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:Hammond: UK won't work with Assad in Islamic State battle
Hammond: UK won't work with Assad in Islamic State battle
Britain will not work with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the battle against Islamic State (IS) extremists, the foreign secretary has told the BBC.
Philip Hammond said to do so would not be "practical, sensible or helpful".
Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt and ex-Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind called for the move following the beheading of US journalist James Foley by IS militants.
Mr Hammond also defended the monitoring of suspected extremists in the UK.
BBC:Ebola crisis: Speed and extent of outbreak 'unprecedented'
Ebola crisis: Speed and extent of outbreak 'unprecedented'
The World Health Organization has said the speed and extent of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is "unprecedented".
The WHO's Dr Keiji Fukuda expressed concern over so-called "shadow zones", areas which cannot be reached and where patients are not being detected.
The organisation confirmed 142 new cases of the disease had been reported since 19 August, as well as 77 deaths.
Already more people have died in this outbreak of Ebola than in any other.
BBC:US accuses China fighter of reckless mid-air intercept
US accuses China fighter of reckless mid-air intercept
A Chinese fighter came perilously close to a US military patrol plane over international waters east of China's Hainan Island, the Pentagon has said.
Spokesman John Kirby said that the US had protested to the Chinese military over the mid-air intercept, calling the fighter pilot's actions "unsafe and unprofessional".
He said that the Chinese aircraft came within 10 metres of the US Navy plane.
Correspondents say that it is the fourth such incident since March.
BBC:Argentina debt plan ruled 'illegal' in US court
Argentina debt plan ruled 'illegal' in US court
Argentina's plan to exit its debt default by asking investors holding defaulted bonds to swap them for new locally issued debt has been ruled "illegal" by a US court.
New York Judge Thomas Griesa said the plan was "lawless".
However, he stopped short of finding the country in contempt of court.
Argentina was trying to get around an earlier court ruling banning it from paying interest to investors who had accepted restructured bonds.
BBC:Colombian military officers meet Farc rebels in Havana
Colombian military officers meet Farc rebels in Havana
The Colombian military has held its first meeting with Farc rebel leaders at peace talks in Havana.
Their talks will focus on ways of implementing a ceasefire and, if a peace deal is agreed, on the laying down of weapons by the rebels.
President Juan Manuel Santos said the government and rebels were getting closer to an agreement.
Earlier this week the rebels met, also for the first time, a group of victims of the five-decade war.
BBC:Iraq conflict: Diyala Sunni mosque attack kills dozens
Iraq conflict: Diyala Sunni mosque attack kills dozens
An attack by suspected Shia militiamen on a Sunni mosque in Iraq's Diyala province has killed at least 68 people.
Officials say a bomber blew himself up in the mosque during Friday prayers and gunmen fired on fleeing worshippers.
Diyala province has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks between IS and Iraqi troops backed by Shia militiamen.
The attack is seen as a blow to government efforts to secure backing from Sunni groups in its battle against Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
Reuters:
U.S. undercover investigators among those exposed in data breach
U.S. undercover investigators among those exposed in data breach
(Reuters) - A cyber attack at a firm that performs background checks for U.S. government employees compromised data of at least 25,000 workers, including some undercover investigators, and that number could rise, agency officials said on Friday.
The breach at Falls Church, Virginia-based US Investigations Services (USIS) exposed highly personal information of workers at the Department of Homeland Security's headquarters as well as its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection units, two officials familiar with the investigation into the breach told Reuters.
Some employees have already received letters warning them about the breach that say compromised information includes Social Security numbers, education and criminal history, birth dates along with information about spouses, other relatives and friends including their names and addresses.
"Records including this data were exposed to unauthorized users during the cybersecurity intrusion," according to a notification letter obtained by Reuters. "We do not yet know whether the data was actually taken."
Reuters:Mexico launches special police force to guard economic activity
Mexico launches special police force to guard economic activity
(Reuters) - Mexico on Friday launched a scaled-back version of a new police force President Enrique Pena Nieto had vowed to create while on the campaign trail to safeguard businesses against rampant organized crime.
Pena Nieto originally promised to create a 40,000-member Gendarmerie Division to take the lead in tackling violent crimes such as extortion and kidnapping, given that poorly paid security forces have been easy targets for the cartels to infiltrate and corrupt.
But the 5,000-member force launched on Friday will be part of the federal police and focus on guarding agriculture, mining, and oil and gas production against criminal groups, said Monte Alejandro Rubido, director of the National Security Commission.
"If there is organized crime that could disrupt production, then the Gendarmerie will be there," he told a news conference on Friday. However, companies would not be able to request its services, he added.
Reuters:Rousseff, rivals change tack in Brazil's reshaped election
Rousseff, rivals change tack in Brazil's reshaped election
(Reuters) - When Brazil's notoriously private President Dilma Rousseff showed up in her kitchen cooking pasta in a campaign TV ad this week, it was one of the clearest signs yet that the country's October election is up for grabs.
Rousseff and other candidates are shifting strategies and showing rarely seen sides of their personalities in what suddenly looks like a tight three-way race following this week's late entry of popular environmentalist Marina Silva.
Popular with young voters for her authenticity and tough stance on corruption, Silva joined the field following the death of her party's previous candidate in a plane crash.
Her presence forces Rousseff and other contenders to show a more human side of themselves - as in the kitchen scene - while also doubling down on the message that Brazilian voters most want to hear in this election: Change.
Reuters:WTO rules against Argentina in import restrictions case
WTO rules against Argentina in import restrictions case
(Reuters) - A World Trade Organization dispute panel ruled against Argentina on Friday in a 2012 case brought by the United States, European Union and Japan against the South American country's licensing rules used to restrict imports.
The three economic powers argued that Argentina did not automatically grant licenses to importers as required by WTO rules, allowing it to shield its vulnerable economy.
The panel of three independent arbitrators found that Argentina's licensing rules violated WTO agreements, and urged the government of President Cristina Fernandez to bring them in line with international trade rules.
Argentina has 60 days during which it may file an appeal of the panel's ruling to the WTO.
The office of the United States Trade Representative said in a statement the ruling was "a major victory for American workers, manufacturers and farmers."
Reuters:Death toll could double to over 80 in Hiroshima landslide, more rain falls
Death toll could double to over 80 in Hiroshima landslide, more rain falls
(Reuters) - Heavy rain delayed a search on Friday for more than 50 people believed buried under a deadly landslide on the edge of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, as opposition politicians rounded on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his handling of the disaster.
Rescue workers feared the continuing rain could set off further landslides in the area after a month's worth of rain fell in one night on Wednesday, loosening slopes already saturated by heavy rain over the past few weeks.
The death toll currently stands at 39.
Abe has been criticized by the opposition for playing several rounds of golf on the day of the disaster before breaking it off to rush back to Tokyo. Critics have also slammed his returning to his vacation villa afterwards.
Reuters:Russia, in sanctions retaliation, bars entry to some Japanese citizens
Russia, in sanctions retaliation, bars entry to some Japanese citizens
(Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday it had handed Japan's ambassador in Moscow a list of Japanese citizens barred from entering Russia.
The ministry said in a statement that the list was a response to visa restrictions that Japan had imposed on a number of Russian citizens. The ministry did not say which Japanese citizens are on the barred list.
Editorial Note:Not your usual human interest story but lost in the sauce of the Bank Of America Deal
The Telegraph:Trust Goldman Sachs to make a record fine look like a good result
Trust Goldman Sachs to make a record fine look like a good result
Here’s the thing about Goldman Sachs: even when it’s bad, it’s good. The US investment bank – which appears to be admired, envied and reviled in almost equal measure – is in talks with the Federal Housing Finance Agency to settle claims it sold dicey mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the credit crunch.
The fine is likely to cost Goldmans between $800m (£470m) and $1.25bn according to a report in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Even at the lower end of that range, it would eclipse the largest fine in the investment bank’s history: the $550m settlement agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 for a particularly benighted piece of mortgage-related chicanery called Abacus.
Students of financial shenanigans will remember this as the synthetic collateralised debt obligation put together by Goldmans employee Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre and subsequently shorted by hedge fund manager John Paulson. The problem? Goldmans failed to tell Abacus investors that Mr Paulson had had a hand in deciding which loans went in the CDO.
The SEC even managed to extract an admission from Goldmans that the investment bank had made “a mistake” in how it had marketed Abacus.