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 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 consist of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, BentLiberal and ScottyUrb, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent. We invited our readers to comment & share other news.
BBC:Woolwich attack: MI5 'offered job to suspect'
Woolwich attack: MI5 'offered job to suspect'
MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said.
Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend - one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby's murder in south-east London on Wednesday - had rejected the approach from the security service.
The BBC could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources.
Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview.
BBC:Sweden reinforcing police in riot-hit Stockholm
Sweden reinforcing police in riot-hit Stockholm
Reinforcements of specially trained police are being sent to Stockholm after five nights of unprecedented rioting in the capital's suburbs.
Police officers are being sent from the cities of Gothenburg and Malmo, both of which saw rioting in recent years, a spokesman told BBC News.
"They are trained and educated for the police tasks going on in Stockholm," Kjell Lindgren said.
Several schools and scores of cars have been burnt in Stockholm this week.
BBC:Afghan Taliban battle police in central Kabul
Afghan Taliban battle police in central Kabul
Afghan security forces have fought Taliban insurgents for hours in the centre of Kabul, after a major explosion shook the city.
A Nepali guard and an off-duty policeman were killed, along with a number of militants.
The attack hit a guesthouse used by the International Organization for Migration, one of whose employees was badly injured.
The Taliban told the BBC it was targeting CIA trainers.
BBC:Mokhtar Belmokhtar 'masterminded' Niger suicide bombs
Mokhtar Belmokhtar 'masterminded' Niger suicide bombs
Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar is reported to have masterminded the two suicide bombings in Niger on Thursday.
A Signed-in-Blood Battalion spokesman told Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar that he had "supervised" the attacks, carried out with another group, Mujao.
The bombers targeted a military base in Agadez and the French-run uranium mine in Arlit, killing 21 people.
On Friday, French special forces and Nigerien troops shot dead two militants holed up inside the base at Agadez.
BBC:Nigerian army 'destroys' Boko Haram camps in north-east
Nigerian army 'destroys' Boko Haram camps in north-east
The Nigerian army says it has destroyed a number of well-equipped camps used by the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, in the north-east of Nigeria.
Senior officer Chris Olukolade revealed the extensive nature of the camps, which he said were used to co-ordinate attacks on nearby local communities.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify the army's claim.
Some 2,000 soldiers were deployed to the region last week, in the biggest campaign to date against Boko Haram.
BBC:China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland
China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland
China has signed the framework of a free-trade agreement with Switzerland, which could become Beijing's first such deal with a major Western economy.
The signing ceremony took place during an official visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Switzerland.
Bilateral trade between the two countries is worth $26bn through imports and exports of watches, medicines, textiles and dairy products.
Mr Li said he hoped the deal would be felt beyond Switzerland's borders.
Reuters:IMF's Lagarde escapes formal investigation in court
IMF's Lagarde escapes formal investigation in court
(Reuters) - French magistrates decided on Friday not to place IMF chief Christine Lagarde under formal investigation over her role in a 285-million-euro ($368.5 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Lagarde instead was given the status of a "supervised witness" after two full days of questioning on her 2008 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a legal battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie.
The decision removes a headache for Lagarde, the only French national heading a major international institution today, and for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for which a formal investigation of her would have been highly embarrassing.
Emerging from a Paris court late on Friday evening, a composed-looking Lagarde read from a statement asserting that she had not acted against the public interest.
Reuters:Syria opposition seeks to unify as momentum for talks builds
Syria opposition seeks to unify as momentum for talks builds
(Reuters) - Syria's fractious opposition scrambled to agree a new leadership on Friday in a bid to present a coherent front at peace talks which the United States and Russia are convening to seek an end to more than two years of civil war.
A major assault by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on a rebel held town over the past week is shaping into a pivotal battle. It has drawn in fighters from Assad's Lebanese allies Hezbollah, justifying fears that a war that has killed 80,000 people would cross borders at the heart of the Middle East.
Washington and Moscow have been compelled to revive diplomacy by developments in recent months, which include new reports of atrocities, accusations chemical weapons were used and the rise of al Qaeda-linked fighters among rebels.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet privately in Paris on Monday to discuss their efforts to bring Syria's warring parties together, U.S. and Russian officials said.
Reuters:Russia's oldest rights group fights 'foreign agent' tag
Russia's oldest rights group fights 'foreign agent' tag
(Reuters) - Russia's oldest rights group began a legal battle on Friday to avoid being branded a "foreign agent" under a new law it sees as a tool of repression by President Vladimir Putin.
Memorial, which has fought to preserve the memory of Josef Stalin's victims for a quarter of a century, has faced problems ever since Mikhail Gorbachev gave it his blessing in the Soviet Union's dying days. Its employees have faced harassment and bureaucratic obstacles at almost every turn.
But Memorial and groups like vote-monitor Golos, which has revealed electoral fraud, say they have never faced a bigger threat to their existence than in Putin's year-old third term.
His return to the Kremlin has marked the start of a clampdown on civil liberties and democracy, a crude attempt to tighten his hold on power after the biggest protests of his 13-year rule, they say.
Reuters:North Korea says will take 'positive steps' for peace
North Korea says will take 'positive steps' for peace
(Reuters) - A North Korean envoy told China's president on Friday that his reclusive country was willing to take "positive actions" to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, as China steps up diplomatic efforts to bring Pyongyang back to talks.
But Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made no offer to abandon North Korea's nuclear program. The United States insists North Korea takes meaningful steps on denuclearization before there can be dialogue.
Choe met Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, in the highest-ranking visit by an official from Pyongyang in about six months.
Chinese state media said Choe presented a hand-written letter from Kim to Xi at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Media provided no details of its contents.
Reuters:Senator urges 'extreme caution' on SoftBank -Sprint deal
Senator urges 'extreme caution' on SoftBank -Sprint deal
(Reuters) - An influential senator expressed strong concerns on Friday about Japanese company SoftBank Corp's (9984.T) plan to buy 70 percent of Sprint Nextel (S.N), warning it could expose the United States to Chinese cyber attacks.
"I have real concerns that this deal, if approved, could make American industry and government agencies far more susceptible to cyber attacks from China and the People's Liberation Army," Senator Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement.
"We must proceed with extreme caution before allowing something as vital as our communications and Internet infrastructure from falling into the hands of a foreign company with reported ties to China," said Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat.
Schumer elaborated on his concerns in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn.
Reuters:Stores shut, schools close amid curfew by Rio drug dealers
Stores shut, schools close amid curfew by Rio drug dealers
(Reuters) - Drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro ordered shops closed in one of its biggest slums early Thursday, defying efforts to restore order to the city's vast shantytowns and renewing safety concerns in Brazil as it prepares to host the World Cup and Olympics.
Shops were shuttered and more than 5,400 children were turned away from school Thursday morning after traffickers, shouting from motorcycles, ordered a curfew following a shootout with police late Wednesday that killed a drug dealer.
City and state authorities said they suspended classes at four schools and six day-care centers as a precaution.
Such scenes used to be common in Rio, Brazil's second-biggest city and a metropolitan area that is home to nearly 12 million people. But the city has made huge efforts to weed out criminal gangs that long ruled the favelas, as the slums are known, before next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
NY Times:Used Computer, $116,000 or Best Offer
Used Computer, $116,000 or Best Offer
More than a decade ago, at a vintage computer fair in Silicon Valley, Dag Spicer had an opportunity to buy an original Apple-1 for $2,000. He passed. Any regrets? Not really, he said.
“Of course,” Mr. Spicer added, “I could have paid off my mortgage now with what it would be worth.”
Perhaps so. Last November, an Apple-1, also commonly known as the Apple I, sold for $640,000 at an auction in Germany. That sale surpassed the previous record of $374,500 set only five months earlier at Sotheby’s in New York.
The astronomical run-up in the price of the original Apple-1 machines — made in 1976 and priced at $666.66 (about $2,700 in current dollars) — is a story of the economics of scarcity and techno-fetishism, magnified by the mystique surrounding Apple and its founders, as the company has become one of the largest, most profitable corporations in the world.