Overnight News Digest, aka OND, is a community feature here at Daily Kos. Each editor selects news stories on a wide range of topics.
The OND community was founded by Magnifico.
Welcome to all, join us in the comment section to share a news articles and jump into the community chat. News is not required to pull up a chair and chat, just be kind to ceiling cat.
Freed American hikers arrive in Oman
CNN Wire Staff
American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer bounded down the steps of the aircraft that took them from Iran to Oman late Wednesday, rushing into the arms of loved ones who had sought their freedom for more than two years.
The pair, released earlier in the day from an Iranian prison, arrived in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
Their families and hiker Sarah Shourd -- who was arrested with them but freed last year on medical grounds -- hugged the young men. Shourd is Bauer's fiancee.
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U.S. panel approves ending Saturday mail delivery
By Emily Stephenson
A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday approved a bill that would end Saturday mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service and establish a process that could lead to worker layoffs at the cash-strapped agency.
Republican lawmakers overrode the objections of their Democratic counterparts to approve the bill which would also phase out delivery to front-door mail slots as part of an overhaul of the service.
The Postal Service has seen mail volumes plummet in recent years as more customers send email and pay bills online.
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Yahoo blocked e-mails about Wall Street protests
By: Charles Coop
Yahoo apologized yesterday after people using its e-mail service were prevented from sending messages about anti-Wall Street demonstrations over the weekend.
The company said that an external spam filter had blocked the messages but maintained that it was inadvertent. It said that the problem has since been resolved, though there may be some residual issues.
ThinkProgress, which first noticed the problem, posted the following video of someone being blocked from e-mailing a message inviting their friends to visit the "Occupy Wall St." campaign Web site.
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Protesters Vow to Camp Near Wall St. Indefinitely
By MEGHAN BAR
In a small granite plaza a block from the New York Stock Exchange, a group of 20-somethings in flannel pajama pants and tie-dyed T-shirts are plotting the demise of Wall Street as we know it.
They have been there since Saturday, sleeping on cardboard boxes, eating pizza and take-out dinners that were paid for by donations to their cause. There are only about 200 of them left now, though they started out 1,500 strong.
Welcome to the headquarters of "Occupy Wall Street," a place where topless women stood Wednesday morning on the corner shouting "I can't afford a shirt!" while construction workers eagerly snapped photos on their phones. A small group of the protesters wound their way through the streets of lower Manhattan escorted by police officers, blaring bullhorns and chanting "Resist! Stand Up! There comes a time when the people rise up!"
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Union protesters arrested at Port of Longview, Washington
By Teresa Carson
Twelve longshoremen's union protesters were arrested on Wednesday for trying to block a train from entering a grain terminal in Washington state as labor tensions flared again at the Port of Longview.
Ten of the demonstrators, including the wives and mothers of some port workers, were detained on charges of criminal trespass and obstructing a train, said Jerusha Kasch, a spokeswoman for the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office.
Among those 10 was Dan Coffman, president of the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21, the union said.
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So what are odds you'll get bashed by satellite?
By Natalie Wolchover
On Friday a dead NASA satellite the size of a school bus is expected to enter the atmosphere, break into pieces and rain down upon Earth. Though space agency officials don't yet know where the chunks (some weighing as much as 300 pounds) will hit and haven't narrowed down exactly when, they say the chances of the falling space debris striking a person are extremely small.
How small? And how do they know? Furthermore, this one satellite aside, there are millions of pieces of other broken-down satellites, spent rocket stages and random space junk in orbit around Earth.
So what's the chance that you, reader, will be struck by some piece of former space flotsam in your lifetime?
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UAW and GM strike a deal. Is that good news for Ford and Chrysler, too?
By Mark Guarino
General Motors and the United Auto Workers union announced a tentative agreement late Tuesday that will create more than 6,000 new jobs and raise hourly pay for entry-level workers.
Many times in Detroit the first deal struck between the union and an automaker will signal what is to come for the remaining two. It's yet to be seen how Ford and Chrysler will fare.
The highlight of the GM agreement is the company’s pledge to invest in six plants in Tennessee, Michigan, and Indiana, which the union says will collectively create 6,400 US jobs, many of which were previously lost to satellite plants in Mexico.
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The Science of Cougar Sex: Why Older Women Lust
By John Cloud
Men who cheat on their spouses have always enjoyed an expedient explanation: Evolution made me do it. Many articles (here is one, and here is another), especially in recent years, have explored the theory that men sleep around because evolution has programmed them to seek fertile (and, conveniently, younger) wombs.
But what about women? If it's really true that evolution can cause a man to risk his marriage, what effect does that have on women's sexuality?
A new journal article suggests that evolutionary forces also push women to be more sexual, although in unexpected ways. University of Texas psychologist David Buss wrote the article, which appears in the July issue of Personality and Individual Differences, with the help of three graduate students, Judith Easton (who is listed as lead author), Jaime Confer and Cari Goetz. Buss, Easton and their colleagues found that women in their 30s and early 40s are significantly more sexual than younger women.
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Schmidt to senators: Google is no Microsoft
By: Jay Greene
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt began his testimony to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that focuses on antitrust recalling a ghost of the committee's past: Microsoft.
Schmidt never actually mentioned its arch rival. But it's clear the software giant was top of mind as he delivered his opening remarks.
"Twenty years ago, a large technology firm was setting the world on fire. Its software was on nearly every computer. Its name was synonymous with innovation," Schmidt told senators. "But that company lost sight of what mattered. Then Washington stepped in."
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Texas, FDA Set to Square Off on Unregulated Stem-Cell Therapies
By David Cyranoski
There's a showdown brewing in the state of Texas -- and it could get ugly. On one side stands the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is clamping down on the proliferation of unapproved stem-cell treatments being offered to Americans. On the other is state governor Rick Perry, who is riding high in the polls as the Republican party's favored candidate for the 2012 presidential elections -- and a staunch advocate of the stem-cell treatments.
At least a dozen companies in the United States offer the treatments, which involve extracting adult stem cells from a patient's tissue, culturing them, then reinjecting the cells. The theory is that the cells will flourish and replace diseased or damaged tissue in a range of conditions from spinal-cord injury to Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.
But no treatment that involves anything more than "minimal manipulation" of adult stem cells outside the body has been approved by the FDA. Although bone-marrow transplantations, for example, involve extraction and reinjection of hematopoietic stem cells, those cells are not cultured or significantly processed.
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New tropical storm churns toward Caribbean
MSNBC.com
Tropical Storm Ophelia was churning its way toward the Caribbean Wednesday after intensifying overnight but U.S. forecasters said it was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ophelia, the 15th named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, formed late on Tuesday about midway between Africa and the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles Islands.
It posed little threat to the U.S. coast or energy interests in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Civil war looms as five killed in Yemeni capital
Irish Times
Snipers, shelling and gunfire killed at least five people in the Yemeni capital yesterday, violating a truce reached a day earlier between state troops and defecting soldiers who joined protesters.
Civil war is looming in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country over Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s refusal to leave power after eight months of popular revolt. He is in neighbouring Saudi Arabia recovering from a June assassination attempt that left him with serious burns.
Chaos could offer fertile ground to al-Qaeda’s aggressive Yemen wing, which in the past few months has seized cities in a province just east of a key oil shipping channel.
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He swapped bombs for babies, death for diapers
By Martin Fletcher
Alaa Sanakreh told me several times he knew the Israelis would kill him one day, that he would never get married and have babies.
As the leader of the al-Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, Sanakreh was near the top of Israel's hit list for years. Every day he expected to be shot. He moved from safe house to safe house with a band of bodyguards, coordinating attacks against Israelis. He slept by day and patrolled the refugee camp's narrow alleys by night. Sanakreh said his only hope was that his brothers Ahmed and Ibrahim would live and continue the family line.
It didn't work out that way. Ahmed, the bomb maker, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers. So was Ibrahim, a schoolboy, who broke the curfew because he heard Ahmed had been shot and was shot himself.
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Pakistan ISI urged attacks on U.S. targets: officials
By Mark Hosenball
U.S. officials say there is mounting evidence that Pakistan's chief intelligence agency has been encouraging a Pakistan-based militant network to attack U.S. targets.
The allegations, if fully confirmed, heighten a painful dilemma for President Barack Obama's administration. Washington is under growing political pressure to take action against the Haqqani network after a spate of deadly attacks U.S. officials have attributed to it. These include last week's strike against the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Some U.S. intelligence reporting alleges that Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) specifically directed, or urged, the Haqqani network to carry out the September 13 attack on the embassy and a NATO headquarters in Kabul, according two U.S. officials and a source familiar with recent U.S.-Pakistan official contacts. However, officials cautioned that this information is uncorroborated.
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Libya uprising: Gaddafi 'losing control of Sabha'
BBC
Libya's interim rulers, the National Transitional Council, say their forces have now taken control of much of the southern city of Sabha.
The city was considered one of the key remaining strongholds of fugitive leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Nato, whose air-strikes have been vital in bolstering the efforts of anti-Gaddafi forces, said it will extend its air campaign for up to 90 days.
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Pentagon Plan Offers Taiwan F-16 Upgrade Over New Lockheed Jets
By Viola Gienger
The Obama administration opted to sell Taiwan $5.3 billion in upgrades for its Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 fighter jets rather than the new aircraft it requested. The plan immediately drew protests from China.
The retrofitting for the 145 F-16 A/B models is part of a package that would include advanced radar, communications, guided bombs and other technology and training, the Pentagon said in notices to Congress posted on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s website yesterday. The U.S. also would sell Taiwan $52 million in spare parts as well as a $500 million pilot training and support program.
The proposal seeks to balance the U.S. obligation to help secure the island against China, which has missiles across the Taiwan Strait, with President Barack Obama’s drive to improve relations with the leadership in Beijing. China has suspended military ties with the U.S. over past arms sales to Taiwan, which it regards as a province that should be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary.
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MovingPlanet@Kos launches Thursday with the MovingPlanet Earthship, the docking point of all Coverage@Kos between Friday and Sunday of Moving Planet events around the globe. DK is collaborating with the Moving Planet team, the Global Campaign for Climate Action, WiserEarth, tcktcktck, the Sierra Club, EcoCity Builders, and Transition US to launch a 'package' of educational and inspirational writing and art, to rattle the twitterverse in a cooperative social media campaign, and to share some of the most innovative and extraordinary 9/24 events.
A crew of zero-carbon Earthship shuttles will be patrolling cyberspace throughout the weekend to lasso any postings with the tags "moving planet." Liveblogs will be monitoring social media to report out on events as they happen around the world.
Schedule
Earthship Thursday Eve Launching MP@KOS
Friday, September 23 ALL TIMES EST
9 -11 Enviro-writer
11-1 JillRichardson
1-3 Kelly Rigg, Global Campaign for Climate Action
3-5 Roger Fox
5-7 Richard Register, Ecocities Builders
7-9 Franke James, Environmental Artist
9-11 Warren S
11-1 Ellinorianne
Saturday, September 24 ALL TIMES EST
9-11 Bill McKibben
11-3 Live Blog: Sierra Club for report ins
3-5 Peggy Duvette, WiserEarth
5-7 rb137
7-9 Post Carbon Institute
9-12 Liveblog: Best of Daily Kos Alt Energy Diaries as liveblog for report ins
Sunday:
Liveblog Wrap Up
citisven SF wrap up photo diary