Overnight News Digest is a daily series posting at approximately midnight Eastern. We have a staff of seven editors, now led by ek hornbeck. We pay homage to Magnifico, our founder and long-term leader.
Meteor Blades's Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread front page diary often links to that evening's OND.
THE WAR ZONE
Afghanistan/Pakistan
Pakistan frees 71 students abducted by Taliban
PAKISTAN said today that soldiers rescued 80 kidnapped staff and students in a sting operation during a fierce battle, one day after they were snatched by masked Taliban gunmen.
The brazen abduction in a wild part of the northwest, which targeted staff and students from an army-run cadet college, had sparked increased fears of a widening backlash to a more than one-month offensive against the Taliban.
The military said all 71 cadets and nine staff were rescued when militants were moving them from the lawless tribal areas of North Waziristan to South Waziristan, where Washington accuses al-Qa’ida of plotting attacks on the West.
"The army established checkposts and all the routes were blocked. After a fierce fight the army was able to recover them," the army said.
Officials near the college in Razmak said the students are aged 15 to 25 and were not training for the army.
Hill workers stand down after two more suicides
Thousands of workers at Hill Air Force Base were ordered to attend suicide prevention meetings last week as base leaders responded to two more deaths, thought to be self-inflicted, by civilian employees at the base.
The deaths, which remain under investigation, bring to at least four the number of Hill employees who are thought to have killed themselves so far this year. The base lost at least six employees to suicide last year -- including a maintenance worker whose body was found in an aircraft hangar on New Year's Eve.
Some Hill workers and the families of some of those who have killed themselves have suggested that a hostile work climate has contributed to the deaths. Hill leaders have said they are concerned about the rising number of suicides at their base, but have also said they do not believe the deaths are related to problems at Hill.
'War bonds' to help make Kiwi movie
A New Zealand film company is offering "war bonds" to help to produce a movie about the wartime experiences and subsequent repatriation of a World War II soldier.
Earthwire Productions is issuing up to 100 $100 bonds to help make the film Journey of a Story.
In return, supporters will receive a personalised, signed and numbered war bond certificate, similar in style to those issued by the Government during the world wars, and a free DVD of the film. Each bondholder's name will also appear in the film's credits.
Filming will be predominantly in the North Island and will rely on a volunteer crew of 12 and a cast of about 60.
Southern Hemisphere (Mostly)
Hindu extremists burn Kevin Rudd effigies
HINDU extremists burned effigies of Kevin Rudd and shouted angry slogans outside the Australian High Commission in New Delhi yesterday as fury over a series of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne reached dangerous new heights.
Amid growing concern in Canberra that the issue was damaging relations between the two countries, the Prime Minister sought to reassure India that Australia was not a racist nation.
However, a new flashpoint emerged, with accusations by Indian students in Melbourne that Victorian police used excessive force to break up a rally calling for action over racial violence. In New Delhi, about 100 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing yesterday staged protests outside Australia's high commission before meeting briefly with Canberra's top envoy to India, John McCarthy.
Papua New Guinea vow to burn all Asian shops
ACTIVISTS are threatening to burn all Asian shops as racial tensions escalate across Papua New Guinea.
The warning came as Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau accused the media in PNG of fuelling anti-Asian sentiment, and the Malaysian and Chinese consulates in Port Moresby issued safety warnings to their nationals.
Four people have been killed since rioting began this month with a fight between Chinese and PNG workers at the Ramu nickel refinery, which is owned by Chinese company Metallurgical Construction Corporation.
Rioting and looting have spread to Port Moresby and major provincial centres, with Asian-owned stores the main target.
An email by leading anti-Asian activist Cardo Stanzo has circulated widely in PNG.
South African miners die in fire
AT least 36 illegal miners have died in an underground fire at a disused South African gold shaft, officials said today, highlighting a scourge plaguing the world's number two gold producer.
"Thirty-six died in the fire under the ground. It looks that they were illegal miners. It happened in the Free State yesterday (Sunday) afternoon," said Lesiba Seshoka of the influential National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
"Bodies have been rescued today. They are in a bad condition," said Seshoka of the NUM, which has repeatedly called for steps to improve the poor safety standards in mines across the country and the need to wipe out illegal mining.
Although the mine was owned by Harmony Gold, the world's fifth largest gold producer, that part of the mine at Velkom where the accident happened was no longer being used by the firm, he added.
Infection a riskier prospect for some
Infection a riskier prospect for some
Lisa and Bruce Benning with their childreN
Lisa and Bruce Benning with their children Kira, 2, and Jackson, 5. The siblings' cystic fibrosis makes them prone to more serious consequences if they get the flu. Photo: PENNY STEPHENS
Julia Medew
June 2, 2009
IF YOU'RE starting to get annoyed when people cough without covering their mouths, spare a thought for the thousands of Victorians at increased risk of serious illness if they catch swine flu this winter.
The director of microbiology and infection control at the Royal Children's Hospital, Dr Andrew Daley, said people with compromised immune systems and heart and respiratory conditions had been advised to take extra precautions to steer clear of the virus.
"There's a long list of conditions that predispose people to more severe influenza ... These people catch viruses like any of us do, but they can get much more serious implications from them," he said.
We were scanned for body temperature after passport control in Cairns, and possibly in Auckland.
Swine flu fears hit fever pitch as clinic opens
A BOY who played at a Cairns skating rink with the Far North's first swine flu victim on Friday night was yesterday quarantined.
Cairns State High School student Lachlan Auger, 12, was one of nearly 50 people who turned up to the Lakeside clinic with flu-like symptoms.
The clinic, at the back of Cairns Base Hospital, turned Lake St into a temporary waiting room yesterday.
Police patrol cars also blocked Kerwin St to traffic at the southern side of the hospital.
Amateur spies put North Korea on the map
A group of amateur spies has used Google Earth to provide a rare glimpse inside North Korea, one of the world's most secretive countries.
By default the Google Earth map of North Korea is completely bare, with no roads or landmarks labelled.
Over two years, US doctoral student Curtis Melvin and other volunteers pored over news reports, images, accounts, books and maps painstakingly identifying and locating thousands of buildings, monuments, missile-storage facilities, mass graves, secret labour camps, palaces, restaurants, tourist sites, main roads and even the entrance to the country's subterranean nuclear test base.
Zookeeper Dalu remembered at memorial service
Dalu Mncube was remembered as "a very dear and loved" keeper by staff, close friends and family at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens when it temporarily reopened for a memorial service today.
Everyone who attended the service was asked to bring a single flower from their garden as a tribute to Mr Mncube.
The 26-year-old was mauled to death by a white tiger while cleaning its enclosure last week. The tiger was later shot dead.
Meanwhile, back in Salt Lake City
Three missionaries come down with H1N1 flu
Three missionaries at the LDS Church's Missionary Training Center in Provo have been diagnosed with the H1N1 swine flu virus and another 17 have tested positive for the type A flu virus.
Two of the affected missionaries were from Utah County, so they were sent home to recuperate. The two have since returned to the center. All of those with the flu have been isolated from the rest of the approximately 2,000 missionaries who live in nine MTC dormitories. Their meals are served to them in their rooms.
All are expected to recover and their parents have been notified, said Richard G. Hinckley, executive director of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Missionary Department.
Plastic utensils are being used in the common cafeteria, while MTC authorities have distributed hand sanitizers and the instructions to use them.
Earmarks: Utah senators say alternative energy requests more than doubled
Melted snow on the Wasatch provides much of the drinking water for the city of Pleasant Grove. But Mayor Michael Daniels believes it can do even more for this Utah County community.
It can keep the lights on.
With some congressional cash, Daniels said he could attach turbines to city-owned water pipes creating a mini-power plant that would produce more than double the electricity used to run the municipal government.
His micro-hydroelectric idea is one of nearly two-dozen alternative energy proposals submitted to Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett this year, according to earmark disclosures posted on their Web sites in the past few weeks.