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, 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.
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BBC:Ukraine president vows to act over army deaths
Ukraine president vows to act over army deaths
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said his forces will find and destroy pro-Russian separatists in the east who killed more than 20 soldiers in a single attack.
The soldiers were killed in an apparent rocket near the Russian border.
Officials in Kiev say the separatists used Grad missiles.
They say that that more than 90 other soldiers were wounded in the most deadly attack since the president ended a unilateral ceasefire last month.
BBC:US disease labs 'made dangerous pathogen transport errors'
US disease labs 'made dangerous pathogen transport errors'
US government infectious disease labs mishandled dangerous pathogens five times in the last decade, according to a health agency report.
This year alone, workers mishandled samples of anthrax and the highly-infectious H5N1 avian flu.
In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has closed the two labs involved.
The agency has also temporarily barred high-security labs from transporting dangerous pathogens.
BBC:Ebola deaths mount in Sierra Leone and Liberia
Ebola deaths mount in Sierra Leone and Liberia
High numbers of new cases of the Ebola virus are being reported in Sierra Leone and Liberia, with 19 deaths over three days this week, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Such figures showed that it was a race against time to control the epidemic in Sierra Leone, medical charity MSF said.
In total there have been 539 deaths in West Africa since the outbreak began in neighbouring Guinea in February.
Regional leaders have now agreed to set up a fund to combat its spread.
BBC:Israel to 'resist international pressure' over Gaza
Israel to 'resist international pressure' over Gaza
Israel will resist foreign pressure to halt its operations in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
He said Israel had attacked more than 1,000 targets there since Tuesday, and was using twice the force it used during a similar operation in 2012.
A total of 105 people have died in the Israeli air strikes in the territory, Palestinian sources say.
Meanwhile, Gaza militants have continued to fire rockets into Israel, causing damage and injuries.
BBC:Afghan presidential vote leader Ghani backs poll audit
Afghan presidential vote leader Ghani backs poll audit
Ashraf Ghani, one of two candidates disputing the Afghan presidential election, says he backs an "extensive audit" of votes.
He made the comments before meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Kabul to try to resolve a growing political crisis.
Mr Kerry is also meeting Mr Ghani's rival Abdullah Abdullah.
Mr Ghani came out ahead in preliminary results from the second round, but both candidates allege fraud.
BBC:Strong earthquake hits the east of Japan
Strong earthquake hits the east of Japan
A magnitude-6.8 earthquake has hit an ocean area east of Iwaki city on the Japanese island of Honshu, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.
It hit 131km (81 miles) off Iwaki, at a depth of 10km, the USGS said. A tsunami warning has been issued.
In 2011 the north-east of Japan was hit by one of the most powerful earthquakes since records began, triggering a massive tsunami.
Reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant were damaged at the time.
Reuters:
German suspect was in contact with State Department not U.S. spies: officials
German suspect was in contact with State Department not U.S. spies: officials
(Reuters) - A German defense official under investigation for alleged spying was in contact with a U.S. State Department officer rather than American intelligence agencies, raising questions about whether any espionage occurred, U.S. officials familiar with the case told Reuters on Friday.
The officials, who are knowledgeable about the details of the case, said the U.S. government believes the relationship between the German defense official and his State Department contact was a friendship.
If that is borne out by the on-going German investigation, it could help cool a crisis in U.S.-German security cooperation that has seen two Germans probed for spying for Washington and Germany's expulsion of the top U.S. intelligence official in Berlin.
At the least, the investigation involving the German defense official appears murkier than the other, separate incident, which came earlier. In that case, an employee of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, known as the BND, was arrested on suspicion of spying for the CIA and possibly Russia.
Reuters:U.S. anthrax probe reveals new bird flu mishap, widespread safety lapses
U.S. anthrax probe reveals new bird flu mishap, widespread safety lapses
(Reuters) - Federal health officials on Friday disclosed a new safety breach at a high-security U.S. government laboratory involving dangerous avian flu, a lapse that came to light as they investigated the potential exposure of researchers to live anthrax bacteria.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an internal probe found multiple failures by individual scientists and a lack of agency-wide safety policies led to the potential exposure of more than 80 lab workers to live anthrax at its Atlanta campus last month. Researchers in a high-security bioterror lab sent samples of what they thought were inactivated bacteria to colleagues in a lower-security lab, with fewer protections.
Investigators also discovered a previously unreported incident: Workers at a separate high-security CDC influenza lab sent samples containing a dangerous strain of bird flu to counterparts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March. Mishandling avian flu could have far graver consequences than anthrax does, though no one has been found to have been infected in either case.
The two incidents represent the latest in a series of breaches at the CDC in the last decade that are drawing fresh scrutiny from Congress, including questions about the agency's ability to oversee potentially dangerous research. The CDC said its findings provide a "wake-up call" to overhaul the standards governing experiments with deadly pathogens nationwide.
Reuters:Slim says he could exercise NY Times stock warrants
Slim says he could exercise NY Times stock warrants
(Reuters) - Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim says he could exercise stock warrants in The New York Times Co which expire early next year, a move that would more than double his stake in the media company.
Slim currently owns about 8 percent of common shares, which would increase to about 17 percent if he exercises the warrants, according to a Reuters calculation using the New York Times’s latest SEC filing.
"The option is a lower price, I'm sure we should exercise the option, but we look at it like a financial investment that has been very good," Slim said in an interview at his offices in Mexico City late on Thursday.
Reuters:Japan economics minister warns of premature QE exit, sees room for more easing
Japan economics minister warns of premature QE exit, sees room for more easing
(Reuters) - Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari warned that it would be premature for the Bank of Japan to consider an exit strategy from its massive stimulus program, voicing hope instead for further monetary easing if achievement of its inflation goal falls behind schedule.
Amari also said that while Japan appears to be emerging from years of persistent price declines, it was too early to formally declare a sustained end to deflation with the economic recovery still vulnerable to external shocks.
"The BOJ has expressed strong determination that it won't hesitate to take further action if (the timing for meeting the inflation target) is not on schedule," Amari said in an interview at a Reuters Newsmaker event on Friday.
Reuters:Putin pledges to help Cuba explore for offshore oil
Putin pledges to help Cuba explore for offshore oil
(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to help revive Cuba's struggling offshore oil exploration on Friday at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America as Russia aims to reassert its influence on the communist-ruled island.
Putin was joined in Havana by close ally and so-called Russian oil czar Igor Sechin, the chairman of state oil company Rosneft, to finalize a deal to explore for oil off Cuba's northern coast.
The Russian president also promised to reinvest $3.5 billion of Cuban debt with Russia into development projects on the island, part of a deal in which Russia forgave 90 percent of Cuba's debt, or almost $32 billion, most of it originating from Soviet loans to a fellow communist state.
Both measures inject much-needed foreign investment into Cuba and demonstrate an act of defiance against the United States, which maintains a 52-year-old economic embargo that effectively shuts out many Western companies from doing business in Cuba.
Reuters:Budget 2014: Reactions from the common man
Budget 2014: Reactions from the common man
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government on Thursday unveiled a first budget of structural reforms that seek to revive growth, while spurning the temptation to resort to higher borrowing.
(Click here for Budget 2014 highlights)
India Insight spoke to people in New Delhi’s central business district for their thoughts on the budget:
ASHISH SHARMA, 36, regional manager, Bharti AXA
“Decision to increase FDI in insurance is welcome. This means that more expertise will come into the sector, which is good for general insurance.”
SWATI, 26, media professional
“The decision to introduce a curriculum on gender is a much needed move because children need to be educated about gender from a very early age.”
BGR:The most important ‘hidden message’ in Microsoft’s new manifesto
The most important ‘hidden message’ in Microsoft’s new manifesto
On Thursday we examined one aspect of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s new company manifesto that we thought was pretty overt: Namely, that the Xbox is here to stay and it would be incredibly stupid for the company to give it up. ZDNet’s Ed Bott, a seasoned Microsoft observer who’s adept at interpreting Redmond Kremlinology, reads between the lines of Nadella’s letter to Microsoft employees and lists some of the “hidden messages” the new CEO was trying to send. The most striking one for us? That Ballmer’s plan to transform Microsoft into a “devices and services” company is essentially toast.
In particular, Bott zeroes in on Nadella’s statement that “while the devices and services description was helpful in starting our transformation, we now need to hone in on our unique strategy.” Bott interprets this as “a very direct, almost blunt distancing from Steve Ballmer’s vision” and “an implicit criticism that echoes some outsiders’ complaints about Ballmer’s leadership (some of which were clearly shared by Microsoft’s board), specifically a lack of vision and long-term strategy.”
There can be little doubt that one of the reasons that Ballmer is no longer Microsoft’s CEO is because some of the board felt that, although he kept the company in very strong shape financially, he also missed badly on the mobile revolution spearheaded by Apple and Google. By signaling a break with Ballmer, Nadella is trying to show that he has much more of a strategy for Microsoft’s long-term well being.