OND Editors 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.
OND Editors consist of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, tbd, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors oke,palantir, BentLiberal and ScottyUrb, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent. We invited our readers to comment & share other news.
BBC:Barack Obama in South Africa amid vigils for Mandela
Barack Obama in South Africa amid vigils for Mandela
US President Barack Obama has landed in South Africa, the second stop in his three-country tour of Africa.
Mr Obama said earlier he did not expect to see former President Nelson Mandela, who is critically ill in hospital.
Leaving Senegal, he told reporters on board Air Force One: "I don't need a photo op."
Meanwhile, Mr Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said the former leader had made "a great improvement" in recent days, but was "still unwell".
BBC:Protest-hit Brazil 'missed chance' to improve services
Protest-hit Brazil 'missed chance' to improve services
Brazil "lost a great opportunity" to improve public services when it won the right to host the 2014 football World Cup, Rio de Janeiro's mayor says.
Eduardo Paes told the BBC Brazil should have seized the occasion to invest in healthcare, education and transport.
He spoke after another day of protests against corruption and the high cost of preparations for the World Cup.
In the north-eastern city of Fortaleza, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters ahead of a football match.
BBC:US $780m Afghan aircraft purchase 'wasteful'
US $780m Afghan aircraft purchase 'wasteful'
A US watchdog has advised the Pentagon to ground plans to spend $780m (£513m) on 48 aircraft for the Afghan military, as their pilots lack expertise.
The planes and helicopters are intended for the Afghan Special Mission Wing (SMW), but the audit found the unit has no command structure.
And only seven of its Afghan pilots were trained to fly with night-vision goggles, according to the report.
It could take 10 years before the unit is self-sufficient, said the watchdog.
BBC:Looted statues returned to China in Pinault donation
Looted statues returned to China in Pinault donation
Two bronze animal heads, returned to China after more than 150 years, will soon be on display in their new home in Beijing's National Museum of China.
The sculptures were bought by the Pinault family, who own French luxury group Kering, and donated to the Chinese government.
The rabbit and rat heads were looted from Beijing's Old Summer Palace at the end of the Second Opium War in 1860.
China had tried to stop their sale when they came up for auction in 2009.
BBC:EU set for Serbia membership talks
EU set for Serbia membership talks
EU leaders have agreed to open accession talks with Serbia, whose EU bid was long delayed by a dispute over its breakaway region of Kosovo.
EU-Serbia negotiations would begin in January 2014 at the latest, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said at a Brussels EU summit.
Talks on an EU association agreement with Kosovo will also get under way.
Tensions between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and remaining ethnic Serbs resurfaced this week.
BBC:Clashes break out at protests in northern Egypt
Clashes break out at protests in northern Egypt
There have been deadly clashes in Egypt as both supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi staged mass demonstrations across the country.
Tension has risen ahead of a protest planned by the opposition on Sunday, calling on Mr Morsi to step down.
In Cairo, thousands of Morsi supporters rallied outside the main mosque.
At least two people, one said by state TV to be a US journalist, were killed in the city of Alexandria as protesters stormed a Muslim Brotherhood office.
Reuters:Egypt violence builds, American among dead
Egypt violence builds, American among dead
(Reuters) - Two people, one an American, were killed when protesters stormed an office of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria, adding to growing tension ahead of mass rallies aimed at unseating the Islamist president.
A third man was killed and 10 injured in an explosion during a protest in Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez Canal. Police on Saturday said the cause was unclear but protesters, believing it was a bomb, attacked an Islamist party office in the city.
Egypt's leading religious authority warned of "civil war" after violence in the past week that had already left several dead and hundreds injured. They backed President Mohamed Mursi's offer to talk to opposition groups ahead of Sunday's protests.
Reuters:Mexican ex-governor gets 11 years in U.S. for money laundering
Mexican ex-governor gets 11 years in U.S. for money laundering
(Reuters) - A former Mexican state governor was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the United States on Friday after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder millions of dollars in bribes from a notorious drug cartel.
With credit for time served and good behavior, Mario Villanueva, 64, could be released from U.S. custody in two to three years, his lawyer, Richard Lind, said after the hearing. He faces another 23 years in prison in Mexico stemming from similar charges, Lind said.
From 1993 to 1999, Villanueva was governor of Quintana Roo, a state on the Yucatan Peninsula that is home to the popular tourist destination Cancun.
While in office he conspired to launder millions of dollars in bribery payments from the Juarez drug cartel through accounts and shell corporations in the United States and elsewhere, prosecutors said.
Reuters:Russian tycoon bids for control of Swiss steelmaker
Russian tycoon bids for control of Swiss steelmaker
(Reuters) - Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg has launched a bid to control Swiss steelmaker Schmolz+Bickenbach (STLN.S) after he failed to win support from shareholders to raise more capital and install his preferred candidate on the company's board.
On Friday, Vekselberg's investment vehicle, Renova, agreed to pay a group of long-time shareholders about 58 million Swiss francs for a 20.46 percent stake in the Swiss firm. The group, Schmolz+Bickenbach GmbH & Co KG (S+B KG), descendents of the company's founders, retains a similar stake.
The two parties, which have been allies in fighting for a restructuring at Schmolz+Bickenbach, then agreed to pool their shares, giving them a combined stake of 40.46 percent. This forces new stakeholder Vekselberg, under Swiss law, to make an offer to buy the remaining shares in Schmolz+Bickenbach.
In a statement, Renova's subsidiary, Venetos Holding AG, said it planned to make an offer around July 12 of 2.85 Swiss francs for each Schmolz+Bickenbach share. This offer is below the closing price of 2.90 francs on Friday.
Reuters:Lixil to buy toilet maker American Standard for $542 million
Lixil to buy toilet maker American Standard for $542 million
(Reuters) - Japan's biggest building products maker Lixil Group Corp (5938.T) said on Friday it would buy toilet and plumbing facilities maker ASD Americas Holding Corp (American Standard) for $542 million from buyout firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.
Lixil, a Tokyo-based housing facilities manufacturer which was looking to enter the North American market, said it would keep American Standard headquartered in the United States and continue operating all of its existing facilities.
Sun Capital acquired American Standard in 2007 from private equity peer Bain Capital LLC for $130 million. Bain had just agreed to purchase bathroom fixture maker Ideal Standard with a $1.76 billion bid, prevailing over a competing bid from the private equity arm of Steve Cohen's SAC Capital.
"In terms of the money invested just in American Standard, based on the great job its CEO Jay Gould and hid team did, we are going to make about three times our money on one of our biggest investments ever," said Sun Capital co-chief executive Marc Leder.
Reuters:Kerry steps up shuttle talks with Abbas and Netanyahu
Kerry steps up shuttle talks with Abbas and Netanyahu
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accelerated his Middle East shuttle diplomacy on Friday in the hope of persuading Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct peace negotiations.
After seeing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan, Kerry flew by helicopter to Jerusalem for evening talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a sign that he may be making progress in his mission to bring the sides together, a State Department official announced late on Friday that Kerry would return to Amman for another meeting with Abbas on Saturday, then return to Israel for additional meetings.
The frenzied back-and-forth is reminiscent of Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy as secretary of state to mediate conflicts in the Middle East throughout the 1970s.
Reuters:Banks should move wealth management services to subsidiary: RBI panel
Banks should move wealth management services to subsidiary: RBI panel
(Reuters) - Indian banks should split wealth management and investment advisory services to avoid conflict of interest as well as address mis-selling of financial products, by creating a subsidiary, a draft report by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel said.
The banks will need to get the RBI's approval to create subsidiaries, which would be then registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the panel proposed on Friday.
"To address the issue of conflict of interest arising from the single entity conducting both the activities of advisory/fund management as well as marketing, it is proposed to segregate the two functions," the report said, adding the bank should have an 'arm's length' relationship with its subsidiary.
The report also proposed the RBI should continue to supervise the bank's activities done through the subsidiary.
LA Times:BlackBerry shares plummet on unexpected loss
BlackBerry shares plummet on unexpected loss
BlackBerry took a beating on Wall Street after posting an unexpected loss and declining to provide specific smartphone sales numbers, troublesome signs that the company's crucial turnaround isn't going as planned.
The Canadian device maker lost $84 million during its fiscal first quarter and lost 4 million subscribers. Analysts were also disappointed by the company's projections for another operating loss in the current quarter.
BlackBerry shares plummeted 28%, or $4.02, to $10.46.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins cautioned analysts during an earnings call that "transition takes time."