Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, JML9999 and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular 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.
BBC
Mokhtar Belmokhtar: Top Islamist 'killed' in US strike
A top Islamist militant who ordered a deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant two years ago has been killed in a US air strike, Libyan officials say.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar and other fighters were killed in the operation in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, a statement from Libya's government said.
However, there have been incorrect reports of his death in the past.
The Pentagon has confirmed Belmokhtar was the target of a strike but has not said if he was killed.
"We are continuing to assess the results of the operation and will provide more details as appropriate," said Pentagon Spokesman Steve Warren.
Born in Algeria, Belmokhtar was a former senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but left to form his own militia.
He gained notoriety with the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in 2013, when about 800 people were taken hostage and 40 killed, most of them foreigners, including six Britons and three Americans.
BBC
'No deal' with Greece as talks in Brussels fail
The latest round of talks between Greek and EU officials in Brussels has failed to reach an agreement.
A European Commission spokesman said while that progress was made on Sunday, "significant gaps" remained.
Europe wants Greece to make spending cuts worth €2bn (£1.44bn), to secure a deal that will unlock bailout funds.
Greek deputy prime minister Yannis Dragasakis said that Athens was still ready to negotiate with its lenders.
He said Greek government proposals submitted on Sunday had fully covered the fiscal deficit as demanded.
However, Mr Dragasakis added that the EU and IMF still wanted Greece to cut pensions - something Athens has said it would never accept.
Al Jazeera
Turkey takes in Syrians amid battle for border city
Turkey has taken in hundreds of more Syrians fleeing the conflict along the border in Syria's al-Raqqa province after fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group disrupted a previous attempt, Al Jazeera has learnt.
Al Jazeera's Wassim Asasa, reporting from Turkey on Sunday, said the fighters had halted the Turkish process of allowing in the Syrians to determine whether there were any among the crowd who were "wanted" by the group - in order to detain them.
But Turkey managed to devise and implement a "more organised and effective way" of allowing the people in.
Turkish authorities agreed to open the crossing on Sunday due to increased dangers as Kurdish YPG forces, backed by Syrian opposition groups, launched an offensive to capture the city of Tal Abyad in ISIL's stronghold, al-Raqqa.
Seizing Tal Abyad would cut off a major supply route for ISIL from the Turkish border.
US-led coalition air strikes are simultaneously targeting ISIL positions in the city.
N Y Times via Al Jazeera
U.S. Is Poised to Put Heavy Weaponry in Eastern Europe
RIGA, Latvia — In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, American and allied officials say.
The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have caused alarm and prompted new military planning in NATO capitals.
It would be the most prominent of a series of moves the United States and NATO have taken to bolster forces in the region and send a clear message of resolve to allies and to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, that the United States would defend the alliance’s members closest to the Russian frontier.
Raw Story
Mitt Romney looking for two women in his binders to beat Hillary in 2016
On the day Hillary Clinton formally launched her presidential campaign with a rally on Roosevelt Island in New York City, and gave a speech laden with promises and appeals on women’s rights and other progressive causes, failed 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney told a GOP gathering his party could have an all-woman ticket in 2016.
Speaking at his own closed-to-the-press conference in Park City, Utah , Romney reportedly praised the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, a declared candidate for the GOP nomination, and said he would not be surprised if the Republicans turned out to be “the party that has two women on the ticket”.
Fiorina, who has never held office and is widely criticised for her record while in charge of HP, is lagging in polls concerning a Republican field that could reach 16 candidates and in which she is the only woman. As such, she is in danger of missing out on the first Republican debate , which will be hosted by Fox News in Cleveland on 6 August and will only include the top 10 candidates at the time.
On current polling that would include – should he announce on 16 June that he is in fact running – the property mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump.
USA Today (might be auto play)
Clinton says '08 campaign showed a woman can be president
DES MOINES — Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, but her campaign succeeded in ending any concerns about whether a woman could be commander in chief, she told The Des Moines Register on Sunday.
"Part of what I tried to do in that campaign was to begin to answer that question," she said. "Now I feel like the question's been answered."
In 2008, Clinton's campaign downplayed the fact that she'd be the first woman in the White House. But in 2016 she's making it a major selling point — that she's running as a female candidate.
"There is an eagerness that I sense coming at me from people in my audiences, in my conversations, to engage with me about that more than I felt in '08," Clinton told the Register Sunday, one of two sit-down news interviews that were the first in this presidential bid.
Clinton flew to Iowa Saturday after her 2016 campaign's official kickoff rally in New York. On Sunday, she held her first public rally in Iowa, drawing more than 700.
Raw Story
Pastor who says he died and went to heaven to speak at upstate New York public school
Washington minister will speak in New York state this week about his personal experience with dying, going to heaven, meeting Jesus and angels, being cured of 29 illnesses, and coming back to life.
The Post Star reports that Dean Braxton of Spanaway, Washington will give biographical and religious testimony on the evening of June 20 in the auditorium of the Whitehall Junior-Senior High School.
“Yes, I heard Dean speak last summer at The First Assembly of God Church in Plattsburgh,” Pamela Bolton, pastor of Out of the Box Worship Center, tells the Post Star. “He talked about his experience of dying and going to heaven, and he shared about seeing Jesus, angels, those who greet you when you arrive, pets in heaven, and how you can be sure to go there when you die,”
Bolton is planning a question-and-answer session after Braxton’s Saturday presentation. “The event is free,” according to the Post Star, but “ a peace offering will be collected.”
But was it Mormon heaven or regular old fashioned heaven?
NPR
MERS Is A Health Crisis With Political And Economic Costs
In South Korea, schools are starting to re-open and hundreds are coming out of quarantine as the Asian MERS outbreak appears to slow down. MERS has infected more than 130 and killed 14 people in South Korea since mid-May. And this health crisis is coming with political and economic costs.
"Even though you feel anxious," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a televised message, "please cooperate so the economy isn't weakened."
The world's 14th largest economy was already showing signs of slowdown because of declining exports when something unexpected hit: The viral respiratory illness called MERS.
"The economy is freezing up, people aren't playing sports together, people aren't going to clubs. Society is becoming paralyzed," retiree Park Jang-yeon said of life in Seoul lately.
Baseball teams play to empty stadiums; movie theaters say attendance dropped by a third. Government figures show overall retail sales for the first week of June fell nearly 17 percent.
Reuters via Huffpo
Box Office: 'Jurassic World' Stomping Toward $155 Million Weekend
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - "Jurassic World" is leaving a major footprint on the domestic box office. Universal reports the "Jurassic Park" sequel is on track for $65 million on Friday and a massive opening weekend of $155 million, according to early estimates.
If projections hold, "Jurassic World" will see the best June debut of all time, outmuscling "Man of Steel," which reeled in $116.6 million in 2013. The movie would also see the year's second-best opening, behind Disney and Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ($191.3 million).
The fourth installment would be the most successful of the dino franchise. It comes over a decade after "Jurassic Park III" hit theaters and 22 years after Steven Spielberg's original "Jurassic Park" launched.
The $65 million-plus Friday earnings include $18.5 million from Thursday night showings. The "Jurassic World" previews outpaced "Furious 7" ($15.8 million) as the biggest latenight showing ever for the studio. The monster pic also looks to trample "Furious 7's" title as Universal's highest-grossing film.
The tentpole, which carries a whopping $150 million budget, is playing at 13,551 theaters worldwide -- the widest Universal release of all time.
BBC
Georgia flood: Tbilisi residents warned over zoo animals after devastating flood
Heavy flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has killed at least 12 people, with officials warning people to stay indoors to avoid animals that have escaped from a zoo.
The missing animals include tigers, lions, bears and wolves. Three of the dead people were found within the zoo.
A hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city's main squares and subdued with a tranquiliser gun.
Rescue workers are searching submerged homes to check for trapped residents.
Dozens of people have been left homeless.
A day of mourning has been announced for Monday,
Tbilisi Zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze told InterPressNews agency that three bodies had been found in the zoo, including those of two employees.