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, 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 editors are Doctor RJ and annetteboardman.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
BBC
Hamas-declared ceasefire in Gaza stalls as conflict continues
A 24-hour ceasefire announced by Hamas in Gaza appears to be stalling, with both Palestinian militants and Israel continuing their offensives
Hamas fired more rockets into Israel, accusing it of failing to abide by the ceasefire.
Israel rejected the truce, PM Benjamin Netanyahu saying: "Israel will do what it must do to defend its people".
More than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 43 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed.
A Thai national in Israel has also died. The Gaza health ministry on Sunday revised the number of dead down by 30 after some relatives found missing family members.
The latest developments further undermined hopes that Saturday's humanitarian truce observed by both sides could be extended, although Israeli TV reported on Sunday that "understanding on holding fire" had been reached between Israel Hamas, whereby "quiet will be met with quiet".
However, President Barack Obama phoned Mr Netanyahu on Sunday to urge "an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now".
BBC
Naked body art enlivens New York
A group of artists in New York have painted a group of 40 nude models in public to celebrate the human form.
The bodypainting session in Central Park was followed by a march along Broadway and a photo shoot in the city's Times Square.
Artist Andy Golub claimed New York was the only US city where the bodypainting day would be allowed.
However, he and a model were arrested in 2011 after a naked body art session in the city.
The brush with the authorities led model Zoe West to take legal action which led to the payment of a $15,000 (£8,835) settlement.
Public nudity as part of a performance or a show is permitted in New York. As the organiser, Golub was granted a licence to hold Saturday's event which had the agreement of police.
Golub says on his website that "art shouldn't be limited to canvases or bound to be in only indoor spaces. To me, art is about self-discovery and sharing it with people"
BBC
Two California wildfires destroy 10 homes
Two fast-moving wildfires in California have destroyed 10 homes and have forced the evacuation of hundreds more, US officials say.
In the Sacramento region, a fire has spread to cover an area of about 4,000 acres, while another blaze threatens homes around Yosemite National Park.
The Sacramento fire is around 35% contained, officials told local media.
Months of drought have caused more fires in California this year - some 1,400, twice the usual number.
The Sacramento fire in the north of the state has doubled in size since it broke out on Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported officials as saying.
It's usually September and October when we have our worst fires. This year is more than scary.
N Y Times
Lawmakers Reach Deal on a Fix for V.A.’s Health Care System
House and Senate negotiators reached agreement during the weekend on a legislative package intended to stabilize the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling and embattled health care system, according to people briefed on the deal.
The leaders in the negotiations — Senator Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Representative Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican — plan to outline the agreement at a news conference Monday afternoon.
The legislation is expected to include provisions for emergency relief that would allow veterans who live far from a V.A. facility or who face wait times that exceed a certain duration to see private doctors, and have those visits paid for by the government. The measure is also expected to set aside billions of dollars to hire new doctors and nurses; build or lease dozens of additional buildings needed to treat patients; and upgrade the department’s outdated scheduling system.
While the V.A. enjoys a generally good reputation for the quality of its health care, a combination of factors — including a shortage of doctors and nurses, unrealistic goals to see patients within 14 days, and perverse performance and bonus incentives for managers — led to the widespread manipulation of patient wait-time data, which blew up into a national scandal this spring.
CNN
CNN Poll: Romney tops Obama but loses to Clinton
Washington (CNN) - If a rematch of the 2012 presidential election were held today, GOP nominee Mitt Romney would top President Barack Obama in the popular vote, according to a new national survey.
But a CNN/ORC International poll also indicates that if Romney changes his mind and runs again for the White House, Hillary Clinton would best him by double digits in a hypothetical showdown.
The survey, released Sunday morning, also suggests that more Americans see Clinton as a strong and capable leader than those who feel the same way about Obama. But Clinton's numbers on five personal characteristics have slightly edged down the past few months.
And the poll points to a jump the past month in support among Republicans for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
According to the poll, if the 2012 election were somehow held again, Romney would capture 53% of the popular vote, with the President at 44%. Obama beat Romney 51%-47% in the popular vote in the 2012 contest. And he won the all-important Electoral College by a wider margin, 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206.
Al Jazeera America
Mass grave unearthed in Bolivia mine.
Construction workers in Bolivia have stumbled upon a mass grave with what are likely the remains of hundreds of indigenous miners who died during the Spanish colonial era, according to a researcher.
The workers found the remains recently as they started construction on a new building in the "El Minero" district of Potosi, a city in southwestern Bolivia located high up in the Andes.
"We are talking about a common grave found at about 1.8 meters (5.9 feet), and the human remains are scattered over an area of four by four meters," said Sergio Fidel, a researcher at a museum belonging to Tomas Frias University on Saturday.
In the Spanish colonial era, Potosi became famous for its massive silver and tin reserves, which were first mined in the 16th century.
Local indigenous people, mainly ethnic Aymara, were commonly put to work as both slaves and indentured servants, especially at the famed Cerro Rico, or Rich Hill. Named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987, along with the city of Potosi, the mountain represents a history of tremendous wealth but also suffering for the indigenous people and enslaved Africans who died mining it, earning Cerro Rico the title “the Mountain That Eats Men.”
The construction workers, who made the discovery and who have had no specialized excavation training, say they found the remains of 400 to 500 people and that there may be many more.
The university got involved when its staff learned the workers were piling the bones in a massive heap, fully exposed as construction continued.
Al Jazeera America
US evacuates embassy in Libya amid intensifying inter-militia violence
The United States shut down its embassy in Libya on Saturday and evacuated its diplomats to neighboring Tunisia under U.S. military escort amid a significant deterioration in security in Tripoli as fighting intensified between rival militias, the State Department said.
“Securing our facilities and ensuring the safety of our personnel are top Department priorities, and we did not make this decision lightly. Security has to come first. Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing violence between armed Libyan factions,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
Personnel, including the U.S. Marines who guard the embassy, were evacuated by land with F-16 fighters and Osprey helicopters providing security, the Defense Department said in a release.
The withdrawal underscored the Obama administration's concern about the heightened risk to American diplomats abroad, particularly in Libya where memories of the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in the eastern city of Benghazi are still vivid and the political uproar over it remain fresh ahead of a new congressional investigation into the incident.
On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones appealed for fighting near the embassy to stop. "We have not been attacked but our neighborhood a bit 2 close to the action," she tweeted. "Diplomatic missions 2 B avoided pls."
Al Jazeera America
Boko Haram kidnaps wife of vice prime minister in Cameroon
Boko Haram fighters on Sunday kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister in an attack that also killed three people, according to a government spokesman.
The Islamist fighters targeted the home of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali in the town of Kolofata, in the Far North Region, according to Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary. A local religious leader, or lamido, also was kidnapped in a separate attack on his home.
"I can confirm that the home of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali in Kolofata came under a savage attack from Boko Haram militants," Issa Tchiroma told Reuters.
"They unfortunately took away his wife. They also attacked the lamido's residence and he was also kidnapped," he said, adding that at least three people were killed in the attack.
A Cameroon military commander in the region told Reuters that the vice prime minister, who was at home to celebrate the Muslim feast of Ramadan with his family, was taken to a neighboring town by security officials.
"The situation is very critical here now, and as I am talking to you the Boko Haram elements are still in Kolofata town in a clash with our soldiers," said Colonel Felix Nji Formekong, the second commander of Cameroon's third inter-army military region, based in the regional headquarters Maroua.
Raw Story
Apple iPhones allow extraction of deep personal data, researcher finds
Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple Inc employees, the company acknowledged this week.
The same techniques to circumvent backup encryption could be used by law enforcement or others with access to the “trusted” computers to which the devices have been connected, according to the security expert who prompted Apple’s admission.
In a conference presentation this week, researcher Jonathan Zdziarski showed how the services take a surprising amount of data for what Apple now says are diagnostic services meant to help engineers.
Users are not notified that the services are running and cannot disable them, Zdziarski said. There is no way for iPhone users to know what computers have previously been granted trusted status via the backup process or block future connections.
Raw Story
Lightning strike injures nine on Venice Beach
(Reuters) – As many as nine people were hurt on Sunday after being struck by lightning on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, emergency officials said.
The lightning hit near Ocean Front Walk, which faces the Pacific Ocean, around 2:15 p.m. local time (1715 EST), according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Mann.
Victims were being evaluated by medical personnel for injuries, she said. The severity of their injuries was unclear.
That National Weather Service had predicted a chance of thunderstorms in the area on Sunday.
Lightning injuries or fatalities can occur during a direct strike or after a current is passed through the ground or jumps from a taller object, like a tree, according to the National Weather Service.
Symptoms can range from cardiac arrest and injury to the nervous system to muscle soreness, headache,and confusion.
Later report: One dead from lightning strike. Thirteen hurt.