Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), 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.
We begin with pictures of camels in the snow from CBS Miami.
From The Guardian:
The killings, which took place between 2002 and 2008, were declared combat kills in order to boost statistics in war with rebel groups
A special peace tribunal in Colombia has found that at least 6,402 people were murdered by the country’s army and falsely declared combat kills in order to boost statistics in the civil war with leftist rebel groups. That number is nearly three times higher than the figure previously admitted by the attorney general’s office.
The killings, referred to in Colombia as the “false positives scandal”, took place between 2002 and 2008, when the government was waging war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc), a leftist guerrilla insurgency, which ultimately made peace with the government in 2016. Soldiers were rewarded for the manipulated kill statistics with perks, including time off and promotions.
From The Guardian:
Critics say President Daniel Ortega is attempting to distract from his dismal human rights record and poor response to the pandemic
Nicaragua has created a new National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, prompting scorn from critics in a nation experiencing a steady erosion of human rights since a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests three years ago.
The new space agency was approved by 76 legislators Wednesday in the country’s congress, which is dominated by the Sandinista party of Daniel Ortega, the president. Fifteen opposition legislators abstained.
From The Washington Post:
A well-meaning expansion of “medical aid in dying” laws could lead to inadequate care.
From the BBC:
G7 leaders have pledged to intensify co-operation on Covid-19 and increase their contribution to the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative.
Wealthy countries are facing growing pressure to make sure lower-income nations get fair access to vaccines.
From The Guardian:
The former Liberal staffer says she has found her voice and intends to use it. She will be joined by a chorus of others
The revelation of the grotesque indignity Brittany Higgins believes she suffered on a couch in Parliament House has had a galvanising effect on the women who work in Canberra politics.
Brittany Higgins should be the one to tell you, in her own words, about the first time she told the office chief of staff that she believed she had been sexually assaulted by a more senior colleague on a couch in parliament house in March 2019.
From The Guardian:
Gossiping adults and boisterous children are identified on the Dorozoku map, which has struck a chord in a country known for its quiet
Chatty neighbours and children letting off steam on the street have become the target of a controversial website in Japan that identifies neighbourhoods where noise levels may be too much for those in search of a quieter life.
The Dorozoku (street tribe) map is ablaze with colourful circles indicating places to avoid because, it says, they reverberate to the sound of children at play and adults gossiping within earshot of their neighbours.
From the New York Times:
It was the first explicit admission by the People’s Liberation Army that it had lost soldiers in the June brawl. India says 20 of its troops were killed.
When the senior Chinese officer on the ground, Qi Fabao, confronted the Indian soldiers high in the Himalayas last June, he was suddenly overwhelmed in a brawl fought with pipes, clubs and stones, according to the People’s Liberation Army of China.
It said a battalion commander identified as Chen Hongjun led a charge of reinforcements to rescue him, in what became the deadliest clash in more than four decades along the tense mountainous border between China and India.
From The Guardian:
Malaysiakini guilty of contempt over five remarks that the court said undermined confidence in the judiciary
One of Malaysia’s most prominent independent news outlets has been has been found in contempt of court over comments posted by readers, a verdict condemned as a grave setback for freedom of expression in the country.
The attorney general filed the charges against Malaysiakini and its editor-in-chief Steven Gan last year over five reader comments that were critical of the judiciary.
From the New York Times:
The Kremlin has scored propaganda points and bolstered several longstanding foreign policy goals by offering its Sputnik V vaccine around the world. But it has limited production capacity.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — In its foreign policy, Russia tends to favor the hard power of military might and oil and gas exports. But in recent months, the Kremlin has scored a sweeping diplomatic win from an unexpected source: the success of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V.
From NBC:
"We did ask for proof of life," Elizabeth Throssell, a spokeswoman for the U.N. rights office, told reporters.
The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence that an Emirati princess held against her will for almost three years is still alive.
The Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the case of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum was raised with the UAE's mission to the U.N. on Thursday.
From ABC:
The Vatican says it expects a deficit of nearly $60.7 million this year because of pandemic-related losses, a figure that grows to $97 million when donations from the faithful are excluded
By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME -- The Vatican said Friday it expects a deficit of nearly 50 million euros ($60.7 million) this year because of pandemic-related losses, a figure that grows to 80 million euros ($97 million) when donations from the faithful are excluded.
The Vatican released a summary of its 2021 budget that was approved by Pope Francis and the Holy See’s Council for the Economy, a commission of outside experts who oversee the Vatican’s finances. The publication was believed to be the first time the Vatican has released its projected consolidated budget, part of Francis’ drive to make the Vatican’s finances more transparent and accountable.
From the Associated Press:
ROME (AP) — An Italian Holocaust survivor’s attempt to encourage other older adults to receive the anti-COVID-19 vaccine has triggered a wave of anti-Semitic comments and other invective on social media.
Liliana Segre, 90, received the first of the two-shot vaccine series in Milan on Thursday. She urged people who reach her age “to not be afraid and to take the vaccine.”
“I’m not afraid of the vaccine, I’m afraid of the illness,” Segre remarked.
From the Associated Press:
VO, Italy (AP) — Italy delivered the first shocking confirmation of locally transmitted coronavirus infections outside of Asia a year ago Sunday, with back-to-back revelations of cases more than 150 kilometers (nearly 100 miles) apart in the country’s north.
First, a 38-year-old man in Codogno, an industrial town in the Lombardy region, tested positive for COVID-19, sending panicked residents to pick up their children from school, stock up on provisions at grocery stores and search in vain for surgical masks at pharmacies.
From the BBC:
The manager of a refugee centre in the city of Pau, south-west France, was killed on Friday in an attack allegedly carried out by a Sudanese migrant.
The stabbing happened at about 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and the suspect has been arrested.
From NPR:
A dramatic arrest earlier this week of Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél, who was convicted of criticizing the monarchy and supporting a Basque separatist group in social media posts, has sparked days of protests across Spain and renewed debate over free speech in the country.
Thousands of Hasél supporters have taken to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Girona, since his arrest. But peaceful protests devolved into chaos as protesters clashed with police for a third night in a row Thursday. Dozens have been arrested across the country since the demonstrations began.
From CNBC:
KEY POINTS
- The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that the Advanced Research and Invention Agency will fund scientific research in the hope of achieving “groundbreaking” discoveries.
- The agency will be given £800 million ($1.1 billion) to help “the most inspiring inventors” over the next four years.
- The opposition Labour Party has said the government needs to provide more specifics on ARIA.
From the BBC:
Director general backs statement by Woman’s Hour and invites organisers of open letter to meeting
The director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, has endorsed a statement from Woman’s Hour that says the programme will “reflect” on concerns raised by an Emma Barnett interview with Zara Mohammed, the first woman to lead the Muslim Council of Britain.
This week 200 people, including more than 100 public figures such as the Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi, the Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Naz Shah, and the comedian Deborah Frances-White, signed an open letter to the BBC criticising the “strikingly hostile” interview with Mohammed on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
From the BBC:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to spend the weekend finalising his "roadmap" for easing Covid restrictions in England and opening up the economy.
The government is "crunching the numbers" ahead of Monday's announcement, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said.
New data is expected to suggest vaccines have cut transmission rates.
But Downing Street has refused to comment on the likely contents of the unlocking plan amid press speculation.