Overnight News Digest
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, rfall, and JML9999, side pocket/Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, and Oke. The guest editor is annetteboardman.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
Flash floods kill 22 in Afghanistan's Kabul province
The flooding hit a village in the Shakardara district following a weekend of heavy rain, a disaster management official told the BBC.
Many of those who died are thought to be women and children.
Many families had gone to the district, known for its vineyards and apple orchards, to celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
BBC
North Korea: Detained US man Kenneth Bae 'seriously ill'
The family of an American missionary who was detained in North Korea last year says he is seriously ill and has been moved from a labour camp to a hospital.
Kenneth Bae, who was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour for trying to overthrow the North Korean government, has diabetes and an enlarged heart.
His sister says the 45 year old is now too weak to work.
BBC
UK wages decline among worst in Europe
Wages in the UK have seen one of the largest falls in the European Union during the economic downturn, according to official figures.
The figures, which were requested by the Labour Party and collated by the House of Commons library, show average hourly wages have fallen 5.5% since mid-2010, adjusted for inflation.
That is the fourth-worst decline among the 27 EU nations .
By contrast, German hourly wages rose by 2.7% over the same period.
BBC
Iraq's uncertain future amid wave of violence
The passenger who sat next to me on the flight to Baghdad was an Iraqi Shia in his late 40s.
We had a few conversations during the flight. Hayder, who had been living in the UK for years, was going to see his family back in Iraq.
We went through immigration and reached the arrivals hall, where his brother was waiting for him. "Where is Ali?" Hayder asked about his younger brother, and the other man burst into tears.
"He was killed in a car bomb last week and we didn't want to tell you until you got here"
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L A Times
California environmental advocate invests in Virginia governor's race
WASHINGTON — California billionaire and clean energy philanthropist Thomas Steyer is spending $400,000 on television ads critical of Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, the latest effort by the former hedge-fund-manager-turned-environmental activist to inject climate change into statewide elections.
L A Times
Tribal activists block shipment through Idaho wilderness
SEATTLE — On a narrow central Idaho highway coursing through thickets of ponderosa pines and along a winding river, members of the Nez Perce tribe made their stand.
Hundreds gathered along U.S. Highway 12 on Monday and Tuesday and formed a human blockade in an attempt to stop a controversial megaload of equipment bound for the oil tar sands of Alberta, Canada — a load reportedly weighing about 644,000 pounds and stretching over 200 feet. They intended on continuing their protests Wednesday and Thursday nights.
L A Times
Bo Xilai's wealth on trial in China
Once a contender for the uppermost echelon of the Communist Party leadership, Bo Xilai was purged prior to the party congress last year where his rival, Xi Jinping, became China's leader. His spectacular downfall followed a strange murder case in which his wife was found guilty of poisoning a British businessman.
In his own trial likely to start soon, the 64-year-old Bo stands accused of abusing his public position to grow indecently rich. People familiar with the details say it will mostly skirt the murder case, although it is alleged that the businessman, Neil Heywood, had helped the Bo family funnel money out of China.
We could perhaps use a few trials like this over here. Oh, wait, greed is good.
CNN
Scandinavian skinny-dippers warned of testicle-biting fish
(
CNN) -- Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, as the saying goes, male skinny-dippers in Scandinavia are being warned about a fish infamous for munching on testicles.
Yes, you read that right.
The Pacu, native to South America, was found by a fisherman in the Danish/Swedish strait of Oresund, according to experts at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
CNN
Man torches $400 million nuke sub; Navy's budget struggles for air
(CNN) -- Casey James Fury simply didn't want to be at work, and in the process cost the Navy nearly a half-billion dollars and one attack submarine.
Fury admitted to setting fire to the USS Miami, a nuclear sub, in May 2012 while it was in dry dock. He was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in March and ordered to pay $400 million in restitution -- roughly the cost of the damage.
The Navy won't see anything close to that amount from Fury, of course, but neither will it from Uncle Sam.
McClatchy
Southern California wildfire's speed shows rising risks
BANNING, Calif. — The photo flashed across a cellphone, frightening Kymberley Heighes.
It showed her mountain home framed by a wall of dark smoke. The Silver fire was in its early stages Wednesday afternoon, burning more than 1,000 acres per hour - a speed that overwhelmed firefighters and residents such as Heighes, who lives in the sparsely populated mountain ranges south of Interstate 10 near Banning.