Welcome to Overnight News Digest Sunday. The OND crew consists of regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, ScottyUrb, and BentLiberal, founder Magnifico, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent. We post around midnight eastern every night, and endeavor to inform and entertain you with today's news. We invite you to comment on any stories and share stories in your comments.
On nights like tonight, I don't know where to start choosing. All of the big story? None of the big story? Some? Which? Or all of one other topic? Climate change has been my other topic of choice lately. I will set up my usual outline, look at my usual suspects, and we will see what happens. Also, dkos ate the Waywo TWICE. I am saving every two stories.
CONFLICT
Dawn.com: Syed Shoaib Hasan
The dynamics of a crisis
Over the years, the insurgents’ ranks have swelled, as increasing numbers of Baloch political leaders have opted from the mainstream politics towards the nationalists’ side. Increasingly, they have little choice as the insurgents say whoever is not with them is against them and that call has been gathering massive public support in the province evoking sentiments that no politician can ignore.
Balochistan’s geographical location has always made it a strategically important pivot for the region. Its coastline runs up to the Iranian border — ending just before the straits of Hormuz through which pass a good 30 per cent of the world’s oil supply. It shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan.
Nato officials have consistently stated that Balochistan is the main centre of Taliban recruitment and training and that the Taliban high council — the fabled Quetta Shura — operate out of the provincial capital. Additionally, Iran also accuses Sunni militants’ group, Jundullah, of carrying out a series of bomb attacks in the neighbouring Sistan-Zahedan province.
Added to that is the growth of sectarian militancy across the province — with the Shia Hazara community of Quetta increasingly being the main target.
Hurriyet.com; Barçın Yinanç
Turkey looks likely to win gamble on Syria, says scholar
Turkey has failed to show sympathy with the sensitivities of Syria’s Alawite-led government, a specialist on political psychology has said, but added that Turkey might ultimately come out a victor on Syria through its gamble of presenting an uncompromising stance from the beginning.
But Professor Abdülkadir Çevik, who together with colleagues Senem Ersaydı and Rifat S. İlhan has been observing Turkey’s policy in Syria from the angle of political psychology, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview that being vindicated in Syria should not let Turkey fall into the trap of narcissism.
What are your conclusions about the government’s Syria policy when you analyze it from the angle of political psychology?
We believe the government at the beginning acted too fast and forced itself into a specific position. There was an impression that the government acted without having enough knowledge about the balance of power in Syria and that it would leave Turkey in a complicated situation. In fact, until recently, Turkey felt the difficulties of that complicated position. [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad was expected to fall in a matter of days but it’s been a year since it was said he would be gone in a few days’ time.
Mail & Guardian; Mark Townsend
Mass rape, amputations and killings -- why families are fleeing terror in Mali
They were told to assemble in Gao's market place at dusk. A man accused of using tobacco was escorted before the crowd by several members of the al-Qaeda splinter group Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa.
"Then they chopped off his hand. They wanted to show us what they could do," said Ahmed (39) a meat trader from the town in northern Mali.
That was not the end of it. The severed hand was tossed into a vat of boiling water. Then, according to Ahmed, the man was pinned down and over the next hour the bent, misshapen hand was sewn crudely back onto his stump. Ahmed, too terrified to disclose his full name, fled Gao the next day, November 8: "I had to go. I could not live my life."
Fresh witness accounts such as this, from people arriving smothered in the red Sahel dust that clogs every pore at the refugee camps straddling the border with Burkina Faso, suggest that the situation in northern Mali is deteriorating fast. Given the dangerous situation in the region, it was impossible to verify the accounts, but they were numerous and disturbing.
Der Spiegel; Nicola Abé
Dreams in Infrared: The Woes of an American Drone Operator
A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore.
For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong, windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the air-conditioning was kept at 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit) and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of the world.
The container is filled with the humming of computers. It's the brain of a drone, known as a cockpit in Air Force parlance. But the pilots in the container aren't flying through the air. They're just sitting at the controls.
Bryant was one of them, and he remembers one incident very clearly when a Predator drone was circling in a figure-eight pattern in the sky above Afghanistan, more than 10,000 kilometers (6,250 miles) away. There was a flat-roofed house made of mud, with a shed used to hold goats in the crosshairs, as Bryant recalls. When he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser. The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.
Al Jazeera; AFP
Syria VP says neither side can win war
Syria’s vice president has said a "historic settlement", involving the formation of a national unity government, was needed to end the 21-month conflict in the country.
Farouq al-Sharaa told a Lebanese newspaper that neither the forces of President Bashar al-Assad nor opposition fighters were able to win the war in Syria.
Sharaa said the situation in the country was heading from bad to worse, al-Akhbar newspaper cited him as saying in its Monday edition.
Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim figure in the minority Alawite-led regime, has served in top posts for almost 30 years.
The latest development came as Iran, Syria's main ally, said it was backing presidential elections in the war-torn country as part of a six-point plan outlined on Sunday to halt the violence.
Of course he does. With himself in charge, probably.
WORLD
Hinduistan Times; Shishir Gupta
India to allow Pakistan to grill 26/11 witnesses
esting the Pakistan government’s commitment to bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to book, India has conveyed to visiting dignitary Rehman Malik its readiness, for the first time, to allow a judicial commission from that country to cross-examine the Mumbai attack witnesses.
But this will happen only if Indian investigators are, in exchange, allowed to examine proof against the Lashkar-e-Taiba submitted by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency to an Islamabad court hearing the 26/11 case.
Top government sources said home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has offered to send joint secretary (internal security) Dharmender Sharma to Islamabad next week with a draft agreement to allow the judicial commission to visit India.
New Zealand Herald; Newstalk ZB, APNZ
Cyclone warning as Evan hits Fiji
Thousands of people have taken shelter in Fiji as Tropical Cyclone Evan batters the area with winds of up to 185km/h.
Prime Minister John Key has pledged New Zealand's support for Fiji as the deadly storm bears down.
Thousands of Fijians and up to 400 New Zealanders hunkered down in evacuation centres as Cyclone Evan was increased from category 3 to 4 as it made its way towards Fiji.
WeatherWatch has reported Evan has been upgraded to a top-of-the-scale category five cyclone, but the Fiji Meteorological Office has said that Evan remained a category four cyclone, The Fiji Times has reported.
At 11.30am the MET Office said it had not yet reached the top-of-the-scale category five cyclone.
Tropical Cyclone Evan was still moving north.
Times of India; Agencies
Royal hoax call: Nurse blamed radio hosts in suicide note
Indian-origin nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who was found dead days after a hoax call to a UK hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate, left a note blaming the two Australian radio jockeys behind the prank for her tragic death.
In one of the three apparent suicide notes left by 46-year-old Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse expressed her deep anger at Mel Greig and Michael Christian and blamed them for her death, Daily Mail reported on Sunday, quoting sources close to her family. Greig and Christian had posed as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to enquire about Kate's treatment for morning sickness.
China Daily; WANG ZHONGJU <-may be photographer or reporter, unsure.
Student recalls details of attack
Wei Jingru, 7, is treated at a hospital in Guangshan county, Henan province, on Saturday. Wei was one of 22 schoolchildren injured in an attack at a local primary school on Friday morning by a man carrying a knife.
The man who attacked primary school students with a knife on Friday began the assaults without uttering a word.
That's what Zhang Xiaowei, a student at the Chenpeng Village Primary School, told Southern Metropolis Daily about the rampage that sent 22 of his classmates and an elderly woman to hospitals. Police later detained Min Yingjun, 36, a resident of Chenpeng village, Wenshu township in Guangshan county, on suspicion of being the attacker.
Zhang said the man he saw burst into his classroom had wild hair and was wearing blue long underwear without pants and no coat. It "seemed like he had mental problems", the boy was quoted as saying.
South China Morning Post; Associated Press in Tokyo and Shi Jiangtao in Beijing
LDP's election winner Shinzo Abe insists Diaoyus are Japan's
Shinzo Abe, who piloted his Liberal Democratic Party to victory in yesterday's election, said there is no doubt about Japan's ownership of the Diaoyu Islands, at the centre of a dispute with China.
"China is challenging the fact that [the islands] are Japan's inherent territory," said Abe, who is expected to become prime minister. "Our objective is to stop the challenge. We don't intend to worsen relations with China."
Japan calls the islands the Senkakus.
The Liberal Democratic Party stormed back to power after three years in opposition, exit polls showed. The results were a sharp rebuke for the Democratic Party of Japan, showing widespread unhappiness for its failure to keep promises and get the economy going.
China is not pleased.
MercoPress
Peru and Chile sign next week ‘free of mines’ designated areas along their border
“In the week beginning December 17 demining work will be over and an official certification of the cleared area, free of mines, will be designated by the governments of Chile and Peru signalling the end of the job”, said De la Puente interviewed by the official Andina news agency.
The action which was started in mid October will be certified next Thursday by representatives from both countries and the Norwegian People’s Aid, in charge of clearing the mines, said the Peruvian official.
In this last leg of the task an estimated 300 mines have been cleared along the Peruvian-Chilean border. The mine fields date several decades back when the two countries were ruled by military governments and on more than one occasion were on the verge of a major conflict.
BBC;
Ex-policeman jailed in Russia over Politkovskaya murder
He struck a plea bargain to qualify for a reduced sentence.
He was tried separately from five other men accused of the 2006 murder, which shocked human rights campaigners.
The court also ordered Lt Col Pavlyuchenkov to pay 3m rubles (£60,500; $97,500) in compensation to Politkovskaya's children.
The Politkovskaya family had demanded 10m rubles.
After the verdict, Pavlyuchenkov was immediately led away from the courtroom by guards.
Politkovskaya's family had opposed the plea bargain, under which Pavlyuchenkov was allowed to admit his guilt without testifying.
USA
Tampa Bay Times; Michael Van Sickler
Provisional-ballot law prevented little fraud but forced extra work
It's the most unreliable way to vote, a last resort in which half of the ballots are disqualified.
Created by Congress a decade ago, the provisional ballot was intended as a final attempt to preserve the right to vote for someone whose eligibility is in doubt.
Florida saw a surge in such ballots in 2012 even though turnout was nearly the same as four years ago.
The reason: a much-maligned law approved by Gov. Rick Scott and the 2011 Legislature that, among other things, required people moving to a different county to vote provisionally if they didn't change their address a month before Election Day.
The Guardian; Joanna Walters
Sara Reedy, the rape victim accused of lying and jailed by US police, wins $1.5m payout
Sara Reedy remembers clearly the start of her ordeal, and how surprisingly painful it was to have a gun jammed to her temple. Then her attacker demanded oral sex, saying he would shoot her if she refused. She was shaking, gagging.
"I had images of my family finding me dead," she told the Observer. "I closed my eyes and just tried to get it over with."
Reedy was 19 when the man entered the petrol station near Pittsburgh where she was working to pay her way through college and pulled a gun. He emptied the till of its $606.73 takings, assaulted her and fled into the night. But the detective who interviewed Reedy in hospital didn't believe her, and accused her of stealing the money herself and inventing the story as a cover-up. Although another local woman was attacked not long after in similar fashion, the police didn't join the dots.
Following further inquiries, Reedy was arrested for theft and false reporting and, pregnant with her first child (by her now ex-husband), thrown in jail. She was subsequently released on bail, but lost her job. More than a year after attacking Reedy, the man struck again, but this time he was caught and confessed to the earlier crime.
Des Moines Register; Donelle Eller
Iowa's economy: Digging out of the hole
nside DuPont Pioneer’s newest lab, scientists identify plant genetics that can build better seeds, like those that are sown into Iowa’s 23 million acres of corn and soybeans each spring.
It’s part of the Johnston-based giant’s $125 million investment into new labs, greenhouses and production facilities since 2007, an amount that’s expected to grow to $427 million over the next year or so.
With 1,400 new jobs, Pioneer is an example of how the booming farm economy has helped the state weather the worst recession since the Great Depression. At the edge of a new year, however, economists question whether farming’s strength can continue to boost Iowa’s economy — and whether other sectors can pick up the slack.
San Jose Mercury News; Lisa M. Krieger
The Cost of Dying: One Nurse's End of Life Choice
In her last two months, Gayla Caliva stargazed and savored Jamaican food. She enjoyed picnics and her book club, trips to the zoo, the aquarium and the beach.
Her bucket list overflowed with forbidden foods. "And why shouldn't it?'' she reasoned.
She canceled her mammogram. "Teeth cleaning? Let it go!" she said.
How will you respond, when death calls your name?
Caliva chose comfort care over combat, rejecting life-prolonging dialysis for a life-affirming ending.
As a retired nurse, the free-spirited San Jose woman had seen plenty of bad deaths, and knew her failing kidneys would assure a more gentle demise, providing her the gift of time to say goodbye. How much time? Nobody could say.
High Country News; Brendon Bosworth
Protecting the Piceance
I’m in the backseat of a four-seat plane, cruising at 10,000 feet above ground. In the seat in front of me is Nick Payne, wearing a green Patagonia sweater and gray cap, a black headset hugging his ears. He works for the nonprofit Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a group that advocates for conserving hunting and fishing areas, and is flanked by Gary Kraft from Ecoflight, who’s manning the wheel of this dainty bird.
The basin has long provided hunters with access to the state’s prime migratory mule deer herd, along with elk and sage grouse. Mule deer numbers have been declining over past decades, and Payne is concerned oil and gas development will make matters worse. To conserve the herds and the hunting grounds, Payne’s organization is proposing the Bureau of Land Management adopt a new type of protection. Called “backcountry conservation areas,” the designation would restrict oil and gas companies that lease within a BCA from building roads or surface infrastructure. The group has proposed such designations across almost 230,000 acres of the 1.5 million administered by the BLM's White River Field Office. Drillers could, however, still access oil and gas reserves in these areas, through the use of directional drilling, which lets drillers burrow horizontally under the ground.
The protected zones would keep areas for key fish and wildlife intact and provide “opportunities for solitude" for hunters and fishermen, explains Payne, over a cup of coffee after the flight. The BCAs are based in areas that are key migration, calving and winter habitat spots for elk and mule deer. They would also protect endangered Colorado River cutthroat trout and sage grouse populations.
UTAH
Salt Lake Tribune; Cathy McKitrick
Mormon women wear pants to church despite objections
"We currently have 700 members, and we’ve only been live for a week and a half," Lauritzen said of those who stand in solidarity with the group’s mission statement:
"We do not seek to eradicate the differences between women and men, but we do want the LDS Church to acknowledge the similarities. We believe that much of the cultural, structural and even doctrinal inequality that persists in the LDS Church today stems from the church’s reliance on — and enforcement of — rigid gender roles that bear no relationship to reality."
Sunday afternoon, 28-year-old Julia Shumway wore fashionable black pants and dress shoes to her singles ward on A Street near downtown Salt Lake City. She was the lone female not to wear a skirt or dress.
Funny enough, Des News didn't cover this story. ::she says innocently::
Salt Lake Tribune; Matt Canham
Chaffetz open to gun control for mentally ill
Rep. Jason Chaffetz suggested his support for legislation that would make it harder for the mentally disturbed to gain access to guns in the wake of Friday’s mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Chaffetz, R-Utah, traveled to Newtown to appear on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, just two days after a young man killed 20 children and six adults at the town’s elementary school. The shooter, Adam Lanza, also killed his mother prior to the school shooting and took his own life. Friends and acquaintances describe him as troubled.
"I think we should absolutely talk about the intersection of a lethal weapon and how it relates to mental health," Chaffetz said as part of This Week’s panel.
But the Utah Republican didn’t support more general gun control measures that Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., called for. She suggested reinstituting an assault weapons ban and requiring background checks on weapons purchased at gun shows or from an individual.
Story not at KSL or Des News or local Fox.