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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
US security chief warns shoppers after terror threat
US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centres, including one of America's largest malls.
He said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.
In a video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and the UK.
Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.
Mr Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands".
"Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.
But Mr Johnson added that he was not advising people not to go to the malls named by the militants.
Reuters
Homeland Security says aware of no credible threat against malls
(Reuters) - The U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Sunday it was not aware of any specific plot against U.S. shopping malls, backing away from comments by the department's chief that he takes seriously a threat by Somali-based Islamist militants against the Mall of America in Minnesota and other shopping sites in the West.
Some U.S. and Canadian officials had earlier cast doubt on the credibility of the threat made in a video attributed to al Shabaab, which appeared to call for attacks on Western shopping areas, specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, London's Oxford Street and sites in Paris.
Asked on the CNN program "State of the Union" on Sunday morning about the threat to Mall of America, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said: "Anytime a terrorist organization calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously."
He advised people going to the Mall of America, which is one of the world's largest shopping areas, to be particularly careful.
BBC
Nigerian army retakes Baga town from Boko Haram
The Nigerian army has retaken the north-eastern town of Baga, held by Boko Haram militants since 3 January.
In a tweet from its official account, the army said that "mopping up" operations were continuing.
It also claimed in a separate statement that it had killed many Boko Haram militants, though this has not been independently verified.
Nigeria says 150 people died when Boko Haram took Baga and nearby Doron Baga, but locals said up to 2,000 died.
Residents were left largely undefended as the military deserted when the jihadists attacked the towns.
This time, the army claims it was the militants who fled, with some drowning in Lake Chad as they tried to escape the aerial bombardment.
It added that 1,000 mines had been laid in Baga, which soldiers had to negotiate before entering.
The BBC's Will Ross in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, say other sources have confirmed that Boko Haram no longer control Baga.
The massacre there is regarded as the worst attack of Boko Haram's six-year insurgency. Thousands fled across Lake Chad when the assault began with 7,000 taking refuge in the Chadian town of Ngouboua.
BBC
Turkey enters Syria to remove precious Suleyman Shah tomb
Hundreds of Turkish forces in armoured vehicles have entered war-torn northern Syria to evacuate troops guarding a historic tomb, demolishing it and moving the remains to a different site.
The remains of Suleyman Shah, who died in the 13th Century, were moved to a site in Syria closer to the border.
Turkey considered the shrine sovereign territory.
Islamic State (IS) militants in the area had threatened to attack it last year.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has lost control over much of northern Syria as a result of the country's civil war, condemned the incursion as "flagrant aggression".
It said that Turkey had informed its Istanbul consulate about the operation but had not waited for Syria's consent.
Suleyman Shah, who lived from about 1178 to 1236, was grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire, Osman I.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government and the armed forces had carried out a "successful operation which is beyond all kinds of appreciation"
Reuters
U.S. refinery strike affects one-fifth of national capacity
(Reuters) - The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week on Sunday as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said talks may resume by mid-week to end the walkout by 6,550 members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries.
Representatives of both sides said no date has been set to restart negotiations, however.
The strike comes as U.S. workers seek more pay in a strengthening economy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has said its U.S. workers will get a raise to at least $9 an hour, while West Coast port workers have reached a tentative deal for a new contract after a months-long dispute.
The refinery work stoppage began on Feb. 1 when talks for a new three-year contract between the USW and lead oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co broke down.
Talks were resumed but halted again after nearly reaching an agreement on Friday, said sources familiar with the negotiations.
Al Jazeera America
Derailments of trains hauling fuel could kill hundreds, cost billions
The federal government predicts that trains hauling crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year over the next two decades, causing more than $4 billion in damage and possibly killing hundreds of people if an accident happens in a densely populated part of the U.S.
The projection comes from a previously unreported analysis by the Department of Transportation that reviewed the risks of moving vast quantities of both fuels across the nation and through major cities. The study completed last July took on new relevance this week after a train loaded with crude derailed in West Virginia, sparked a spectacular fire and forced the evacuation of hundreds of families.
Monday's accident was the latest in a spate of fiery derailments, and senior federal officials said it drives home the need for stronger tank cars, more effective braking systems and other safety improvements.
"This underscores why we need to move as quickly as possible getting these regulations in place," said Tim Butters, acting administrator for the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
The volume of flammable liquids transported by rail has risen dramatically over the last decade, driven mostly by the oil shale boom in North Dakota and Montana. This year, rails are expected to move nearly 900,000 car loads of oil and ethanol in tankers. Each can hold 30,000 gallons of fuel.
Weird news from Raw Story.
Scan reveals 1,000-year-old monk seated inside of Buddha statue
Using CT scanning technology and using an endoscope, researchers at Meander Medical Center in the Netherlands have been able to identify the body of a Buddhist monk encased inside of a 1,000-year-old Buddha statue, according to Colossal.
Officials from the Netherland’s Drents Museum — who are loaning the statue to the National Museum of Natural History in Budapest for an exhibition — delivered the statue to the medical center in an effort to learn more about the body they already knew was encased in the reliquary.
According to Erik Bruijn, an expert in the field of Buddhist art and culture and guest curator at the World Museum in Rotterdam, the body is that of a Buddhist master known as Liuquan, associated with the Chinese Meditation School
Using a specially designed endoscope, hospital surgeon Dr. Reinoud Vermeijden was able to extract samples from the thoracic and abdominal cavities of Liquan, inside the statue
.
CNN
Carly Fiorina's HP legacy looms over her 2016 ambitions (Just for a laugh.)
(CNN)Carly Fiorina believes Hewlett-Packard is her ticket to the White House.
The former HP chief executive and potential 2016 Republican contender is billing herself as a Silicon Valley trailblazer and tech whiz with more tangible accomplishments than Hillary Clinton. In an interview with CNN, Fiorina, 60, took credit for transforming HP and said she would bring the same skills to the White House.
"HP requires executive decision-making and the presidency is all about executive decision-making," Fiorina said.
But for many of her former HP colleagues, President Carly Fiorina is a disturbing idea.
Interviews with close to a dozen current and former HP employees reveal that nearly 10 years after being forced out of the firm, Fiorina remains a deeply polarizing figure. Her tenure, which coincided with the bursting of the dot-com bubble, was fraught with layoffs, leadership transitions and a controversial merger with Compaq that pitted Fiorina against members of the Hewlett and Packard families in an ugly public feud.
Now, Fiorina's public flirtation with a presidential campaign is reopening those old wounds and inviting new scrutiny of her management skills, which she is selling as one of her top assets.
N Y Times
Obama’s Expected Keystone Pipeline Veto Is Likely to Be the First in a Wave
WASHINGTON — Wielding the weapon of his pen, President Obama this week is expected to formally reject a Republican attempt to force construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But in stopping the transit of petroleum from the forests of Alberta to the Gulf Coast, Mr. Obama will be opening the veto era of his presidency.
The expected Keystone veto, the third and most significant of Mr. Obama’s six years in office, would most likely be followed by presidential vetoes of bills that could emerge to make changes in the Affordable Care Act, impose new sanctions on Iran and roll back child nutrition standards, among others.
For Mr. Obama, his Cross Townsend black roller-ball pen will become an extension of his second-term strategy to act alone in the face of Republican opposition and safeguard his legislative record.
“It’s a new period of his administration,” said James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington. “He will use the veto to protect his past record and not allow things he disagrees with to go forward.”
Al Jazeera America Good news story.
‘Extreme conservation’ saves mountain gorillas from extinction
VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Rwanda — A baby gorilla’s face peeks through the bamboo canopy, sending dried leaves fluttering down to the sunlight-speckled forest floor. The 3-month-old, still unsteady on her climbing legs, narrows her eyes in concentration and reaches slowly for a nearby branch. In one clumsy slip, she tumbles upside down and slides head first down the bamboo pole like an inverted firefighter.
More agile on the ground, the infant mountain gorilla waddles toward her father, who is lazily stretched out on his giant round belly in a patch of ferns. Mr. Lucky, as the 500-pound silverback is called by the park rangers, gently pulls the baby in for a quick snuggle before she wriggles out of his arms to munch on a vine.
A few yards away, a group of tourists giggle quietly, amused by the familiarity of the humanlike father-daughter interaction. These Americans and Europeans have traveled to Rwanda to visit the endangered mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. The tourism dollars they provide are funding local conservation efforts, which may have saved the mountain gorilla from extinction — at least for now.
NPR
California's Drought Exposes Long-Hidden Detritus
The message from park rangers, amateur metal detectors and regular fisherman at California's Lake Perris is unanimous: the water is lower than they've ever seen it.
The state's severe ongoing drought has affected everything from agriculture to urban life. Here, the impact is made visible: As the water level has dropped, sunken treasures, trash and forgotten boats have risen above the surface.
Last fall, rangers at the Lake Perris State Recreation Area and reservoir began spotting clumps of massive tractor tires peeking above the water on one section of the lake.
One park employee refers to the dozens of tires as "the serpent," because of the curving profile the tires create against the water, kind of like a Loch Ness monster made of rubber.
According to state park superintendent John Rowe, the appearance of "the serpent" — or the "tire reef," as it's more officially known — was not a surprise.
"It's been on all of our maps to begin with," Rowe says.