Overnight News Digest is a daily series posting at approximately midnight Eastern. We have a staff of seven editors, now lead by ek hornbeck.
My OND's always include stories on Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq, briefs from around the world, sports headlines, and local sections, frequently including my now-home state of Utah and my childhood home state of Iowa. Plus whatever else I feel like, of course.
Iraq
UN recognizes end of mandate of multinational force in Iraq
The UN Security Council unanimously voted on Monday to recognize the expiration of the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq (MNF-I) by the end of the year.
The 15-member body adopted a U.S.-British resolution "recognizing the expiration of the mandate of the multinational force at the end of December 31 2008," as requested by the Iraqi government.
"This termination marks a turning point for Iraq and the end of an important era for the UN and, above all, the contributing countries to the MNF-I," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the council.
The new Iraq: The bombing goes on, but the building has begun
The day Dr Sabah left Baghdad she stepped over a corpse sprawled at her front gate. The grim discovery as she fled two years ago merely reinforced her fear that the same fate awaited her family had they stayed in the wasteland that was their home.
"I don't want to remember those days," she says, a couple of weeks after moving back to the city. "When we left for work we would see bodies on the streets all the time. People were too scared to pick them up."
By the time the US army collected the body that blocked their departure, the family had been scattered to opposite sides of the Arabian peninsula. "I went to Abu Dhabi because my brother was there," Sabah says.
Afghanistan/Pakistan
Neighbors Agree to Cooperate With Afghanistan to Stabilize the Country
An informal conference was held in Paris on Sunday, December 14th, to make it possible for Afghanistan and neighboring countries to work together to stabilize the country.
The purpose of the conference, organized by France Foreign Ministry, was to strengthen the territorial relations regarding the security and stability issues.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said "There is a consensus that there can be no peace, security and prosperity in Afghanistan without the strong involvement of its neighbors," after the meeting. "And there can be no peace, security and prosperity for the region without a stable Afghanistan.", he added.
Life in Helmand, where rich rewards are reaped by poppy farmers, police and the Taliban
The frontline defence of Lashkar Gah is a two-room mud hut beside a bridge over the river that snakes around the town. Here the Afghan police commander squats on a barrier and describes the latest Taliban onslaught. "They attacked at night," he says. "We fought back and then helicopters came and fired at them." He moves his hand in a sweeping semi-circle and explains that the land all around is held by the Taliban.
But for the commander and his men standing around him in shalwar kameez and glittering caps, their main concern was not the threat from the Taliban, but the low price of opium. Like most of the people in this the capital of Helmand province, they were all poppy farmers.
"The people are not planting teryaq (opium) because they don't have water; they use the little water they can get to plant something they can eat," says one policeman. "I have eight jeribs (approximately four acres) but this year I didn't plant any opium."
Pakistani Jets Scramble as India Hardens Tone
In signs of growing regional tension since the Mumbai attacks last month, Pakistan scrambled fighter jets over several of its larger cities Monday, and India's foreign minister told a gathering of Indian diplomats in New Delhi that the country is keeping all its options open to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.
"We have so far acted with utmost restraint," Pranab Mukherjee told the more than 120 envoys from posts around the world, according to news reports. But he added, "We will take all measures necessary as we deem fit to deal with the situation."
Around the World
One in three indigenous kids fail test
THE rate of illiteracy among Aboriginal children has been underestimated, with the first uniform national literacy tests showing the proportion of indigenous eight-year-olds unable to read is significantly higher than previously thought.
A detailed report of the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy, released by education ministers, shows about one in three indigenous students in Year 3 failed to meet a minimum standard in reading.
But the 2007 report says one infive indigenous students in Year 3 failed to meet the reading benchmark.
For the first time, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in every state and territory sat the same literacy and numeracy tests in May.
Robert Mugabe a man who's lost it, says US government
The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, made the announcement in South Africa after spending several days explaining Washington's policy shift to regional leaders.
The US stance will put pressure on Zimbabwe's neighbours -- South Africa in particular -- to abandon the Zimbabwean President, although South Africa said its position was unchanged.
Ms Frazer said Mr Mugabe was a "a man who's lost it", and said the US was convinced he was incapable of sharing power.
Is this diplo-speak?
Austrian Incest father tried to sell police transcripts: report
Austrian incest suspect Josef Fritzl tried to make money from his crimes by selling his police interrogation transcripts to British tabloid newspapers, a German magazine reports.
According to the magazine Stern, Josef Fritzl wanted money to be able to pay off his 3.5 million euros ($A7.1 million) of debt. He tried to negotiate with the British media through an intermediary, but no deal was made in the end.
Archbishop attacks Downing St for 'Nazi' attitude
THE war of words between church and the British state has escalated with the Archbishop of Canterbury likening Downing Street's response to the economic downturn to that of Nazi Germany.
In a pre-Christmas article written for The Daily Telegraph, Dr Rowan Williams, the Church of England's senior cleric, argues that the Christmas message is one of unconditional love and that some of the economic principles designed to cushion the impact of the financial crisis can fail to take into account the human cost.
Unemployed masses worry stability-obsessed China
A surge in jobless Chinese graduates could make coping with unemployment harder than it was during the Asian financial crisis, the head of a training group said as China frets over stability amid an economic downturn.
A commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, said on Wednesday China faced a tough task maintaining social stability in the face of serious economic challenges.
INTERVIEW WITH NOBEL ECONOMIST PAUL KRUGMAN 'Merkel and Steinbrück Are Wasting Crucial Time'
This year's winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Paul Krugman, has joined the chorus of those criticizing German government inaction in the face of the financial crisis. He spoke to SPIEGEL about the price of doing nothing and why he thinks Berlin has misjudged the severity of the slump.
SPIEGEL: You have accused the German government of "boneheadedness" in its approach to the financial crisis. What are Chancellor Merkel and her Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück doing wrong?
Paul Krugman: They are still thinking in terms of the world as it seemed to be a year or two ago, with inflation and deficits the major threat. As a result, they are failing to appreciate the severity of the slump -- and are wasting crucial time, for Germany and the rest of Europe.
'We Are Ready to Deport Demjanjuk'
Suspected war criminal John Demjanjuk, 88, could be deported to face trial in Germany within 48 hours if the German government issued travel papers for him, Eli Rosenbaum, director of the US Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations, told SPIEGEL.
SPIEGEL: A little over a week ago the German Federal Court decided that the Munich judiciary has jurisdiction in the investigation of the alleged former concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk, who is accused of participating in the killing of at least 29,000 people. He can now be charged and put on trial in Germany. Why is he still at home in Ohio and not in Germany?
Rosenbaum: The question would really have to be directed to the German government. We are certainly ready to remove him.
German Navy Mission Encounters More than Pirates
"Operation Atalanta" is the name of the EU's first combat mission against pirates. At a naval base in Djibouti, the German frigate Karlsruhe is standing ready to join the fight.
It's 10:17 a.m. on Monday. A herd of weak-kneed cattle is being driven through Djibouti's harbor on its way to boarding ships headed to the slaughterhouses of the Persian Gulf sheikdoms. Suddenly, shots ring out over on Pier 9.
The German frigate "Karlsruhe" is stationed in Djibouti and tasked with helping protect commercial and civilian sea traffic from pirates.
German military police quickly hustle onlookers behind the pier wall, and five of them form a human cordon at the pier's edge. An officer in tropical fatigues with a patch of the German flag speaks into his mobile phone and informs his superiors back home about what's going on. But what's happening?
Government buildings emit more CO2 than all of Kenya
Public buildings in England and Wales are pumping out 11m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, more than Kenya's entire carbon footprint, the Guardian can reveal.
Unpublished findings of an energy efficiency audit of 18,000 buildings including ministerial offices, police stations, museums and art galleries reveal that the 9,000 buildings audited so far produce 5.6m tonnes of CO2, with one in six receiving the lowest possible energy efficiency rating.
The carbon dioxide they produce is the equivalent of all the greenhouse gas emissions saved by the UK's wind power industry.
Utah
A new growth star is born: Utah
You can take the sizzle out of Utah's economy, but you can't keep the bundles of joy from its maternity wards, a new census estimate indicated Monday.
Utah's nation-leading birthrate helped propel the Beehive State past Nevada to become the fastest-growing state, by percentage, even as the regional economy started to sputter.
Utah grew more slowly -- 2.5 percent instead of 3.2 percent -- in the 2008 fiscal year that ended July 1 than in the previous one, according to the Census Bureau. The state population reached more than 2.7 million in that period.
2/3 of Utah's growth rate is internal net births, 1/3 is net immigration.
Bogus lease bidder won't face charges - yet
No federal charges are forthcoming against a University of Utah student who disrupted a federal oil- and gas-lease auction Friday by winning bids he had no intention to buy on nearly 22,000 acres of public land near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.
U. economics student Tim DeChristopher, 27, was detained and questioned Friday during the auction after other bidders complained to officials they thought he was a ringer -- which he was, without apology.
Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, said Monday morning that her office hadn't seen the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's investigative report. Federal prosecutors likely will do their own inquiry on whether DeChristopher's case should be brought before a grand jury, which wouldn't happen for weeks.
Activists deliver more than 27,000 letters to LDS Church
Gay rights activists hand-delivered more than 27,000 letters to the LDS Church's downtown Salt Lake headquarters Monday in the latest effort to earn the church's support in the fight for equal rights.
Members of the Human Rights Campaign abandoned technology for old-fashioned paper and ink after discovering that an e-mail filter was preventing thousands of messages from reaching The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A church employee accepted the boxes of letters outside the downtown office.
Sports Headlines
BYU loses Bowl game.
MNF: Green Bay at Chicago Bears win in OT.
NBA: Week 8, Celtics 26-2.
Political Cartoons
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Bonus Material
Gas Prices Observed: $1.35 at Costco, $1.42 2 miles south of house, $1.57 nearest to house.
28 days 'til Inauguration
Fidel is looking better, visitor says blog entry.