Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, rfall, and JML9999. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw. The guest editors are Doctor RJ and annetteboardman.
Special thanks to JekyllnHyde for the new OND banner.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
Ebola crisis: Spanish nurse tests negative for virus
The Spanish nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa has now tested negative for the virus, the Spanish government says,
The result suggests Teresa Romero, 44, is no longer infected - although a second test is required before she can be declared free of Ebola.
Ms Romero contracted the virus when treating two infected patients in a Madrid hospital earlier this month.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 4,500 people across West Africa.
Ms Romero tested positive for the virus on 6 October, after she treated two missionaries who had been repatriated from West Africa. The missionaries later died from the virus.
Ms Romero has said she might have become infected when she removed her protective suit.
A doctor in Madrid said she may have touched her face with her gloves after treating one of the missionaries.
BBC
Iraq crisis: Baghdad Shia mosque hit by suicide attack
A suicide attacker has killed at least 18 people at a Shia mosque in Iraq, the latest in a spate of similar bombings.
The attacker blew himself up in a crowd gathered for a funeral in western Baghdad's affluent Harthiyah area.
Dozens have been killed in similar attacks in recent weeks that have been widely blamed on Islamic State (IS).
IS militants, who control territory straddling Syria and Iraq, were engaged in battles with Kurdish fighters around the Syrian town of Kobane all weekend.
Earlier this week, the Kurds in Kobane said they had beaten back the Islamists.
But IS apparently launched a renewed effort to retake the town over the weekend.
Kurdish commanders said they had again repulsed the Islamists, thanks to help from US air strikes.
BBC
Disabled Russian container ship tugged away from Canada
A disabled Russian container ship is being pulled away from Canada's shore after earlier becoming detached from its tugboat.
The Simushir, which is without power, is carrying hundreds of tonnes of fuel and was at risk of running aground when it was closer to shore.
However a coastguard spokesman said the vessel was far away from the shore and did not now pose that risk.
The Russia-bound ship left Washington and lost power on Friday morning.
A Canadian Coast Guard helicopter flies near a Russian container ship
The Canadian Coast Guard had attached a tow line to the vessel, but on Saturday the line became detached, leaving the vessel drifting for six hours in rough seas off British Columbia.
It had originally been feared that the ship might hit Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Currently the ship is being tugged until it is comfortably north of the islands before a decision is made on where it will be towed, the Associated Press quotes Canadian authorities as saying.
Also see Lefty Coaster's diary about this,
here.
BBC
Nicaragua rains: Downpours leave 22 dead
Twenty-two people have died in Nicaragua during several days of heavy rains.
Nine of them were killed in the capital Managua when a wall collapsed during a torrential downpour.
In other areas of the city, emergency crews evacuated families from areas at risk from mudslides.
A government spokeswoman said they would join thousands of people housed in temporary shelters because of downpours since September.
The spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo, said the authorities had decided to evacuate all families who were considered to be living in critical areas of the city vulnerable to flooding and mudslides
Al Jazeera America
Mass jailbreak as DRC violence worsens
Armed men raided a jail in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern town of Butembo, releasing hundreds of prisoners, military sources said.
The Congolese army and the town's mayor confirmed the raid, but said that there were conflicting reports as to who was responsible for the incident late on Saturday night.
About 370 prisoners were freed, but 20 were recaptured by Sunday morning. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The North Kivu province of the nation’s east has been hit by gruesome violence over the last 10 days, with officials and local rights groups saying that about 80 people have been killed.
The Congolese government, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations and have all blamed the attacks on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group, but some locals say the incidents were likely perpetrated by unrelated bandits. The ADF has terrorized the area for much of the last two decades.
Al Jazeera was not able to contact the ADF or confirm its alleged role in the incidents at time of publication.
Al Jazeera America
Sweden announces three credible sightings in submarine hunt
The Swedish military said Sunday it had made three credible sightings of foreign undersea activity in its waters during the past few days amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion in the area.
Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad said the armed forces had observed the activity in the Stockholm archipelago and nearby coastal area, but declined to give details of the operation.
Sweden beefed up its military presence in the Stockholm archipelago on Saturday to scour its waters, searching for what many say is most likely a Russian submarine.
The armed forces published a photograph taken on Sunday by a passerby showing a partially submerged object in the water from a distance, but it was unclear what kind of vessel was in question.
Grenstad told reporters that he wouldn't speculate on the photograph or sightings except to say the region is "of interest to a foreign power.”
Christian Allerman, formerly Sweden’s marine attaché in Russia, told Swedish news agency TT that Russia was likely behind the activity, saying that “the only nation with a motive is the one that doesn’t want us to continue developing our cooperation with NATO.”
Raw Story
Iconic ‘Captain America’ chopper from ‘Easy Rider’ auctioned off for $1.35 million
Despite questions over its authenticity, the last remaining ‘Captain America’ chopper from the 1969 movie “Easy Rider” sold at auction Saturday night for $1.35 million.
According to the LA Times, with auction fees, the final cost was more than $1.6 million.
The chopper, ridden by the film’s star and producer Peter Fonda in the landmark counterculture film, is believed to be the last of the four choppers built for the film.
The purchaser of the bike, put up for auction by Los Angeles realtor and movie memorabilia collector Michael Eisenberg, was not identified.
While some have questioned the authenticity of the Harley-Davidson, Eisenberg said that he became convinced it was the last remaining “Easy Rider” motorcycle by actor Dan Haggerty, best known for his role on television as ‘Grizzly Adams.’ Haggerty had a bit part in the movie and helped work on the four motorcycles used in the film. According to Haggerty, the other three choppers were either stolen or sold for parts prior to the film’s release. Haggerty claims he helped rebuild the auctioned off bike from the wreckage of the fourth bike which was nearly destroyed while filming the film’s finale.
Raw Story
‘Water cops’ turn to technology to catch sprinkler abuse in drought-ravaged California
It was still dark on Kokomo Drive in Sacramento’s Natomas district as Paul Brown edged his city-issued Honda Civic past a row of beige stucco houses with tiny front lawns, looking for water wasters.
He heard the scofflaws before he saw their lush green lawns amid the otherwise parched turf. The buzz of a sprinkler system gave them away on a day that the city, desperate to save water amid California’s ongoing drought, had forbidden watering.
“If I can get a good picture – if there’s a lot of water – I’ll cite them,” he said.
California is in the third year of a devastating drought that has led farmers to fallow nearly half a million acres of cropland, threatened fish hatcheries and shrunk drinking water supplies for some communities.
To get people to conserve, many municipalities and regional water agencies have hired “water cops” like Brown to enforce state conservation rules.
Cities have even asked people to turn their neighbors in, and some have created smartphone apps to make the process easier.
N Y Times
Peyton Manning Breaks Touchdown Passing Record
Peyton Manning has broken the record for most touchdown passes in N.F.L. history.
With three touchdown passes in the first half of the Denver Broncos’ game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, Manning has 509 for his career, one more than Brett Favre.
The chart (at the link) compares Manning with his counterparts in league history, spanning more than 250 quarterbacks with at least 30 career touchdown passes since 1930. The whole history of the N.F.L. is right there, and you can quickly see how much the passing game has advanced over the years.
Manning has become the tenth quarterback since 1930 to hold the touchdown record.
C/Net
Physicists create reversible laser tractor beam
The groundbreaking tractor beam, made of a hollow laser beam (a laser bright around the edges and hollow in the centre), was able to move particles 0.2 mm in diameter distances up to 20 cm (7.87 in) -- around 100 times farther than has been achieved in previous experiments.
"Demonstration of a large scale laser beam like this is a kind of holy grail for laser physicists," said Professor Wieslaw Krolikowski from the Research School of Physics and Engineering at The Australian National University.
Previous experiments, such as those conducted by the University of St Andrews, relied upon the motion of photons to propel particles on a microscopic level. The ANU's experiment, however, used the laser differently: rather than photon momentum, the team used heat.
The team trapped microscopic gold-coated hollow glass particles in the dark centre of the laser beam. Energy from the laser travels across the surface of the particle, where it is absorbed. This create hotspots; when air particles collide with these hotspots, they heat up and shoot away from the particle; in turn, the particle then recoils in the opposite direction.
In order to then steer the particle, the team carefully controls the polarisation of the laser beam to heat up the desired portion of the particle's surface.
As promised……fish sex.
BBC
Ancient Scottish fish 'first to have sex'
Scientists believe they have discovered the origin of copulation.
An international team of researchers says a fish called Microbrachius dicki is the first-known animal to stop reproducing by spawning and instead mate by having sex.
The primitive bony fish, which was about 8cm long, lived in ancient lakes about 385 million years ago in what is now Scotland.
They couldn't have done it in a 'missionary position'”
Lead author Prof John Long, from Flinders University in Australia, said: "We have defined the very point in evolution where the origin of internal fertilisation in all animals began.
"That is a really big step."
Prof Long added that the discovery was made as he was looking through a box of ancient fish fossils.
He noticed that one of the M. dicki specimens had an odd L-shaped appendage. Further investigation revealed that this was the male fish's genitals.