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
Turkey anger at Pope Francis Armenian 'genocide' claim
Turkey has recalled its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule in WW1 as "genocide".
Turkey has reacted with anger to the comment made by the Pope at a service in Rome earlier on Sunday.
Armenia and many historians say up to 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.
But Turkey has always disputed that figure and said the deaths were part of a civil conflict triggered by WW1.
The row has continued to sour relations between Armenia and Turkey.
The Pope made the comments at a Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite at Peter's Basilica, attended by the Armenian president and church leaders.
He said that humanity had lived through "three massive and unprecedented tragedies" in the last century.
"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th Century', struck your own Armenian people," he said, in a form of words used by a declaration by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
BBC
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula hit by deadly bomb attacks
At least 14 people have been killed in separate bomb attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security forces have said.
Eight people died and 45 others were injured in an explosion outside a police station in El-Arish.
At least six soldiers lost their lives and two were wounded in an attack on an armoured vehicle, near the northern town of Sheikh Zuweid.
Militants from the Sinai Province group, affiliated to Islamic State, have said they carried out the attacks.
Sinai has become increasingly lawless since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011. Insurgents have intensified attacks since his Islamist successor Mohammed Morsi was ousted in 2013.
North Sinai has been under a state of emergency and a curfew since October, when an attack on a checkpoint killed dozens of soldiers.
Major military operations in the region have so far failed to quell the violence.
Al Jazeera America
Australia to deny benefits to parents refusing to vaccinate their children
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Sunday that the country is to adopt a "no jab, no pay" policy to block parents who refuse to vaccinate their children from accessing some government benefits.
The policy change comes amid a debate over immunization for children, with some parents believing — despite overwhelming medical evidence to the contrary — vaccines against deadly diseases are dangerous.
The anti-vaccination movement has coincided with the resurgence of measles, a preventable disease, in some European countries as well as in U.S. states such as Colorado, and California.
"It's essentially a 'no jab, no pay' policy from this government," Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
"It's a very important public health announcement. It's a very important measure to keep our children and our families as safe as possible."
Under current Australian laws, parents who have "conscientious objections" about immunization can claim childcare and welfare payments.
If the measures are passed those parents would be denied the payments — which include childcare rebates, benefits and family tax benefit supplements — reportedly missing out on up to $11,500 per child annually.
Al Jazeera America
Americans have yet to grasp the horrific magnitude of the ‘war on terror’
Even as the U.S. expands its military involvement in the Middle East and delays the troop drawdown from Afghanistan, the staggering human toll of the U.S. “war on terrorism” remains poorly understood.
A new report (PDF), whose release last month coincided with the 12th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, attempts to draw attention to civilian and combatant casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet the study, authored by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and other humanitarian groups, barely elicited a whisper in the media. Washington’s preoccupation with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other regional conflicts has largely obscured the humanitarian, economic and political toll of its “war on terrorism.”
But ISIL’s resurgence is not unrelated to Washington’s military campaign. “ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” President Barack Obama told Vice News last month. Until the U.S. comes to grips with the aftereffects of its counterterrorism policies, it will continue to pursue counterproductive strategies that cause incalculable damage.
The report estimates that at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. “war on terrorism.” One million people perished in Iraq alone, a shocking 5 percent of the country’s population.
I included that report after I read maggiejean's
IGTNT diary.
CNN
ISIS targets Iraq's largest oil refinery
Irbil, Iraq (CNN)ISIS claimed it controlled part of Iraq's largest oil refinery Sunday, posting images online that purported to show the storming of the facility, fierce clashes and plumes of smoke rising above the contested site.
The group said it launched an assault on the Baiji oil refinery late Saturday. By Sunday, ISIS said its fighters were inside the refinery and controlled several buildings, but Iraqi government security officials denied that claim and insisted Iraqi forces remain in full control.
CNN couldn't independently verify ISIS' claim. It wouldn't be the first time that militants and Iraqi forces have battled over the refinery, a key strategic resource that has long been a lucrative target because the facility refines much of the fuel used by Iraqis domestically.
If an attack damaged oil fields or machinery, it could have a significant impact.
The refinery is just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, which Iraqi forces and Shiite militias wrested from ISIS less than two weeks ago.
N Y Times
Terrorism Case Renews Debate Over Drone Hits
WASHINGTON — A Texas-born man suspected of being an operative for Al Qaeda stood before a federal judge in Brooklyn this month. Two years earlier, his government debated whether he should be killed by a drone strike in Pakistan.
The denouement in the hunt for the man, Mohanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, who was arrested last year in Pakistan based on intelligence provided by the United States, came after a yearslong debate inside the government about whether to kill an American citizen overseas without trial — an extraordinary step taken only once before, when the Central Intelligence Agency killed the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011.
Mr. Farekh’s court appearance also came as the Obama administration was struggling to fashion new guidelines for targeted killings. The decision to use an allied intelligence service to arrest Mr. Farekh has bolstered a case made by some that capturing — rather than killing — militant suspects, even in some of the world’s most remote places, is more feasible than the orders for hundreds of drone strikes might indicate.
Raw Story
Deputy who killed man after mistaking gun for Taser is an insurance exec who pays to play cop
The reserve Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot and killed a man last week when he thought he had pulled his Taser, is part of a group of wealthy donors who make large contributions to the department for the privilege of playing police officer.
According to Tulsa World, Robert Bates, 73, who made the fatal mistake that cost a man his life, is a local insurance company executive who has donated multiple vehicles, weapons, and stun guns to the Sheriff’s Office since becoming a reserve deputy in 2008.
Bates is responsible for the death of Eric Harris, when he attempted to assist in the arrest of Harris as he struggled on the ground with Tulsa sheriff’s deputies. Bates shot Harris with his service weapon believing he had pulled his Taser.
In video released Friday, Bates can be heard apologizing, saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” as police handcuffed Harris before he was taken to a local hospital where he died from his gunshot wound.
According to Maj. Shannon Clark, Bates is a highly regarded member of the Reserve Deputy Program who was assisting the Sheriff’s Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force when Harris was shot.
Clark stated that Bates is one of many wealthy donors among the agency’s 130 reserve deputies, saying, “There are lots of wealthy people in the reserve program. Many of them make donations of items. That’s not unusual at all.
Raw Story
NYPD chief Ray Kelly changes tune on body-cams after Scott shooting: ‘It’s a game-changer’
The horrifying footage of an African-American man being shot while fleeing a white police officer in South Carolina was enough to convince former New York police chief Ray Kelly all police officers should wear body cameras. “It’s a game-changer,” Kelly said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “What you will see is a movement now by many more police departments to go to cameras.”
The shooting of the unarmed Walter Scott by officer Michael Slager in North Charleston, South Carolina, alarmed the former NYPD commissioner, who is seen as a leading voice on policing issues. “We have to assume that this officer would not act the way he did if in fact he had a body camera that was recording,” Kelly said.
L A Times
15 years after 'Erin Brockovich,' town still fearful of polluted water
Maneuvering his pickup through this Mojave Desert town, resident Daron Banks pointed at empty lot after empty lot.
"Last time I was here there was a home right here. There was a home here, there was a home here," he said, making his way down the bumpy road in the place made famous by the 2000 film "Erin Brockovich."
Fifteen years after the film showed triumphant residents winning a $333-million settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for contaminating its water — and nearly 20 years after the settlement itself — Hinkley is emptying out, and those who stay still struggle to find resolution.
For residents, questions remain about the safety of the water, just how much contamination PG&E caused and how to fix it.
This year, a final cleanup plan is moving toward approval. Last month, a long-awaited, five-year study to determine how much contamination PG&E may be responsible for finally got underway.