Welcome to the Overnight News Digest
The OND is published each night around midnight, Eastern Time.
The originator of OND was Magnifico.
Current Contributers are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Inerceptor7, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent.
Stories and Headlines
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Panetta Cites Intelligence Failures in Afghanistan Bombing
Bomber who killed seven at CIA base 'was not vetted'
BBC
A suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents at a meeting at a remote base in eastern Afghanistan in January had not been properly vetted, the CIA has said.
Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian al-Qaeda sympathiser, blew himself up after promising to give crucial intelligence on top US targets.
In a letter to employees, CIA director Leon Panetta cited a range of failures that gave him proximity to the agents.
These included a CIA officer failing to pass on warnings about the bomber.
The attack was the worst against US intelligence officials since 1983.
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'Systemic failures' led to attack, CIA says
WAPO
The CIA was cautioned last year that a self-proclaimed al-Qaeda turncoat might be luring the agency into an ambush, a warning that came weeks before the man killed seven agency operatives in a suicide attack in Afghanistan, an internal investigation has found.
The warning from a Jordanian intelligence officer was never passed along ...
Standard procedures used in dealing with informants - including proper vetting and security precautions - were relaxed amid an eagerness by CIA officers to meet Humam al-Balawi, a Jordanian physician who promised he could deliver al-Qaeda's No. 2 commander, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Panetta said.
"There was a systemic breakdown with regard to the kind of judgment and scrutiny that should have been applied here," the CIA director said |
Also, NYT: C.I.A. Was Warned About Man Who Bombed Afghan Base, Inquiry Finds
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More News
- Intel to invest $8B in US chip plants
NEW YORK — Intel Corp. announced plans on Tuesday to invest up to eight billion dollars in its US manufacturing facilities to produce next-generation computer chips.
Intel said the investment of six billion dollars to eight billion dollars over the next several years will fund deployment of its 22-nanometer (nm) chip manufacturing process across several existing US factories.
It will also fund construction of a new fabrication plant, known as a "fab," in the northwestern state of Oregon, Intel said in a statement.
Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, is to begin production of its first 22nm microprocessors, codenamed "Ivy Bridge," in late 2011.
Intel said the projects will support 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs and result in the creation of 800 to 1,000 new permanent high-tech jobs. |
- Meg Whitman sounding like Schwarzenegger
(10-19) 19:41 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- With some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former top advisers on her payroll, it isn't surprising that Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman espouses many of the same policies he has - from tax cuts to stimulate the economy to promises to run California more like a business.
Those similarities are why one prominent California politician said that electing Whitman would be the equivalent of another Schwarzenegger term. The politician who said that was Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove (Sacramento County), a Tea Party favorite who backed Whitman's primary rival, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Shortly after taking office in 2004, Schwarzenegger promised - as Whitman repeatedly does - to find "waste, fraud and abuse" in state government. Two years later, Schwarzenegger admitted, "We did not find the kind of abuse that I thought there is."
"Their approaches are very similar, their rhetoric is very similar - and how did that work out for Schwarzenegger?" said A.G. Block, associate director of the UC Davis Institute of Governmental Affairs and the former editor of the nonpartisan California Journal.
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- Typhoon Megi heads for China after striking Philippines
At least 10 people have been killed in the Philippines by a typhoon which hit the north of the country on Monday.
Officials say the toll could rise; communications links are down and the full extent of damage is not known.
Typhoon Megi was the strongest to hit the Philippines for several years and caused significant damage, tearing the roofs off houses and cutting power.
It has now passed over the main island, Luzon, and is heading towards the southern coast of China.
Forecasters predict severe weather there by the weekend.
On the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the rain prompted more than 100,000 people to leave their homes over the weekend.
Typhoon Megi could also hit Vietnam |
- A Proposal to Address Rights Abuse in Mexico
MEXICO CITY — Facing international pressure over abuses by his nation’s military, President Felipe Calderón has put forward a range of proposals to transform military justice here, including civilian trials for soldiers accused of some serious crimes like rape or torture.
The proposals, sent to Mexico’s Congress on Monday night, have the backing of the military, the institution Mr. Calderón has used during the nearly four years of his administration to chase, capture and kill drug traffickers threatening public order in vast stretches of the country.
But some human rights groups called the changes too modest to make a difference, contending that Mr. Calderón’s strong-arm tactics, while popular with a public lacking faith in police agencies, have yielded scores of disappearances, unlawful killings and other abuses at the hands of the military. At least some of those crimes, possibly even murder, would not be handled by civilian courts under the proposal. |
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