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 crisis: US raises pressure on Russia over deal
Ukraine crisis: US raises pressure on Russia over deal
The US has threatened tougher economic sanctions if Russia fails to abide by a new international agreement to help de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine.
The Kremlin responded by accusing the White House of treating Moscow like a "guilty schoolboy" over the deal.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's foreign minister said "anti-terrorist" operations in the east would be put on hold over Easter.
Pro-Russian separatists in several cities are refusing to leave buildings, defying a key term of the accord.
BBC:Obama signs into law 'terrorist' UN envoy visa ban
Obama signs into law 'terrorist' UN envoy visa ban
President Barack Obama has signed into law a measure that would bar entry to any UN ambassador whom the US says has engaged in "terrorist activity".
The law came as a response to Iran's pick of a UN envoy linked to the student militants who overran the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.
The US has already denied Hamid Aboutalebi a visa, and Mr Obama said he would treat the new law as "advisory".
Iran has lodged a formal complaint with the UN over the rejection.
BBC:Algeria's President Bouteflika wins fourth term
Algeria's President Bouteflika wins fourth term
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a fourth term in office taking more than 81% of the vote, the interior minister has said.
The 77-year-old leader, who suffered a stroke last year and rarely appears in public, cast his vote in a wheelchair in Thursday's presidential election.
He beat his five other opponents without personally campaigning.
Turnout was said to be 51.7% of the country's 23 million registered voters, down from the 75% in 2009.
BBC:Mexico shaken by powerful earthquake
Mexico shaken by powerful earthquake
A powerful earthquake has hit Mexico City, shaking buildings for at least 30 seconds and causing widespread panic.
The magnitude-7.2 quake was registered at a depth of 24km (15 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.
Its epicentre was in the western state of Guerrero, near the seaside resort of Acapulco
There are no reports of casualties or significant damage, but frightened residents across the Mexican capital fled their homes as the tremor began.
BBC:South Korea ferry disaster: Sewol captain arrested
South Korea ferry disaster: Sewol captain arrested
The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized and sank this week has been arrested.
Lee Joon-seok, 69, faces charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, prosecutors and coastguard officials said.
A local court had earlier issued arrest warrants for him and two other crew members on the charges.
Efforts to find the 268 people still missing have been hampered by low visibility and strong currents.
BBC:Pakistan library named 'Bin Laden' in Islamic school
Pakistan library named 'Bin Laden' in Islamic school
An Islamic seminary for women in Pakistan's capital Islamabad has renamed its library after Osama Bin Laden, the former al-Qaeda chief.
The Jamia Hafsa Madrassa is linked to the Red Mosque, known for its alleged links with militants.
A paper sign on one of the doors proclaims Bin Laden a "Shahid" (martyr). Bin Laden was killed in a raid by US commandos in 2011.
Pakistani troops raided the mosque in 2007. Dozens died later in clashes.
Reuters:Obama-Abe summit to aid trade talks, not seal deal: U.S. official
Obama-Abe summit to aid trade talks, not seal deal: U.S. official
(Reuters) - Next week's meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a good opportunity to give impetus to Pacific trade negotiations but will not seal a deal, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday.
Talks between the United States and Japan seen as vital to a broader regional trade pact had narrowed to a few critical areas and will resume again on Monday, officials of both countries said, as negotiators hustle to prepare for Thursday's summit.
Breaking a U.S.-Japan deadlock over access to Japan's farm and auto markets is seen as key to finalising the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade bloc that would stretch from Asia to Latin America.
The TPP is central to Obama's policy of expanding America's presence in Asia and Abe, for his part, has touted the TPP as a main element of his strategy to reform the world's third-largest economy and generate sustainable growth.
Reuters:Trade deal eluding U.S., Japan, senior U.S. official says
Trade deal eluding U.S., Japan, senior U.S. official says
(Reuters) - U.S. and Japanese trade negotiators have been unable to reach a deal to open Japan's markets more widely to imports ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to Japan, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday.
Negotiators are down to a relatively limited set of outstanding issues but considerable differences separate the two sides, the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Discussions will continue in the days and weeks ahead, but there is no particular deadline for concluding the talks, the official added.
Momentum behind the talks need not stall because negotiators have not struck a deal ahead of Obama's visit to Japan, the official said.
Reuters:Powerful earthquake rattles Mexico, shakes buildings
Powerful earthquake rattles Mexico, shakes buildings
(Reuters) - A powerful earthquake shook Mexico on Friday, damaging more than 100 homes in the southwestern state of Guerrero and opening cracks in some buildings but there were no reports of deaths.
Striking close to the popular beach resort of Acapulco, the 7.2 magnitude quake sent people scurrying out of homes and hotels, causing brief panic from the Pacific coast to states in central and eastern parts of Mexico.
At least 127, mostly adobe homes were damaged in Guerrero. In the state capital Chilpancingo, a tower of the cathedral suffered cracks along with a few other public buildings, a spokesman for local emergency services said.
But there were no reports of deaths or major damage.
Reuters:Brazilian tycoon Batista investigated for financial crimes: reports
Brazilian tycoon Batista investigated for financial crimes: reports
(Reuters) - Brazil´s federal police have opened an investigation into former billionaire Eike Batista for financial crimes, including insider trading, manipulation of markets and money laundering, Brazilian media reported on Friday.
If the police probe leads to criminal charges against Batista, it would be yet another major blow for a businessman once hailed as Brazil's model entrepreneur and symbol of its economic success.
Batista´s EBX oil, mining and logistics empire, which two years ago was valued at $60 billion, collapsed last year in a mountain of debt and massive filings for bankruptcy protection.
A week ago, Brazil's securities commission, CVM, announced that Batista was under investigation for insider trading as chairman of his now-bankrupt oil-producing company Óleo and Gás Participações SA (OGXP3.SA), formerly known as OGX, and its sister company, shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA (OSXB3.SA).
Reuters:South Sudan deploys army to guard U.N. base after attack kills dozens
South Sudan deploys army to guard U.N. base after attack kills dozens
(Reuters) - South Sudan sent troops to secure a United Nations base after armed civilians fired on displaced tribespeople sheltering there, in an attack that killed at least 48, the president's spokesman said on Friday.
Locals pretending to be peaceful protesters delivering a petition forced their way into the camp on Thursday and opened fire before being beaten back by UN security personnel (UNMISS).
"The army has come in now. They have been ordered to protect UNMISS so there will be no attack from anybody," Ateny Wek Ateny, President Salva Kiir's spokesman, told Reuters by phone.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than one million displaced since fighting erupted in South Sudan in the middle of December, triggered by a power struggle between Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar.
Reuters:Teck's Red Dog zinc mine still operating after quakes
Teck's Red Dog zinc mine still operating after quakes
(Reuters) - Teck Resources said on Friday its Red Dog operation in Alaska, the world's largest zinc and lead mine, is operating as usual after two earthquakes struck a few miles from the site.
Two extremely shallow earthquakes, a magnitude 5.6 and a magnitude 5.3, struck just minutes apart on Friday afternoon just a few miles (km) southeast of the mine in remote northwest Alaska, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The USGS revised the strength of the quakes from initial estimates of 5.5 and 5.4.
"Mild tremors were felt at Red Dog operations. There were no safety concerns and the mine is currently operating as normal," a spokesman said in an email.
LA Times:Websites Fixing Heartbleed Bug, VPNs Still Vulnerable
Websites Fixing Heartbleed Bug, VPNs Still Vulnerable
After the initial panic over the Heartbleed bug, which some researchers earlier this month guessed had infected two-thirds of all Web servers, researchers at Sucuri reported Friday that just 2 percent of the top 1 million websites on the Internet remain infected and all of the top 1,000 sites have been patched against the OpenSSL vulnerability.
But also on Friday, Mandiant researchers reported an attack they tracked beginning on April 8 in which an attacker "leveraged the Heartbleed vulnerability in a SSL VPN concentrator to remotely access our client's environment," culminating in the hijacking of "multiple active user sessions."
So in short, the good news is that the vast majority of websites, and all of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Web, have fixed this vulnerability, which is an exploit of a bug in Open SSL code responsible for sending "Heartbeat" notifications between servers and clients, including PCs and mobile devices.
The not-so-good news is that there may have been more folks out there using the Heartbleed exploit to steal private data and take over user sessions than we previously thought. There's been one notable arrest of a Heartbleed attacker to date, a Canadian teen alleged to have exploited the bug to pilfer taxpayer data from the Canada Revenue Agency.