Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame, jck and jeremybloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
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 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Happy Xmas Eve, news junkies. I’m subbing for the world-traveling side pocket tonight. It would be nice if the people in Ukraine and Gaza had a silent night.
Doesn’t look like it.
Russian shelling kills 4 as Ukraine prepares to observe Christmas on Dec. 25 for the first time
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shelling in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region killed four people Sunday, including an 87-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who died after a strike on their apartment building.
The barrage injured nine other people, including a 15-year-old, sparked fires in homes and at a private medical facility, and set a local gas pipeline alight, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.
“There are no holidays for the enemy,” Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, wrote on social media, commenting on the Kherson attack. “They do not exist for us as long as the enemy kills our people and remains on our land.”
The shelling across Kherson reached the center of the region’s capital city of the same name. The assault took place as Ukraine prepared to officially celebrate Christmas for the first time on Dec. 25, having previously marked the date on Jan. 7.
At least 68 killed in central Gaza in airstrike, adding to weekend's bloodshed
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza -- At least 68 people were killed by an Israeli strike in central Gaza, health officials said Sunday, while the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat over the weekend rose to 15.
Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including a baby, and wounded following the strike on the Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah. One bloodied young girl looked stunned while her body was checked for broken bones.
The 68 fatalities include at least 12 women and seven children, according to early hospital figures.
Israel says five Gaza hostages found dead in tunnel
JERUSALEM, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Five Israeli hostages killed in Hamas captivity were recovered from an underground tunnel network in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday, showing footage of a white-tiled bathroom and work room linked by dark concrete-lined passages.
The publication left open the question of how they had died, with chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari saying post-mortems were pending. "We will brief the families and then, depending on what they approve, the public," he said.
The three soldiers and two civilians were among 240 people dragged back to the Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen during the cross-border rampage of Oct. 7 that sparked the war. The military announced the repatriation of their bodies earlier this month.
Hamas last week published video showing three of the hostages alive in what appeared to be a narrow, white-tiled and windowless bedroom with an electric wall socket.
The Indian Ocean is also noisy.
Pentagon says chemical tanker struck by Iranian drone in Indian Ocean
A chemical tanker operating in the Indian Ocean was struck by an Iranian attack drone Saturday, a US Department of Defense official said, the seventh Iranian attack on commercial shipping since 2021.
“The motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time) today in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran,” the official said in a statement.
A one-way attack drone is designed to impact its target rather than return to its origin. “There were no casualties and a fire on board the tanker has been extinguished,” the defense official said.
No silent night here either.
Suspect, red hat sought after ‘targeted’ shooting at Ocala mall left 1 dead, others hurt
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A man died in a shooting at a shopping mall in central Florida two days before Christmas in which the victim was “targeted” for the attack, police said.
Police have now identified the suspect as 39-year-old Albert J. Shell Jr. who is still on the loose. He is wanted for premeditated first-degree murder and attempted premeditated first-degree murder.
A red hat is also being sought in this case. Ocala PD posted on their Facebook saying, “This is a message to the person who took the shooter’s red hat from the crime scene. That hat may contain valuable DNA evidence, and we need it back. We urge you to do the right thing and come forward immediately. Time is of the essence.”
Baltimore County Police investigate five shot in Woodlawn
WOODLAWN, Md. — Baltimore County police are investigating the shooting of five people Saturday morning in Woodlawn.
County police said officers were called around 4 a.m. to a shooting in the 1800 block of Woodlawn Drive. Investigators were focused on a car in a strip mall parking lot down the street from the high school and across from the library.
Police said officers found five victims with gunshot wounds. On Sunday, police identified the man who died as Judah James, 28. The others who were injured in the shooting are three men -- ages 25, 26 and 29 -- and a 26-year-old woman.
1 dead, 4 injured in shooting outside Houston club
One person is dead and four others are wounded from a shooting that stemmed from an apparent altercation outside a Houston club, according to police.
After the "shootout," which erupted at about 3 a.m. local time Sunday, one man tried to run away to a service road "where he collapsed from his wounds," Houston Police Assistant Chief Megan Howard said during a news conference. Police did not name the club.
Blizzard Warnings in the Northern Plains
I'm sure I am not the only one who kept my fingers crossed for a "White Christmas." Well, if you live in Nebraska, South Dakota, or eastern Colorado, your wishes may have been heard from Mother Nature.
A strong low-pressure system has the potential to bring over a foot of snow to some areas in Nebraska and South Dakota. Unfortunately, this may be more than we bargained for, and the timing of this is expected to seriously impact travel. Many blizzard warnings and winter storm warnings are issued through Wednesday.
And yet:
Record-high temperatures, cross-country storm forecast this holiday weekend
A white Christmas may not be a reality for a vast majority of Americans this holiday season.
Record-high temperatures are possible for multiple regions around the United States for the Christmas holiday, while other regions could be hit with heavy rain.
France grounds plane carrying more than 300 passengers over human trafficking concerns
French authorities grounded a passenger plane carrying 303 Indian citizens on Thursday over suspicions of human trafficking.
The flight was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua when it stopped at Paris-Vatry Airport in France's Champagne country to refuel. Officials received an anonymous tip that passengers on the flight were being trafficked.
There were 11 unaccompanied minors on the flight, CNN reported. The youngest passenger was a 21-month-old toddler.
Thousands protest in Belgrade to demand annulment of elections
BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands gathered in the center of Belgrade in an anti-government protest on Sunday to demand the annulment of parliamentary and local elections a week ago that international observers said were unfair.
The populist ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 46.72% of the votes in snap parliamentary elections last weekend, according to state election commission preliminary results.
An international monitoring mission on Monday said the SNS gained an unfair advantage through media bias, the improper influence of President Aleksandar Vučić and voting irregularities such as vote buying.
Anger in Kashmir after Indian army accused of killing civilians in custody
The deaths of three Kashmir civilians after they were picked up by the Indian army in the wake of a deadly rebel attack in the disputed Himalayan region have caused anger among people and led to calls for an investigation into alleged custodial killings.
According to the families, the three men – Mohammad Showkat, 22, Safeer Hussain, 45, and Shabir Ahmad, 32 – were detained by the army at the hilly Topa Pir village in Poonch district on Friday morning, a day after suspected rebels ambushed military vehicles and killed four Indian army soldiers near the village.
Indonesia nickel smelter furnace fire kills 13 workers, injures 46
JAKARTA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Thirteen workers were killed and 46 injured on Sunday in a fire at a nickel smelter furnace owned by Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) on Sulawesi island, the owner of the industrial park where the smelter is located said.
The fire occurred when workers repaired the furnace and installed plates at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday (2130 GMT on Saturday), killing nine Indonesian workers and four Chinese workers, Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) said in a statement. The fire was extinguished at 9:10 a.m. local time, it added.
Migrant caravan spends Christmas on the road before heading to U.S. border
TAPACHULA, Mexico, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Thousands of migrants arrived on Sunday in the southern Mexican town Alvaro Obregon to spend the Christmas Eve in a public square without shelter before making their way north to cross the country and reach the border with the United States.
On Sunday, the group of mostly Central American and Caribbean migrants had walked 15 kilometers (more than 9 miles) from the southern border city Tapachula to get to Alvaro Obregon, with plans to set off again around 4 a.m. the next day.
A reminder that next year will be critical:
A flood of retirements is shaking up the 2024 battle for the House
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have headed home for the holidays — and some will come back having decided they don’t want to re-up for more terms in the nation’s capital, buffeting an already volatile fight for control of the House next year.
Retirement announcements often come after the holidays, as lawmakers discuss their next steps with their families and weigh whether to continue in an increasingly dysfunctional Congress. And because Democrats need a net gain of just five seats to take control of the House in 2024, every seat is going to matter, and the dynamics can shift if a race suddenly becomes an open contest.
So far, 35 House members — 23 Democrats and 12 Republicans — have announced they are retiring or leaving the chamber to run for other offices, according to the House press gallery. That’s still behind the 49 House members who decided not to run for re-election in the midterms in 2022, a redistricting year, but it’s only one shy of the 36 who bailed before the 2020 election, with time to add more to the list.
Yeeouch:
Woman pregnant in each of her two uteruses gives birth to twins
An Alabama woman with the rare condition of two uteruses, and who became pregnant in each uterus earlier this year, gave birth to twins last week a day apart.
After a combined 20 hours of labor, Kelsey Hatcher gave birth to her third and fourth children, a set of rare twins, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, according to a news release from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
Hatcher was induced at 39 weeks and throughout labor had twice the monitoring and twice the charting and was assigned two labor and delivery nurses, the release says.
Admittedly a niche subject, but still pretty funny:
Response issued after ‘too young’ Max Verstappen denied Mercedes supercar hire
Sixt has assured Max Verstappen of future car hire freedom after the three-time World Champion was reportedly denied in his attempt to hire a Mercedes AMG GT while on holiday, as he was “too young” for the insurance.
With the F1 2023 campaign now in the books, personnel are enjoying some time away from the Formula 1 scene before focus switches to a record 24-round calendar to come in 2024.
For Verstappen, he was looking to spend free time with family and friends by putting a Mercedes AMG GT through its paces at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve circuit, but found his age getting in the way of such plans.
If you want to know where Santa is on his delivery route, NORAD has got it covered.