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:No decision on arming Syrian rebels, says David Cameron
No decision on arming Syrian rebels, says David Cameron
David Cameron has said Britain has taken "no decision" to arm the Syrian rebels after the US declared it would provide them with military support.
But the prime minister backed the US assessment that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons and described President Assad as a "brutal dictator".
Mr Cameron and leaders including President Obama discussed the conflict by phone ahead of next week's G8 talks.
Syria called claims it had used chemical weapons "a caravan of lies".
BBC:Iran awaits presidential election result
Iran awaits presidential election result
Iranians are waiting for the results from Friday's presidential election, likely to be later than expected after voting was extended for five hours.
Officials pushed back voting deadlines four times, with long queues outside polling stations well into the evening.
The election will decide a successor to outgoing leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
BBC:Ecuador MPs approve media curbs
Ecuador MPs approve media curbs
Ecuador's National Assembly has passed a controversial bill creating a media watchdog and redistributing radio and television frequencies.
The bill is set to limit the number of private broadcasters, which currently account for the majority of the media.
Opposition leaders called it a "gagging law", but the government said it would prevent media abuse and monopolisation.
President Rafael Correa has had a number of rows with journalists and is accused of trying to control the press.
BBC:IMF: US budget cuts 'ill-designed'
IMF: US budget cuts 'ill-designed'
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the US to repeal the huge federal budget cuts introduced this year, denouncing them as "excessively rapid and ill-designed".
It said the deficit reduction programme would be a drag on growth this year.
It forecast growth of 1.9% for 2013, but said it could be as much as 1.75 percentage points higher without the rapid tightening of fiscal policy.
But the IMF added that the overall US economy was improving.
BBC:Italy upholds prison terms for police over 2001 G8 abuse
Italy upholds prison terms for police over 2001 G8 abuse
Italy's Supreme Court has upheld jail terms for seven policemen and doctors for brutality against protesters at the G8 summit in 2001 in Genoa.
The sentences, ranging from one to four years, relate to the abuse of more than 250 people detained by police at the nearby Bolzaneto barracks.
The arrests followed clashes between anti-globalisation protesters and police at the summit.
But all of those held at Bolzaneto were later proved to be innocent.
BBC:Edward Snowden: UK warning aims to keep away US leaker
Edward Snowden: UK warning aims to keep away US leaker
The UK government has warned airlines not to allow an ex-CIA worker who leaked secret US surveillance details to fly to the UK.
The Associated Press news agency reported seeing a document at a Thai airport telling carriers to stop Edward Snowden, 29, boarding any flights.
The alert said he "is highly likely" to be refused entry to the UK, AP said.
Singapore Airlines told the BBC it was among airlines to receive the alert. The Home Office would not comment.
Reuters:House votes to block Obama plan to close Guantanamo
House votes to block Obama plan to close Guantanamo
(Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a massive defense bill on Friday that includes measures to block President Barack Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, underscoring the tough fight ahead for the White House as it seeks to shutter the controversial detention camp.
The Republican-controlled House voted, 315-108, for the $638 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes money for weapons, troops and the war in Afghanistan. But it also addresses a range of policy matters, including this year's efforts to combat sexual assault in the military and provisions intended to prevent the closure of the prison camp at the base in Cuba.
Despite a hunger strike by at least 104 of the 166 prisoners and appeals from Obama that the prison is too expensive to maintain and a recruiting tool for anti-American militants, the House voted, 249-174, to defeat an amendment calling for its shutdown by the end of 2014.
Lawmakers also voted to prevent the transfer to Yemen or the United States of any of the prisoners, captured in counterterrorism operations after the September 11, 2001, attacks, although more than half have been cleared for release during U.S. military and intelligence reviews.
Reuters:Britain lobbies for nuclear export group to admit India
Britain lobbies for nuclear export group to admit India
(Reuters) - Britain has stepped up efforts to let India join an influential global body controlling nuclear exports, a move that would boost New Delhi's standing as an atomic power but which has faced resistance from China and other countries.
The diplomatic tussle centers on whether emerging power India should be allowed into a key forum deciding rules for civilian nuclear trade, even though it has refused to join an international pact under which it would have to give up its nuclear weapons.
London, Washington, Paris and others argue nuclear-armed India should join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) - established in 1975 to ensure that civilian nuclear exports are not diverted for military purposes.
Britain has pressed its case in a paper prepared ahead of the NSG's annual meeting this week, arguing India qualifies because of the size of its civilian atomic industry and its commitment to stopping the spread of military material.
Reuters:Protests hit Brazil's biggest cities, adding to unrest
Protests hit Brazil's biggest cities, adding to unrest
(Reuters) - Small but violent protests in several Brazilian cities this week have added to a sense of growing unrest in Brazil at a time when inflation, crime and President Dilma Rousseff's popularity are all taking a turn for the worse.
An estimated 5,000 protesters, including many university students, blocked main avenues and vandalized buildings in central Sao Paulo, causing traffic chaos for the fourth time in eight days on Thursday. When police tried to disperse the crowd, violence erupted, injuring dozens and leading to nearly 200 arrests.
Demonstrations also were held in Rio de Janeiro and the southern city of Porto Alegre, raising the prospect they could spread as Brazil prepares to host soccer's Confederations Cup - a warm-up event for next year's World Cup - for two weeks starting on Saturday.
Police have taken an increasingly hard line against the protests, firing rubber bullets and tear gas, injuring several bystanders and journalists covering the demonstrations. One widely circulated image showed police firing pepper spray at a TV cameraman filming the protests in Sao Paulo.
Reuters:Critic of Russia's Putin raises stakes with Moscow race
Critic of Russia's Putin raises stakes with Moscow race
(Reuters) - A prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, won an opposition party's backing on Friday in a Moscow mayoral election, raising the stakes in a trial that may put him behind bars for a decade.
Alexei Navalny, 37, the most prominent leader of a wave of street protests against Putin's 13-year rule that erupted in late 2011, would be barred from the September 8 election if he is convicted in an ongoing trial.
"I'm running in the elections to rip our city out of the pincers and tentacles of Mr Putin, Mr Sobyanin and the (pro-Kremlin) United Russia party," Navalny said on Friday before opposition party RPR-PARNAS endorsed his candidacy.
Sergei Sobyanin, appointed by the Kremlin in 2010, resigned earlier this month and called for a snap election in what critics said was a Kremlin ploy to legitimize his rule and cheat opponents out of the time needed to mount a challenge.
Reuters:Smithfield profit plunges after China blocks imports
Smithfield profit plunges after China blocks imports
(Reuters) - Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD.N), subject of a $4.7 billion bid from China's Shuanghui International, posted a 63 percent drop in quarterly profit as costs rose and exports to China fell due to a ban on an additive it feeds to pigs to produce lean meat.
Smithfield has already started to wind down its use of the additive, ractopamine, and resumed shipments to China in March.
But it said double-digit declines in exports to China and Russia, which also banned the additive, had pushed production onto the domestic market in the fourth quarter, hitting its hog production and fresh pork businesses.
Smithfield, which does not provide a breakdown of revenue by country, also said exports to Japan fell due to a weaker yen.
Reuters:Market headwinds raise stakes for Abe's Japan revival plan
Market headwinds raise stakes for Abe's Japan revival plan
(Reuters) - This is not how Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe probably imagined reaching a key milestone in his economic revival plan.
Pro-growth measures meant to complement hefty doses of budget and monetary stimulus met with a cool reception and their formal approval on Friday coincided with turbulence in financial markets hit by sharp reversals in global capital flows.
A sense of disappointment that steps unveiled over the past several weeks left out measures such as corporate tax cuts or labor market liberalization was so apparent that it made Abe promise more after July 21 upper house elections.
"The growth strategy decided today will be the starting point," Abe said in a video message on his office's Youtube channel.
LA Times:San Francisco and New York call truce, will co-host tech summit
San Francisco and New York call truce, will co-host tech summit
Laying aside years of bad blood that has at times threatened to spill into open warfare, the mayors of San Francisco and New York City agreed Friday afternoon to a digital detente that will include co-hosting a technology summit this year.
Known humbly as the Bloomberg Technology Summit, the conference will bring together tech leaders, politicians and other assorted Internet types (cats?) to discuss how the cities can grow their tech economies while also tapping those same ideas to solve the host of social, economic and cultural problems plaguing both metropolises.
The epic announcement marks the first step toward what observers hope will lead to a lasting peace between these two hostile rivals.