Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, rfall, and JML9999. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw. The guest editor is annetteboardman.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
This event took place right in my (distant) view a few miles away. Check out the bud in the photo.
Pot festival meets country fair at Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa
Marijuana culture took center stage on the first day of a high-profile organic cannabis competition at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, a first for the county and perhaps a harbinger of the drug's eventual outright legalization.
Organizers expected the event Saturday and Sunday to draw 5,000 people daily to toke some of the best marijuana in the world, buy heirloom seeds, listen to music or sit in on panel discussions ranging from plant genetics and breeding to soil types and politics.
For some longtime Sonoma County residents, it was a bit surreal to see the fairgrounds transformed into a venue with cannabis-smoking tents for medical marijuana cardholders, or the Hall of Flowers turned into a showcase for marijuana planting mixes, bud trimmers, compost, glass pipes, vaporizers and hemp clothing.
BBC Different photos from last night's OND
China's Jade Rabbit Moon rover sends back first photos
The first robot to land on the Moon in nearly 40 years, China's Jade Rabbit rover, has begun sending back photos, with shots of its lunar lander.
Jade Rabbit rolled down a ramp lowered by the lander and on to the volcanic plain known as Sinus Iridum at 04:35 Beijing time on Saturday (20:35 GMT).
It moved to a spot a few metres away, its historic short journey recorded by the lander.
On Sunday evening the two machines began photographing each other.
A Chinese flag is clearly visible on the Jade Rabbit as it stands deployed on the Moon's surface.
BBC
Huge rally in Kiev in support of closer ties with EU
Some 200,000 people have rallied in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a landmark EU deal.
Mr Yanukovych backed out of signing the association agreement after months of negotiation, apparently under strong pressure from Russia.
He is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.
The EU has put any new talks on the agreement on hold until there is a clear commitment to sign.
News agency estimates of the size of the crowd at Independence Square ranged from 150,000 to 300,000.
This is the latest in a series of demonstrations over the past few weeks by the opposition who see Ukraine's future as part of the EU rather than aligned with Russia.
BBC
Iranian workers killed in Iraq pipeline attack
Fifteen Iranian and three Iraqi gas pipeline workers have been shot dead by gunmen north-east of Baghdad.
The attackers sped up in three cars before opening fire on the workers as they dug a trench to extend the pipeline near the city of Baquba.
Another five Iranians and two Iraqis were wounded in the attack.
At least 17 people were killed in separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq on Friday and 22 terrorism suspects escaped from detention.
The gas pipeline workers were digging a trench to extend the line, intended to connect Iraq's gas network to supplies from neighbouring Iran.
"Three of them got out of a car and started firing on the workers inside and outside the trench," Ibrahem Aziz said by phone from hospital.
N Y Times
Long article, but very interesting.
What Anesthesia Can Teach Us About Consciousness
…….That’s because successful anesthetization requires complete unconsciousness, and consciousness isn’t something we can measure.
There are tools that anesthesiologists use to get a pretty good idea of how well their drugs are working, but these systems are imperfect. For most patients receiving inhaled anesthesia, they’re no better at spotting awareness than dosing metrics developed half a century ago, says George Mashour, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan Medical School. There are two intertwined mysteries at work, Mashour told me: First, we don’t totally understand how anesthetics work, at least not on a neurological basis. Second, we really don’t understand consciousness — how the brain creates it, or even what, exactly, it is.
CNN
Storms leaves piles of snow behind in Northeast
CNN) -- If you live in the Northeast, there is a good chance you used a snowblower this weekend.
Mounds of snow are piled throughout New York and New England after a blustery storm swept through, leaving behind more than a foot of snow in some areas.
Albany, New York, got at least 12 inches, said one iReporter.
"We usually get these big snow storms in January and the snow on the ground usually stays until springtime since it's always cold here in Albany," Zeynep Rice said. "Last year was a bit weak in snow until end of February actually. So we're happy to have a solid snow covering on the ground earlier than usual this season."
The storm spared major metropolitan areas like Boston and New York, but some areas in Maine and along the U.S.-Canada border saw significant snow, the National Weather Service said.
The Maine cities of Biddeford (16.5 inches total) and Kennebunkport (14 inches) topped the list, while Exeter, New Hampshire, received 13.5 inches of snow over the weekend
.
N Y Post via CNN
Kim Jong Un is the new Saddam Hessein: John Kerry
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry said North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un’s “ruthless and reckless” actions reminded him of Saddam Hussein.
Kerry made the comparison because of reports last week that Kim had his uncle and mentor Jang Song Thaek executed for being a “traitor” and “human scum.”
“It really reminded me of a video that we saw of Saddam Hussein doing the same thing, having people plucked out of an audience, and people sitting there sweating, and nobody daring to move or do anything,” Kerry said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“This is not the first execution. There have been a significant number of executions taking place over the last months which we’re aware of,” said Kerry, who was visiting Vietnam Sunday.
L A Times
Joan Fontaine, actress who won Oscar for "Suspicion," dies at 96.
Joan Fontaine, the coolly beautiful 1940s actress who won an Oscar for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's “Suspicion” and who became almost as well-known for her lifelong feud with her famous older sister, Olivia de Havilland, has died. She was 96.
Fontaine died Sunday of natural causes at her home in Carmel, said her assistant, Susan Pfeiffer.
In addition to winning an Academy Award as best actress for “Suspicion,” Fontaine was also nominated as best actress for her role in Hitchcock's “Rebecca” (1940) and, three years later, for Edmund Goulding's “The Constant Nymph.”
L A Times
Vatican bank finds over 100 suspicious transactions, official says.
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican's bank has unearthed more than 100 suspicious payments this year after starting full-scale checks on its customers for the first time to crack down on money laundering, up from six last year, said an official knowledgeable about the cleanup effort.
The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the inquiry publicly, spoke after the Vatican said Monday that it had been given a positive progress report by Moneyval, the Council of Europe money-laundering monitor, after a middling grade in a full evaluation last year. The new report, which was signed off Monday and will be formally released by Moneyval on Thursday, gives an assessment but no grades.
Guardian
NSA officials consider Edward Snowden amnesty in return for documents
National Security Agency officials are considering a controversial amnesty that would return Edward Snowden to the United States, in exchange for the extensive document trove the whistleblower took from the agency.
An amnesty, which does not have the support of the State Department, would represent a surprising denouement to an international drama that has lasted half a year. It is particularly unexpected from a surveillance agency that has spent months insisting that Snowden’s disclosures have caused vast damage to US national security.
The NSA official in charge of assessing the alleged damage caused by Snowden’s leaks, Richard Ledgett, told CBS News an amnesty still remains controversial within the agency, which has spent the past six months defending itself against a global outcry and legislative and executive proposals to restrain its broad surveillance activities.
S F Gate
Cameron to shoot 3 'Avatar' sequels in New Zealand
Director James Cameron announced Monday he will make three sequels to his 2009 sci-fi blockbuster movie "Avatar" in New Zealand.
Cameron made the announcement in the capital Wellington with producer Jon Landau and Prime Minister John Key. The films will be made by Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox.
"Avatar," which was shot and made in New Zealand, won three Academy Awards and is the highest-grossing film in history, with an international box office take of nearly $2.8 billion.
Cameron said he plans to complete principal shooting on the three movies at one time, perhaps over a period of about nine months and beginning in 2015. He said the aim is to release the first sequel in time for Christmas 2016 and the following sequels in late 2017 and late 2018.
The Atlantic
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
The Greenest Things to Do With Your Body After You Die
"When I first laid eyes on it I was like, 'Oh my God, I have to have that,'" said Amy Cunningham, 58, as she ran her hand over a biodegradable, wicker coffin. It resembled a large, woven picnic basket lined with white muslin. "It was like seeing a beautiful dress on Saks Fifth Avenue," she added with a radiant smile.
Cunningham is not a typical funeral director. She's a fashionably dressed mother of two who used to write for women's magazines. Swapping editorials for embalming was a lengthy training process. But now, her team at Greenwood Heights Funeral and Cremation Services in New York is part of the latest green revolution: environmentally friendly eco-burial.
Every year, cemeteries across the U.S. bury over 100,000 tons of steel and approximately 1,500,000 tons of concrete from coffins and re-enforced vaults, according to the Casket and Funeral Association of America. Cremation releases carbon emissions and mercury from dental fillings into the atmosphere. Embalming with formaldehyde has been linked to higher risks of cancer and respiratory problems in mortuary workers. With the death rate set to rise as the baby boomer population ages, the traditional funeral industry is becoming more and more of a strain on the environment.