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:Cameron: UK won't pay £1.7bn EU bill
Cameron: UK won't pay £1.7bn EU bill
David Cameron has angrily insisted the UK will not pay £1.7bn being demanded by the European Union.
"If people think I am paying that bill on 1 December, they have another think coming," the prime minister said in Brussels. "It is not going to happen."
But Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the demand should "not have come as a surprise" to the UK.
He said it was made under a system agreed by all the member states and based on data provided by them.
BBC:Egypt: 29 killed as Sinai attacks target security forces
Egypt: 29 killed as Sinai attacks target security forces
A suspected jihadist car bomb has killed at least 26 Egyptian soldiers at a checkpoint in Sinai, officials say.
The attack took place near El Arish, the main town in the north of the restive peninsula. Three more died in a shooting in the town itself.
The bomb blast is one of the deadliest attacks in Sinai for months. At least 28 more people were injured.
The army has been fighting a campaign against Sinai-based militants, who have carried out a string of attacks there.
BBC:US to investigate claims IS used 'chemical weapons' in Iraq
US to investigate claims IS used 'chemical weapons' in Iraq
The United States is to investigate whether militant group Islamic State (IS) used chemical weapons in Iraq, Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
Mr Kerry said he was looking into "extremely serious" allegations that IS attacked Iraqi police officers with chlorine gas last month.
Speaking on a visit to South Korea, Mr Kerry said the claims were unconfirmed.
In September, France, Germany and the UK said it was "probable" IS had chlorine gas.
BBC:Suspect in beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl released
Suspect in beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl released
One of the suspects in the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl has been set free by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan.
Qari Hashim was detained in 2005 and held in jail in Hyderabad, a southern city in Pakistan, during his trial.
The court acquitted Mr Hashim because of a lack of evidence, his lawyer said.
Pearl went missing in Karachi in January 2002. A month later authorities said he had been killed after receiving video footage of his beheading.
BBC:Putin: Russia helped Yanukovych to flee Ukraine
Putin: Russia helped Yanukovych to flee Ukraine
Russia helped ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to flee from violent protests in February, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said.
It is the first time Mr Putin has said openly that he helped his ally to flee.
Russian speakers in Ukraine's east mostly backed Mr Yanukovych and were enraged at his overthrow, which helped to fuel months of violence.
Ukraine is electing a new parliament on Sunday, but eastern separatists will hold their own vote next month.
BBC:Ebola crisis: 'Many exposed' to infected Mali girl
Ebola crisis: 'Many exposed' to infected Mali girl
Health officials fear many people may have been exposed to Mali's first Ebola victim - a two-year-old girl.
She recently arrived from Guinea, one of the worst affected countries, and has since died.
The girl showed symptoms, including a bleeding nose, while travelling on a public bus through several towns, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Forty-three people, including 10 health workers, who came into contact with her have been identified and isolated.
Reuters:Fannie Mae settles shareholder lawsuit for $170 million
Fannie Mae settles shareholder lawsuit for $170 million
(Reuters) - Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) has reached a $170 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of misleading shareholders about its finances, risk management and mortgage exposure before it was seized by the U.S. government during the 2008 financial crisis.
The settlement, which requires court approval, was disclosed in a Friday filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
It resolves shareholder allegations that Fannie Mae defrauded shareholders and inflated its stock by issuing false and misleading statements about its internal controls, capitalization, accounting, and exposure to subprime and low-documentation "Alt-A" mortgages.
The settlement allocates $123.8 million to common stockholders and $46.2 million to preferred stockholders between Nov. 8, 2006 and Sept. 5, 2008.
Reuters:Two U.S. states to quarantine health workers returning from Ebola zones
Two U.S. states to quarantine health workers returning from Ebola zones
(Reuters) - New York and New Jersey will automatically quarantine medical workers returning from Ebola-hit West African countries and the U.S. government is considering the same step after a doctor who treated patients in Guinea came back infected, officials said on Friday.
The steps announced by the two states, which go beyond the current restrictions being imposed by President Barack Obama's administration on travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, came as medical detectives tried to retrace the steps in New York City of Dr. Craig Spencer, who tested positive for Ebola on Thursday.
The new policy applies to medical workers returning from the region through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. In the first instance of the new move, a female healthcare worker who had treated patients in West Africa and arrived at the Newark, New Jersey, airport was ordered into quarantine.
"Voluntary quarantine is almost an oxymoron," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We've seen what happens. ... You ride a subway. You ride a bus. You could infect hundreds and hundreds of people."
Reuters:U.S. says Palestinian-American killed by Israeli forces
U.S. says Palestinian-American killed by Israeli forces
(Reuters) - Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian-American youth during clashes on Friday, the U.S. State Department said, calling for a quick and transparent investigation.
Orwah Hammad, 14, was shot in the head in the village of Silwad, north of the Palestinian seat of government in Ramallah.
An Israeli army spokesman told Reuters Israeli forces "managed to prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail at them on the main road next to Silwad. They opened fire and they confirmed a hit."
The military said it would investigate the shooting, which occurred amid other clashes in Arab areas in and around Jerusalem in which several people were lightly injured.
Reuters:Japan could deploy minesweepers off S. Korea in war with North, U.S. admiral says
Japan could deploy minesweepers off S. Korea in war with North, U.S. admiral says
(Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to let Japan's military fight overseas could open the way for the country to deploy minesweepers in South Korean waters in the event of a war with North Korea, a senior U.S. admiral said on Friday.
Japan's military has defined its role as purely defensive, but Abe's cabinet in July revised the government's interpretation of the pacifist postwar constitution to allow its troops to aid a friendly country under attack.
Mine-sweeping in Korean waters would give Japan's Self-Defense Forces an expanded role in its security alliance with the United States and give Washington a welcome backstop in a region where economic growth has brought more military spending.
"When you look at the Korean peninsula and the challenges for mine warfare, especially early in a conflict, the Japanese can be a critical asset," Vice Admiral Robert Thomas, commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, told reporters.
Reuters:U.S. House panel to meet with safety regulators about Takata air bags next week
U.S. House panel to meet with safety regulators about Takata air bags next week
(Reuters) - The U.S. House committee looking into the defective air bags made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp (7312.T) will hold an initial briefing with U.S. safety regulators next week to learn the details of the regional recalls affecting 10 automakers, a committee aide said on Friday.
The date of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's briefing was not disclosed. It is not a hearing and will not be open to the public, the aide said.
The committee has not requested any documents on Takata at this point, the aide said.
Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration were not immediately available.
Reuters:Former Japan PM Fukuda to meet China's Xi next week: source
Former Japan PM Fukuda to meet China's Xi next week: source
(Reuters) - Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next Wednesday in Beijing, a source familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for a possible meeting between the leaders of Japan and China in November.
Expectations have been growing in Japan for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet Xi for an ice-breaking chat next month on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Beijing.
A one-on-one meeting of the leaders would be a symbolic breakthrough in ties between the world's second- and third-biggest economies, which have turned frigid in the past two years over a territorial row, regional rivalry and the bitter legacy of Japan's wartime occupation of China.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed that Fukuda was going to Beijing as the head of a regional forum for government and business leaders, but said the government was not aware of the details of the visit.
Wired:A Google Exec Just Skydived 136K Feet, Smashing the World Record
A Google Exec Just Skydived 136K Feet, Smashing the World Record
Google’s search czar just broke the record for highest sky dive ever. As reported by The New York Times, Alan Eustace jumped from a balloon that was 135,890 feet above the Earth.
This breaks the record set two years ago by Felix Baumgartner (as part of Red Bull Strata) by more than 7,000 feet.
Starting before dawn, Eustace’s helium-filled balloon rose for two hours above the New Mexico desert, near Roswell. When he reached peak altitude, he freed himself by firing a small explosive device, then plummeted at speeds over 800 mph. Eustace even broke the sound barrier, but he told the Times that he neither felt, nor heard the boom. Observers on the ground did, though.
Eustace’s jumped from nearly a mile and a half higher than Baumgartner’s October 14, 2012 record of 128,100 feet. His operation was also markedly different from Baumgartner’s Red Bull-sponsored jump, which had been preceded by years of marketing hype. Eustace planned his jump in secret with a tiny cabal of fellow engineers and technologists helping design the gear and plan logistics. He even declined support from Google, where he is vice president of search, because he didn’t want his stunt to become a public relations event.