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:Three miners rescued in Honduras, more remain trapped
Three miners rescued in Honduras, more remain trapped
Rescue workers in Honduras have freed three miners trapped in an informal gold mine in the south of the country.
The miners were taken to a hospital nearby. At least one of them had suffered an injury to his head.
Rescue workers are still searching for eight other miners who remain trapped.
The men were cut off on Wednesday after a landslide blocked their tunnel exit at the small mine near the town of El Corpus, about 110km (70 miles) south of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
BBC:Egypt raises fuel and electricity costs
Egypt raises fuel and electricity costs
Egypt has introduced electricity and fuel price increases in a move to cut state subsidies and reduce the budget deficit.
Some fuel tariffs are reported to be increasing by 78% while electricity prices are expected to almost double within five years.
The government currently sells electricity for less than half its production cost.
Power cuts have become increasingly common in Egypt.
BBC:Senegal Prime Minister Toure sacked after poor election
Senegal Prime Minister Toure sacked after poor election
Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Toure has been sacked after her ruling party's poor results in local elections last Sunday.
Local officials said President Macky Sall had asked Ms Toure to stand down, after less than a year in office.
Ms Toure's Alliance for the Republic (APR) was defeated in key cities, according to preliminary results.
Discontent over economic policies contributed to the party's poor results, correspondents say.
BBC:Crowds flock to Jerusalem funeral for Palestinian teenager
Crowds flock to Jerusalem funeral for Palestinian teenager
Thousands of people have attended the funeral of a murdered Palestinian teenager in East Jerusalem amid heightened tensions with Israel.
Mohammad Abu Khdair's family believe he was killed in revenge for the murders of three young Israelis in June, but police have yet to establish a motive.
He was buried at a cemetery near the family's home in the Shufat district.
Hundreds of Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem before and after the funeral.
BBC:Germany spying: US envoy summoned after arrest
Germany spying: US envoy summoned after arrest
The German authorities have summoned the US ambassador in Berlin after a man was arrested on suspicion of spying.
The US diplomat "was asked to help in the swift clarification" of the case, the foreign ministry said.
German officials confirmed the arrest but released no other details.
US-German ties were strained after allegations last year that the US National Security Agency bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone as part of a huge surveillance programme.
BBC:Iraq crisis: Stranded Indian nurses freed
Iraq crisis: Stranded Indian nurses freed
A group of 46 Indian nurses trapped in fighting engulfing parts of Iraq have been freed, Indian authorities say.
The nurses have been handed over to Indian officials in the Kurdish city of Irbil and are due to be flown home on Saturday.
The nurses were working at a hospital in the northern city of Tikrit and had been stranded there for more than week.
Tikrit is among a number of towns and cities seized by jihadist-led Sunni rebels in recent weeks.
Reuters:Iraq's Maliki rejects pressure to give up premiership
Iraq's Maliki rejects pressure to give up premiership
(Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki refused on Friday to give up his quest for a third term in power, defying a chorus of critics demanding his replacement as the country faces an existential threat from Islamist insurgents.
Maliki has come under mounting pressure since militants of the group now calling itself the Islamic State rampaged through swathes of the country last month and declared a mediaeval-style caliphate on land they have captured in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
"I will never give up my candidacy for the post of prime minister," Maliki said in a statement read out on state television by an announcer.
"I will remain a soldier, defending the interests of Iraq and its people," he added, in the face of what he called terrorists and their allies.
Reuters:House panel opposes giving SEC documents for insider trading probe
House panel opposes giving SEC documents for insider trading probe
(Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel said on Friday it should not have to comply with a federal regulator's demand for documents sought for an insider-trading probe involving the staff director of a subcommittee and a lobbyist.
The House Ways and Means Committee argued in a court filing that U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York should deny the Securities and Exchange Commission's attempt to subpoena documents from the committee and its healthcare subcommittee staff director Brian Sutter.
The SEC went to court June 20 to enforce subpoenas it issued as it sought information related to a probe into whether Sutter leaked material nonpublic information about Medicare reimbursement rates to Mark Hayes, a lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The committee's filing called the SEC subpoena "a remarkable fishing expedition for congressional records." It said the U.S. Constitution shields the panel and Sutter from being compelled to testify or produce documents.
Reuters:German parliament approves 8.50 euro national minimum wage
German parliament approves 8.50 euro national minimum wage
(Reuters) - Germany's lower house of parliament approved on Thursday the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour, one of the flagship reforms of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats.
Of the 601 votes cast, 535 voted in favour of the law, 5 lawmakers voted against it and 61 abstained, according to a deputy leader of the Bundestag. The reform still needs to get approval from the Bundesrat upper house to become law. (Reporting by Annika Breidthardt; Editing by Noah Barkin)
Reuters:Abe heads to Australia after step back from post-war pacifism
Abe heads to Australia after step back from post-war pacifism
(Reuters) - A week after loosening curbs on Japan's military, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe heads to Australia to bolster security ties and conclude a defence industry agreement that may help seal a deal to build Australia a fleet of stealth submarines.
Abe will address a joint session of Australia's parliament in Canberra on Tuesday, the first such speech by a Japanese prime minister, and meet his counterpart Tony Abbott, a Japanese official said.
After their talks, the two leaders are to sign an agreement to cooperate in developing defence equipment, Japan's first such pact with another Asia-Pacific nation, mirroring an agreement clinched last year with Britain.
Abe arrives in Australia on Monday after visiting New Zealand. He will end his trip with a two-day stay in Papua New Guinea, the first visit by a Japanese prime minister in three decades.
Reuters:Thieves in Mexico steal truck with dangerous radioactive load
Thieves in Mexico steal truck with dangerous radioactive load
(Reuters) - Thieves in central Mexico on Thursday stole a pick-up truck carrying dangerous radioactive material, authorities said.
The load of iridium 192 was normally used in industrial radiography, Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement. It was housed in a specialized container and would only pose a health risk if the housing was tampered with, it said.
In December, thieves in Mexico made off with a truck containing dangerous radioactive medical material - Cobalt-60 - that the United Nations' nuclear agency said could provide an ingredient for a "dirty bomb", in which conventional explosives disperse radiation from a radioactive source.
The radioactive load was later found dumped by the thieves close to where it was stolen.
Reuters:Russia passes law to force websites onto Russian servers
Russia passes law to force websites onto Russian servers
(Reuters) - Russia's parliament passed a law on Friday to force Internet sites that store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so inside the country, a move the Kremlin says is for data protection but which critics see an attack on social networks.
The law will mean that from 2016, all Internet companies will have to move Russian data onto servers based in Russia or face being blocked from the web. That would likely affect U.S.-based social networks such as Facebook, analysts say.
Coming after new rules requiring blogs attracting more than 3,000 daily visits to register with a communications watchdog and a regulation allowing websites to be shut without a court order, critics say the law is part of a wave of censorship.
"The aim of this law is to create ... (another) quasi-legal pretext to close Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all other services," Internet expert and blogger Anton Nossik told Reuters.
LA Times:Apple Hires Tag Heuer Sales Exec
Apple Hires Tag Heuer Sales Exec
The rumors surrounding the impending launch of Apple’s first foray into the smart-watch market just got a bit more intense and believable. On Friday, the American tech giant announced it had wrested away the vice president of sales from the Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer. By all accounts, the iWatch will launch at some point later this year. Most reports have the release date pegged for some time in October. The company has yet to announce any definitive date, but, by the looks of it, this latest hire is just one more way of confirming that it’s gearing up to release the iWatch on the market.
The newest high-level acquisition at Apple is Patrick Pruniaux, the former vice president of sales and retail at Tag Heuer. The announcement that Apple had nabbed him was first made by Jean-Claude Biver to CNBC on Friday; Biver, the head of the watch brands department at LMVH, the luxury goods conglomerate that also manages Tag Heuer, told the media outlet that Apple had signed a contract with the Tag Heuer sales director. Later on during the day, 9to5Mac, a website dedicated to all things Apple, identified the new hire as Pruniaux. The news was then confirmed by global press agency Reuters.
Biver told CNBC that he doesn’t feel betrayed by Pruniaux’s departure, since the sales CEO did not leave Tag Heuer for a direct competitor. He added: “if he goes to Apple I think it is a great experience for him” and then went on to say that Swiss watchmakers should be keeping an eye out on the tech giant. According to Biver, “the iWatch will have the same status symbol power as many other Apple products, especially at the beginning. I personally believe it has the potential to be a threat for the industry, and it should not stay with its arms crossed.”
Most industry experts expect the iWatch to be launched in September or October this year. In late June, Reuters cited anonymous sources within the company, according to whom Apple has already gone ahead with mass production of the wearable gadget. Their reports say that Quanta is in charge of producing the iWatch and also state that Apple has filed the necessary documents for trademarking the iWatch in Japan. Company representatives notably failed to make any official statements regarding the device at the WWDC conference for developers. However, as many tech pundits have noted, they did make several announcements, which could be interpreted as more oblique hints regarding the upcoming release of the device.