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, Doctor RJ 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 editor is annetteboardman.
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BBC:Kerry to urge China restraint in South China Sea projects
Kerry to urge China restraint in South China Sea projects
US Secretary of State John Kerry is in China to urge Beijing to halt what is seen as its increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea.
US officials say Mr Kerry will voice concerns over China's land reclamation projects in the disputed waters.
China has warned it will defend its "legitimate rights and interests".
China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in overlapping claims with Brunei, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
BBC:Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza thanks army on return
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza thanks army on return
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has thanked the army for thwarting a coup and called for calm on his return to the capital, Bujumbura.
Mr Nkurunziza also urged people to turn out "in tranquillity" for elections expected in June.
The president was in Tanzania when military leaders moved against his bid for a third term on Wednesday.
Three coup leaders have been arrested, though the main leader is still on the run, a presidential spokesman said.
BBC:Russia targets 'undesirable' foreign organisations
Russia targets 'undesirable' foreign organisations
Russia plans to introduce new powers to prosecute foreigners whose activities are seen as "undesirable" on national security grounds.
Russian MPs have backed a bill to ban "undesirable" foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or firms.
The draft leaves the definition of "undesirable" open to interpretation.
Under an existing 2012 law, foreign-funded Russian NGOs linked to politics must register as "foreign agents". The label has connotations of spying.
BBC:Nepal earthquake: Survivors 'unlikely' after US helicopter crash
Nepal earthquake: Survivors 'unlikely' after US helicopter crash
The US military says no-one is believed to have survived the crash of one of its helicopters in Nepal.
The wreckage of the helicopter that disappeared this week while delivering aid near the Chinese border in Nepal was found on Friday morning.
Six US marines and two Nepali soldiers were on board. Three bodies have so far been recovered.
Tuesday's 7.3-magnitude quake killed at least 110 people.
BBC:US-Mexico custody case: DNA confirms girl's identity
US-Mexico custody case: DNA confirms girl's identity
A teenager in Mexico is due to be reunited with her mother in the United States after DNA tests confirmed her identity.
The tests showed Alondra Diaz Garcia, 13, was the daughter of a woman in Texas who has been searching for her.
She was taken to Mexico by her father eight years ago after a US court awarded custody to the mother.
Last month, another Mexican girl was mistaken for Alondra and taken against her will to Dorotea Garcia in the US.
BBC:Ex-general David Granger wins Guyana election
Ex-general David Granger wins Guyana election
A retired army general, David Granger, is expected to become Guyana's new president, the election board says.
His A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition won by a slim margin.
Guyanese politics is divided on racial lines; the Indian-dominated People's Progressive Party (PPP/C) has held power for 23 years.
Mr Granger has brought together a coalition of Afro-Guyanese parties to win by 5,000 votes.
Reuters:Kerry discusses shelter for Rohingya with Thai minister
Kerry discusses shelter for Rohingya with Thai minister
The United States said on Friday it had urged Thailand to consider sheltering stateless Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar and are adrift in boats in the Indian Ocean, and urged countries in the region not to send the migrants back to sea.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the plight of the refugees by telephone with Thai Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn late on Thursday.
Nearly 800 migrants were brought ashore in Indonesia on Friday, but other vessels crammed with them were sent back to sea despite a United Nations call to rescue thousands adrift in Southeast Asian waters with dwindling food and water.
"The secretary called his Thai counterpart (Thursday) night to discuss the situation of migrants in the Andaman Sea and to discuss the possibility of Thailand providing temporary shelter," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters.
Reuters:Obama seeks to reassure Gulf allies, sees no early end to Syria war
Obama seeks to reassure Gulf allies, sees no early end to Syria war
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that Washington would help Gulf allies face conventional military aggression but also get them to work more in their own defence against any unconventional menace, such as destabilising Iranian actions in the region.
Speaking to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television following a rare summit with Gulf Arab leaders he described as "very frank and honest", the U.S. leader reiterated his reluctance to take unilateral American action overseas.
Obama said Syria's civil war would "probably not" end before he left office, describing the situation as heartbreaking but adding that Washington could never on its own have brought that conflict to an end.
Many states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are critical of what they see as Obama's hesitant approach to the war in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is backed by their regional rival Iran.
Reuters:Top U.S. hedge funds continued to dump Apple amid rally
Top U.S. hedge funds continued to dump Apple amid rally
Top U.S. hedge fund management firms, including Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors and Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management, continued to reduce or slash stakes altogether in Apple Inc (AAPL.O) during the first quarter, as shares of the iPhone maker rallied.
According to regulatory filings released on Friday, Coatue cut its holding of Apple by selling 1.2 million shares during the first three months of this year, but it remains the fund's single biggest U.S. stock investment, with 7.7 million shares. Omega Advisors sold all of its 383,790 shares in Apple during the first quarter, while Rothschild Asset Management cut its stake by 107,953 to 938,693 shares, filings showed on Friday.
David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital also cut its exposure in Apple during the first quarter, slashing its stake by 1.2 million shares to 7.4 million shares.
Apple shares rose 12.7 percent in the first quarter and have continued to increase. Since the end of March, the shares have risen 3.6 percent through Thursday's close. Including Friday's trading, shares are up 3.3 percent since the end of March.
Reuters:Philadelphia train may have been hit by projectile before wreck
Philadelphia train may have been hit by projectile before wreck
The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia and a separate commuter train in the vicinity may have been hit by projectiles of some kind shortly before the wreck, a U.S. transportation safety official said on Friday, after investigators interviewed members of the Amtrak crew.
But the Amtrak engineer said he had no memory of anything that happened in the moments leading up to the crash when questioned for the first time about Tuesday night's wreck that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others, said Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
An assistant conductor told NTSB investigators on Friday that she heard the engineer, 32-year-old Brandon Bostian, talking by radio with the driver of another train from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The other driver reported that his windshield had been cracked by a projectile that he believed was either fired from a gun or thrown at the train.
According to the conductor's account, Bostian replied that he believed his New York-bound Amtrak train had been similarly struck after pulling out of its previous stop, Sumwalt said.
Reuters:U.S., China set for high-stakes rivalry in skies above South China Sea
U.S., China set for high-stakes rivalry in skies above South China Sea
When the U.S. navy sent a littoral combat ship on its first patrol of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea during the past week, it was watching the skies as well.
The USS Fort Worth, one of the most modern ships in the U.S. navy, dispatched a reconnaissance drone and a Seahawk helicopter to patrol the airspace, according to a little-noticed statement on the navy's website.
While the navy didn't mention China's rapid land reclamation in the Spratlys, the ship's actions were a demonstration of U.S. capabilities in the event Beijing declares an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the area - a move experts and some U.S. military officials see as increasingly likely.
"It's not inevitable but if we are betting paychecks I'll bet that they will eventually declare one, I just don't know when," said a senior U.S. commander familiar with the situation in Asia.
Reuters:Myanmar extends martial law in area near China border
Myanmar extends martial law in area near China border
Myanmar's parliament has extended martial law for three months in a region along its border with China as clashes between government troops and a rebel group continue.
Cross-border fire during the fighting has strained ties between Myanmar and China.
The conflict has also been a setback for Myanmar's semi-civilian government, which took power in 2011 after 49 years of military rule and is seeking to end hostilities with the many groups that have taken up arms since independence in 1948.
President Thein Sein declared a three-month state of emergency and imposed martial law in the region on Feb. 17 after fighting broke out between the Myanmar military and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).
Irish Examiner:Google driverless cars get green light for open road
Google driverless cars get green light for open road
Until now they have been limited to testing on private tracks and not alongside regular traffic, but the technology giant has received licencing to test the autonomous cars on the roads in Mountain View, California, where it is based.
Google has tested driverless car technology on public roads before, however this was software controlling modified vehicles from Lexus. This new test will involve the prototype of Google’s own design.
The cars will not be completely robotic however, with Google confirming that safety drivers will be on-board during the trials, which will begin this summer.
Chris Urmson, from Google’s self-driving car project, said: “We’ve been running the vehicles through rigorous testing at our test facilities, and ensuring our software and sensors work as they’re supposed to on this new vehicle.