13 September) agreed to extend the powers of Frontex, the bloc's border agency and insisted on some provisions reinforcing migrants' rights. Groups dealing with refugees say the measures merely scrape the surface of the problem.
The measures, to come into force before the end of this year, will "strengthen safeguards so as to guarantee the full respect of fundamental rights and improve the ability of Frontex to support member states more efficiently and more independently," EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a statement.
Under the provisions, Frontex will still not be given its own border guards, which will be deployed from member states. But it will have the power to acquire its own helicopters and cars, rather than depending on what national governments supply - as is currently the case. |
Africa
- NYT - Niger Fears an Influx From Libya of Soldiers Loyal to Qaddafi
Officials in this mostly desert nation bordering Libya are warily watching and bracing for what they call the disaster scenario that has not yet happened: a huge influx of defeated soldiers loyal to the fallen Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
So far, they have had to contend with only a thin trickle of loyalists making their way across hundreds of miles of desert to the bare-bones towns in northern Niger, including one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons, a handful of his generals and his security chief.
But officials here in one of the world’s most impoverished nations — the third from the bottom on the 2010 United Nations Human Development Index ranking of 169 countries — emphasized that the diplomatic awkwardness of allowing the former government’s dignitaries here was nothing compared with the influx they feared with somewhat more urgency each day the Libyan conflict was drawn out. |
- Bloomberg - Libyan Leader Jalil Pledges Respect for Law
Libya will be a nation that follows the rule of law, respects the tenets of Islam, and rejects extremism, the head of the transitional leadership said.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, spoke to thousands of cheering Libyans yesterday in central Tripoli, his first public address in the former stronghold of Muammar Qaddafi. “We are seeking to establish a state of law, a state of prosperity, and Islamic Sharia will be the basis of legislation,” he said, according to video broadcast on Al Arabiya...
As the former rebels demonstrated their control of the capital, their fighters pushed toward Sirte, the coastal birthplace of Qaddafi that remains controlled by his loyalists. The council-backed fighters cut off the last escape route, south toward the desert town of Waddan. |
- Zimbabwean - Army generals face possible treason charge after WikiLeaks revelations
Two army generals who risked speaking to the US Ambassador about the goings on in the military could face treason charges, in what a top military analyst has called a sign of the restrictive environment in which they serve.
The two officials, Brigadier General Herbert Chingono and Major General Fidelis Satuku, were quoted by US Ambassador Charles Ray last year as describing their commander, General Constantine Chiwenga, as a “political general” with “little practical military experience or expertise”. This is according to a recently released diplomatic cable from the Harare Embassy to the US State Department in Washington, leaked by the whistle blowing group WikiLeaks.
According to the cable, the two generals took time to explain the situation and dynamics in the military to Ray. They also spoke about Chiwenga’s political ambitions, different views and opinions within the army, conditions of service and politics, including sanctions. |
- Daily Nation - It was a scene straight from hell
It was a scene straight from hell. It was gory.
Six hours after the 8am fire, the scene looked like one cut out from the nastiest of horror movies that Hollywood has ever produced.
As I stepped onto the smouldering site, I began counting bodies. All were burnt beyond recognition. What was left was a mass of black and white and skeletal-like outline of a human being. You could have been in a lab anywhere; only that this was real in the Sinai slum. |
Middle East
- AJE - Palestinians seek full UN recognition
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) will go to the United Nations Security Council and seek full membership in the world body next week, despite the looming threat of a US veto, a Palestinian official said.
The announcement was made by Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior member of Fatah's central committee, at a news conference in Ramallah on Tuesday. Fatah is the largest Palestinian faction in the PLO. His announcement would seem to end months of speculation about the PLO's diplomatic strategy.
"We are going to the United Nations, we are going to the Security Council," Shtayyeh said. "We are going to seek full membership based on 1967 borders." |
- Al Arabiya - Baghdad revokes Iraqi citizenship of 160 families, citing their Syrian origins
The head of al-Qa’im district, in Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar, has confirmed that about 160 families have had their Iraqi citizenships revoked, citing their Syrian origin as the reason for the action, DPA reported on Sunday.
Farhan Aftikhan said that among the people who had their citizenship revoked were government employees and army and police personnel, all of whom had their nationality certificates, food-ration cards, and citizenships annulled by the Iraqi government.
He added that these families have been Iraqi citizens for years and hail from the tribes in Anbar province. |
- Reuters - Saudi Arabia's water needs eating into oil wealth
Long before it understood the value of oil, the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia knew the worth of water.
But the leading oil exporter's water challenges are growing as energy-intensive desalination erodes oil revenues while peak water looms more ominously than peak oil -- the theory that supplies are at or near their limit, with nowhere to go but down.
Water use in the desert kingdom is already almost double the per capita global average and increasing at an ever faster rate with the rapid expansion of Saudi Arabia's population and industrial development. |
South Asia
- AJE - Kabul in chaos after Taliban attacks
Taliban gunmen armed with suicide vests and heavy weaponry have launched co-ordinated attacks in Kabul, targeting NATO's headquarters, the US embassy, and the Afghan intelligence agency.
Heavy gunfire continued to be heard on Tuesday as Afghan forces battled to clear a building in the city's diplomatic quarter which had been taken over by heavily armed fighters. Rockets have reportedly been fired at the US and other embassies in the area. At least four policemen and two civilians have been killed and 18 others injured, according to police and hopsital sources.
Police have surrounded the occupied building, calling in air support to end a siege carried out by gunmen resisting inside the building. NATO has confirmed that they are providing Afghan forces ground and air support in the operation. |
- NYT - Brutality by Afghan Local Police Is Reported
Local police forces trained and financed by the United States have killed and raped civilians, stolen land and carried out other abuses against the Afghan villagers they are charged with protecting, according to a report released on Monday by Human Rights Watch.
The accusations of violence, theft and impunity raise new questions about whether the local police and government-supported militias in Afghanistan, which are meant to play a major role in defending small villages against the Taliban, are instead undermining security at a critical moment for the country and the NATO-led war effort.
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- AFP - Sindh flood claims 270 lives
Pakistan called on the world Tuesday to speed up relief efforts after torrential rains exacerbated major floods, killing 270 people and making another 200,000 homeless in Sindh.
Local officials say devastation in parts of the country’s main breadbasket is worse than last year, when a fifth of the country was left under water by the country’s worst ever floods that affected a total of 21 million people.
The government is trying to fend off criticism of an inadequate response to the floods for a second year running, by urging the international community to step up help to already aid-dependent Pakistan. |
- The Hindu - Left-wing extremism ‘most violent movement’ in India
Terming Left-wing extremism as the “most violent movement” in India, Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said the burden of governance in the Naxal-hit districts must rest with the states.
“The burden of governance cannot be shifted from the state governments to the central government....In the ultimate analysis, the responsibility of governance in the Left-wing extremism affected districts must rest with the states,” he told a national workshop attended by collectors of 60-Maoist hit districts in New Delhi...
“The most violent movement in India is not terrorism or insurgency but Left-wing extremism. While 26 people were killed in terrorist violence and 46 killed in insurgency (27 in Jammu and Kashmir), 297 persons were killed in Naxal violence. That is 10 times of those killed in terror incidents” he said. |
Asia
- Reuters - Japan plans floating wind power for Fukushima coast
Japan will join the race to develop floating wind turbines to use in deepwater off its tsunami-stricken northern Pacific coast as it rethinks energy sources after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It aims to outpace the leaders in the sector in Europe, trade ministry official Masanori Sato said on Tuesday.
"In order to take lead in offshore wind power, we want domestic studies and developments to take place and manufacturers to boost capabilities," said Sato...
In the next five years, Japan plans to spend 10 to 20 billion yen to install six or more floating turbines off the northeast coast. It will work with firms including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries, Sato said. |
- China Daily - 2m hectares of farmland abandoned per year
About 2 million hectares of arable land are abandoned from farming each year, China Central Television reported Monday, citing a survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources.
The abandonment was attributed to the huge migration of rural labor to cities, the report said.
Thanks to the huge income gap between the rural and urban areas, many people from rural areas are choosing to leave villages to more developed cities and areas to work, said Zhang Fengtian, professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of Beijing-based Renmin University. |
- Bloomberg - Thailand May Cede No. 1 Rice Ranking to Raise Rural Incomes
Thailand is willing to relinquish its role as the world’s biggest rice exporter as the government prepares to buy grain directly from farmers to boost prices and rural incomes, Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said.
“We will not back off,” Kittiratt said in an interview yesterday. “If we cannot help our farmers, what is the point of being the government in this country? I’m not proud of being the largest exporter. I’m proud that Thai farmers can grow and sell their products at reasonable prices and they can smile.” ...
The government plans to pay 15,000 baht per ton ($498) for unmilled white rice and 20,000 baht for Hom Mali fragrant rice, as much as 47 percent above current market rates, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on data from the Thai Rice Mills Association. Purchases are due to start on Oct. 7. |
Oceana
- SMH - History on our side, says Gillard
Labor was on ''on the right side of history'' in finally pushing through a carbon tax, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, declared as the Coalition accused her of ''ramming through'' the tax and vowed to use every tactic to try to thwart it.
Business groups remain concerned about the 18 bills, which were introduced into Parliament yesterday and are set to pass by the end of the year.
But some energy companies, investors and environment groups welcomed the controversial climate policy, which has been debated for five years and twice voted down. |
Americas
- MercoPress - Violent incidents in Chile mark coup anniversary
Chile’s Sunday September 11 demonstrations to recall the military coup of 1973 turned violent and left one adolescent with a gun wound, power cuts, dozens of arrests and 350 “outbreaks of violence” in the capital Santiago according to the Carabineros (militarized police) report.
Deputy Interior Secretary Rodrigo Ubilla said that during Saturday night and the following Sunday night a total 280 people were arrested, of which 182 in Santiago’s metropolitan region and 98 in the rest of the country. Forty members of the police forces also were reported to have suffered injuries during the incidents.
Ubilla said that the injured teenager (15) is in hospital with a bullet wound in the chest, plus four other civilians who remain under medical observation.
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- LAHT - Guatemala Presidential Contest Headed to Runoff
Retired Gen. Otto Perez Molina and attorney Manuel Baldizon will face each other in a Nov. 6 runoff after none of the candidates won a majority in Guatemala’s weekend presidential election.
The latest official report from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, with votes from 93.8 percent of the 16,668 precincts counted, gives first place to Perez Molina, candidate of the right-wing Patriot Party, with 36.6 percent of the vote, followed by Baldizon with 23.4 percent.
According to the official count, right-wing academic Eduardo Suger is in third place with 16.2 percent of the vote, while businessman Mario Estrada is fourth with 8.7 percent. |
- Mongabay - New program to compensate poor for environmental protection
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has introduced a new program, Bolsa Verde (Green Allowance), to compensate the poor for environmental protection, reports Globo News. Eighteen thousand families living in extreme poverty in the Brazilian Amazon are expected to benefit in the first stage of the program.
"We are guardians of the forest, but this will only happen if it remains standing. Incentive is important because we assign an economic value to nature. It's as if it were compensation for conservation," Manuel Cunha, president of the National Council of Extractive Populations of Amazonia (formerly the National Council of Rubber-Tappers) told Globo News. He believes at least 200,000 Amazonian families eventually may qualify for benefits.
The Bolsa Verde will provide R $300 (U.S. $180) every three months to caboclo families (traditional riverine people) living in Brazil's national forests or sustainable extractive reserves who currently have monthly incomes below R$70 (U.S. $40). In exchange, the families will pledge not to deforest illegally or poach. |
- LAT - More Mexico youths die from violence than car wrecks, report says
As Mexico's drug war grinds on, violent homicide has overtaken car accidents as the leading cause of death of young people in the country, reports the Mexico City daily El Universal (link in Spanish).
Government statistics reviewed by the newspaper show that in 2008 and 2009, the second and third complete years of Mexico's drug war, violent deaths of people between 15 and 29 shot up about 150%. The figures rose almost equally across various narrower age brackets within that group.
Half of those homicides occurred in five states that include some of those worst hit by the current violence: Chihuahua, Baja California, Guerrero, Sinaloa and the state of Mexico, on the border with Mexico City. Violence is now the leading cause of death among Mexicans between the ages of 15 and 29, overtaking car accidents, the report said. |
- Globe and Mail - Income inequality rising quickly in Canada
The gap between the rich and the rest is growing ever wider -- with the chasm increasing at a faster pace in Canada than in the United States.
That’s the conclusion of a Conference Board of Canada study Tuesday, which says income inequality has been rising more rapidly in Canada than in the U.S. since the mid-1990s.
Its global analysis found that Canada has had the fourth-largest increase in income inequality among its peers. Between the mid-nineties and late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries -- including Canada...
“Even though the U.S. currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate,” noted Anne Golden, president and chief executive. |