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:EU's Juncker pledges 2bn euros for Greek 'humanitarian crisis'
EU's Juncker pledges 2bn euros for Greek 'humanitarian crisis'
The EU has pledged €2bn (£1.45bn; $2.15bn) to ease what it calls Greece's "humanitarian crisis" - echoing a term used by Greece to describe the results of its financial crisis.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the money would be spent on growth and "social cohesion".
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the move, stressing a common need to tackle the humanitarian crisis.
EU leaders say Greece is due to produce a reform plan to fend off bankruptcy.
BBC:Mexico Supreme Court frees man after 23 years in jail
Mexico Supreme Court frees man after 23 years in jail
The Mexican Supreme Court has ordered the release of Alfonso Martin del Campo Dodd, a Mexican-American who was jailed in 1992 for the murder of his sister and brother-in-law.
The court ruled that Mr Martin del Campo's confession had been extracted under torture and that there was no other evidence against him.
Mr Martin del Campo said police had placed a plastic bag over his head to make him confess to the double murder.
He is expected to be freed shortly.
BBC:Tunis museum attack: President urges unity to fight terror
Tunis museum attack: President urges unity to fight terror
Tunisia's president has urged Tunisians to unite to fight terrorism, two days after an attack on the Bardo museum in the capital Tunis killed 25 people, mostly foreign tourists.
"We won't win if we don't stand together," Beji Caid Essebsi said in a national address marking 59 years of Tunisia's independence from France.
Islamic State has said it was behind the attack on the museum, which is next to the country's parliament.
Nine people have since been arrested.
BBC:Cuban officials jailed over egg black market scam
Cuban officials jailed over egg black market scam
A court in Cuba has jailed 18 government officials for between five and 15 years for stealing more than eight million eggs and selling them on the black market.
State newspaper Granma said the men included executives of the state-run egg distribution company.
Prosecutors said the gang had cost the communist-run island more than $350,000 (£230,000) in lost revenue.
The Cuban authorities said one man was acquitted for lack of evidence.
BBC:US winemakers reject arsenic claim
US winemakers reject arsenic claim
A lawsuit, filed on Thursday, alleges that 28 wineries knowingly produced contaminated wine in violation of state law and without informing consumers.
A major trade group has called the lawsuit "false and misleading" and said that all wines on US shelves are safe.
Small amounts of Arsenic can be found naturally in air, water and soil, but larger amounts are deadly.
The lawsuit claims that tests by three independent laboratories showed that in some cases there was six-times as much of the toxin present as is allowed by law.
BBC:US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic leads school to apologise
US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic leads school to apologise
A school in New York state has apologised after receiving complaints because a student recited the US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic.
The school's foreign language department arranged for the pledge to be read in a different language each day for a week.
Complaints were received from people who lost family in Afghanistan and from Jewish parents, an official said.
Neither the US nor New York state has an official language.
Reuters:Exclusive: Japan tax agency, Hong Kong join FBI in reviewing Universal casino payments - sources
Exclusive: Japan tax agency, Hong Kong join FBI in reviewing Universal casino payments - sources
(Reuters) - Japan's tax authorities have begun a review of how slot machine maker and casino developer Universal Entertainment accounted for $40 million in payments made in 2010 to an associate of the Philippines' top gambling regulator at that time, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The review is part of a wider audit of the company's books, the people said.
Separately, the payments are also a focus of a previously undisclosed criminal investigation by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption, sources said. The ICAC has become involved because the transfers under review passed through bank accounts based in Hong Kong, those people said.
On Wednesday, Universal said in a statement that its U.S.-based subsidiary, Aruze USA, had received a subpoena from a grand jury in the United States that it believed was related to "suspicion" of bribery related to the payments. The company did not say when that subpoena had been received or where that federal grand jury was seated.
Reuters:Japan to expand SE Asia security ties with Indonesia pact
Japan to expand SE Asia security ties with Indonesia pact
(Reuters) - Japan will sign a defense pact with Indonesia next week, officials in both governments said, the latest effort by Tokyo to forge closer security ties with Southeast Asian nations and build a counter-balance to China.
Japan has already bolstered partnerships with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two countries most at odds with China over a territorial row in the South China Sea. Japan itself is embroiled in a bitter dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, further to the north.[ID:nL4N0WB18Y]
Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits Tokyo next week for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two sides will sign an agreement on increasing cooperation in military training and technology, the officials said. Currently, the two countries only have an agreement for the exchange of military students.
Although it will be a non-binding agreement, it is seen as the first step in bolstering defense ties.
Reuters:Japan split on joining AIIB bank, caught between US, China
Japan split on joining AIIB bank, caught between US, China
(Reuters) - Japan is split over joining a China-led development bank, concerned about missing out on the rapidly coalescing global movement for the institution while also worried about alienating ally United States and helping bolster rival China, officials said.
Finance Minister Taro Aso signaled for the first time on Friday that Tokyo could be part of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) if it can guarantee a credible mechanism for providing loans.
But other top officials took a more skeptical stance, reflecting a split in the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over whether the AIIB would help or hinder Japan's interests.
"We have a cautious position about participation," said top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga.
Reuters:Japan court denies injunction against MOX nuclear fuel use
Japan court denies injunction against MOX nuclear fuel use
(Reuters) - A local district court in southwestern Japan on Friday denied granting an injunction against Kyushu Electric Power Co's use of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel at its Genkai No.3 reactor, the nuclear operator said.
The Saga district court on the island of Kyushu found that the No.3 reactor at the Genkai plant meets Japan's nuclear regulator's stringent safety rules and that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the fuel posed a specific danger.
The ruling is some relief for Japan's nuclear operators at a time when the fight over restarting the country's reactors is moving to the courts, where power companies face the risk of further delays in firing up idled atomic generators if judges side with local residents worried about safety.
MOX fuel - enriched by recovered plutonium and uranium - is controversial because critics fear it could be used to build nuclear weapons. The critics also say the fuel is highly toxic.
Reuters:Petrobras scandal prosecutors seek tougher anti-corruption laws
Petrobras scandal prosecutors seek tougher anti-corruption laws
(Reuters) - Prosecutors who uncovered Brazil's biggest corruption case called on Friday for tougher prison sentences and more legal powers to crack down on rampant graft that costs taxpayers more than the annual budget for education and health.
Hoping to ride a wave of national disgust over the latest corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras, the top federal prosecutor's office known as PGR sent Congress proposals to stiffen penalties for corruption to up to 25 years in prison.
The prosecutors are seeking legal reforms to speed up the arrest of corruption suspects and seizure of their assets before they can be hidden. They also proposed reducing Brazil's long appeals process that often lets criminals go scot-free.
A multibillion-dollar kickback scheme uncovered at Petroleo Brasileiro SA has shaken President Dilma Rousseff's government and threatens to further slow a stagnant economy.
Reuters:Obama calls on Iran to immediately release detained Americans
Obama calls on Iran to immediately release detained Americans
(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran's government to immediately release three detained Americans - Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian - and to help find Robert Levinson, an American who disappeared in Iran eight years ago, the White House said.
Obama made the statement in conjunction with Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. "Today, as families across the world gather to mark this holiday, we remember those American families who are enduring painful separations from their loved ones who are imprisoned or went missing in Iran," he said in a statement.
Washington and Tehran severed relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The United States and other world powers are currently engaged in sensitive negotiations with Iran aimed at curbing its nuclear program in exchange for easing economic sanctions.
Abedini, an Iranian-American Christian pastor from Boise, Idaho, was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013 by an Iranian court for undermining Iran's national security by setting up home-based Christian churches in Iran from 2000 to 2005.
Gizmodo:Cisco's Going to Ship Its Equipment to Empty Houses to Dodge the NSA
Cisco's Going to Ship Its Equipment to Empty Houses to Dodge the NSA
The NSA is willing to go frighteningly far for your secrets, but at least one hardware manufacturer is willing to go further. A Cisco executive just said his company will ship its networking equipment to vacant addresses to avoid NSA interception. Clever idea.
The NSA was caught putting backdoors in Cisco electronics last year, and this week Cisco's security chief John Stewart revealed the dead drop plan to skirt the government snooping, admitting it's not foolproof. "We ship [boxes] to an address that's has nothing to do with the customer, and then you have no idea who ultimately it is going to," he explained. "There is always going to be inherent risk."
And he's totally right. Just check out this picture from leaked NSA documents showing government goons intercepting Cisco networking equipment. You can tell it's Cisco because the dang logo is on the side of the box:
Of course, Cisco is also trying to figure out exactly who has NSA beacons already installed in their equipment, though it's hard for them to tell since they have no idea what the NSA's top secret technology. The company's best bet is to ask customers to pick up the equipment directly from the factory or ship it to an empty house, as if it were some sort of drug deal. Because this is what surveillance in America has come to.