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:GCHQ Prism spying claims: Agency to report 'shortly'
GCHQ Prism spying claims: Agency to report 'shortly'
GCHQ is to give a report within days to Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee on the listening agency's links to a secret US spy programme.
This follows claims, in the Guardian, that GCHQ has been covertly gathering data from top US internet firms via America's Prism surveillance programme.
Committee (ISC) chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind expects the report by Monday.
He said he had been "encouraged" by GCHQ's statement that it operated to a "strict legal and policy framework".
Editorial Note-GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters
The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces. Based in Cheltenham, it operates under the guidance of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
GCHQ was originally established after the First World War as the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS or GCCS), by which name it was known until 1946. During the Second World War it was located at Bletchley Park.
GCHQ is the responsibility of the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, but it is not a part of the Foreign Office, and its Director ranks as a Permanent Secretary.
CESG is the branch of GCHQ which works to secure the communications and information systems of the government and critical parts of UK national infrastructure.
BBC:Queen officially opens BBC's new Broadcasting House building
Queen officially opens BBC's new Broadcasting House building
The Queen has officially opened the BBC's rebuilt Broadcasting House, creating a memorable TV moment when she appeared behind the newsreaders on air.
She had earlier made a live broadcast on BBC Radio 4, in which she said it was a "great pleasure" to see the BBC's new central London headquarters.
During a tour of the building, she met many of the BBC's biggest names.
The Duke of Edinburgh had also been expected to attend, but was admitted to hospital on Thursday for an operation.
BBC:Texas actress held over ricin letter 'gun threat'
Texas actress held over ricin letter 'gun threat'
An actress from Texas has been arrested over ricin-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the mayor's gun control group, officials said.
Shannon Richardson, 35, had accused her husband of sending the letters, but authorities suspect she sent them.
Agents in protective suits searched her home in New Boston on Wednesday.
She has had small roles in The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead, according to her CV on the film database IMDB.
BBC:Mali crisis: Human Rights Watch condemns ethnic abuses
Mali crisis: Human Rights Watch condemns ethnic abuses
Both Tuareg rebels and the army in Mali have committed abuses against civilians because of their ethnic origins, a Human Rights Watch report says.
The Malian army has been advancing towards the last Tuareg-held town.
Soldiers are accused of torturing Tuaregs, while the rebels are said to have rounded up and beating members of rival, darker-skinned groups.
French-led forces this year ousted Islamist militants, allied to the Tuaregs, from most of northern Mali.
BBC:Chinese leader Xi Jinping set for Obama summit
Chinese leader Xi Jinping set for Obama summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in California for summit talks with US President Barack Obama.
The two-day meeting, at a private estate, is the first between the two since Mr Xi became president in March.
The informal setting is seen as a chance for the leaders of the world's largest economies to build a rapport amid a slew of high-stakes issues.
Cyber espionage is expected to top the agenda, with North Korea, Asian security and trade also key topics.
BBC:Turkey protests: Erdogan rejects EU criticism
Turkey protests: Erdogan rejects EU criticism
Turkey must investigate the excessive use of force by police against anti-government protesters, a senior EU official has said in Istanbul.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele was speaking ahead of talks on Turkey's ambition to join the EU.
In response, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said similar protests in Europe would be dealt with more harshly.
Turkey has seen a week of civil unrest sparked by a police crackdown on a local protest over an Istanbul park.
Reuters:Mexico says it rescues 165 migrants kidnapped near U.S. border
Mexico says it rescues 165 migrants kidnapped near U.S. border
(Reuters) - Mexican troops have rescued 165 people, mostly Central Americans including children and pregnant women, who were kidnapped by a gunman in Mexico's northeast and held captive less than a mile from the U.S. border, the government said on Thursday.
The group of would-be immigrants, primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, had hoped to cross into the United States from the volatile northern state of Tamaulipas.
They were captured in batches near the border two to three weeks ago and held in a house in the municipality of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.
There was also an Indian national among the group.
Reuters:U.N. says it can't accept Russia's offer of Golan troops
U.N. says it can't accept Russia's offer of Golan troops
(Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it could not accept Russia's offer to replace peacekeepers from Austria in the Golan Heights because an agreement between Israel and Syria bars permanent members of the Security Council from the U.N. observer mission.
The United Nations expressed appreciation for the Russian offer, made on Friday by President Vladimir Putin after Austria said it would recall its troops from a U.N. monitoring force due to worsening fighting in Syria.
Austria, whose peacekeepers account for about 380 of the 1,000-member U.N. force monitoring a four-decade-old ceasefire between Syria and Israel, said it would pull out after intense clashes between Syrian government forces and rebels on the border.
Russia is a longtime ally and arms supplier to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are fighting rebels trying to overthrow him in a civil war.
Reuters:SoftBank eyes T-Mobile US as ‘Plan B'
SoftBank eyes T-Mobile US as ‘Plan B'
(Reuters) - SoftBank Corp (9984.T) is in talks with Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) over a possible deal for T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.N), as the Japanese company looks for alternatives to enter the U.S. wireless market if its deal with Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) falls apart, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom were in talks last year about a deal for T-Mobile USA and have had periodic discussions since then, but those conversations have intensified in recent weeks after Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) made a $25.5 billion counterbid for Sprint, two of the sources said. SoftBank has a deal to buy 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion.
Deutsche Telekom owns 74 percent of T-Mobile US, and one possibility is for SoftBank to buy that stake instead, the sources said. T-Mobile US has a market value of about $15 billion.
SoftBank still wants to do the Sprint deal after spending months on it, and is looking at a possible T-Mobile transaction only as "Plan B", the sources said who declined to be named because the talks are private.
Reuters:World Bank keeps business friendliness rating despite criticism
World Bank keeps business friendliness rating despite criticism
(Reuters) - The World Bank on Friday said it intends to keep ranking nations on the ease of conducting business, despite criticism from countries like China that feel the scorecard unfairly stigmatizes fast-growing developing economies.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the Bank is committed to keeping its flagship "Doing Business" report, including the rating, which compares the ease of starting and conducting a business in 185 countries.
The decision to keep the rankings was seen as a test case for Kim, at the helm of the global development lender for nearly a year, on how he will balance competing priorities from World Bank board members.
"The World Bank Group's work on business climate development, including the Doing Business report, is core to our mission of ending poverty, and in fact we expect it to grow," Kim said in a statement. "I am committed to the Doing Business report, and rankings have been part of its success."
Reuters:Cyclone Andrea sweeps up East Coast
Cyclone Andrea sweeps up East Coast
(Reuters) - Cyclone Andrea made its way up the U.S. East Coast on Friday, dumping rains from the Carolinas to as far north as New England and delaying hundreds of flights.
Andrea shed its tropical characteristics but still remained a threatening storm with heavy rain and high winds, prompting flood warnings in coastal areas across the Eastern Seaboard.
The storm's center was located 55 miles east-northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.
The change in the classification of the storm to what forecasters call a post-tropical cyclone did not mean it was losing its strength, said John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist at the Miami-based hurricane center.
Reuters:U.S. urges Zimbabwe to allow international monitors
U.S. urges Zimbabwe to allow international monitors
(Reuters) - The United States on Friday urged Zimbabwe to allow outside observers led by a regional consortium of African nations to monitor elections to ensure the vote is peaceful and credible.
The 15-member Southern African Development Community, which includes South Africa, has called a summit this weekend to help Zimbabwe raise an estimated $132 million needed for an election.
The regional group, which includes South Africa, wants to avoid a rerun of a disputed poll five years ago, which sparked violence and prompted a flood of refugees into neighboring countries.
Zimbabwe's constitutional court told President Robert Mugabe on May 31 to hold elections before the end of July, in a ruling on an application by a Zimbabwean citizen demanding that an election date be set before the current parliament expires next month.
arstechnica.com:Apple, betrayed by its own law firm
Apple, betrayed by its own law firm
When a company called FlatWorld Interactives LLC filed suit against Apple just over a year ago, it looked like a typical "patent troll" lawsuit against a tech company, brought by someone who no longer had much of a business beyond lawsuits.
Court documents unsealed this week reveal who's behind FlatWorld, and it's anything but typical. FlatWorld is partly owned by the named inventor on the patents, a Philadelphia design professor named Slavko Milekic. But 35 percent of the company has been quietly controlled by an attorney at one of Apple's own go-to law firms, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. E-mail logs show that the attorney, John McAleese, worked together with his wife and began planning a wide-ranging patent attack against Apple's touch-screen products in January 2007—just days after the iPhone was revealed to the world.
Jennifer McAleese reached out to numerous "troll patent" companies, as she called them, convinced that she and Milekic had an "excellent position against Apple" if and when they chose to sue. She e-mailed top patent lawyers at Google and Nokia, competitors known to be in patent clashes with Apple.
The whole time she was advised by her husband, a lawyer who had access to reams of confidential Apple data—but who says he never touched it. (Apple doesn't see it that way.) Together, the McAleeses created "an indirect and covert pipeline" of information pumped to FlatWorld's attorneys according to Apple lawyers. Now Apple wants FlatWorld's law firm, Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, kicked off the case.