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.
The OND concept was borne under the keen keyboard of Magnifico - proper respect is due.
Current Contributers are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader,Oke, rfall, JML9999 and Neon Vincent.
BBC: China's Premier Wen Jiabao targets 'social stability'
China's Premier Wen Jiabao targets 'social stability'
China must ensure social stability by reducing inflation and corruption, Premier Wen Jiabao has told the parliament's annual session.
Mr Wen has been addressing about 3,000 delegates to open the National People's Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
He says the government aims to keep inflation to within 4% and hit economic growth of 8%.
Mr Wen accepted that uneven economic development was a "serious problem".
BBC: Ivory Coast: parts of Abidjan resemble war zone - UN
Ivory Coast: parts of Abidjan resemble war zone - UN
Parts of Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan resemble a "war zone", the UN refugee agency head in the West African nation, Jacques Franquin, told the BBC.
The UNHCR has suspended plans to open a camp in the west for those fleeing the violence because of safety concerns.
"The situation is deteriorating rapidly," Mr Franquin said.
Tensions have been rising since President Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand power to Alassane Ouattara, widely seen as the winner of November's poll.
BBC: Pakistan Christians bury murdered leader Shahbaz Bhatti
Pakistan Christians bury murdered leader Shahbaz Bhatti
Thousands of Pakistani mourners have attended the funeral of murdered minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti.
Mr Bhatti, a Christian, was shot dead on Wednesday by the Taliban after he urged reform to blasphemy laws.
There were emotional scenes as several thousand Christians buried their leader in his home village near Faisalabad.
Earlier, hundreds turned out for a church service in the capital. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told them his colleague had been "very rare"
BBC: Egypt: Protesters storm Alexandria state security HQ
Egypt: Protesters storm Alexandria state security HQ
Protesters in the Egyptian city of Alexandria have stormed the HQ of the state security agency, believing officers were destroying key documents.
Several people were injured after police inside fired on the protesters, who then broke into the building's lower floors and clashed with police.
The abolition of the force has been a demand of protesters who ousted Hosni Mubarak as president in February.
Earlier, new PM Essam Sharaf vowed to meet protesters' demands for change.
BBC: Christchurch quake: 'No bodies' in cathedral rubble
Christchurch quake: 'No bodies' in cathedral rubble
Search teams in Christchurch, New Zealand, have reacted with relief after finding no bodies in the rubble of the earthquake-hit cathedral.
Cathedral Dean Peter Beck told Radio New Zealand that he "burst into tears" on hearing the news.
It was feared that as many as 22 people could have been inside the cathedral when the quake struck on 22 February.
The confirmed death toll stands at 165 after two more bodies were found in the rubble of the Canterbury TV building.
BBC: Queen to make first state visit to Irish Republic
Queen to make first state visit to Irish Republic
The Queen is to pay a state visit to the Irish Republic this year, the first by a British monarch since independence, it has been announced.
The Queen accepted an invitation from the Republic's President Mary McAleese, although no date has been released.
King George V was the last reigning monarch to visit the country in 1911 when it was then part of the UK.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the visit was an indication of a changed time but was "premature".
Reuters: Courtroom showdown in sweeping U.S. trading probe
Courtroom showdown in sweeping U.S. trading probe
(Reuters) - A sweeping insider trading case that shook the hedge fund world is finally set for trial, with onetime billionaire Raj Rajaratnam fighting to stay out of prison in a courtroom drama over corporate secrets, tapped telephones and friends-turned-government witnesses.
Jury selection in the case against the Galleon Group founder in New York starts on Tuesday. The trial, expected to last up to two months, comes as U.S. authorities push on with other probes into stock trading in the $1.9 trillion hedge fund industry based on leaked company earnings and deals.
Rajaratnam is accused of making $45 million in illicit profits through tips from former friends and associates at the highest levels of Corporate America. Once named the richest person born in Sri Lanka, the 53-year-old U.S. citizen has vowed to clear his name at trial. Galleon managed $7 billion at its peak.
"All signs are pointing to a battle royal," said Chicago securities attorney Andrew Stoltmann, who is not involved in the case. "Just by being a hedge fund manager he is a gambler by trade. The mentality is a little bit different than what we see with other defendants."
Reuters: Gas prices rise, as do savings for transit riders
Gas prices rise, as do savings for transit riders
(Reuters) - Gasoline prices are spiking and with them the savings for U.S. commuters who rely on public transportation, a transit group said on Friday.
U.S. gas prices have increased 28 cents a gallon in the last 10 days to $3.47 per gallon. Individuals who travel by bus or commuter rail instead of filling up their tanks at that price would save $825 per month on average, the American Public Transportation Association said.
The group included the national average of $161.56 for an unreserved parking space in a downtown business district in its calculations.
Political uncertainty in oil-producing Libya is pushing up oil prices, and that in turn is forcing many Americans to pay more at the pump."
Reuters: U.S. and Sweden to push U.N. rights body to act on Iran
U.S. and Sweden to push U.N. rights body to act on Iran
(Reuters) - The United States will strongly support a Swedish effort to have the U.N. Human Rights Council appoint a special investigator into rights violations in Iran, U.S. ambassador Eileen Donahoe said on Friday.
She told a news briefing the idea had backing from a wide range of countries in the 47-nation council -- including members of the self-styled non-aligned group (NAM), who normally unite to shield each other from criticism.
Earlier this week, Swedish state secretary for foreign affairs Frank Belfrage told the five-year-old rights body his country was deeply concerned by "the worsening human rights situation in Iran."
He said the number of executions in Iran so far this year had reaching alarming proportions. "The most horrendous methods of killing human beings are still being used. Taking a person's life by stoning them is nothing less than barbaric," he added.
Reuters: N. Korea heir formally invited to China: South Korea spy agency
N. Korea heir formally invited to China: South Korea spy agency
(Reuters) - China has formally invited North Korea's leader-in-waiting to visit, but it was not clear when Kim Jong-un would make the trip, a South Korean lawmaker said on Saturday, quoting a senior spy agency official.
China is the only major power isolated North Korea can count on as an ally. Jong-un is North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son and heir apparent, who came into the public eye in September when he was named to a senior ruling party post and promoted to the rank of four-star general.
South Korea's spy agency believes Jong-un is likely to accept the invitation and visit Beijing soon, said the lawmaker who is a member of the parliament intelligence committee after a closed-door briefing on Friday.
Senior officials from the spy agency attended the briefing, and members of parliament are asked not to disclose the information they were briefed on, the lawmaker said, declining to be identified.
Reuters: U.S. aid contractor Gross goes on trial in Cuba
U.S. aid contractor Gross goes on trial in Cuba
(Reuters) - An American aid contractor who worked in a U.S. program aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government went on trial on Friday, accused of crimes against the state, but no verdict was reached and testimony will continue on Saturday, trial observers said.
Alan Gross, 61, faces a possible 20-year sentence if convicted in a case that halted a brief period of improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations and could damage them for years if Gross is imprisoned for long.
He is accused of supplying Internet equipment, including sophisticated satellite phones, to dissidents in violation of Cuban law.
Little was known about the first day's proceedings, conducted before a panel of judges, because the foreign press was excluded from coverage and few trial observers would talk.
Reuters: Stocks hit oil slick but economy to trump
Stocks hit oil slick but economy to trump
(Reuters) - Stocks will take their cues from the oil market next week as unrest rumbles through the Middle East. But so far equity investors are sanguine, believing the economic recovery wins the day.
Sentiment is driving large daily swings as traders vacillate between the fear oil prices will hit consumers and derail the recovery and the euphoria that the U.S. labor market is turning a corner.
Reports of escalated fighting in Libya and protests in Bahrain, Yemen and top oil-exporter Saudi Arabia rattled investors on Friday: oil rose, equities fell.
"We are in such a sentiment-driven market right now and everyone is watching the equity market with one eye and oil and commodity markets with the other," said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.
LA Times: NASA's Glory satellite launch fails
NASA's Glory satellite launch fails
A rocket, standing more than nine stories tall, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base but failed to lift a NASA Earth-observation satellite into orbit and plummeted into the Pacific Ocean. The failed mission cost $424 million, the space agency said.
It is the second consecutive time that NASA has encountered the problem with the Taurus XL rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.
NASA scientists believe the launch on Friday failed because the satellite's protective cover, which opens like a clamshell, did not separate as expected.
"Obviously, this is a terrific disappointment and we feel bad for letting NASA … down," said Barron Beneski, an Orbital Sciences spokesman. "People have dedicated years of their lives into this."