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 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 editors are Doctor RJ and annetteboardman.
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BBC:Ukraine: Putin signs Crimea annexation
Ukraine: Putin signs Crimea annexation
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law formalising Russia's takeover of Crimea from Ukraine, despite fresh sanctions from the EU and the US.
The European Union's latest measures target 12 people involved in Russia's annexation of the peninsula.
Earlier, Ukraine and the EU signed an accord forging closer political ties.
Separately, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has agreed to send monitors to Ukraine, after Russia dropped objections.
BBC:Twitter ban: Turkey's President Gul challenges PM's move
Twitter ban: Turkey's President Gul challenges PM's move
President Abdullah Gul has challenged a ban on Twitter in Turkey after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out" the micro-blogging service.
Twitter users across the country reported that the site had been blocked on Thursday.
But like many others, President Gul evaded the ban to tweet that the "shutdown was unacceptable."
Mr Erdogan is angry that people used Twitter to spread allegations of corruption in his inner circle.
BBC:Microsoft admits reading Hotmail inbox of blogger
Microsoft admits reading Hotmail inbox of blogger
Microsoft is caught up in a privacy storm after it admitted it read the Hotmail inbox of a blogger while pursuing a software leak investigation.
On Thursday, the firm acknowledged it read the anonymous blogger's emails in order to identify an employee it suspected of leaking information.
Microsoft owns Hotmail, a free email service now called Outlook.com.
John Frank, deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said it took "extraordinary actions in this case".
BBC:Twitter ban: Turkey's President Gul challenges PM's move
Twitter ban: Turkey's President Gul challenges PM's move
President Abdullah Gul has challenged a ban on Twitter in Turkey after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out" the micro-blogging service.
Twitter users across the country reported that the site had been blocked on Thursday.
But like many others, President Gul evaded the ban to tweet that the "shutdown was unacceptable."
Mr Erdogan is angry that people used Twitter to spread allegations of corruption in his inner circle.
BBC:Netflix boss Reed Hastings hits out at ISP traffic fees
Netflix boss Reed Hastings hits out at ISP traffic fees
The head of video-streaming service Netflix has hit out at internet service providers (ISPs) for demanding a fee to maintain video streaming quality.
The company recently "reluctantly" made a deal with US ISP Comcast to make sure its videos were streamed faster and more smoothly.
ISPs argue that data-heavy services should share the cost of providing capacity on the networks.
But campaigners argue that this approach stifles innovation.
BBC:Thai court rules general election invalid
Thai court rules general election invalid
Thailand's Constitutional Court has ruled the 2 February general election invalid, officials say.
The snap poll was called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra amid major anti-government protests in Bangkok.
The ruling party was expected to win, but the opposition boycotted it and protesters disrupted voting, meaning the election has not been completed.
The vote was unconstitutional because it did not take place on the same day across the country, the court said.
Reuters:Wall Street ends lower as biotechs fall; indexes up for week
Wall Street ends lower as biotechs fall; indexes up for week
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Friday, as investors booked profits in momentum names heading into the weekend, wiping out early gains that had pushed the S&P 500 to an intraday record high.
The S&P 500 lost momentum after hitting an all-time intraday high of 1,883.97, with biotechs among the primary decliners. Biogen Idec Inc (BIIB.O), down 8.2 percent at $318.53, and Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), down 4.6 percent at $72.07, were the two biggest drags on the S&P 500. The Nasdaq biotech index .NBI fell 4.4 percent.
U.S. lawmakers have asked Gilead to explain the $84,000 price tag of its new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, which is encountering resistance from health insurers and state Medicaid programs.
"They've been selling them - the techs in particular, as well as the biotechs, even more particular there. Obviously, it's a momentum sector, and all the momentum names are getting smacked around," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
Reuters:U.S. judge OKs JPMorgan $218 million Madoff class-action settlement
U.S. judge OKs JPMorgan $218 million Madoff class-action settlement
(Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday gave final approval to JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) $218 million settlement to resolve class-action litigation accusing the largest U.S. bank of playing a central role in the huge Ponzi scheme of former client Bernard Madoff.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said the accord "easily meets the standards" for final approval, and provides "substantial and immediate" benefits to the swindler's former customers.
She also awarded $18 million of fees to law firms that represented the customers: Entwistle & Cappucci, and Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
The settlement was part of a $2.24 billion global resolution of Madoff-related matters by JPMorgan, which was Madoff's main bank for more than 20 years.
Reuters:Yellen's 6-month comment parroted market view: senior Fed official
Yellen's 6-month comment parroted market view: senior Fed official
(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was likely just repeating the views of private analysts and investors when she said the central bank could raise interest rates around six months after ending its massive bond-buying program, a top Fed official said on Friday.
"On the considerable period being six months, the surveys that I had seen from the private sector had that kind of number penciled in," St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said during a lunch with journalists. "That wasn't very different from what we had heard from financial markets. So, I just think she's just repeating that."
After a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, the Fed said it expected to keep benchmark interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" after it wrapped up a bond-buying stimulus program, which it is widely expected to do toward the end of the year.
Pressed on the statement at a news conference afterward, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the phrase "probably means something on the order of around six months or that type of thing." Stocks and bonds immediately tumbled as traders took the statement to suggest rate hikes could come sooner than they had anticipated.
Reuters:Exclusive: Boeing U.S. tanker program seen $1 billion over budget
Exclusive: Boeing U.S. tanker program seen $1 billion over budget
(Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Friday estimated that Boeing Co's (BA.N) development of a new refueling plane will cost nearly $1.1 billion more than initially planned, but the terms of the government's contract mean Boeing must cover the added costs.
The latest estimate from the Air Force office that runs the KC-46A aerial tanker program puts the total development cost at $5.85 billion. The Air Force plans to spend $52 billion to develop and buy 179 of the new refueling planes to start replacing its fleet of 50-year-old KC-135 tankers, which are used to refuel fighter jets and other warplanes during flight.
Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said the new estimate was $250 million over last year's projection for the program's development cost, but gave no additional details on what drove the increase. He said the annual mandatory estimates could increase or decrease as the program continued.
"Despite this estimated increase, the government liability remains capped at the contract ceiling price of $4.9 billion, and Boeing continues to meet all contractual milestones, including the development and delivery of the four EMD aircraft," Gulick said.
Reuters:Obama to meet with U.S. tech executives on privacy, surveillance
Obama to meet with U.S. tech executives on privacy, surveillance
(Reuters) - Executives of several large U.S. Internet companies, including Google Inc and Facebook Inc, were to meet with President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss changes to government surveillance programs.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama will meet with six tech executives to "continue his dialogue with them on the issues of privacy, technology and intelligence following his January 17 speech." The meeting is scheduled to start in the Oval Office at 4:05 p.m. EDT (2005 GMT).
Carney said Obama will speak with Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, the world's largest Internet search engine; Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, the world's biggest social network; and Reed Hastings, chief executive officer of Netflix Inc, an online video streaming service.
Other attendees are Aaron Levie and Drew Houston, chief executive officers of two online storage and file-sharing companies Box and Dropbox; and Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies, a data-mining company which is partly backed by the CIA and whose clients include the National Security Agency.
Reuters:Obama to meet with Japan's Abe, South Korea's Park next week
Obama to meet with Japan's Abe, South Korea's Park next week
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a nuclear summit in The Hague next week, the White House said.
"We believe this is a very important message to show the United States aligned with our two most important allies in northeast Asia," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.
"It's a signal of our commitment to the security of northeast Asia and our belief that when the United States and our allies stand together, we are all much stronger in the region and in the world," Rhodes said.
The meeting comes "after a period of tension," national security adviser Susan Rice said.
LA Times:Google addresses top 10 myths associated with Glass
Google addresses top 10 myths associated with Glass
In a recent post on Google+, the Glass team addressed the top 10 myths related to the futuristic augmented reality visor in an effort to simply "clear the air." Privacy concerning Glass is no doubt a hot topic as evident by the fact that five of the top 10 myths have to do with the headset’s on-board camera.
Many of the most common concerns – that it is the ultimate distraction from the real world, that it is always on and recording and that Glass is only for those privileged enough to afford it – are discussed.
For example, regarding the myth that Glass marks the end of privacy, the team points to the late 19th century when people declared an end to privacy with the arrival of cameras. At the time, cameras were banned in parks, at national monuments and on beaches. The same concerns were voiced when the first cell phone cameras hit the scene.
There are more cameras in the wild now than ever before and in 10 years, there will be even more – with or out without Glass, Google notes.