Overnight News Digest, aka OND, is a community feature here at Daily Kos. Each editor selects news stories on a wide range of topics.
The OND community was founded by Magnifico.
Welcome to all, join us in the comment section to share a news articles and jump into the community chat.
CIA thwarts 'undetectable' al-Qaida bomb plot
By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzz
The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Monday.
The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.
The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
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Biden's backing of gay marriage pressures Obama
By Jeff Mason and Samuel P. Jacobs
Was it a signal by President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, designed to attract gay and lesbian supporters? A trial balloon to test voters' feelings about same-sex marriage? Or just a case of the vice president wandering from the campaign's message?
Whatever it was, Vice President Joe Biden's endorsement on Sunday of the right of gay couples to marry revved up the activist community - and created a bit of a headache for Obama's re-election campaign, which wanted to spend Monday talking about the economy and other issues.
Biden declared on NBC's "Meet the Press" program that he was "absolutely comfortable" allowing same-gender couples to wed.
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Fighter Pilots Claim Intimidation Over F-22 Raptor Jets
By LEE FERRAN and MEGAN CHUCHMACH
Two F-22 Raptor pilots have said publicly that not only are they afraid to fly the most expensive fighter jets in American history, but the military has attempted to silence them and other F-22 pilots by threatening their careers.
"There have been squadrons that have stood down over concerns. And there's been threat of reprisals," F-22 pilot Josh Wilson told CBS News' "60 Minutes" Sunday. "There's been threat of flying evaluation boards clipping our wings and doing ground jobs. And... in my case, potentially getting booted out of the Air Force.
"So right now there's an example being set of, 'Hey, if you speak up about safety, you're going to be out of the organization,'" Wilson said.
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Librarian: Edwards asked heiress for more money
AP
Shortly before his 2011 indictment on corruption charges, John Edwards called the elderly heiress whose money helped hide his pregnant mistress and asked for $3 million more, a witness testified Monday at the trial of the former presidential hopeful.
Librarian Tony L. Willis testified his boss, 101-year-old Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, sought his help in drafting a letter to the politician. Willis said Mellon told him she received a call from Edwards last year seeking $3 million to help him launch the next phase of his life. Mellon said she wanted to write to explain her reasons for declining his request.
Willis said the letter was never sent to Edwards at the direction of one of Mellon's lawyers, who reviewed the document before it was to be mailed. It was then well known that Edwards was under investigation by a grand jury in North Carolina.
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JFK awards for ousted Iowa justices, US diplomat
AP
President John F. Kennedy's only surviving child celebrated what would have been his 95th birthday this month by honoring three Iowa judges who were ousted after the court unanimously decided to legalize same-sex marriages.
Caroline Kennedy on Monday also recognized the U.S. ambassador to Syria who risked his life to support opponents of President Basher Assad's regime.
Kennedy heads the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which promotes the late president's memory and legacy. She presented the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Monday to former Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and justices David Baker and Michael Streit, all of whom were pushed off the bench in a 2010 retention vote.
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What Killed Soldier In Afghanistan Who Died While Skyping With His Wife?
By Mark Memmott
The mystery surrounding the death of Army Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, who collapsed on April 30 while on a Skype call from Afghanistan to his wife back in the U.S., has deepened.
Clark's wife says that after her husband was "suddenly knocked forward" she observed via the Skype video connection what looked like a bullet hole in a closet behind him.
But The Associated Press reports that "Army investigators found no bullet wound and have no evidence of foul play ... officials said Monday. ... 'There was no bullet wound, no trauma,' except that Clark's nose was possibly broken when he fell on his desk, Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said."
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'Wired To Run': Runner's High May Have Been Evolutionary Advantage
by Christopher Joyce
Endurance athletes sometimes say they're "addicted" to exercise. In fact, scientists have shown that rhythmic, continuous exercise — aerobic exercise — can in fact produce narcoticlike chemicals in the body.
Now researchers suggest that those chemicals may have helped turn humans, as well as other animals, into long-distance runners.
The man behind the research is University of Arizona anthropologist David Raichlen, a runner himself. He does about 25 miles a week.
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Google infringed Oracle Java copyrights: jury
By Malathi Nayak
Google Inc infringed some of Oracle Corp's copyrights on the Java programming language, a U.S. jury found on Monday after days of deliberation.
Oracle may have suffered a setback, however, because the jury could not reach a decision on whether Google's actions constituted fair use and were legally allowed.
The fair use question is crucial to determining damages. If Google's use of the Java programming tools is determined to be fair, the company would not be liable for damages in connection with some of Oracle's copyrights.
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5 Women Sue Maker's Mark For Discrimination
Manufacturing.net
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Five women are suing Maker's Mark Distillery Inc. in federal court, claiming discrimination and sexual harassment.
All of the women have worked on the bottling line, dipping the bottles of bourbon whiskey in red wax.
Their suit claims the company kept women on the bottling line -- where the public can see them during the distillery's free, hourly tours -- while a sought-after forklift-driving job went to less qualified male workers.
The suit also says that during the filming of a documentary last year a manger wanted only women visible on the bottling line, replacing a male worker with a female.
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China forces Al Jazeera to close Beijing news bureau
By Peter Ford
China has expelled the English language correspondent of Al Jazeera, prompting the Qatar-based channel to close its Beijing bureau, an Al Jazeera spokesman said on Tuesday.
Melissa Chan’s expulsion marks the first time an accredited foreign correspondent living in China has been ejected since 1998.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately answer a faxed request for an explanation of the expulsion, but Chinese officials are known to have expressed their anger at a documentary the channel aired last November on the alleged use of slave labor by prisoners in Chinese jails.
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Niger worst place to be mother - Save the Children
BBC
The west African state of Niger is the worst place in the world to be a mother, according to Save the Children.
The charity releases an annual index comparing conditions for mothers in 165 countries around the world.
It considers a number of factors including health, education, economic status and nutrition.
Niger is severely affected by a regional food crisis, and replaces Afghanistan at the bottom of the charity's index.
After two years at the bottom of the list, Afghanistan has moved up one position, and this is credited to greater investment in front line health workers.
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Pinched Aspirations of Iran’s Young Multitudes
By THOMAS ERDBRINK
TEHRAN — About two months ago, when many Iranian families were stocking up on rice and meat to prepare for seemingly inevitable military conflict with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, Ali Mesgaran, 35, decided to open a sandwich shop.
Iran’s national currency, the rial, had just lost nearly half of its value amid new international sanctions, and banks and exchange offices were spilling over with orders for gold and foreign currency from people hoping to protect family savings from soaring inflation.
“There are always problems in this country,” Mr. Mesgaran said, explaining why he decided to open his shop, Piyaz Jafari, named after a traditional Iranian sandwich spread of onions and herbs. “We felt that if we ever wanted to be successful, we just had to ignore those.”
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Decathlon History Is His in the Making
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
The 2012 Olympic decathlon — Ashton Eaton’s first, if all goes according to form and plan — will not begin until August. But Eaton is experiencing the Olympics far from London with help from his coach, Harry Marra.
At each meet this season, Marra has taken Eaton on his own to the pole vault pit and set the bar at a challenging height.
“Big meet, average meet, whatever,” said the veteran decathlon coach. “I say, ‘O.K., Ashton, this is the Olympic Games, this is your opening bar, let’s go get over it.”’
Most recent simulation: last month at Stanford University in California. “We went there on purpose because Stanford can have crosswinds and be a tough place to pole vault,” Marra said.
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Pakistan dancers put on a rare performance
By Michele Langevine Leiby
LAHORE, Pakistan — In an auditorium at a luxury hotel here the other day, an artistic spectacle unfolded that once would have been unimaginable: Women and men danced together.
The occasion was International Dance Day, and to celebrate it, the Pakistan National Council of the Arts put on a cultural show in which young performers displayed different ethnic dance traditions. It is still rare in Pakistan to see any sort of public dancing that commingles the sexes, a legacy of the conservative Islamic policies imposed during the military rule of Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq from 1978 to 1988.
Zia briefly banned dance but a delegation of male and female performers convinced him of the art form’s worth, according to Tauqir Nasir, who heads the Pakistan National Council of the Arts. Today, he said, the council is promoting the art form aggressively through workshops and grants.
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