Since no one has put one up, I thought I would fill in for tonight.
Welcome to Overnight News Digest, where the usual crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, Interceptor7, jlms qkw, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with tonight's news.
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.
From /Film: ’50 Shades of Grey’ Trailer: Your First Tease of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele
Fifty Shades of Grey is an erotic novel that started life as
Twilight fan-fiction called "
Master of the Universe." Basically, the movie keeps the same basic formula, but instead of a guy who's a vampire, the innocent, virginal girl is attracted to a billionaire who's dangerous in other ways.
It’s a big day for fans of the popular book 50 Shades of Grey. The trailer for the film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, is now online. Finally, fans can see the erotic romance in live action, starring Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.
From
Bloomberg:
Amazon Loss Widens as CEO Alarms Investors With Spending
Jeff Bezos is testing the patience of investors after Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) missed analysts’ estimates for a second straight quarter, sending shares tumbling 10 percent.
The world’s largest online retailer yesterday reported a second-quarter loss of $126 million, more than double what was predicted, even as sales climbed 23 percent to $19.3 billion. Expenses jumped 24 percent to $19.4 billion.
Amazon remains one of the most highly valued companies in the U.S., yet the business is losing some of its sheen as profits are dragged down by investments that Bezos, the co-founder and chief executive officer, is making in cloud computing, warehouses and gadgets such as the new Fire smartphone. While shareholders have been patient, they’re increasingly seeking signs that the long-term strategy will work.
“All of us understand making investments, and then there’s a point where investors don’t know what the payoff is,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. in Los Angeles, who predicted that Amazon would report a quarterly loss. “What if they get to $200 billion in revenue and still don’t have profit?”
From the
A.V. Club:
The new image of Ben Affleck's Batman
While any actual news regarding Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice likely won’t be leaked until Warner Bros. takes over Comic-Con’s Hall H this Saturday, convention-goers—and everyone with an Internet connection—don’t have to wait until then to get another look at the rubber that Ben Affleck will be grimacing in. The new cape and cowl has already been spotted on the convention floor, its emptiness a mirror for Batman’s weary soul. And now the studio has released this second image of Affleck wrinkling his costume with sadness, looking every bit the Caped Crease-ader.
From the
New York Times:
Suspended for Abuse, Then Patted on the Back ... Ray Rice's Suspension Is Followed by Praise
The Baltimore Ravens really are blessed.
Let’s say Ray Rice, the team’s Pro Bowl running back, had tested positive for steroids. Under league rules, he would have faced a minimum four-game suspension. A punishment that severe might have gotten in the way of this fine team of men and their playoff drive.
Instead Rice drove his hand into his then-fiancée’s head, knocking her cold last February in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. In the National Football League, domestic battery apparently counts as half-a-roid, good for a two-game suspension.
After the N.F.L. handed down its suspension and a fine exceeding $500,000, and after the prosecutors washed their hands of the case (Rice will not be charged with a crime or jailed or fined by the courts, and he will have the record of his arrest expunged), Rice got to hear his putative bosses talk about what a fine, good, upstanding man he is.
Rice married his fiancée, Janay, one day after an Atlantic County grand jury indicted him for assaulting her and causing serious bodily harm.
From
Deadline:
‘Halo: Nightfall’ Trailer From Ridley Scott
Microsoft just released this first-look trailer of Halo: Nightfall, the live-action series coming in November from Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions and Microsoft’s 343 Industries. The story is set between the events in the fourth and fifth Halo video games (Halo 5: Guardians is coming next year).
The live-action five-part series follows a new character, Jameson Locke (played by Mike Colter (The Good Wife), described as “a legendary manhunter and agent with the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), Earth’s most powerful and secretive military branch.” After a biological attack, Locke and his unit unravel a plot and track down an ancient artifact. The series will be part of The Master Chief Collection, the remastered set of the first four Halo games that Microsoft announced during E3 last month and set to debut in November.
From
USA Today:
Wreckage of Air Algerie plane found in Mali
An Air Algerie jetliner with 116 people aboard crashed Thursday in a rainstorm over northern Mali, and officials said its wreckage has been found.
The jet, an MD-83, disappeared from radar less than an hour after departing Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, en route to Algiers.
Officials in Burkina Faso said burned wreckage with human remains was located in Mali, 31 miles from the border with Burkina Faso. A search had been underway for wreckage in the remote region known for separatist violence.
A U.S. official speaking off the record initially said one of the passengers was a dual U.S.-French citizen but later said the person had been on the flight manifest but did not board the plane and was at home in France. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the identities of the passengers.
From the
Washington Post:
The drug that’s forcing America’s most important – and uncomfortable – health-care debate
Months before Gilead Sciences’ breakthrough hepatitis C treatment hit the market, Oregon Medicaid official Tom Burns started worrying about how the state could afford to cover every enrollee infected with the disease. He figured the cost might even reach $36,000 per patient.
Then the price for the drug was released last December: $84,000 for a 12-week treatment course.
At that price, the state would have to spend $360 million to provide its Medicaid beneficiaries with the drug called Sovaldi, just slightly less than the $377 million the Oregon Medicaid program spent on all prescription drugs for about 600,000 members in 2013. It potentially would be a backbreaker.
Faced with those steep costs, Oregon and several other states are looking to limit who has access to the drug that nearly everyone acknowledges is a revolutionary treatment for the disease affecting more than 3 million Americans.
From
Time:
First Look at ‘Frozen’s Elsa in ABC’s ‘Once Upon A Time’
When last season’s Once Upon a Time finale aired on ABC, it left fans with a burning — or, rather, freezing — question: was that woman in blue really Elsa, the snow queen of Frozen fame?
The answer, a resounding yes, came quickly. But another question took its place: who would play the live-action Elsa?
The casting of actress Georgina Haig, of Fringe, was announced earlier in July, and today TIME presents your exclusive official first look at the character in costume. Sparkly blue gown? Check. Long, blond braid? Check. Letting it go? We can only hope.
From the
Los Angeles Times:
Palestinians say they were waiting to evacuate when UN shelter was hit
It was supposed to be a place of refuge from a devastating war.
Hundreds of people were crammed into a United Nations-run elementary school in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday when the converted shelter was hit by a series of explosions. At least 15 people were killed and more than 120 injured, according to local health officials.
Survivors said they had packed their belongings and were gathered in the schoolyard awaiting evacuation when the shells hit. But the circumstances remained murky late in the day.
The deaths added urgency to the efforts of U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and others to negotiate a cease-fire in the nearly 3-week-old conflict, which has killed more than 800 people, the majority of them believed to be Palestinian civilians.
From
Bloomberg:
U.S. Says Russia Firing Artillery Into Ukraine
The U.S. said Russia is firing artillery over its border into Ukraine, the first time American officials have publicly alleged direct participation in fighting on behalf of separatists.
“Russia is firing artillery from within Russia to attack Ukrainian military positions,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters yesterday in Washington, offering no evidence for what she described only as information “from our intelligence friends.”
The allegations are at odds with Russian denials that the country is aiding the pro-Russian rebels fighting the Ukrainian government in eastern Ukraine. Questions about Russia’s role have grown since the downing of a civilian plane on July 17, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
The U.S. has said that a surface-to-air missile fired from territory held by the rebels in eastern Ukraine shot down the plane, while stopping short of alleging direct involvement by Russia.