Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, September 11, 2012.
OND is a regular
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 near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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9/11 cancer victims to have treatment funded
By (BBC)
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The US federal government has added about 50 types of cancer to the list of illnesses to be covered by a 9/11 health treatment programme.
The decision entitles 70,000 surviving emergency service workers and other survivors to free care.
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The medical coverage comes under the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama last year.
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Until now, most of the health compensation was for respiratory diseases linked to the toxic dust and fumes from the fallen towers.
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Climate Change Will Extend Hay Fever Season by Six Weeks
By Damian Carrington
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Hay fever sufferers face longer pollen seasons and highly allergenic new strains from invasive plants, a new report on the health effects of climate change on the UK warned on Tuesday.
Global warming will cause earlier flowering, possibly extending the hay fever season by six weeks, and enable new species to grow in the UK. Pollen is also getting more potent, packing more allergen into each grain.
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Kennedy said the potency of the main pollen sources—grass and birch trees—is increasing, while warmer temperatures could cause pollen grains to burst more often, making the allergens they contain more available. Alien species could increase misery for existing sufferers or create new sufferers; Professor Kennedy noted the example of ragweed from America that is now established in Italy and produces highly allergenic pollen.
The most direct effect of climate change on health is through increased heat and the report concludes that annual deaths from heat will increase sixfold by the 2080s, to 12,000 a year on average. Deaths from winter cold will fall by about 40 percent, the report states, to about 35,000.
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IRS awards UBS whistleblower $104 million for spilling secrets
By Michael Bronner
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The Internal Revenue Service has awarded UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld $104 million — the largest reward to an individual whistleblower in IRS history — for providing damning information on his former employer, his lawyers announced today.
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The announcement comes just over five years after Birkenfeld, once a high-flying, cross-border banker at Switzerland’s premier financial institution, began providing the US Department of Justice with evidence of a massive tax-evasion scheme involving as much as $20 billion in secret undeclared accounts and earning UBS up to $200 million a year in ill-begotten profits.
It also comes just over a month after Birkenfeld walked out of federal prison after serving roughly two and a half years for his role in the fraud.
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JP Morgan Says iPhone 5 Could Boost U.S. GDP by Half a Percent
By Shane McGlaun
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Apple has a special event kicking off September 12 and while there has been no official confirmation of what will be unveiled at the event, the iPhone 5 is widely expected to be the headline product. And he iPhone will certainly have a huge impact on Apple's revenue figures for the remainder of the year.
However, JP Morgan believes that the iPhone 5 could have a significant impact on the overall U.S. economy. According to the firm, sales of the new iPhone could add as much as 0.5% to fourth-quarter annualized growth in the US. The prediction comes from J.P. Morgan chief economist Michael Feroli. Half a percentage point doesn't sound like much, but that would be a significant impact on the economy.
. . . Feroli acknowledges that his predictions seem large and need to be treated with a bit of skepticism. However, he pointed out that when the last iPhone launched in 2011 sales significantly outperformed expectations.
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AIG share sales net US Treasury $15bn profit on bailout
By (BBC)
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The US government has said it has made a profit of $15.1bn (£9.4bn) so far on its bailout of insurer AIG, after selling stock in the firm this week.
The government bailed out the insurer to the tune of $182bn during the height of the financial crisis.
Following a raft of asset disposals by AIG and share sales by the Treasury, the US government will own about 16% of the company.
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The Treasury then said the banks underwriting the share sale had exercised an option, allowing them to buy a further 83.1 million additional shares from the government - taking the total proceeds from this week's sale to $20.7bn from $18bn on Monday.
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International |
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In anti-U.S. protests, Egyptians burn embassy’s flag, Libyans set fire to consulate
By Nancy A. Youssef
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Protesters in Libya and Egypt stormed U.S. diplomatic missions Tuesday on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a day of rage that underscored the growth of fundamentalist movements in countries where new governments were swept to power in the aftermath of last year’s Arab spring.
One American was killed when militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, the Reuters news agency reported, though the report was not immediately confirmed by the State Department in Washington, which described the situation as “fluid.”
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The violence, however, appeared to fit a pattern of growing fundamentalist ferment that has touched all of the countries where governments have fallen in the past 18 months. That trend has been especially pronounced in Libya, where in recent weeks conservative Islamists have leveled mosques and cemeteries associated with the moderate Sufi strain of Islam.
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Will President Mohamud be able to tame Somalia?
By Mary Harper
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Once the excitement, and perhaps surprise, of being elected president wears off, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud could be forgiven for feeling slightly ill at the prospect of governing Somalia.
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He cannot even claim control of the capital, Mogadishu, without the military support of thousands of African Union troops and financial, humanitarian and other assistance from the United Nations and other foreign powers.
Somalia is currently divided into a constantly shifting patchwork of territories, some controlled by foreign troops, including Ugandans, Burundians, Kenyans (under the AU banner) and Ethiopians, others by clan militias, fully functioning regional administrations, pirate gangs and religious groups.
Two of the most difficult challenges for Mr Mohamud are the large parts of southern and central Somalia controlled by al-Shabab, and the north-western territory of Somaliland which declared itself independent in 1991, and to all intents and purposes functions as a completely separate country.
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South Africa's Marikana miners defy deadline
By (Al Jazeera)
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Thousands of workers on strike at the Marikana mine in South Africa's North West province are poised to defy an extended deadline to return to work.
The workers have been joined by wives, girfriends and supporters in a display of solidarity, after a government-backed effort to broker a deal between management, unions and miners failed.
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And what began as an industrial dispute over pay, with workers demanding monthly wages of about $1,500 - twice what they currently earn at the platinum mine - has turned into a political crisis for South African President Jacob Zuma.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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Fearless dominance predictor of president
By (UPI)
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Fearless dominance associated with psychopathy may be an important predictor of U.S. presidential performance, U.S. researchers suggest.
"Certain psychopathic traits may be like a double-edged sword," lead author Scott Lilienfeld, a psychologist at Emory University in Atlanta, said in a statement. "Fearless dominance, for example, may contribute to reckless criminality and violence, or to skillful leadership in the face of a crisis."
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A clinical psychopath encompasses many characteristics, such as fearless social dominance, self-centered impulsivity, superficial charm, guiltlessness, callousness, dishonesty and immunity to anxiety and all people exhibit one of more of these traits to some degree, Lilienfeld said.
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Karl Rove's Role in Komen's Planned Parenthood Flap
By Kate Sheppard
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Karen Handel, the former vice president for federal affairs at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has a new book out this week talking about the episode, Planned Bullyhood. Handel resigned in February after she was implicated as the main player in the cancer charity's decision to pull funding for screenings at Planned Parenthood.
In the book, she describes the response within Komen to the public backlash after the group announced the decision, according to Life News–and blames Karl Rove for its decision to reverse course and restore the grants to Planned Parenthood. . .
More interesting than Rove's involvement is the reaction from conservative activists, who are questioning whether the Republican Party's Boy Genius is anti-abortion enough. Blogger Jill Stanek argues that Rove "is only pro-life as long as it is convenient" . . .
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Report: $750B a year in healthcare wasted
By (UPI)
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Thirty percent of U.S. health spending in 2009 -- about $750 billion -- was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive overhead and fraud, researchers say.
Mark D. Smith, president and chief executive officer of California HealthCare Foundation and Institute of Medicine committee chairman, said these healthcare inefficiencies cause needless suffering.
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Better use of data is a critical element of a continuously improving health system -- health professionals and patients frequently lack relevant and useful information at the point of care where decisions are made, the report said.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
The 2001 Clear Channel memorandum is a controversial document distributed by Clear Channel Communications shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks to the more than 1,200 radio stations they owned. The memo contained a long list of what the memo termed "lyrically questionable" songs.
During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable" and that stations might not want to play after the attacks. . . Snopes.com did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question. . .
Artist |
Song Title |
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Simon & Garfunkel |
"Bridge over Troubled Water" |
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Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Australia to impose two-year fishing ban on 'super trawler'
By (Reuters via Guardian UK)
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Australia plans to block a controversial "super trawler" from fishing in its waters for two years in a victory for environmental activists worried about the impact on fish stocks and other marine life.
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Burke said there was too much uncertainty surrounding the environmental impact of the 142-metre trawler, reportedly the world's second-largest fishing vessel.
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Greenpeace, which had attempted to stop the ship docking when it arrived in South Australia, hailed the decision as a "sensible response to the threat of the Abel Tasman".
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Science and Health |
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Body Heat, Fermentation Drive New Drug-Delivery 'Micropump'
By (ScienceDaily)
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Researchers have created a new type of miniature pump activated by body heat that could be used in drug-delivery patches powered by fermentation.
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The micropump contains Baker's yeast and sugar in a small chamber. When water is added and the patch is placed on the skin, the body heat and the added water causes the yeast and sugar to ferment, generating a small amount of carbon dioxide gas. The gas pushes against a membrane and has been shown to continually pump for several hours, said Babak Ziaie, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering.
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Current "transdermal" patches are limited to delivering drugs that, like nicotine, are made of small hydrophobic molecules that can be absorbed through the skin, Ziaie said.
"Many drugs, including those for treating cancer and autoimmune disorders cannot be delivered with patches because they are large molecules that won't go through the skin," he said. "Although transdermal drug delivery via microneedle arrays has long been identified as a viable and promising method for delivering large hydrophilic molecules across the skin, a suitable pump has been hard to develop."
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Technology |
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SMART software is anti-poaching tool
By (UPI)
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Introduced at the World Conservation Congress in Jeju, the open-source, non-proprietary software system is dubbed SMART, for Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool.
It is designed to help park and community rangers fight illegal wildlife trade by identifying poaching hot spots, improving rapid response measures and calculating the impact of anti-poaching efforts to maximize results, a release from the Wildlife Conservation Society based in New York said Tuesday.
Rangers in protected areas around the world will be trained on how to use SMART, and equipped with global positioning system devices, they will be part of a global network of support, the release said.
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Snap Fashion: a glimpse of online shopping's future?
By Josh Halliday
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Snap Fashion, her new iPhone app, lets users take a picture of an item of clothing – whether in a magazine or on the street – and see similar items from high street retailers.
The app was dreamt up by University of Bristol graduate Jenny Griffiths, and claims to be the first fashion-focused visual search engine in Britain, ahead of Google's ambitious Goggles project, which lets people translate text, identify landmarks and get contact information – but has no clothes shopping element.
The Snap Fashion website lets shoppers search online using only a web link, rather than entering text. A link to a picture of Nicole Sherzinger wearing a floral print dress would return search results for a similar-looking floral print dress from various fashion retailers.
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Crowdfunding helps community power become reality
By John Farrell
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Back in April, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act), and one of the most heralded elements was so-called crowdfunding. The law sought to solve a major problem: It’s hard to finance small-scale business ventures. Wall Street only cares about multi-million-dollar plays, and securities regulations make small-dollar projects rather difficult (and costly) to jointly fund.
The act could have big implications for community-based renewable energy projects.
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The JOBS Act may finally allow thousands of regular folks to make a modest return (5 to 10 percent) by investing in local renewable energy projects. . .
Crowdfunding won’t mean much for wind projects, where a single turbine costs well over the dollar limit, but the JOBS Act also opened the door for more community-based wind with changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exemption Regulation A.
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The Recording Industry’s Crusade Against Regular People Validated By $222,000 Appeal
By Mario Aguilar
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Today an appeals court helped the RIAA extort $222,000 from Jammie Thomas-Rasset for distributing 24 songs on the internet. The original verdict called for a preposterous penalty of $1.92 million. Sure, this new amount of just under $9,000 a song is lower, but ugh, it's still absurd and horrible.
It's been just a few weeks since an appeals court judge denied the appeal of regular dude Joel Tenenbaum, effectively forcing him to pay $675,000 for distributing 31 songs on Kazaa. But the RIAA's latest trampling of an ordinary citizen is a larger symbolic victory for the RIAA. This lawsuit in particular made headlines when it was launched in 2007 because Thomas-Rasset is a mother of four who would never be able to repay the huge quantities of money the recording industry's lawyers demanded in court. The case isn't over, and Thomas-Rasset's lawyers will surely examine their options going forward, but this is definitely a major setback for her case.
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American Airlines Wins FAA Approval to Use iPad in Cockpit During All Phases of Flight
By Shane McGlaun
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In December of 2011, American Airlines won FAA approval to use the Apple iPad to replace paper manuals pilots carry onboard aircraft. American Airlines today announced that it has become the first carrier to get FAA approval to use the iPad in the cockpit during all phases of flight.
Pilots for the airline will use the iPad to replace the paper-based reference manuals typically carried in flight bags that weigh 35 pounds. American Airlines figures that it will save $1.2 million on fuel across all of its planes each year based on current fuel prices by shaving that weight.
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Cultural |
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Witch-hunt in Iraq
By (BBC)
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Iraqi law enforcement agencies are involved in the systematic and deadly persecution of gay men and women there, a BBC investigation has revealed.
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It's very difficult to determine how many homosexuals have died in so called "honour killings" by their own families or in the hands of the militias. But a BBC investigation has found that law enforcement agencies are involved in ongoing, systematic and organised violence against gay people, while the government refuses to acknowledge it.
Once targeted, most gay people in Iraq have nowhere to hide. There is only one safehouse in Baghdad which can house three people. Because other shelters have been raided and shut down by the government, we have not revealed the name of the group behind the safehouse.
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Iraq's Western-backed government is in violation of its international obligations and the government's failure to prosecute acts of violence against homosexuals makes the state a perpetrator in the crime, the UN says.
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Pakistan 'blasphemy' family tell of fire threat
By (BBC)
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The family of a young Pakistani Christian girl, known as Rimsha, who faces blasphemy charges, say their Muslim neighbours threatened to burn them alive inside their home.
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Rimsha's parents, who are not being named for their own safety, told the BBC's Orla Guerin that their daughter was a shy 11-year-old who was illiterate - like the rest of the family - and had always been slow.
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They said she was sitting quietly at home in their poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Islamabad when a crowd gathered outside, claiming she had burnt pages from an Islamic textbook. Her mother described trying to hold off the mob.
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The family said Rimsha survived by locking herself in the bathroom. Her 14-year-old sister, who was locked in the house with her, was also traumatised by the events.
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The entire family was at risk, according to Rimsha's father - a slight man with a hunted look, who used to earn his living as a house painter. He told our correspondent that their Muslim neighbours had threatened to set them alight.
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Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already. |