Zion National Park, East Rim across from Emerald Pools, during the late afternoon on Thanksgiving Saturday 2011.
Welcome to Sunday OND, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with today's news from around the world & country.
WAR & ITS MEMORIALS
32 bomber vets qualify for London memorial
Thirty-two survivors of the 6000 New Zealanders who flew in bombing raids over Europe during World War II have been approved for a Government-paid trip to London for the Bomber Command memorial dedication and unveiling.
The men are aged between 87 and 94.
The Government will cover their international travel, accommodation and other costs including their care and support teams and medical assistance during the two-week trip.
US will not be price ‘gouged’ by Pakistan: Panetta
But the issue flared anew last week when a Pakistani court sentenced a doctor who helped the United States gather DNA data used to track down bin Laden to 33 years in prison for helping the Americans.
“It is so difficult to understand and it’s so disturbing that they would sentence this doctor to 33 years for helping in the search for the most notorious terrorist in our times,” Panetta said.
“What they have done here,” he added, “does not help in the effort to try to reestablish a relationship between the United States and Pakistan.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to cut US aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million — $1 million for each year of jail time given to Shakil Afridi, the doctor.
The measure, an amendment to the $52 billion US foreign aid budget, passed in a 30-0 vote in a sign of growing frustration with Pakistan.
Syrian opposition calls for ‘battle’ after Houla massacre
Syrian opposition head Burhan Ghalioun called on Sunday for a "battle of liberation" against the regime until the United Nations takes action under Chapter Seven which allows military intervention.
"I call on the Syrian people to lead a battle of liberation and dignity, relying on its own forces, on the rebels deployed across the country and the Free Syrian Army brigades and friends," he told a news conference in Istanbul.
Ghalioun, outgoing leader of the Syrian National Council (SNC), said such action would be taken "unless the international community assumes its responsibilities under Chapter Seven" of the UN charter.
Not only do I see no good ending in this Syrian story, the way to the end will be horrible.
Taliban deny poison attacks on girls' schools
In the latest incident, about 40 schoolgirls in Takhar province were taken to hospital complaining of nausea and dizziness.
A day earlier, more than 100 girls from the same school suffered similar symptoms. Police said poisonous chemicals may have been sprayed in the classrooms.
Over the past month, two schools have also been set ablaze in the east of the country.
But spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC the Taliban "strongly condemn" such actions "and promise that if we arrest the perpetrators of such actions and cases we will give them punishments in line with Sharia."
Also,
tonight's IGTNT notes the 3,000th Coalition death.
inShare Flag of his father: A Vietnam veteran wants to return a bloodstained Japanese flag his father took as a trophy during World War II.
On Memorial Day, veteran Charley Trujillo still has too many haunting memories of the war in Vietnam for peace of mind, even after all the therapy over all the years. But this year he has discovered an unusual war memory, one that has touched his heart -- one that, for once, might help him heal.
Sitting in the backyard of his home near downtown San Jose, Trujillo, 62, author of war books drawn from real life, unfurled a small, bloodstained flag like those commonly carried by Japanese Imperial Army soldiers during World War II. His late father, Army artilleryman Raymond P. Trujillo, had taken the trophy and a samurai sword off the body of a dead officer during the battle for New Guinea in 1943. The flag bore the symbol of the rising sun and -- in a startling surprise -- faded handwriting.
"I'm not sure if my father knew what the writing said," Trujillo explained. "If he did, he never told us. He never told us much about the war, anyway."
Trujillo's aging mother gave him the flag a few months ago. The inscriptions might have remained mysterious had Trujillo not walked into a farmers market in Japantown and met Shigeyuki Murota. The vegetable vendor, whose native language is Japanese, agreed to translate the writing.
AROUND THE WORLD
Global campaign to wipe out polio could falter with the finish line in sight
As recently as 1988, polio remained endemic in more than 125 countries, putting millions of children at risk of death or lifelong paralysis. Thanks to a global partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organisation, Rotary International, UNICEF and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there are now only three countries where polio has never been halted: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. The financial backing provided by countries such as our own has enabled this global partnership, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, to reduce polio case numbers by more than 99 per cent.
In the past year, we've seen even greater progress: global cases are at an all-time low and recent outbreaks in previously polio-free countries have all but stopped. This January, India, once a stronghold of the disease, passed more than a year without a single case.
India's success proves that when the political will, necessary resources and a dedicated and accountable vaccination program are in place, the fight against polio can be won even in the most challenging circumstances. Today, with the final push ahead of us, we are closer than we've ever been.
Lady Gaga gagged as extremists vow 'chaos'
The decision follows a drawn-out process during which police initially bowed to the threats by those who said the singer would corrupt Indonesia's youth. But they appeared to relent last week and opened negotiations, including a suggestion that Lady Gaga could modify her show to make it more ''culturally sensitive''.
However the Islamic Defenders Front said it had bought 150 tickets and intended to violently disrupt the show.
The Front and other hardline groups have been increasingly influential in Indonesia in recent years in pushing the otherwise moderate Islamic-majority country to a more conservative stance. They stormed a recent speaking engagement by the liberal Muslim author Irshad Manji, assaulted guests with metal bars and injured her assistant, Emily Rees.
At India-Pakistan border, a visa-free 400 metres
In a significant move that could show the way for putting in place a liberal visa regime between them, India and Pakistan have agreed to do away with requirement of a visa to cross the border on both sides within a radius of 400 metres at the Attari-Wagah point in Punjab for Customs and other related border officials.
It was agreed that officials monitoring and administrating trade would be issued “special permits'' to work within the 400-metre radius. At present, such permits are issued to drivers and workers to drive in and out of the border carrying goods and unloading them.
Now this special facility will be extended to certain officials, including Customs, on both sides to enable proper scrutiny, inspection and early clearance of goods coming through trucks.
Pirates or hawks: Who hijacked Chinese boats?
One incident unfolded in the Yellow (West) Sea on May 8 involving three Chinese fishing boats with 29 fishermen onboard.
They were abducted by unidentified and armed North Koreans, who demanded the payment of ransom for their return. The vessels were seized in a traditional Chinese fishing area, about 10 nautical miles from the maritime boundary between the two countries. Seven Chinese boats were initially taken; four were later returned to the port of Dandong in return for ransom.
Three Chinese boats remained in the hands of the unnamed North Korean kidnappers until all were released on May 21. Chinese media said Beijing did not pay a ransom for the boats, but that the situation was resolved through "negotiation and close contact" with Pyongyang.
While these kinds of incidents are common, this one developed in an unusual way.
Last week I had a story about China & the Phillipines. Now it's China and North Korea. Hmmmmmmmm.
Thousands pray for Istanbul landmark to become mosque
Thousands of devout Muslims prayed outside Turkey's historic Hagia Sophia museum on Saturday to protest a 1934 law that bars religious services at the former church and mosque.
Worshippers shouted, "Break the chains, let Hagia Sophia Mosque open," and "God is great" before kneeling in prayer as tourists looked on.
Turkey's secular laws prevent Muslims and Christians from formal worship within the 6th-century monument, the world's greatest cathedral for almost a millennium before invading Ottomans converted it into a mosque in the 15th century.
"Keeping Hagia Sophia Mosque closed is an insult to our mostly Muslim population of 75 million. It symbolises our ill-treatment by the West," Salih Turhan, head of the Anatolian Youth Association, which organised the event, told the crowd, whose male and female worshippers prayed separately according to Islamic custom.
Mali rebels unite, found state of 'Azawad'
A move by Mali’s Tuareg and Islamist rebels to merge and declare a new state in the north left the West African country closer to break-up on Sunday, two months after a fateful coup in the south.
As an Islamic state called Azawad took root in the north, the interim president tasked with restoring Mali’s unity was in a Paris hotel, recovering from an assault in his office on the eve of the transition’s official start.
“The Ansar Dine movement and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (Tuareg MNLA) proclaim their dissolution in Azawad [northern Mali],” the two groups said in an agreement sent to Agence France-Presse on Saturday.
“The two movements have created the transitional council of the Islamic state of Azawad,” said the groups, which have been controlling the area for the past two months, in their “protocol agreement”.
“We are all in favour of the independence of Azawad,” they said, adding that “we all accept Islam as the religion”.
Because the world needs more religious-based nations.
Leaving It All Behind When Modern Cities Become Ghost Towns
The Japanese island of Hashima was once among the most densely populated areas in the world. But with the decline of the coal industry, the island was deserted in the 1970s. Now history enthusiasts like to explore it in hopes of discovering remnants of the mining town it once was. The desolate ruins of the settlement also inspire filmmakers to replicate the haunting setting in their movies.
Hashima is just one example of a number of modern "ghost towns" around the world that has drawn the attention of urban researchers, who opened an exhibition on the topic on Thursday in the German capital of Berlin.
Neft Dashlari is another. An artificial settlement off the coast of Azerbaijan, it was constructed by the Soviets after World War II, when the state was facing a major oil shortage. Having found a large oil deposit 42 kilometers off the Azeri coast, officials decided to build a town to accommodate the rig workers, erecting motorways and housing on top of huge steel posts. But now, as reserves near depletion, the settlement is beginning to resemble a deserted scene from a science fiction film.
Ambassador Argüello explains to the US business community YPF seizure
“We implemented these measures to avoid a national energy crisis: the dependence on costly imports of energy due to the lack of investment in new oilfields by Repsol. Had we not taken this measure, we would have broken our promise to the Argentines of doing everything in our power to keep self-sufficiency in energy, which is essential for our economic growth and competitivity,” Arguello stated.
“Our economy has grown considerably since 2003, and has done so at levels similar to those of India and China and leads the region along with Brazil. Poverty has decreased and the job rate has soared. However, ever since Repsol bought YPF, oil production fell by 54%”. Arguello also stressed the fact that “the conflict of interests between YPF major shareholder- Spanish oil giant Repsol- and Argentine development goals was an important point of discussion”
“While YPF net profits between 1997 and 2011 stood at 16.6 billion dollars, 14.2 were allotted to investors as dividends, and during the same time period, Argentina’s new oil fields were not explored”.
Illegal kidney trade booms as new organ is 'sold every hour'
The illegal trade in kidneys has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black market operations involving purchased human organs now take place annually, or more than one an hour, World Health Organisation experts have revealed.
Evidence collected by a worldwide network of doctors shows that traffickers are defying laws intended to curtail their activities and are cashing in on rising international demand for replacement kidneys driven by the increase in diabetes and other diseases.
Patients, many of whom will go to China, India or Pakistan for surgery, can pay up to $200,000 (nearly £128,000) for a kidney to gangs who harvest organs from vulnerable, desperate people, sometimes for as little as $5,000.
AROUND THE COUNTRY
Third annual Register rating: Condition of Iowa's state parks
Iowa’s state parks entered the Memorial Day weekend kickoff to the summer vacation season looking better than they have in years, although some remain a bit rough around the edges.
The Des Moines Register visited 21 of Iowa’s 85 state parks over the past two weeks, the newspaper’s third annual spot check of conditions throughout the parks system.
For the most part, the parks were clean, mowed, in good repair and ready for the millions of Iowans and out-of-state visitors who descend on them annually, beginning this weekend.
If the reactions of visitors earlier this month are any indication, most park users will like what they find this summer.
Officials: Human remains found in Colorado are missing Chicago man
Authorities said a camper found an abandoned campsite near Holy Cross City, a ghost town in the White River National Forest near Minturn, Colo., Friday. The next day, police hiked to the location, apparently the camp site used by James Nelson, 31, of Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, and found human remains, authorities said.
Nelson's fiance reported him missing in October 2010 after he failed to return from his five-day, 25-mile hike of the Holy Cross Wilderness Area.
A notebook found at the campsite shows Nelson may have been suffering from altitude sickness at the time of his disappearance, according to the news release. Police said some of Nelson's gear is missing, including a camera, GPS unit and a camping stove.
Please be safe hikers and backpackers. Don't go alone. Tell someone near the location where you're going. Check in with local park/monument rangers types and officials.
From fog to fireworks, Golden Gate Bridge marks its 75th
The towers stretched a little higher Sunday and the International Orange glowed a shade richer as the Golden Gate Bridge celebrated its 75th birthday on a typical breezy, chilly spring day in San Francisco.
Thousands of well-wishers, bedecked in layers of fleece and sweatshirts, celebrated the landmark with a day-long party that included live music, art shows, boat parades, tearful renditions of "San Francisco (Open Your Golden Gate)" and fireworks along the waterfront.
"It's one of the most beautiful pieces of artwork in the world. What more is there to say?" said John Moore, an air traffic controller from Rohnert Park, who walked across the bridge with his family Sunday. "We wouldn't miss this."
Gov. Scott talks to King Juan Carlos of Spain about elephant hunt, creates international stir
Gov. Rick Scott became a Spanish punch line this week after a televised gaffe with the king of Spain, who's reeling from an elephant-shooting scandal.
"I've ridden elephants, I've never tried to shoot one," Scott said, smiling as he walked in and shook the hand of King Juan Carlos.
The king seemed to freeze and mumble "Oh."
You can't blame him.
. . . And the scandal had seemed to die down.
Enter Scott — who was visiting Spain this week on a trade mission.
Not only did the governor start with the I've-never-shot-an-elephant ice-breaker, Scott then continued to talk about elephants and Botswana after he introduced his wife, Ann, to the king.
Gov. Scott is as tone-deaf as Rmoney, it seems.
2 South Dakota brothers, 1 fate: Siblings go to execution chamber for separate crimes
The Bergets are not the first pair of siblings to be condemned. Record books reveal at least three cases of brothers who conspired to commit crimes and both got the death penalty. But these two stand out because their crimes were separated by more than 600 miles and 25 years.
“To have it in different states in different crimes is some sort of commentary on the family there,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death penalty trends.
The siblings’ journey from the poverty of their South Dakota childhood to stormy, crime-ridden adult lives shows the far-reaching effects of a damaged upbringing — and the years of havoc wrought by two men who developed what the courts called a wanton disregard for human life.
I know it's Wapo, but I couldn't resist the story.
Digging into history, hoping to turn up gold
With gold selling at over $1,600 an ounce, Badner is part of a small but growing trend of fortune hunters looking to use modern technology to recover what earlier miners left behind.
Mines have reopened near Ouray, Creede, Boulder and Durango, but officials say little gold has emerged.
"There is renewed interest, but it's not 1872 anymore," said Loretta Pineda, director of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. "These legacy mines have environmental and safety issues. It could also cost millions to recover a small amount of gold. But if Badner wants to give it a go, we'll listen."
When mine owners went back into coal mines and used "retreat mining," miners died.
AROUND THE STATE
The Great Obamacare Scare: 10 (untrue) reasons Utahns fear the ACA
It’s been 24 years since Ronald Reagan quipped, “The 10 most dangerous words in the English language are ‘Hi, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” But who could have predicted that his words, and the sentiment behind them, would become the way conservatives view most domestic issues? From immigration to the environment to education, the role of government, especially anything emanating from Washington, D.C., is under constant attack. Take the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA). Just whispering its name during the recent Republican debates produced the political equivalent of tossing a bloody carcass into a shark tank.
It doesn’t help that few Americans realize how the ACA has already changed health care for the better and what it will do once the reforms kick into high gear in 2014. For instance, you might have noticed that you didn’t have to fork over a $20 co-pay for your last checkup or your kids’ immunizations. That’s because of the ACA. Or maybe you’re under 26 and are able to stay on your parents’ policy. Thank the ACA for that, too.
Sure, the health-care law isn’t perfect. Reagan was right when he said that government doesn’t always make things easier, even as it tries to make them better. But despite its flaws, the ACA is trying to improve our nation’s health care by insuring more Americans, slowing runaway costs and making insurance companies focus on patients first. Of course, doing good is one way to make a lot of enemies—and the ACA has those in spades. At first, its opponents tried to argue the facts of the health-care law. But when that didn’t work, they just started making stuff up. Here’s what they came up with, and why it’s not true.
Herbert says liquor license shortage hurting Utah business
There is a growing recognition that the lack of liquor licenses available to restaurants is hindering business growth in Utah and something needs to be done, Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday.
This month, there is only one full-service restaurant license available and a number of applicants vying for the permit. National restaurant chains have been saying for more than a year that the lack of licenses is keeping them from opening eateries in Utah.
"I think there is a growing awareness that we need to make sure our liquor licenses line up with the demands, particularly restaurants and business establishments that want to come and relocate here in Utah," Herbert said during his monthly KUED news conference.
"Hindering business growth" - the governor may have found a way to convince the Legislature.
Women married to NFL Mormons do best to keep things normal at home
They are married to men who play a physically brutal game, always one fluke, misstep or jarring hit away from a career-ending injury.
Their husbands have constant demands on their time, from practice to meetings to autograph seekers to charity appearances.
The ups-and-downs of a season can be excruciating. There is both praise and criticism, and it all depends on whether you win or lose.
For at least 16 weeks of the year, their husbands are away on Sundays. Their job performance is the talk of the town. The spotlight is always present.
Although I am not sure what makes NFL Mormons different from most other NFL players. ::sigh::
Man sues police over ‘forced catheterization’
“The nurse told (an officer) to hold my shoulders, so he held my shoulders and then the nurse undid my pants, wiped me down with iodine and put the tube in me,” Cook told FOX 13. “And then they took me to jail.”
Cook was arrested for marijuana possession and resisting arrest. Jarvis said the resisting arrest charge was for refusing to give a urine sample. She accused police of “bullying” people with forced catheterization.
“This is being used as a punishment to try and get them to comply,” she said. “Rather than employ a simple blood test, they’re forcibly catheterizing these people.”
You do not have the right to your own urine in Utah, apparently. Also, an invasive procedure.
Happy News
Utah girl completes 29-county quest by climbing Ensign Peak
Twelve-year-old Hannah Klassen pulled her yellow rain slicker closer around her, as she set out in the pouring rain Saturday with her mother and uncle on the short climb up Salt Lake City’s Ensign Peak, where in 1847 Mormon prophet Brigham Young surveyed the valley where his people would settle.
It was to be the culmination of Hannah’s yearlong visit to every county, national park and national monument in Utah, and she was not deterred by the downpour. After all, her uncle said, Brigham would have dashed up that hill in 20 minutes — even as the heavens drenched him.
OTHER STUFF
Sports
NBA (USA) in Conference Finals
From champs to chomped: How Urban Meyer broke Florida football Imho, college football was already broken.
Links
Cannes
Quilting Trends