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,side pocket,Man Oh Man and JML9999. 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.
Let me begin by wishing everyone a happy and prosperous Fall season.
BBC
More than 60 killed in Iraq funeral bombing
At least 60 people have been killed at a funeral in the mainly Shia Muslim Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
A tent where mourners were gathered was hit by two explosions, one of them a suicide car bomb.
A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighters gathered at the scene, according to one report.
Officials reported that women and children were among the dead and that more than 120 people had been injured.
BBC
Russian offers troops to help remove Syria chemical arms
Russia can send its military personnel to help in the proposed operation to eliminate Syria's chemical arms, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says.
Mr Lavrov told Russian TV that military observers could help Syria destroy its stockpiles under a US-Russian deal.
He also accused the US of using "blackmail" over a UN resolution.
The international chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, says Syria has met the deadline to submit details of its estimated 1,000-tonne chemical arsenal.
BBC
Huge cocaine haul seized on Air France plane in Paris
Police at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport have seized 1.3 tonnes of pure cocaine on board an Air France flight from Venezuela, French officials say.
The drugs were found packed inside 30 suitcases on 11 September, but the operation was revealed on Saturday.
France's Interor minister, Manuel Valls, said it was the biggest drug haul ever made in the Paris area.
Six people were arrested, accused of being members of an international drug smuggling ring, Mr Valls said.
Officials say they believe the drugs were meant for sale in France and had a street value of 200m euros (£169m; $270m).
BBC
Bo Xilai found guilty of corruption by Chinese court
A Chinese court has found disgraced former top politician Bo Xilai guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.
The former party chief of Chongqing was sentenced to life imprisonment, but has the right to appeal.
He had denied all the charges against him in a fiery defence at his trial.
Bo was removed from office last year amid a scandal which saw his wife convicted for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
The verdict was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, Shandong province.
Passing sentence the judge told Bo that he had damaged China's national interests and the interests of its people, wrongfully using his position in power to receive bribes totalling 20 million Chinese Yuan ($3.2m; £2m).
This might be old news by now:
L A Times
Many hostages said to be rescued in Kenya shopping mall attack
NAIROBI -- Kenyan security forces have rescued most of the hostages held by militants in a Nairobi shopping mall after a terror attack, a military official said late Sunday.
The Kenyan military spokesman said on Twitter that by 11 p.m., "Most of the hostages have been rescued and security forces have taken control of most parts of the building."
By late Sunday, the death toll in Saturday's attack on shoppers and workers in the upscale mall had risen to 68, including many children, and 175 wounded, according to the Kenya Red Cross Society.
The society said earlier Sunday that 49 people remained missing, some of them presumed held hostage by members of the Somalian militant group the Shabab, which has claimed responsibility for the attack.
L A Times
E. coli in water supply adds to woes in flooded Lyons, Colo.
The residents of the foothill town of Lyons, hit hard by Colorado flooding, have another misery piled on their already destroyed and damaged homes, businesses and roads: the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria has been found in the town's water system.
“We don’t want you using any of the water,” Lyons' town administrator, Victoria Simonsen, said during a town hall meeting, which was broadcast online because the town is all but evacuated.
There's no timeline for when the water and sewer systems will be restored, Simonsen said. Many of Lyons' residents were evacuated by a convoy of National Guard troops last week. If they want to return to a town that also lacks electricity and gas, officials said, they do so at their own risk.
L A Times Book review
Alan Weisman's 'Countdown' points to Earth's population explosion
In "Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?," Weisman explains that population is going in the wrong direction — by adding 1 million more people to the planet every 41/2 days — if we want to achieve some semblance of ecological sustainability. It's not just this century's projected growth to 11 billion that troubles him. Weisman is concerned about how the 7 billion of us already here are straining natural limits, from the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere to the decline of available fresh water.
N Y Times (Check out the cool moving image at the link. How do they do that?)
U.S. Textile Plants Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People
Bayard Winthrop, the founder of the sweatshirt and clothing company American Giant, was at the mill one morning earlier this year to meet with his Parkdale sales representative. Just last year, Mr. Winthrop was buying fabric from a factory in India. Now, he says, it is cheaper to shop in the United States. Mr. Winthrop uses Parkdale yarn from one of its 25 American factories, and has that yarn spun into fabric about four miles from Parkdale’s Gaffney plant, at Carolina Cotton Works.
Mr. Winthrop says American manufacturing has several advantages over outsourcing. Transportation costs are a fraction of what they are overseas. Turnaround time is quicker. Most striking, labor costs — the reason all these companies fled in the first place — aren’t that much higher than overseas because the factories that survived the outsourcing wave have largely turned to automation and are employing far fewer workers.
Guardian
Blistering heatwave to bake US north-east for rest of the week
An excessive heat warning was issued in parts of the US east coast on Monday as the National Weather Service warned that a heatwave will create dangerous conditions for millions of people.
Cities in Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania were subject to the warning, while a heat advisory was in place for New York City and much of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Cities as far west as Chicago and Detroit will also see high temperatures.
Residents have been warned against working in the sun or spending time in non-air conditioned cars as the temperature is expected to rise through the week. The most severe conditions are predicted for Thursday and Friday.
Monday and Wednesday could see effective temperatures of 103F (39.4C) in parts of the north-east, the NWS said. That could rise to 105F (40.6C) by the end of the week
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USA Today
Rihanna's primate photo leads to arrests in Thailand
While on a break from her Diamonds World Tour, Rihanna spent a weekend at the beach in Thailand.
At a stop in Phuket, she posted a photo on Instagram of herself in sunglasses, with a furry primate known as the slow loris perched on her shoulder. "Look who was talkin dirty to me!" the pop star tweeted.
The animal, which is native to Southeast Asia, is listed as a protected species, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities, who apparently follow badgalriri on Instagram or at least have tipsters who do, arrested two people — a man, 20, and a boy, 16 — who provided the loris for the photo opp, Phuket district chief Weera Kerdsirimongkon told AP on Sunday
USA Today
Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis is stepping down
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, who led his department's response to the Boston Marathon bombing, is stepping down, a department spokeswoman said Sunday.
Davis gave his resignation to Mayor Thomas Menino and will hold a news conference Monday to discuss his future plans, police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca said.
The decision by Davis to step down is perhaps not surprising. Boston is poised to have a new mayor for the first time in two decades after Menino opted not to seek another term.