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.
OND Editors consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains
BBC:Prince Harry deployed to Afghanistan
Prince Harry deployed to Afghanistan
Prince Harry has been deployed to Afghanistan for four months, the Ministry of Defence says.
The prince, an Apache helicopter pilot, arrived on Thursday night at the main British base, Camp Bastion in Helmand.
The 27-year-old, who is third in line to the throne, will take part in combat missions against the Taliban.
It is his second Afghanistan deployment - he spent 10 weeks in Helmand province in 2007-08 but was pulled out after media reported his secret deployment.
BBC:Lufthansa to resume flights after cabin crew end strike
Lufthansa to resume flights after cabin crew end strike
Lufthansa says it hopes to resume flights early on Saturday after cabin crew agreed to end strike action that stranded thousands of air passengers.
The airline had cancelled approximately half of its scheduled 1,800 flights due to the one-day stoppage.
But the UFO union representing cabin staff and Lufthansa have now agreed to enter formal mediation talks to resolve the dispute over pay and conditions.
Lufthansa has also made concessions on the use of temporary workers.
BBC:US to designate Haqqani network as terror group
US to designate Haqqani network as terror group
The US is to designate the Pakistan-based militant Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation, subjecting it to sanctions.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had sent a report to Congress saying the network met the criteria as a terror group.
She said the US would continue "diplomatic, military and intelligence pressure on the network".
The US has long described the Haqqani group as a major threat.
BBC:UK, France and Germany call for tighter Iran sanctions
UK, France and Germany call for tighter Iran sanctions
Britain, France and Germany have urged the rest of the European Union to impose new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.
Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Iran had showed no "constructive will" in talks and that urgent action was needed.
His comments were echoed by his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, and the UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague, following informal meetings in Cyprus.
Iran is subject to a raft of sanctions.
BBC:Quantum test pricks uncertainty
Quantum test pricks uncertainty
Pioneering experiments have cast doubt on a founding idea of the branch of physics called quantum mechanics.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is in part an embodiment of the idea that in the quantum world, the mere act of observing an event changes it.
But the idea had never been put to the test, and a team writing in Physical Review Letters says "weak measurements" prove the rule was never quite right.
That could play havoc with "uncrackable codes" of quantum cryptography.
BBC:Bomb explosions in Damascus 'kill at least five'
Bomb explosions in Damascus 'kill at least five'
Two bombs have struck the Syrian capital Damascus, according to state media and opposition activists.
A motorcycle bomb in the Rukn al-Din area killed at least five members of the security forces, state TV said.
Hours later, a car bomb struck the district of Mazzeh, near the Ministry of Information. It is not clear whether there were any casualties.
The blasts came as opposition activists said 55 people had been killed in fighting across the country on Friday.
Reuters:Wall Street Week Ahead: A nice rally while it lasted
Wall Street Week Ahead: A nice rally while it lasted
(Reuters) - At the start of the historically weakest month for equities there are plenty of reasons to believe stocks may be just about reaching a top - at least in the short term.
The S&P 500 has surged 14 percent this year and is at its highest level in more than 4 years. Not counting 2009 when equities rebounded from their crisis lows, this could be the best year for stocks since 2003 - nearly a decade.
A report showing hiring in the United States in August was again much slower than expected and warnings of a slowdown at Intel and FedEx this week, which will likely foreshadow a very weak earnings season, have not been enough to deter investors buoyed by aggressive central bank action.
After the European Central Bank's pledge to buy the debt of troubled eurozone countries this week the Fed is widely expected to introduce new stimulus measure in the form of more bond buying when it closes its two-day meeting on Thursday.
Reuters:China approves $157-billion infrastructure spending
China approves $157-billion infrastructure spending
(Reuters) - China has given the green light to 60 infrastructure projects worth more than $150 billion, as it looks to energize an economy mired in its worst slowdown in three years, fuelling hopes the world's growth engine may get a lift from the fourth quarter.
Prices of shares and steel futures contracts jumped on the plans to build highways, ports and airport runways, which are among the most ambitious unveiled in China this year.
The move signals the government's growing intent to bolster economic growth as the country's once-a-decade leadership change looms, analysts said.
China's powerful economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, announced approvals for projects that analysts estimate total more than 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion), roughly a quarter of the total size of the massive stimulus package unleashed in response to the global financial crisis in 2008.
Reuters:Bolivia says Washington won't extradite former leader
Bolivia says Washington won't extradite former leader
(Reuters) - Washington has refused to extradite a former Bolivian president to the South American country to stand trial over political violence that forced him from office nine years ago, President Evo Morales said on Friday.
Former leader Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is accused of corruption and responsibility for the deaths of 63 people killed in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters in October 2003.
"Yesterday (Thursday), a document arrived from the United States, rejecting the extradition of people who have done a lot of damage to Bolivia," leftist Morales, an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, said in a speech.
Calling the United States a "paradise of impunity" and a "refuge for criminals," Morales said Washington turned down the extradition request on the grounds that a civilian leader cannot be tried for crimes committed by the military.
Reuters:Canada closes embassy in Iran, to expel Iranian diplomats
Canada closes embassy in Iran, to expel Iranian diplomats
(Reuters) - Canada has suspended diplomatic relations with Iran, closing its embassy in Tehran and giving all Iranian diplomats in Canada five days to leave the country, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday, calling Iran the biggest threat to global security.
Baird, in Russia for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, said Canada's actions were not linked to growing speculation that Israel might launch an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Unequivocally, we have no information about a military strike on Iran," a spokesman quoted Baird as telling reporters.
Canada's Conservative government has long had very poor relations with Iran, arch-enemy of close Canadian ally Israel.
Reuters:Arsenal found in Mexico after boy, 9, takes gun to school
Arsenal found in Mexico after boy, 9, takes gun to school
(Reuters) - A family of suspected drug traffickers in Mexico lost an arsenal after their 9-year-old boy took a gun to school, leading police to a house full of lethal weapons.
Classmates of the youngster spotted a loaded pistol in his school bag and alerted authorities, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Hermosillo said on Friday.
Police raided the boy's home after confiscating the weapon, which was loaded with bullets known as "cop killers" designed to penetrate bullet-proof vests, he added.
At the house, police found 13,000 rounds of ammunition, various pistols and rifles, including AK-47s, as well as an Uzi submachine gun. There were also military uniforms, dozens of portable radios and two money counting machines.
Reuters:Russian punk band torches Putin portrait in video, Walesa weighs in
Russian punk band torches Putin portrait in video, Walesa weighs in
(Reuters) - Russian opposition punk band Pussy Riot have released a new video in which they set fire to a portrait of President Vladimir Putin in a stunt likely to anger the Kremlin.
Three of the band's members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich - were last month given two-year jail sentences each after storming the altar of Moscow's main cathedral and staging a "punk prayer", calling on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.
Their jail sentences - for the crime of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred - drew sharp international criticism with opposition groups saying the case was part of a Kremlin crackdown on dissent.
In August, the all-female collective said that two other band members who had taken part in the same cathedral protest had fled the country - the whereabouts of the roughly dozen other members who did not take part in the stunt is unknown.
LA Times:Yosemite hantavirus: Park won’t close second camp early
Yosemite hantavirus: Park won’t close second camp early
Yosemite National Park officials said they "thought very seriously" about closing a second camp early after a case of hantavirus was linked to the site, but have decided to keep them open.
Park spokesman Scott Gediman said the decision was made after consulting with public health authorities. The High Sierra Camps are scheduled to close for the season on Sept. 17.
Eight cases of hantavirus have been linked to Yosemite. Three people have died. In seven of the cases, the victims stayed in one of the "signature tent cabins" at Curry Village.
But the eight case is an outlier.