Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Sunday, May 9, 2010.
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.
The OND concept was borne under the keen keyboard of Magnifico - proper respect is due.
The beautiful hummingbird picture is a gift from dadanation.
TOP STORY ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
BP seeks solution after dome problem occurs
BP Plc engineers will search for a solution on Sunday after suffering a setback in an attempt to contain oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico with a huge metal dome, dashing hopes for a quick, temporary solution to a growing environmental disaster.
The company was forced to move the four-story containment dome off to the side on the sea floor after a buildup of crystallized gas forced it to suspend the effort. Covering the leak with the structure was seen as the best short-term way to stem the flow from a ruptured oil well.
BP expects to take up to two days plotting its next move, Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.
A Kossack may have an answer to containing the oil spill
I think I may have come up with an idea that will help contain the Gulf spill and can be manufactured relatively quickly. I am not an engineer, but I do have a Master of Industrial Design degree from The Rhode Island School of Design, where I received the Rachel Carson Environmental award for ecologically responsible design.
Please find the attached jpeg sketch of a "Permeable Cone Stocking" concept.
This approach would avoid the complicated chemistry involved in deep sea high-pressure capture efforts by making the tube between the ocean floor leak and the water surface PERMEABLE. As a result, this method allows some oil to escape, but more or less contains it within the cone.
THE WORLD
EU Crafts $962 Billion Show of Force to Halt Crisis
European policy makers unveiled an unprecedented loan package worth nearly $1 trillion and a program of securities purchases as they spearheaded a drive to stop a sovereign-debt crisis that threatened to shatter confidence in the euro. Jolted into action by last week’s slide in the currency to a 14-month low and soaring bond yields in Portugal and Spain, governments of the 16 euro nations agreed to make loans of as much as 750 billion euros ($962 billion) available to countries under attack from speculators.
The ECB will also embark on “very significant operations,” European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters in Brussels after the 14-hour meeting. “The ECB has taken a decision to intervene in the secondary markets of government securities.”
Merkel Coalition Routed in German State Voting
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel, beleaguered by her handling of the Greek financial crisis, her squabbling government and disgruntlement over hardship in Germany’s rust belt, had historic losses Sunday in crucial regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, where exit polls suggested her coalition was trounced.
If the results are confirmed, Mrs. Merkel will lose her majority in the Bundesrat, the upper house of Parliament, which signs off on legislation and contains representatives from each of the 16 states in Germany.
That would mean that Mrs. Merkel would no longer be able to push through decisive changes. She had initiated few since taking office for a second term eight months ago because of infighting in the coalition of her conservative Christian Democrats and pro-business Free Democrats.
UK parties continue coalition talks
The UK's two main opposition parties have held extensive talks to discuss possible conditions on forming a government following last week's inconclusive election.
Senior members of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties met in London on Sunday to continue negotiations that could hinge on agreement over electoral reform.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary for the Conservatives, said that the seven hours of talks had been "very positive and productive."
Hague said that the two sides had discussed the economy, the environment and civil liberties.
Party political strategists are keen to avoid leaks
The official was polite, but firm as he stopped me. "I'm sorry," he said. "No press allowed there."
The part of the parliamentary estate where David Cameron - and many other MPs - have their offices was unusually, and suddenly, declared out of bounds to journalists on Sunday night.
Inside the Tory strategy for negotiations with the Liberal Democrats was under discussion. It was hardly surprising someone had decided reporters were best kept away.
But it illustrated a wider point - the parties are trying very hard to ensure the fine details of these negotiations do not leak.
Conservative members of parliament were, however, welcome in the Tory leader's office on Sunday. He will also meet them on Monday, and Nick Clegg is also due to see his MPs.
Nigeria swears in new president
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's acting president, has been sworn in as the country's new leader following the death of Umaru Yar'Adua.
Jonathan took the oath of office at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, just hours after officials announced the death of Yar'Adua following a long illness.
Thousands of mourners attended Yar'Adua's funeral in his northern home state of Katsina late on Thursday, as the country began seven days of mourning.
Jonathan had already been running the country after assuming the position of acting president on February 9, while Yar'Adua was in Saudi Arabia receiving medical treatment.
Under the constitution, Jonathan is now the head of state until the country's next elections scheduled to be held by April 2011. He will also nominate a vice-president, subject to approval by the senate.
Tsunami alert lifted in Indonesia
Indonesia has lifted a tsunami alert issued after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Sumatra, according to the country's quake agency and the United States Geological Survey.
The quake hit at about 1pm (0600 GMT) on Sunday at a depth of 30km, 66km southwest of Meulaboh district in Aceh, the local Meteorological and Geophysics agency said.
This led to the tsunami alert.
"Sea-level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated. Therefore the tsunami watch issued by this centre is now cancelled," the USGS said.
First round of Mid-East indirect peace talks completed
The first round of talks ended with the US confirming that special envoy George Mitchell will return to the region next week.
The US urged both sides to keep up the effort after Mr Mitchell met the Palestinian president on Sunday.
Mr Mitchell will now shuttle between the two sides, with hopes that direct talks can start within four months.
The United States warned both sides not to undermine the peace effort - or be held "accountable".
Israeli air raids hit southern Gaza
Palestinians say tunnels are a lifeline for bringing in supplies because of Israel's blockade of Gaza
Israel has carried out two air strikes on positions in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the attack early on Monday was "in response to the rocket that hit Israeli territory on Saturday night" and vowed to "continue to operate against those who use terror".
Monday's attack, in which no casualties were reported, came just hours after Israelis and Palestinians began indirect talks towards direct peace negotiations.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, made the announcement after a meeting on Sunday between George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in the occupied Palestinian territory of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Deaths in Pakistan 'missile attack'
Pakistani intelligence officials say that a suspected US drone attack has killed at least 10 people in the country's northwest.
The raid targeted North Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border where many Taliban-affiliated networks are based.
Pakistani intelligence officials said two missiles hit the house of Awal Gul, a local tribesman, in Inzarkas, a village 50km west of Miran Shah.
Residents spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The suspect in the recent failed car bombing in New York City's Times Square has claimed he visited in a Taliban fighters camp in the Waziristan region.
Ash cloud from Iceland volcano grounds another 500 flights across Europe
More than 500 flights were cancelled across Europe yesterday as the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland closed airspace across the Iberian Peninsula and northern Mediterranean.
Aircraft were grounded in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Irish Republic and Croatia.
Britain escaped the worst of the disruption but small airstrips in northwest Scotland closed and British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair cancelled some flights from the UK to affected destinations.
Transatlantic flights were diverted north, around the main cloud.
Chinchilla Sworn In as Costa Rica’s President
Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla vowed to protect the environment, crack down on organized crime and attract investment for an economic rebound as she was sworn in today as the Central American country’s first female president.
“We will work for a safer Costa Rica with more police presence, a more innovative, more intelligent, more enterprising Costa Rica with a new economy led by biotechnology, organic agriculture, and the aerospace industry,” Chinchilla said on local television.
Chinchilla, 51, of the ruling National Liberation Party, won the Feb. 7 election with 46.9 percent of votes, according to the country’s electoral tribunal. She stepped down as vice president to Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias to run.
Chinchilla’s opponents said Arias, barred by the constitution from running again, would continue to govern from behind the scenes. As one of her first acts in office, she restored a ban on open-pit mining that had been lifted by Arias.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Holder: Feds may sue over Arizona immigration law
Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday that the Justice Department was considering a federal lawsuit against Arizona's new immigration law.
"We are considering all of our options. One possibility is filing a lawsuit," Holder told NBC's "Meet the Press." Possible grounds for the lawsuit would be whether the Arizona law could lead to civil rights violations, he said.
The recently enacted Arizona law initially allowed police to ask anyone for proof of legal U.S. residency, based solely on a police officer's suspicion that the person might be in the country illegally. Arizona lawmakers soon amended the law so that officers could check a person's status only if the person had been stopped or arrested for another reason.
Oil spill: US failing to tighten ecological oversight, say activists
The Obama administration waived environmental reviews for 26 new offshore drilling projects even as the BP oil disaster spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, environmental activists said today.
The charge came as hopes for a quick fix to the Deepwater Horizon spill were dashed when a build-up of crystallised gas blocked pipes in a huge metal containment box that had been built to cap the well. Engineers are now considering a "junk shot", shooting a mix of debris – including shredded tires and golf balls – into the well at high pressure to clog it, said Thad Allen, a US coast guard commander.
With the spill still unchecked and spreading to Alabama's beaches, there was renewed focus on oversight procedures that allowed BP and Transocean to drill without backup plans in place.
U.S. troops march in Moscow in salute to Allies' role in WWII
It was a scene cut from Russia's Cold War nightmares: 71 Americans in dark blue dress uniforms carried the U.S. flag over the cobblestones, past the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin and the towers of the Kremlin wall to salute Russian leaders.
French, British and Polish soldiers also took part in the parade in a tribute to the role the Allies played in what Russia called the Great Patriotic War. Under clear skies, the reviewing stands were packed with Russian officials, foreign dignitaries and hundreds of aging war veterans.
Pakistani Taliban behind NY plot
The Pakistani Taliban was behind the failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in the heart of New York City, the United States attorney general has said.
Eric Holder's revelation on Sunday came almost a week after US authorities arrested Faisal Shahzad, a naturalised US citizen born in Pakistan, blamed for planting the bomb in Times Square.
"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," Holder said on ABC's current affairs talk show "This Week".
"We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he [Faisal Shahzad] was working at their direction," he said.
Holder said there was nothing to suggest that the government of Pakistan was aware that Shahzad, 30, intended to carry out the attack.
'Tea party' clout: What was learned from Sen. Robert Bennett loss
The circumstances of ouster of three-term Sen. Robert Bennett in a Utah Republican primary Saturday suggest that any claims of a "tea party" revolution in the works for the 2010 midterm elections are, perhaps, still premature.
To be sure, the elimination of incumbent Senator Bennett in the race for the Republican nomination is the most concrete political accomplishment yet of the tea party movement, which opposed him. Moreover, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's flight from the Republican Party – when faced with a near-certain primary defeat at the hands of the tea-party-backed Marco Rubio – shows that Republicans ignore the tea party at their peril.
Gates: Pentagon must cut overhead, restrain spending
The Pentagon must hold down its spending and make choices that will anger "powerful people" in an era of economic strain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a weekend speech in Kansas.
Increasing health care costs, a top-heavy uniformed and civilian management force, and big-ticket weapons systems are swelling the military's budget at an "unsustainable" rate, Gates said. In response, Gates said, he has ordered the Defense Department's military and civilian leaders to find savings of 2 to 3 percent -- more than $10 billion of the Pentagon's roughly $550 billion base budget -- and shift spending toward war-fighting costs.
Problems Even Before a Ferryboat’s First Voyage
The Andrew J. Barberi first set sail across Upper New York Bay in August 1981 after a pomp-filled send-off from Staten Island by Mayor Edward I. Koch. Its engine promptly failed, the steering mechanism went dead, and the vessel ran aground near Governors Island.
The mammoth orange ferry, the second-oldest in the Staten Island Ferry fleet, had problems even before that first voyage. And in 2003, the Barberi was involved in the worst accident in the ferry’s history, when a captain who had been taking painkillers blacked out and the ferry rammed into a pier at St. George terminal on Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring scores.
Betty White Gives Mother's Day Gift to "SNL"
Octogenarian actress Betty White helped "Saturday Night Live" reach its largest TV audience in 18 months during a Mother's Day show that saw the "Golden Girls" star make fun of her age, Facebook and sex.
"Saturday Night Live" averaged an 8.8 rating in cities where viewership is measured overnight, up 66 percent from last year's 5.3 rating, according to preliminary figures released by the NBC network on Sunday.
It is the highest overnight rating for "SNL" since November 1, 2008 when U.S. Senator John McCain was a special guest during his presidential campaign and comedian Tina Fey was drawing fans with her impression of his running mate, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
TECH NEWS
Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative
Facebook has gone rogue, drunk on founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams of world domination. It’s time the rest of the web ecosystem recognizes this and works to replace it with something open and distributed.
Facebook used to be a place to share photos and thoughts with friends and family and maybe play a few stupid games that let you pretend you were a mafia don or a homesteader. It became a very useful way to connect with your friends, long-lost friends and family members. Even if you didn’t really want to keep up with them.
Here’s Your Chance to Drive a Chevrolet Volt
The Chevrolet Volt is the biggest thing to come out of General Motors in years, and the company wastes no opportunity to say the range-extended electric vehicle is a “game changer.” Four lucky readers will get a chance to judge for themselves by driving a Volt at Milford Proving Ground.
Wired.com and General Motors have teamed up for the Wired Volt Challenge. As the video shows, four readers will get a chance to drive the Volt months before everyone else and get a backstage look at where and how the car was developed.
Coder Journeys From Wall Street to Prison
More than a month has elapsed since the years-long investigation and prosecution of TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez came to a dramatic end, with Gonzalez sentenced to 20 years in prison for the largest identity-theft case in U.S. history.
Now a little-noted postscript to that high-profile case is unfolding, away from the media spotlight, as a handful of convicted accomplices in Gonzalez’s schemes — who’ve been free on bail since the case began — say goodbye to their families and friends, and check themselves into federal prison for years. They’re paying the price for various roles in the massive crimes.
Cape Wind finds buyer for offshore wind power
Utility National Grid said that it has agreed to buy half of the electricity produced by Cape Wind, a controversial offshore wind project planned for Cape Cod, at a price that will add about $1.59 to the monthly electricity bills of National Grid customers in Massachusetts.
At a press conference on Friday, National Grid U.S. president Tom King said that National Grid will pay 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for the electricity from Cape Wind starting in 2013. Currently, comparable prices are about 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, King said.
Obama: iPod, iPad don't empower
Revolutions are difficult things. One person's change is another person's threat. One person's magic is another person's incarcerating sorcery.
Please forgive me for sounding deeply philosophical, as opposed to the usual shallow caliber. But I have been moved to more profound thought by the words of President Obama to the students of Hampton University.
In a commencement speech Sunday, he warned them about the superficialities that are engendered by gadgets.
"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations--none of which I know how to work--information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," he told his audience, according to the AFP.
Bio-Detector Scans For 3,000 Viruses and Bacteria
"Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently unveiled a three-inch-long bio-detector than can scan for 3,000 different types of viruses and bacteria in just 24 hours. The device, dubbed the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA), boasts significant advantages over traditional bio-detectors, which can only identify a maximum of 50 pathogens. The three-inch-long glass slide is packed with 388,000 probes that can detect more than 2,000 viruses and 900 bacteria. The device may have huge implications in identifying agents released during biological and chemical attacks. Plus, in more everyday uses, LLMDA can ensure food, drug and vaccine safety and help diagnose medical problems. Scientists' next version of LLMDA is even more impressive: A new bio-detector will be lined with 2.1 million probes that can scan for 5,700 viruses and thousands of bacteria as well as fungi and protozoa."
Ancient Comet Fragments Found In Antarctic Snow
"Two tiny meteorites recently recovered from Antarctic snow contain material dating back to the birth of our Solar System, and may provide clues about the delivery of organic matter to Earth. Researchers believe that these micrometeorites likely came from the cold, comet-forming outer regions of the gas and dust cloud that comprised the early Solar System, and sample its composition. Discovered in 2006, the particles measure less than 0.25 mm across and survived their journey through Earth's atmosphere relatively unscathed. More importantly, scientists found that they contain unusually high amounts of organic matter."
Apple's Haves and Have Nots, Around the World
"As this story in the Economist notes, Apple's policies regarding international sales are often confusing and out-dated. Apparently, Apple either hasn't been aware of political and social changes in the world over the last 20 years, or doesn't wish to acknowledge them."
EBay's billion-dollar bet on PayPal pays off
Billion-dollar acquisitions are risky gambits that all too often don't pay off. EBay Inc.'s $1.5 billion purchase of PayPal in 2002 was not one of those cases.
On the contrary, the deal is looking smarter and smarter every quarter. PayPal is the uncontested leader in online payments, with 84 million active customers in 190 markets using 24 currencies.
Danny Grossman, Wild Planet
It's not any old toy that can find a lost hamster. That's a job for a Wild Planet plaything.
The San Francisco company Danny Grossman founded 17 years ago designs toys that get kids off the couch, spark their imagination and generate innovative uses - like locating lost rodents.
SPORTS
Athletics' Dallas Braden throws perfect game against Tampa Bay Rays
Dallas Braden, best known for inciting a verbal war of words with Alex Rodriguez that the New York Yankees superstar predicted would only "extend his 15 minutes of fame," instead ensured his place in baseball history Sunday afternoon
Braden, pitching on Mother's Day in front of the grandmother who raised him after his own mother died, pitched the 19th perfect game in baseball history. The Oakland Athletics left-hander set down all 27 Tampa Bay Rays he faced in a 4-0 victory at Oakland Coliseum.
Woods withdraws during final round with neck injury
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods withdrew during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on Sunday with an injury that he fears might be a bulging disk in his upper back.
"I've been playing with a bad neck for quite a while," Woods said. "I've been playing through it. I can't play through it anymore."
Woods' next announced start had been next month's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, a course where he won by a record 15 shots in 2000. No update has been announced on his status for that event.
Woods, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2001, was 2 over through six holes when he pulled out.