Overnight News Digest is a daily series posting at approximately midnight Eastern. We have a staff of various editors, including rotating guest spots, and we are led by the irreplaceable Neon Vincent. We give a tip of our hats to Magnifico, our founder and long-term leader, and ek hornbeck, our former leader.
Meteor Blades's Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread front page diary often links to that evening's OND.
Dash partway around the world, stops in Iowa and Utah, and all opinions expressed outside the blockquotes are the responsibility of tonight's editor, me.
AROUND THE WAR ZONES
Afghanistan
The loss of our USA troops today is nearly unbearable for me. All ghods and persons please bless the IGTNT crew here at the GOS. And the losses go on . . .
Mom on son killed in war: 'He was so scared'
Lisa Barnes knew.
She'd never heard fear in her son's voice before, but somehow she recognized it when he called home from Afghanistan last week.
Her son, Kimble Han, was a big, strong man. A patriot. A soldier.
But he was afraid.
"I guess a mom just knows those sorts of things," Barnes said. "I'd never heard that from my son before, but yes, I could tell. He was so scared."
Barnes told her boy to be careful. Then, as often happens during calls connecting two sides of the globe, the phone cut out.
"I figured he'd call back when he was free," she said. "I didn't get to tell him that I loved him. I didn't know it would be the last time I would get to talk to him."
Nova the army dog killed in Afghanistan
Nova, the bomb detecting dog has been killed in Afghanistan.
The canine was fatally injured in a car crash during a training operation with her handler at Camp Holland in Oruzgan Province.
A statement from the Department of Defence said medics tried to save Nova but she was put down by the regimental medical officer.
The 2nd Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force (MRTF-2) gathered with the Chaplain to farewell their four-legged mate.
Obama vows to "never rush" Afghan troops decision despite growing pressure
·Obama pledged he "will never rush" on Afghan troop decision.
·Top U.S. officials are still split on the future direction of the Afghan strategy.
·Fourteen U.S. troops died Monday in Afghanistan following two helicopter crashes.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Increasingly pressed to make a quick decision on whether to send more U.S. troop to Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Monday that he "will never rush" on such a decision.
Increasingly pressed to make a quick decision on whether to send more U.S. troop to Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Monday that he "will never rush" on such a decision.
"I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you in the harm's way. I won't risk your lives unless it's absolutely necessary," said the president while delivering a speech to some 3,500 military personnel at a naval air station in Jacksonville, Fla.
Stating that he "will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests," Obama pledged that even if it's necessary to send the U.S. troops into war, "we will back you up to the hilt."
The U.S. troops "deserve the strategy, the clear mission, the defined goals and all of the equipment and support you need to get the job done," said the president, adding that "we are not going to have a situation in which you are not fully supported back here at home."
Pakistan
No breakthrough in Zardari-Nawaz talks
The two parties reiterated commitment to the principles laid down in the Charter of Democracy to democratise the Constitution.
They also agreed to implement legislative and administrative reforms outlined in the charter. The two parties stressed that the task should be completed expeditiously in consultation with other political parties.
He said both parties agreed that militancy posed the greatest challenge to national security and needed to be tackled effectively and urgently.
They lauded the armed forces, the police, other law enforcement agencies and the nation on for their valiant struggle and sacrifices rendered in the fight against militancy.
Subjects discussed in the meeting included constitutional and legal reforms, the Charter of Democracy, the situation in Balochistan, fight against militancy, economic development for achieving self-reliance and accountability.
These are the closing paragraphs of the article, which seemed somewhat more meaningful that the opening ones.
Iraq
Blair's European bid: Don't mention the war
It's a no-brainer. Tony Blair is the obvious candidate to be the EU's first full-time president. He has the stature to play a leading role on the world's stage. He has the charm to cajole, the experience to back off, and the steeliness to persevere. He possesses that magic quality lesser worthies on the European stage so woefully lack. Some call it stardust, others ruthlessness. He even speaks French. How much more European can a British politician get? There is just one item on his CV, already impressively long for a 56-year-old, where more information is needed. It is called the Iraq war.
The decision to invade Iraq was not just a momentary lapse of judgment, an oops-I-got-that-wrong moment. It was a cold calculation, made well in advance of the parliamentary vote, to hitch Britain's sail to George Bush's mast. Had the invasion not unleashed a civil war, and had weapons of mass destruction indeed been found in Saddam's arsenal, Mr Blair might have got away with it. But they were not, and as a result, his fortunes sunk in tandem with those of his co-conspirators. Members of the current US administration who puzzle at the controversy Mr Blair still evokes should ask themselves what they would think if Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney were summoned from the ranks of the un-dead.
This is an editorial, not strictly a news item. But it makes a point that really hits home. This is like George W. Bush being UN Chief. Oh wait, John Bolton already was . . . Ambassador to the UN from the USA. My next words are not suitable for a family diary such as this. And Dick Cheney has been summoned from the un-dead and is a regular contributor to the maroons on TV in WDC who need to talk on Sunday mornings. Oh, more naughty words are coming to my fingertips.
AROUND THE WORLD
Drop meat for vegetarian diet to fight climate warming: Lord Stern
PEOPLE will need to turn vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.
Lord Stern said: "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better."
Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas.
Lord Stern, the author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.
He predicted that people's attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable.
"I think it's important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating," he said. "I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food."
Not really news. Diet for a Small Planet was published in 1971, before most of the world's population was born.
North Korean refugees slow to a trickle
AT THE Exit and Entry Office of the Fujin City Public Security Bureau, in China's far north, a policewoman had exhausted her questions and started to tell us about her other duties: escorting North Korean refugees back across the border.
Her job was to sit with them on the long train ride back to a Chinese detention centre. From there they would be grouped and sent across the bridge to North Korea. She would eat with them, talk with them, and invariably get to know them well.
"The Koreans are always short, skinny and hungry," she said. "I take them one at a time. I never use handcuffs. They never try to run."
She said refugees no longer got shot when they were returned, except those unlucky enough to be caught and repatriated three times.
China's culture offensive hits a wall
This year's Frankfurt Book Fair may have been more of an embarrassment than prestige for its guest of honor - China - but the country's cultural mandarins still believe that the future of cultural ideas belongs to the Middle Kingdom and that the global financial crisis will play a role in helping them achieve that.
Wu Wei - the woman behind Beijing's "going global" project for Chinese literature - told the Southern Weekend, a popular newspaper, last week that the economic downturn has focused global attention on China in just about every aspect.
"In the West in particular, it has made many people talk about China's model and what will happen when China 'rules the world'," she said. "But the West knows little about China's culture and ideas and ignorance breeds fear. It is the source of all kinds of 'threat' and 'collapse' theories. But this interest is also a chance for us to propagate our ideas."
Beijing has exploited international attention to the full, raising its global profile in politics and economic affairs and even attempting to export its economic model. Leaving a mark in the world of cultural ideas, though, has presented a tougher challenge.
Radical Cleric Calls on Muslims in Germany to Reject Violence
Mohammed El Fazazi, a radical cleric serving time in Morocco for his role in the 2003 Casablanca attacks, has written an open letter to Muslims in Germany, saying he has forsworn violence and praising Germany's religious tolerance. German authorities say the letter is a sensation.
Mohammed El Fazazi, a Moroccan preacher who knew three of the Sept. 11 suicide pilots, appears to have forsworn violence. Fazazi, who was sentenced to 30 years in jail in his home country for the 2003 Casablanca attacks, has written an open letter addressing Muslims in Germany and saying he has "taken a wrong turn" and "overshot the target."
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Fazazi writes that "Germany is not a battle zone." Every immigrant has a contract with the German state that must be adhered to. Germany, he writes, "has a freedom of religion which does not exist in many Islamic countries."
Ecuador overrides 2.000 pharmaceutical patents considered "indispensable"
President Rafael Correa who had anticipated the measure said that access to medicine is a "human right" and that he intended to seek "compulsory licenses" to acquire medications considered indispensable.
Under current World Trade Organization rules, countries have the right to seek such "compulsory licenses" that override traditional patent rights. Current WTO rules require that such countries negotiate with the patent owners to determine fair compensation.
"All those pharmaceutical products we can produce and copy, we will elaborate in Ecuador", said Correa.
AROUND THE USA
Laura Bush wows Utah women
Former first lady Laura Bush wowed the 1,700 women who gathered in Salt Lake City Monday for the wrap-up of Sen. Orrin Hatch's 25th annual Women's Conference.
Bush first charmed the Abravanel Hall audience with self-deprecating anecdotes about her high-profile family, then spoke seriously about the growing influence that women exert around the world as they get involved in issues that affect their families and communities.
"Now she's craving corn," Bush quipped about her mother-in-law Barbara Bush, who recently had a pig's heart-valve transplant.
Bush also displayed a bobble-head doll of herself, which she said a friend had purchased "on clearance," after she and President George W. Bush left the White House.
Oh noes, my city has been invaded! Save me!
Former first lady headlines Marriott Library rededication
No formality was overlooked at Monday's rededication of the University of Utah's Marriott Library.
But in a break from tradition, U. President Michael Young bypassed a ribbon cutting in favor of a book exchange between dignitaries headlining the event and four school-age children. The exchange was meant to symbolize the library's enduring role, "the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another," said Young.
But for the Rytting siblings, James and Lizzie, it was a chance to get up-close and personal with former first lady Laura Bush, America's most famous librarian.
"It was so cool," said 9-year-old Lizzie. "I want to be a librarian when I grow up."
Bush delivered the keynote address Monday at the invitation of Bill Marriott, son of library namesake J. Willard Marriott Sr., and a contributor to the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries.
Originally built in 1968, the library was named a year later in honor of J. Willard Marriott, who contributed $1 million for its collections.
It was a different age, said Bush. "The year 1968 was the height of the civil rights movement. Young people across the country were questioning the value of their elders and the United States itself was struggling against the spread of communism."
Bogus bidder argues he had to act
Tim DeChristopher is making a last-ditch attempt to testify that he disrupted an oil and gas lease sale because he saw no other way to stop a corrupt federal auction that would do lasting harm to the environment.
In court papers filed Monday, attorneys Ron Yengich, Elizabeth Hunt and Pat Shea detailed how and why DeChristopher would defend himself from felony charges stemming from his bogus bidding at the Bureau of Land Management's Dec. 19 auction.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson, who a month ago said he was disinclined to allow what is called a "necessity" or "choice of evils" defense, asked the attorneys for the explanation before he rules on a prosecution motion to block the defense.
The judge said he was "reluctant to open my courtroom to a lengthy hearing on global warming" -- but that's exactly what DeChristopher wants.
The Trib always seems to refer to this young man as the "bogus bidder". Not "the alleged fraudulent bidder" or the "ecological hero" or anything else.
Christie Vilsack says no to 2010 Senate bid
Below is the statement of former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, who told The Des Moines Register via e-mail press release today she will not seek the 2010 Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Vilsack had been mentioned as a potential challenger to five-term Republican Chuck Grassley. Recently, she said publicly she was well-qualified, but stopped short of expressing interest.
Meanwhile, Des Moines lawyer Roxanne Conlin, the Democratic nominee for governor in 1982, stepped forward last week as a likely candidate.
Conlin, who said she will likely launch a Senate campaign next month, said she was the Democrat whom state party Chairman Mike Kiernan was referring to when he said a well-known Democrat was preparing to enter the race.
AROUND THE OTHER
Political Cartoons
Pat Bagley for the Salt Lake Tribune On the Republican's favorite method of birth NOT control.
Sports Headlines
Iowa football: Hawkeyes deal with injuries, move up in BCS standings Sing along with me, and I know some of you can: "We're going to fight fight fight for Iowa! Let every loyal Iowan sing!! We're going to fight fight fight for Iowa! 'Til the walls and rafters ring!! . . .
Links
Click to Give Free Mammograms!!!!