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:Australia 'paid migrant smugglers to turn back'
Australia 'paid migrant smugglers to turn back'
Migrants on a boat headed for Australia have told the UN that the crew was paid by the Australian navy to turn back.
James Lynch, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told the BBC that passengers saw smugglers being paid after the boat was intercepted.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday admitted using "creative" strategies to stop migrant boats but refused to go into detail.
The country's immigration and foreign ministers denied payments were made.
BBC:European shares fall amid Greek default fears
European shares fall amid Greek default fears
Shares on European stock markets have fallen sharply amid reports that senior EU officials have discussed a possible Greek default for the first time.
The Athens stock exchange closed nearly 6% lower. Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 ended more than 1% lower.
Shares also fell in the US, with the Dow Jones index dropping 0.8%.
Cash-strapped Greece is trying to reach a deal that will unlock bailout funds. It is seeking to avoid defaulting on a €1.5bn debt repayment to the IMF.
BBC:Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta urges Africa to give up aid
Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta urges Africa to give up aid
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged fellow African leaders to stop receiving foreign aid, saying it is not an acceptable basis for prosperity.
"Dependency on giving that only appears to be charitable must end," he said in a tweet ahead of this weekend's African Union summit in South Africa.
The BBC's Robert Kiptoo in Kenya says it is not a government policy but a rallying cry for African leaders.
Aid is believed to account for 5-6% of Kenya's total income.
BBC:Snowden NSA: Germany drops Merkel phone-tapping probe
Snowden NSA: Germany drops Merkel phone-tapping probe
Germany has dropped an investigation into alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
The office of federal prosecutor Harald Range said the NSA had failed to provide enough evidence to justify legal action.
The allegations of NSA phone-tapping came out in the secrets leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden about large-scale US surveillance in 2013.
German-US ties were severely strained.
BBC:Libyan militants seize hostages in Tunisian mission
Libyan militants seize hostages in Tunisian mission
Armed men have stormed the Tunisian consulate in Libya's capital Tripoli and are holding 10 employees hostage, Tunisia's foreign ministry says.
It is not clear which armed group is involved in the siege.
Tunisian authorities say they will "do whatever needs to be done" to secure the employees' release.
Libya has been in turmoil since the Nato-backed removal of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
BBC:Gaza beach attack: Israel 'struck boys in error'
Gaza beach attack: Israel 'struck boys in error'
An Israeli military investigation has cleared its forces of wrongdoing over the deaths of four Palestinian boys in an attack in Gaza during the 2014 war.
It concluded the boys, killed in missile strikes on a beach, had been mistaken for Hamas militants preparing to attack Israeli forces.
At the time, the incident drew widespread condemnation.
It happened early on in the 50-day war between Israel and Gaza militants which lasted from July to late August.
Reuters:U.S.-Cuba deal expected in early July to restore ties, reopen embassies - sources
U.S.-Cuba deal expected in early July to restore ties, reopen embassies - sources
The Obama administration is expected to announce an agreement with Cuba in early July to reopen embassies and restore diplomatic relations severed more than five decades ago, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The two sides hope to conclude the deal by the first week of next month, clearing the way for Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Havana soon afterwards for a flag-raising ceremony to upgrade the U.S. Interests Section to a full-scale embassy, the sources said.
Since a breakthrough between the two former Cold War rivals announced in December, negotiators have settled all but a few differences and were confident they would soon be resolved, several sources told Reuters.
They said the exact timetable for the formal embassy opening was unclear because of Kerry's recovery from a broken leg suffered in a May 31 biking accident in France, as well as the looming June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal with Iran, which would dominate Kerry's schedule over the next weeks.
Reuters:China-linked hackers get sensitive U.S. defense and intelligence data: report
China-linked hackers get sensitive U.S. defense and intelligence data: report
China-linked hackers appear to have gained access to sensitive background information submitted by U.S. intelligence and military personnel for security clearances that could potentially expose them to blackmail, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
In a report citing several U.S. officials, the news agency
said data on nearly all of the millions of U.S. security-clearance holders, including the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and military special operations personnel, were potentially exposed in the attack on the Office of Personnel Management.
It said more than 2.9 million people had been investigated for a security clearance as of October 2014.
Reuters:Documents show bitter CIA dispute over pre-9/11 performance
Documents show bitter CIA dispute over pre-9/11 performance
Top CIA officials fought bitterly in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks over whether U.S. intelligence agencies could have done more to stop the deadliest terrorist strikes in American history, documents released on Friday show.
The once-secret documents include a more complete version of a 2005 report by the spy agency's inspector general, which found that the CIA did not have a comprehensive strategy or marshal adequate resources to combat al Qaeda before hijacked planes hit New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.
A redacted summary of that report was first made public in 2007.
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But the documents released by the CIA on Friday also reflect the arguments of former CIA Director George Tenet and his lieutenants that U.S. intelligence was intently focused on al Qaeda and leader Osama bin Laden.
Reuters:U.S. troops at Taqaddum to help Iraqis plan fight for Ramadi
U.S. troops at Taqaddum to help Iraqis plan fight for Ramadi
President Barack Obama has said American forces being sent to a new operations center in the heart of the war against Islamic State will not engage in combat, but they will do almost everything but fight to support the beleaguered Iraqi forces.
U.S. defense officials say the tasks of the troops going to Taqaddum air base will range from advising Iraqi commanders how to ensure soldiers have enough bullets to integrating air power into combat plans.
Obama on Wednesday authorized deployment of up to 450 troops to work with the dispirited 8th Iraqi army division as it tries to regroup and ultimately drive the Islamist forces back out of the city of Ramadi that they overran last month.
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Americans are already operating at several other bases around the country to train, advise and support the Iraqis, who have had limited success against the Islamist militants occupying large swathes of the country in the last 18 months.
Reuters:Japan to speed up return of Fukushima area
Japan to speed up return of Fukushima area
Japan plans to revoke evacuation orders for most people forced from their homes by the Fukushima nuclear disaster within two years as part of a plan to cut compensation payouts and speed up reconstruction, the government said on Friday.
The government also said, however, that it would delay the removal of dangerous spent uranium fuel rods at the wrecked Fukushima power station, another setback in Tokyo Electric Power Co's struggle to contain the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Thousands of Fukushima residents remain in temporary housing more than four years after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns, explosions and radiation leaks at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Some areas have been opened but many people are reluctant to return because of a lack of facilities and distrust of government claims it is safe. Others are resigned to never returning to their homes and businesses.
Reuters:Pentagon sent live anthrax to Japan in 2005
Pentagon sent live anthrax to Japan in 2005
The Pentagon on Friday added Japan to a list of countries that received live anthrax samples from the U.S. military, while a news report said the lab that sent out the bacteria faced sanctions in 2007 for failing to kill specimens but was never fined.
The sample that went to Japan was sent to the U.S. military base of Camp Zama about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo in 2005 and was destroyed in 2009, Defense Department spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
Warren said the anthrax, which was sent to Japan for the purpose of testing detection equipment, came from a master lot that was thought to have been inactive but turned out to be active when tested.
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"It's important to note that there currently is no anthrax, activated or inactivated, in Japan at this time," Warren told a regular Pentagon news briefing.
www.ajc.com:$100,000 worth of stolen instruments recovered in Roswell
$100,000 worth of stolen instruments recovered in Roswell
Roswell police recovered more than $100,000 worth of stolen musical instruments Wednesday, putting an end to a nearly week-long investigation into a series of music shop thefts.
Police were alerted to the missing instruments Saturday, when Atlanta Violins reported five violins had disappeared sometime between May and June. The store owner was not aware of the missing violins until a music shop in Raleigh, N.C., called him to say they had the instruments.
After executing a search warrant on a Studio 6 hotel room in Roswell on Wednesday, police were able to recover all five violins, as well as a violin belonging to a store in Gwinnett County and a trumpet taken from an Alpharetta music store. Five additional unidentified instruments were also found in the room — two oboes, two trumpets and a clarinet.
Gary Donald Crouse, 60, and Leslie Edwards Fields, 52, of Roswell were arrested Thursday on charges of theft by receiving stolen property for their alleged involvement in the thefts.