Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, JML9999 and Man Oh Man with guest editors annetteboardman and Chitown Kev. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular 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.
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Al Jazeera America
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke to European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday and asked for help in securing a short extension of the country's bailout to allow time for a referendum on its terms, a government official said.
Previous requests for such an extension had been refused.
Greeks struggled Monday to adjust to to shuttered banks, closed cash machines and a climate of rumors and conspiracy theories on Monday as a breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors plunged the country deep into crisis.
Tsipras told Juncker that "obstructing the Greek people's democratic expression by closing banks goes against the democratic tradition of Europe," according to a Greek official. Tsipras asked Juncker to help get the program "extended by a few days and help restore the Greek banking system's liquidity."
DW
Nobel prize winning economist Christopher Pissarides tells DW why he is deeply disappointed with the Greek government’s mismanagement of the debt crisis. He also explains what Germany could have done better.
DW: The Greek banking system has been shut down and capital controls are in effect as the Greek crisis has escalated dramatically over the last couple of days. Would you ever have thought it could come to this?
Christopher Pissarides: I did actually, when I saw the run on the banks when the Greek government started saying ‘No' and they really didn't seem to be willing to negotiate something that would keep them firmly in the euro. In fact, I think they made a mistake in delaying the capital controls for so long and, as a result, they now have to be much more severe than they had to be. In Cyprus, which is the only other example we have in the euro zone, they were very effective, but the restrictions there were up to 300 euros a day, whereas in Greece it is 60 euros. The Cypriots were also much more lenient with the use of credit cards abroad, allowing money to go abroad to pay for medical care, studies etc., whereas the Greeks don't have all that. They were forced to shut it down completely now. But under the circumstances, it was the only thing that could help them avoid bankruptcy this week.
NHK
Stock prices in Tokyo plunged sharply on Monday, due to growing concerns over Greece's possible default on its debts. The key Nikkei stock price index was down more than 600 points at one time.
Sell orders surged across the board immediately after the start of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in the morning. The selling spree gained further momentum in the afternoon.
The Nikkei average of 225 selected issues ended the day at 20,109, down 596 points from Friday's close.
The broader TOPIX index of all First Section issues closed at 1,624, down 42 points.
NPR
European leaders are warning Greeks who vote "no" vote in Sunday's referendum will be choosing to leave the eurozone, the bloc of countries that uses the common currency.
"It is democracy, it is the right of the Greek people to decide what they want for their future," French President Francois Hollande said in Paris." What is at stake is whether or not Greeks want to stay in the eurozone (or) take the risk of leaving."
The comment was echoed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who said on Twitter:
The appeals to vote "yes" in the referendum come after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras broke off talks Saturday with his country's creditors and announced he was putting the terms of their proposal to Greek voters on July 5. He is urging Greeks to vote "no."
Vox
When Greece joined the euro in 2001, confidence in the Greek economy grew and a big economic boom followed. But after the 2008 financial crisis, everything changed. Every country in Europe entered a recession, but because Greece was one of the poorest and most indebted countries, it suffered the most. The unemployment rate reached 28 percent in 2013, worse than the United States suffered during the Great Depression.
If Greece wasn't in the euro, it could have boosted its economy by printing more of its currency, the drachma. This would have lowered the value of the drachma in international markets, making Greek exports more competitive. It would also lower domestic interest rates, encouraging domestic investment and making it easier for Greek debtors to service their debts.
Reuters
Tens of thousands of Greeks rallied on Monday to back their leftwing government's rejection of a tough international bailout after a clash with foreign lenders pushed Greece close to financial chaos and forced a shutdown of its banking system.
With a popular referendum on the bailout planned for Sunday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put his own position on the line, saying he would respect the result of the vote but would not lead a government to administer "austerity in perpetuity."
"If the Greek people want to have a humiliated prime minister, there are a lot of them out there. It won't be me," he said in an interview on Greek state television as one of the biggest rallies seen in Athens in years was taking place.
Al Jazeera America
Lethal injection is by far the most common method of execution in the U.S., and, because it is the most frequently used, it is the most botched. There are four other methods of executions on the books in several states, used either by inmate choice or when drugs needed for lethal injection are unavailable.
The U.S. executed 35 people in 2014, all by lethal injection. This is down from the peak of 98 executions in 1998. While the number is not as high as in some other countries — according to Amnesty International, China executed at least 1,000 people in 2014 — the U.S. ranks fifth worldwide for the number of executions.
“It’s devastating to have the United States [be] the only Western developed country that executes people — and the only country in the Americas to do so,” Ivan Simonovic, the U.N.’s assistant secretary-general for human rights told Al Jazeera.
Spiegel Online
Why is America only now having an honest debate about racism? The dead from Charleston are also the dead of a nation that has long refused to work through its past mistakes.
The United State excels at dealing with the injustices of other countries. They often even help other countries to cope with their shameful past. Germany will always be grateful to the US for sending American troops across the Atlantic to defeat the Nazis. And for insisting that the Germans be held accountable for the crimes they committed. The Nuremberg trials gave Germans the opportunity to own up to what they had done. They could no longer deny it.
The Guardian
Texas county clerks may refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite last week’s supreme court ruling that established a nationwide right to same-sex marriage, the state’s attorney general Ken Paxton said on Sunday.
A 5-4 decision by the nation’s highest court on Friday made same-sex marriage a right throughout the US. The ruling, the culmination of decades of activism, set off days of celebrations in cities from New York to San Francisco. It also unleashed a backlash from conservatives, especially in the south, who vowed to circumvent the verdict on the grounds of religious liberty.
Reuters
Doctors updated the condition of New York prison escapee David Sweat to serious from critical on Monday, a day after he was shot by police after more than three weeks on the run, hospital officials said.
Sweat, 35, is being treated in the state capital where a trauma team at Albany Medical Center determined that the convict did not require surgery, the hospital said in a statement.
He was arrested near New York's border with Canada two days after border patrol agents fatally shot his fellow escapee, Richard Matt, 49, following an intense manhunt launched after the convicted killers were discovered missing from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, on June 6.
Reuters
They're nothing special to look at, they can be noisy and some say that inside they smell like old gym shoes, but that's not all that's wrong with the three King Air 350 twin-propeller planes owned by the state of Illinois. For Governor Bruce Rauner, the trouble is that Chicago lawmakers, mostly Democrats, use the planes to fly to the state capital in Springfield.
Rauner, a former private equity executive who was elected as a Republican last November, is trying to cut costs and has threatened to eliminate the government air service that shuttles between Chicago and Springfield. Cancelling the flights would save $3 million a year, the state transportation department estimates.
While there are some Republicans in the Chicago suburbs who use the service, the state planes have taken on symbolic importance as Rauner jousts with Democratic leaders over ways to end years of big Illinois budget deficits. House Speaker Mike Madigan rode the state airplane 12 times from Jan. 12 to April 24, according to state records. State Senate President John Cullerton took it nine times during that period.
NPR
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz intends to make his opposition to the Supreme Court's decision last week to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide "front and center" in his presidential campaign.
In an interview with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep on Sunday in New York City, the GOP presidential hopeful doubled down on his belief that the court had overstepped its bounds in both the marriage decision and in upholding Obamacare. And as a result, Cruz said, the justices should be subject to elections and lose their lifetime appointments.
"This week in response to both of these decisions, I have called for another constitutional amendment — this one that would make members of the Supreme Court subject to periodic judicial retention elections," said Cruz.
NPR
Politicians are usually very careful about the words they use. President Obama is no exception. But increasingly he seems to be just letting it fly.
During his standup routine at the White House Correspondents' dinner earlier this year, President Obama came right out and said it. Well, almost.
"After the midterm elections, my advisers asked me, 'Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?' And I said, 'Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.'"
The audience started to get the joke. And then the president continued: "Take executive action on immigration. Bucket. New climate regulations. Bucket, it's the right thing to do."
Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law legislation that gives him "fast-track" power to push ahead on a Pacific Rim trade deal that has been the subject of intense debate in Congress and across the nation.
Flanked by some of the lawmakers who supported the bill through a six-week congressional battle, Obama acknowledged that his fight to secure the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership was far from over.
"We still have some tough negotiations that are going to be taking place," Obama said at a signing ceremony. He noted that lawmakers and the public will be able to scrutinize the trade deal before it is finalized. "The debate will not end with this bill signing," he said.
New York Times
NBC just told Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and former star of “The Celebrity Apprentice” reality show, that he’s fired.
Following inflammatory remarks that Mr. Trump made about Mexican immigrants during his presidential announcement, NBC said in a statement that it was ending its business relationship with the billionaire real estate and media mogul. During his June 16 announcement, Mr. Trump referred to immigrants as “rapists” and “murderers.”
Al Jazeera America
The spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor says two Uber managers have been taken into custody for questioning over “illicit activity” linked to the ride-hailing company's low-cost service.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre didn't name the Uber two managers detained Monday. The American company has sparred with the government over its lowest-cost service. Despite a violence-marred taxi strike, Uber says it plan to keep operating the service until a ruling by the country's top court.
Al Jazeera America
Seven people are being interrogated in Tunisia's capital in the investigation into a deadly beach resort attack that killed 38 people, a person with knowledge of the investigation told the Associated Press.
That person said that four people were arrested Monday — two in the resort town of Sousse where the attack occurred, one in the capital Tunis and one in the city of Kasserine. Three others were arrested Sunday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity, because he wasn't authorized to be publicly named.
Earlier, Interior Minister Mohamed Najem Gharsalli said that multiple arrests have been made, but provided few details.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for last Friday's assault on the Imperial Marhaba hotel in the resort town of Sousse, which killed mostly British tourists. The gunman, identified as Saif Rezgui, was shot dead by police.
The Guardian
Brazil’s justice minister has described his country’s violent and overcrowded prison system as “terrible” and warned that it will only get worse if congress votes this week to lower the age of criminal responsibility.
José Eduardo Cardozo ordered the early publication of a justice ministry report on prison overcrowding ahead of a vote on Tuesday over legislation which would reduce the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 for serious offences involving violence.
The new statistics show that Brazil’s prison population has doubled in the last 10 years and now contains more than 220,000 inmates over its capacity. Lowering the age of criminal responibility will add up to 40,000 more inmates to the system, Cardozo said.
The Guardian
Seven Britons are among a group of students who have travelled to Turkey in what is believed to be an attempt to join Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The 12 students, who all studied medicine at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, left for Turkey on Friday.
In March, it emerged that nine British medical students and doctors had travelled to Syria to work in areas controlled by Isis. They had also been studying medicine in Sudan.
Dr Ahmed Babikir, a dean at the private university in Khartoum, said it was likely the group, which is made up of men and women and includes Canadian and American citizens, was trying to reach Syria to join Isis. “We confirmed reports from multiple parties that 12 medical students at the university left for Turkey on Friday,” he said.
BBC
Organisers of a party at an amusement park in Taiwan have been detained for questioning after a fire suddenly tore through the crowds, injuring hundreds.
The fire started when coloured powder discharged from the stage onto the audience ignited.
The number of people injured has been revised down by the authorities from an earlier figure of 524 to 498.
Footage showed people panicking and screaming, and inflatable water toys used as stretchers.
Some 202 injured remain in serious condition, health officials said.
Officials said many of the victims appeared to be in their 20s or younger.
Reuters
France has asked its firms to prepare a return to Iran ahead of a likely deal with powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, but Paris' tough stance in talks and ties with Sunni Arab states means its "love-hate" relationship with Iran will continue.
Despite a long history of commercial, political and social links with Iran that even saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei exiled near Paris in 1979, France has arguably been the most demanding among the six powers negotiating a final accord.
The talks will continue past Tuesday's deadline for a comprehensive agreement intended to open the door to ending sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy in exchange for limits on its most sensitive nuclear activities for at least a decade.
France's position risks alienating its companies once international sanctions are lifted and Iran is able to collect debts from overseas banks that may exceed $150 billion and attract companies to invest across all sectors, from its aging hydrocarbon-based energy system to transport and general construction.
THE ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY
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Climate Central
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority with a 2012 regulation limiting mercury emissions and other pollutants from coal-fired power plants because it refused to consider the costs involved in complying with the mandate.
In a 5-4 opinion, the court said that the EPA must consider the cost of an environmental regulation before deciding if it is “appropriate and necessary.” It left it to the EPA to decide how costs should be considered and sent the case back to the federal appeals court to decide whether the rule should remain in effect in the meantime.
Reuters
Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) won a major legal victory on Monday in a closely watched copyright case involving the company's Java programing language as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) appeal.
The decision upholds a ruling that allows Oracle to seek licensing fees for the use of some of the Java language. Google had said it should be able to use Java without paying a fee.
The case involves how much copyright protection should extend to Java. Google, which used Java to design its Android smartphone operating system, said in court papers that an Oracle victory would obstruct "an enormous amount of innovation" because software developers would not be able to build freely on each others' work.
Al Jazeera America
PHOENIX — When temperatures reach triple digits across metro Phoenix, homeless recycler Victor Schaeffer shrinks into a dwindling patch of shade behind a convenience store and douses himself with water.
Just off work at a national fast-food outlet, homeless mother Kimberly Mariano, meanwhile, pays $4 for an all-day pass and rides the air-conditioned light rail train back and forth across the city to cool off.
Street sleeper Carol Molina waits for the sprinkler system in a nearby apartment block to sputter to life so that she can grab a vital drink of water during a week when the temperature peaked at 115 degrees.
“We're always filling cups up with water with the sprinklers to keep cool and stuff,” said Molina, grateful for the brief respite. “Thank God for the blessings we've got.”
The trio are among about 1,000 homeless sleeping out on the sun-scorched streets of metro Phoenix, scrabbling to stay alive in recent days in sweltering heatwave conditions that each year prove fatal to those without shelter.
NPR
The theory of evolution by natural selection is among the best established in science, yet also among the most controversial for subsets of the American public.
For decades we've known that beliefs about evolution are well-predicted by demographic factors, such as religious upbringing and political affiliation. There's also enormous variation in the acceptance of evolution across different countries, all of which suggests an important role for cultural input in driving beliefs about evolution. A child raised by Buddhists in California is much more likely to accept evolution than one raised by evangelical protestants in Kansas.
But in the last 20 years or so, research in psychology and the cognitive science of religion has increasingly focused on another factor that contributes to evolutionary disbelief: the very cognitive mechanisms underlying human cognition.
NPR
A doctor I interviewed for this story told me something that stuck with me. He said for every person with dementia he treats, he finds himself caring for two patients. That's how hard it can be to be a caregiver for someone with dementia.
The doctor is Bruce Miller. He directs the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco. According to Miller, 50 percent of caregivers develop a major depressive illness because of the caregiving. "The caregiver is so overburdened that they don't know what to do next," he says. "This adds a huge burden to the medical system."
This burden is going increase dramatically in the coming decade. By 2025, 7 million Americans will have Alzheimer's disease, according to one recent estimate. Millions more will suffer from other types of dementia.
C/NET
Apple is late to the subscription music party, but it is bringing Siri along to have a little fun.
On Tuesday, the electronics giant will launch Apple Music, its long-anticipated foray into the burgeoning world of tunes available to stream for a $10-a-month subscription. Similar to rivals such as Spotify, Tidal, Rdio and Rhapsody, the service will offer tens of millions of tracks to play on demand and collections of tunes tailored to your personal tastes.
Unlike those other services, Apple adds the element of voice commands with its Siri virtual assistant. Voice commands like "play the top 10 alternative songs now" and "play the top song from 1982" will automatically retrieve those tracks.
Reuters
A wildfire burning unchecked in Washington state has destroyed at least 23 homes and three commercial buildings near the eastern foothills of the Cascades, state police and emergency management officials said on Monday.
The so-called Sleepy Hollow fire has scorched an estimated 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of rolling grasslands and brush in and around Wenatchee in central Washington since it erupted on Sunday, said state patrol spokesman Darren Wright.
A couple of firefighters suffered minor injuries, Wright said.