Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, annetteboardman, jck, Rise above the swamp, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but are not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), ScottyUrb, Interceptor 7, Neon Vincent, 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.
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Greetings from St. Louis, where I am attending an Egyptological conference. In honor of the topic, let’s focus on Africa this evening (we don’t know enough about what is happening on Africa, even though a lot of the world’s population lives there). First up, news on the flooding in Nigeria from the BBC:
Around 90,000 Nigerian homes are submerged as a result of flooding in 27 of the country's 36 states.
The floods have killed around 500 people and 1.4m are displaced, according to authorities.
More on the subject from CNN:
More than 1.4 million people have been displaced and about 500 people have died in some of the worst flooding Nigeria has seen in a decade, the country’s humanitarian ministry said Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, “over 1.4 million persons were displaced, about 500 persons have been reported dead, 790,254 persons moved out of their locations and 1,546 persons were injured,” said Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in a statement.
From the BBC:
By Ishaq Khalid & Cecilia Macaulay
Nigeria's Appeal Court has dropped all charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu after ruling that he had been illegally arrested abroad.
The court also ruled that his extradition was illegal.
The ruling by a panel of three judges is seen as a major blow to the government which had detained Mr Kanu on various treason and terrorism-related charges.
And the last one from Nigeria, also from the BBC:
Lecturers in Nigeria say they will go back to work on Monday after a strike that closed most of the country's universities for eight months, leaving hundreds of thousands of students angry and frustrated.
"That's eight months wasted out of my life, and what did the strike achieve?" asked one student who did not want to be identified.
News from other countries (including Egypt) below the fold.
An image from the DRC from Newsweek:
Images of the passing of a much-loved mountain gorilla and a snake snatching a bat in midair are among the winners of the 58th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
London's Natural History Museum (NHM), which develops and produces the competition, has announced the 19 category winners. They were selected from more than 38,000 entries across 93 countries.
From the BBC:
Zanzibar's government is investigating why thousands of dead swimming crabs have washed up on the beaches of the Tanzanian islands.
Since 28 September, there have been reports of the dead crabs washing ashore at Mtoni, Mizingani and Forodhani public beaches.
The government is urging people not to worry it might be caused by pollution.
Reports indicate climate change leading to an abrupt change in the temperature of the sea might be to blame.
From The Guardian:
Exclusive: halt to production of Shanchol vaccine alarms WHO amid ‘unprecedented’ global outbreaks
Lizzy Davies
The manufacturer of one of only two cholera vaccines for use in humanitarian emergencies is to halt production at the end of this year, just as the world faces an “unprecedented” series of deadly outbreaks, the Guardian has learned.
Shantha Biotechnics, a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, will stop production of its Shanchol vaccine within months and cease supply by the end of 2023, causing alarm among health officials.
From the African Report:
Ensuring the beans can be fully traced by 2024, announcing sales at encouraging prices… Since 2018, Abidjan and Accra have been engaging in an arm wrestling match with the brown gold industry to defend the interests of the planters.
The two West African countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have formed an alliance in order to counter the international players in the cocoa sector. Why was this partnership necessary? Is it really effective? How is the Abidjan-Accra axis positioned internationally? How does it benefit the farmers? We take stock of the issues and challenges in this strategic sector.
From the BBC:
In our series of letters from African journalists, Umaru Fofana looks back at how reporting on Sierra Leone's civil war 25 years ago got personal and what dangers correspondents still face today.
WARNING: This report contains descriptions some readers will find disturbing.
During the bloody rebel war that raged in Sierra Leone for more than a decade, fake news and rumours abounded - without the aid of social media.
And in the news from Egypt (there is a respectable amount)…
From Africa News:
Mariam Ramy lives in Cairo and owns two dogs, an eleven-year-old Pekingese female and six-year-old-mixed-breed male.
Her dogs are counted among a total of 12,000 pets served by Vetwork, a three-year-old Egyptian start up that connects pet parents with vets to arrange home visits.
From Plant-based News:
Footage from PETA Asia shows horses with severe injuries deprived of food and other basic necessities
Horses pulling carriages at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt have been filmed with apparent untreated injuries, including broken legs.
The animals, many of whom also had open sores, were also seen eating out of rubbish dumps in the heat.
The Egyptian government previously pledged to ban the use of horses and other animals at tourist sites, but PETA says it is being too slow to do so.
From el-Katherimini.com:
Egypt is preparing to send 5,000 farm workers to Greece, which is also in talks with Vietnam, India and possibly the Philippines for arranging the immigration of thousands of laborers to fill shortages in the agricultural, construction and other sectors that are in desperate need of more workers.
According to an official at the Agriculture Ministry, Greece currently has a shortage of 50,000 laborers and needs at least 30,000 to fill essential gaps in that sector alone.
From the Egypt Independent:
Egyptian national triathlon team champion, Jumana Yasser, regained consciousness after her heart stopped for 22 minutes before being resuscitated.
Yasser underwent first aid and was then transferred to a hospital in Alexandria Governorate to receive treatment after performing the necessary tests and required analyzes.
From The Guardian:
Failure to address country’s abuses will obstruct rollout of meaningful climate action, director of Human Rights Watch says
From the Egypt Independent:
Tik Tok launched the first mental health summit in Egypt, in conjunction with World Mental Health Day, and launched a campaign on #EndTheStigma hashtag.
Many users all over the Middle East joined the campaign to learn more about how to protect their mental health, whether in the real or digital world, aiming to build a space allows everyone in the community to express themselves with transparency.
The TikTok Mental Well-being Summit also aims to guide the community to ensure that everyone has the resources they need to support their mental health, and to exchange and share their personal experience with each other, with Tik Tok’s commitment to creating a world in which everyone has a supportive system to enhance their mental health in the digital age.
From Middle East Monitor:
Award-winning Egyptian lawyer Mahienour El-Massry has been informed that she has been banned from travelling, despite being told a month ago that she was not.
Mahienour was informed about the travel ban just as she was about to travel to the Aurora prize ceremony in Italy for which she has been nominated.
The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity is given annually to an individual who has "had an exceptional impact on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes," according to their website.
And finally, from the Middle East Monitor:
An advertisement for an Egyptian resort, hanging on the front of a UK travel agency, blew up a wave of anger among experts and workers in the Egyptian tourism field, for setting a very low rate for travel to Egypt.
Some criticized the ad as an insult to Egyptian tourism that would cause harm to the national economy.
While others said that the ad was realistic in light of the unfair competition between the differing resorts.