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 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, Doctor RJ 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 editor is annetteboardman.
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BBC
Egypt Cairo football clashes leave at least 22 dead
Clashes between football fans and security forces in the Egyptian capital Cairo have left at least 22 people dead, prosecutors say.
Fans of the Zamalek football club tried to force their way into a match without tickets, sparking the clashes, officials said.
The violence broke out ahead of a premier league game against ENPPI.
In response to the violence, the government suspended the national league championship indefinitely.
In February 2012, more than 70 people were killed in post-match violence after a game in Port Said.
On Sunday, police used tear gas to disperse the fans at the Air Defense Stadium in Cairo, with at least 20 injured, witnesses said.
It is not clear what was behind the deaths, but some witnesses say people were suffocated during a stampede.
Despite the violence, the match went ahead.
Reuters
Defiant Greek PM sets up EU clash with bailout rejection, austerity rollback
(Reuters) - Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras laid out plans on Sunday to dismantle Greece's "cruel" austerity program, ruling out any extension of its international bailout and setting himself on a collision course with his European partners.
In his first major speech to parliament since storming to power last month, Tsipras rattled off a list of moves to reverse reforms imposed by European and International Monetary Fund lenders: from reinstating pension bonuses and cancelling a property tax to ending mass layoffs and raising the mininum wage back to pre-crisis levels.
Showing little intent to heed warnings from EU partners to stick to commitments in the 240-billion-euro ($272 billion) bailout, Tsipras said he intended to fully respect campaign pledges to heal the "wounds" of the austerity that was a condition of the money.
Greece would achieve balanced budgets but would no longer produce unrealistic primary budget surpluses, he said, a reference to requirements to be in the black excluding debt repayments.
Reuters
U.S. delivers arms to Lebanon, says fighting 'same enemy'
(Reuters) - The United States delivered more than $25 million worth of military aid including heavy artillery to the Lebanese army on Sunday to help it fight jihadist groups which have repeatedly battled with security forces near the Syrian border.
The U.S. ambassador to Beirut, David Hale, said in a statement the weapons would be used to "defeat the terrorist and extremist threat from Syria".
"We are fighting the same enemy, so our support for you has been swift and continuous," Hale said at an event marking the delivery of the weapons in Beirut.
The Lebanese army has fought regular battles with armed groups including militants linked to Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in areas near the Syrian border, most recently late last month when six soldiers were killed.
Hale said Lebanon was the fifth biggest recipient of U.S. military aid. It received more than $100 million last year. Lebanese officials have warned of plans by radical Islamist groups fighting in the Syria war to seize territory in Lebanon.
Reuters
Leaders scramble to avert 'dramatic spiral' in Ukraine
(Reuters) - The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agreed to meet in Belarus on Wednesday to try to broker a peace deal for Ukraine amid escalating violence there and signs of cracks in the transatlantic consensus on confronting Vladimir Putin.
The four leaders held a call on Sunday, two days after Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande traveled to Moscow for talks with Putin that produced no breakthrough in the nearly year-long conflict that has claimed over 5,000 lives.
After the call, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said progress had been made and that he was hopeful the meeting in Minsk would lead to a "swift and unconditional ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have stepped up a military offensive in recent weeks, seizing new territory.
But Putin warned in a newspaper interview that Kiev must stop its military operation in east Ukraine and stop exerting economic pressure on rebel-held regions.
Al Jazeera America
Iran says its time to reach nuclear deal
With a deadline approaching to resolve a 12-year standoff over Tehran’s atomic ambitions, Iranian officials on Sunday signaled a willingness to come to an agreement, with Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif telling a gathering of the world's top diplomats that "this is the opportunity."
The United States and its five negotiating partners, the other members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, hope to clinch a deal setting long-term limits on Tehran's enrichment of uranium and other activity that could produce material for use in nuclear weapons.
Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for a nuclear deal, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such an accord by March.
An earlier attempt at closing a nuclear deal by the Nov. 24 deadline in Vienna was derailed when negotiators failed to reach an agreement on the timing and scope of sanctions relief, and the restrictions on uranium enrichment Iran would be forced to accept beyond those of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which it is a signatory. Both parties agreed to extend the negotiations into March, raising fears the delay would increase political opposition to a deal from conservative lawmakers in Washington and Tehran.
N Y Times
Consumer Protection Agency Seeks Limits on Payday Lenders
In the world of consumer finance, they are chameleons: payday lenders that alter their practices and shift their products ever so slightly to work around state laws aimed at stamping out short-term loans that can come with interest rates exceeding 300 percent.
Such maneuvers by the roughly $46 billion payday loan industry, state regulators say, have frustrated their efforts to protect consumers.
Now, for the first time, a federal regulator is entering the fray, drafting regulations that could sharply reduce the number of unaffordable loans that lenders can make.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis, will soon release the first draft of federal regulations to govern a wide range of short-term loans.
Raw Story
America is moving to the right and away from the Democratic Party: poll
Partisan winds blowing across America are pushing the country to the political right.
That’s the sobering conclusion of the annual “State of the States” report by Gallup, one of the country’s most reputable pollsters, based on interviewing 177,000 people across the U.S. in 2014. The report concludes that Democrats still have an edge when it comes to presidential elections, but also explains why congressional gridlock endures.
“Since 2008, there has been a significant movement away from the Democratic Party both at the national level and in many states,” Gallup reports. “Democrats still maintain a modest advantage in national partisanship, partly because they have an advantage in some of the most highly populated states such as California, New York and Illinois. At the same time, other large states like Florida and Texas are competitive, with Florida showing a slight Democratic edge and Texas a slight Republican one.”
CNN
Another winter storm barrels toward an already-buried Northeast
(CNN)Sorry, Northeast. It's not over yet.
Another winter storm barreling toward some parts of the region Sunday is expected to pile on to already record snowfalls.
Experts issued winter storm warnings across upstate New York, northern Connecticut, northern Rhode Island and the greater Boston area.
Schools in parts of the Northeast, including Boston, will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
"Snow accumulations of 10 to 20 inches, possibly up to 24 inches in parts of central and northeast Massachusetts," the National Weather Service said.
It described it as a "long duration snow event" that could last until Monday night. Warnings are in place through early Tuesday morning.
Upstate New York could see 9 to 18 inches of snow through Monday night, the National Weather Service said.
Flurries and light snow fell in Boston on Saturday night, and heavy snow was expected Sunday night through Monday.
L A Times
Heavy winds, lightning sweep through Northern California
Still happening here. See my earlier diary for my personal damage photos.
A blustery winter storm brought thunder, heavy winds and nearly an inch of rain to the San Francisco Bay Area early Sunday.
Thunder was reported in the East Bay suburb of Walnut Creek, while the National Weather Service reported lightning strikes in Santa Cruz.
Wind gusts of up to 53 mph were reported at Mount Diablo in the East Bay while 54 mph was recorded in the South Bay suburb of Los Gatos.
Long-range forecasts call for Southern California to get slightly above-average rainfall in March and April. But that will be counter-balanced by above-average temperatures.
Water experts have said the state would need about 75 inches of rain by Sept. 30 at eight stations in the Northern Sierra where precipitation is measured to end the drought.
The National Weather Service office warned of afternoon and evening thunderstorms, and alerted that snow may cause problems traveling through the Sierra mountain passes.
In the last six hours, more than four-fifths of an inch fell at San Francisco International Airport, and more than three-fifths of an inch was recorded in Oakland, according to the weather service.
The National Weather Service office in Hanford said the best chance of thunderstorms for the San Joaquin Valley were between noon and midnight, and could produce small hail and heavy rain in addition to lightning and gusty winds.
Sunday’s storm was the second phase of a so-called atmospheric river of rain and powerful wind that first arrived on Friday, knocking down power lines and, around Lake Tahoe, snapping dozens of trees. The atmospheric river is also known as the Pineapple Express, which is a band of warm, wet Pacific air.
Al Jazeera America
Withering clouds: Climate change damaging biodiverse Costa Rica forest
MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica — The cloud forests of Monteverde are known around the world for their biodiversity. But locals and scientists are warning the delicate ecosystem is increasingly without the clouds.
Increasing temperatures have caused the clouds in the mountain forests around Monteverde to rise, and scientists believe the warming climate is leading to the redistribution of species in the highlands, renowned for the striking biodiversity that draws in hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.
That is bad news. Monteverde’s cloudless cloud forests are a symptom of a regional change in climate with ecological and economic implications, since farming patterns change and the tourism industry could be hit. Data collected since the 1970s by bat biologist Richard LaVal show that the average minimum temperature of Monteverde increased nearly 3 degrees Celsius from 1990 to 2000 — which can expand the range of tropical lowland species 400 vertical meters into the cooler highlands. While the average temperature has decreased in recent years, the data continue to indicate a long-term trend of increasing temperatures, researchers say.
The increasing temperatures in the highlands have opened the door for lowland flora and fauna — which are adapted to warmer temperatures — to move into highland ecosystems where they were not usually found before.