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:South African mine owner Amplats fires 12,000 workers
South African mine owner Amplats fires 12,000 workers
The world's biggest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, has fired 12,000 striking South African miners after a protracted strike over wages.
Amplats said three weeks of illegal strikes by 28,000 workers in Rustenburg had cost it 700m rand ($82m; £51m) in revenue.
South African mining has been hit by a wave of wildcat strikes in which miners and officials have been killed.
Thirty-four platinum miners were shot dead by police on 16 August.
A separate strike is continuing at another mining firm, GoldFields, which is the world's fourth-largest gold miner.
BBC:Abu Hamza among five terror suspects extradited to USA
Abu Hamza among five terror suspects extradited to USA
Five terror suspects, including the radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, have flown out of the UK on a jet bound for the United States.
Officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit handed the men to US marshals at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
A police convoy brought the suspects from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire to Suffolk at 19:15 BST.
High Court judges earlier dismissed the men's final appeal against extradition to the US to face terror charges.
BBC:Guatemala protest over price rises leaves six dead
Guatemala protest over price rises leaves six dead
At least six people have died in Guatemala in clashes between security forces and protesters angry over electricity price rises, officials say.
At least 30 were also injured as thousands blocked parts of a motorway in Totonicapan, 170km (105 miles) west of the capital, on Thursday.
Government officials said unidentified people had opened fire on the demonstrators from the back of a lorry.
Local activists said police and soldiers had shot the protesters.
BBC:Lloyds Banking Group and Co-op hit by system errors
Lloyds Banking Group and Co-op hit by system errors
Two major banking groups have said that system errors which caused problems for customers have been fixed.
Users of Lloyds TSB debit cards, ATMs, and the bank's online banking service complained of difficulties, along with customers at the Halifax.
Customers at the Co-operative Bank were also affected by a "temporary issue".
But both banks said the problems were now fixed, although Lloyds said a backlog of transactions was being worked through.
Editorial Note: A similar banking outage impacting ATMs of the RBS group in July
BBC:Power shortage risks by 2015, Ofgem warns
Power shortage risks by 2015, Ofgem warns
Britain risks running out of energy generating capacity in the winter of 2015-16, according to the energy regulator Ofgem.
Its report predicted that the amount of spare capacity could fall from 14% now to only 4% in three years.
Ofgem said this would leave Britain relying more on imported gas, which would make price rises more likely.
The government said that its forthcoming Energy Bill would ensure that there was secure supply.
BBC:Turkey returns fire 'after fresh Syria shelling'
Turkey returns fire 'after fresh Syria shelling'
Turkey's military has returned fire across the border after a Syrian mortar round again landed on Turkish soil, television channels say.
The incident happened in southern Hatay province on Friday afternoon, Turkish media said. No injuries were reported.
On Wednesday Syrian mortar fire killed five Turkish civilians in the town of Akcakale.
That prompted Turkey to return fire and its parliament to authorise military action inside Syria.
Reuters:Foxconn's iPhone plant "paralyzed" as thousands strike: report
Foxconn's iPhone plant "paralyzed" as thousands strike: report
(Reuters) - Thousands of workers went on strike Friday at a Foxconn plant in China that makes Apple Inc's iPhone 5, paralyzing production of the smartphone, rights advocate China Labor Watch reported.
The reported strike comes at a crucial time for the U.S. corporation, weeks after kicking off its largest-ever global rollout of the smartphone. Apple is already struggling with supply constraints, analysts say.
Citing workers, the labor group said 3,000 to 4,000 workers began their strike at Foxconn's Zhengzhou complex in the afternoon, incensed by over-exacting quality controls as well as demands they work through the week-long "Golden Week" holidays, which began Monday.
The strike could not be immediately confirmed. Apple declined to comment and Foxconn was not immediately available for comment.
Reuters:EADS-BAE merger plan hits political crunch point
EADS-BAE merger plan hits political crunch point
(Reuters) - Tensions over a supermerger between EADS and BAE Systems spilled into the open on Friday and cast doubt on a rapidly approaching deadline as France, Britain and Germany jockeyed over the role of the state in the world's largest aerospace and arms group.
After rattling investors with a $45 billion merger project last month, the chief executives of Europe's largest aerospace firms headed into the weekend with the fate of their historic tie-up plans hinging on events outside their control.
"The companies don't think it's all over so we can expect a fairly agitated weekend of phone calls," a diplomatic source familiar with steadily rising contacts between capitals said.
While both firms want a minimum government presence, mainly in order to protect BAE's key defense interests in the United States, the deal has sparked a three-way political logjam.
Reuters:Border agent in Arizona may have been killed by friendly fire
Border agent in Arizona may have been killed by friendly fire
(Reuters) - There are strong indications that a Border Patrol agent killed in Arizona near the Mexico border earlier this week may have been hit by friendly fire in an accidental shooting involving other agents, the FBI said on Friday.
"While it is important to emphasize that the FBI's investigation is actively continuing, there are strong preliminary indications that the death of United States Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie and the injury to a second agent was the result of an accidental shooting incident involving only the agents," the FBI said in a statement.
Reuters:U.S. deficit ends fourth fiscal year above $1 trillion: CBO
U.S. deficit ends fourth fiscal year above $1 trillion: CBO
(Reuters) - The federal budget deficit for the just-ended 2012 fiscal year shrank by $207 billion from the prior year, but still marked its fourth straight year above $1 trillion, Congress' budget referee estimated on Friday.
The deficit equaled about 7 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 8.7 percent in 2011, 9 percent in 2010 and 10.1 percent in 2009, but it was still greater than in any other year since 1947, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said.
Economists generally consider any deficit that exceeds 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product to be unsustainable in the long term.
CBO said a $75 billion surplus September surplus helped to hold the full-year fiscal 2012 deficit to $1.09 trillion, compared with a $1.297 trillion deficit in fiscal 2012.
Reuters:Russia extends Tajik base lease to curb militant threat
Russia extends Tajik base lease to curb militant threat
(Reuters) - Russia extended its military presence in Tajikistan for 30 years on Friday in a deal to secure the southern fringes of its former Soviet empire after NATO troops leave Afghanistan.
The countries' defense ministers signed an agreement prolonging Russia's lease on a base in the former Soviet republic until 2042 during a visit by President Vladimir Putin.
The lease had previously been due to expire on January 1, 2014, the same year most foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan, which shares a long, mountainous and porous border with Tajikistan.
More than 6,000 soldiers stationed across three towns in Tajikistan comprise Russia's Base 201, the Kremlin's biggest troop deployment abroad and a bulwark against any spillover of Islamist militancy into its post-Soviet hinterland.
Editorial Note: Tajikistan was made famous by the action comedy Spies Like Us when it was known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic.
Reuters:Turkey warns Syria more strikes would be fatal mistake
Turkey warns Syria more strikes would be fatal mistake
(Reuters) - Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his country did not want war but warned Syria not to make a "fatal mistake" by testing its resolve, and its army retaliated for a third day running after more mortar rounds from Syria landed on its soil.
In a belligerent speech to a crowd in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked.
The speech followed a Syrian mortar barrage on a town in southeast Turkey that killed five people on Wednesday.
Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian military targets on Wednesday and Thursday in response, killing several Syrian soldiers, and the Turkish parliament authorized cross-border military action in the event of further aggression.
LA Times:The Shadow of Steve Jobs in Apple’s Maps Push
The Shadow of Steve Jobs in Apple’s Maps Push
Steven P. Jobs could hardly have hoped for a better legacy than the performance since his death of Apple, the company he co-founded and dominated. Its revenue, profit and share price have hit records. It’s the world’s largest company by market capitalization.
These milestones were reached with the steady hand of Timothy D. Cook at Apple’s helm, but they seem inseparable from Mr. Jobs. They are the result of initiatives begun during his tenure and, in many ways, reflect his personality — one that was perfectionist, competitive, driven and controlling.
Those qualities have remained on display at Apple in the year since his death, most recently in the decision to substitute Apple mapping software for rival Google’s in the iPhone 5 and the new iOS 6 operating system, as well as allegations that Apple and book producers conspired to control the price of e-books.
Apple hasn’t fully explained its decision to replace Google’s maps, but it probably reflects the evolution of the Apple-Google relationship from close allies to fierce competitors, a process that began well before Mr. Jobs’s death. Apple also hasn’t indicated whether it was carrying out Mr. Jobs’s wishes, but the decision seems consistent with his “compulsion for Apple to have end-to-end control of every product that it made,” as Walter Isaacson put it in his book “Steve Jobs.”