Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, 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.
Some stories for tonight:
- Dresden Green Vault robbery jewels recovered after heist
- World Cup 2022: Elation in Argentina, sorrow in France - fans
- A Texas mayor has declared a state of emergency over migrants crossing the border
- People in Lebanon are robbing banks and staging sit-ins to access their own savings
- At least 12 killed in accident in Afghanistan’s Salang Tunnel
- What to watch Monday as the Jan. 6 committee cites Trump’s ‘attempted coup’
- US Senate banking chair floats possibility of banning crypto
- Thai navy hunts for 33 missing marines after warship sinks
- 36 injured during turbulence on Hawaiian Airlines flight
- What Comes Next for the Most Empty Downtown in America
BBC
Dresden Green Vault robbery jewels recovered after heist
German police say they have recovered a number of 18th-Century treasures stolen from a Dresden museum during a €113m (£98m; $119m) heist in 2019.
Authorities returned 31 objects to the Green Vault museum after securing them overnight in Berlin.
The items were reportedly found after talks with the lawyers of six men currently on trial for the theft.
Among the items are a diamond-encrusted breast star and a richly-jewelled Heron Tail hat decoration.
The thieves stole the treasures from part of a collection created in 1723 by Saxony's ruler, Augustus the Strong. They were housed in the vault, known in German as Dresden's Grünes Gewölbe, until the robbery 2019.
German officials believe the heist was well-planned and professionally carried out. Before breaking into the museum, the thieves set fire to a circuit-breaker panel, plunging the streets around the museum into darkness.
Several masked figures then broke into the gallery, before smashing a glass display case with an axe and retrieving the jewels with fishing twine.
BBC
World Cup 2022: Elation in Argentina, sorrow in France - fans
Argentinian football fans around the world are celebrating following the team's victory over France in what was one of the most exhilarating World Cup finals in the competition's history.
But for French fans, it was disappointment and sorrow as their team came so close - but ultimately failed - to win two consecutive World Cups.
On the streets of Buenos Aires, the celebrations reflect the elation - but also the relief - of what was an incredibly stressful match. The joy people shared in the first half quickly turned to silence in the second - and many had their heads in their hands, unable to watch the penalties by the end.
But now, hundreds of thousands of Lionel Messi's, all with their number 10 shirts, are on the streets across the country celebrating their footballing legend and the winning team.
NPR
A Texas mayor has declared a state of emergency over migrants crossing the border
EL PASO, Texas — The mayor of a Texas border city declared a state of emergency Saturday over concerns about the community's ability to handle an anticipated influx of migrants across the Southern border.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser issued the state of emergency declaration to allow the city on the U.S. border with Mexico to tap into additional resources that are expected to become necessary after Title 42 expulsions end on Dec. 21, the El Paso Times reported.
Leeser had previously resisted issuing an emergency declaration, but said he was moved to action by the sight of people on downtown streets with temperatures dipping below freezing, the Times reported.
"That's not the way we want to treat people," Leeser said during a news conference Saturday evening.
A ruling Friday by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals means restrictions that have prevented hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. in recent years are still set to be lifted Wednesday, unless further appeals are filed.
NPR
People in Lebanon are robbing banks and staging sit-ins to access their own savings
TRIPOLI, Lebanon — On a recent weekday in Lebanon's second-largest city, the atmosphere at a branch of the IBL Bank is tense. Security and police are gathered outside. Soldiers are clutching M16 rifles. People are crowding the entrance.
Lebanon's banks froze most accounts three years ago amid an economic collapse. This year, faced with increasingly desperate circumstances, more people are resorting to extreme measures to access their savings. Khaled's protest is one of the milder tactics. Other Lebanese have taken to robbing banks for their own funds, brandishing real or toy guns. Most take only what they are owed, and so far no one has been reported killed in a robbery.
The World Bank says Lebanon's leaders spent decades running the country's economy like a Ponzi scheme. According to its investigation, politicians and their financiers hollowed out public services to enrich themselves and those around them. When the economy collapsed in 2019, the report says, Lebanon's bank owners should have assumed the losses. Instead they froze depositors' accounts.
Al Jazeera
At least 12 killed in accident in Afghanistan’s Salang Tunnel
At least 12 people were killed in an accident in the Salang Tunnel, which connects Afghanistan’s capital Kabul to its north, the authorities have said.
Thirty-seven people were injured on Saturday after a fuel tanker caught fire, said Molvi Hamiddullah Misbah, a spokesperson for the Public Works Ministry.
While the fire had been extinguished, Misbah said on Sunday that the death toll was likely to rise. The cause of the accident remained unclear.
“When we went inside the tunnel in the morning, we saw bodies that were not recognisable, as they were severely burnt. Women, men and children were among them,” Ajab Gul, an eyewitness, told the Afghan Tolo news agency.
The landmark tunnel is located about 90km (56 miles) north of Kabul and is a key link between the country’s north and south.
Philadelphia Inquirer
What to watch Monday as the Jan. 6 committee cites Trump’s ‘attempted coup’
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Capitol riotwill make its final public presentation Monday about the unprecedented effort by Donald Trump to overturn the results of the presidential election he lost in 2020. The committee has called it an “attempted coup”that warrants criminal prosecution from the Justice Department.
That is expected to be the committee’s closing argument as it wraps up a year-and-a-half-long inquiry and prepares to release a final report detailing its findings about the insurrection in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans is set to dissolve at the end of the year.
The committee is expected to make both criminal and civil referrals against the former president and his allies, who, according to lawmakers, broke the law or committed ethical violations.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the referrals may include criminal, ethics violations, legal misconduct and campaign finance violations. Lawmakers have suggested in particular that their recommended charges against Trump could include conspiracy to defraud the United State, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress and insurrection.
Cointelegraph
US Senate banking chair floats possibility of banning crypto
United States Banking Committee chairman Sherrod Brown has suggested that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should perhaps consider a ban on cryptocurrencies.
Brown’s comments were made during a Dec. 18 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” although the senator quickly added that a ban would be difficult to enforce:
“We want them to do what they need to do at the same time, maybe banning it, although banning it is very difficult because it would go offshore, and who knows how that would work.”
In response to a host's earlier question about Senator Jon Tester, who believes cryptocurrencies should be banned, Brown said thathe shares the “same thought.”
Reuters
Thai navy hunts for 33 missing marines after warship sinks
BANGKOK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Thailand's military deployed warships and helicopters on Monday to try to locate 33 marines missing after a corvette sank overnight in choppy waters in the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said.
Three navy vessels and two helicopters were sent to find the missing off Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok, after the HTMS Sukhothai warship suffered an engine malfunction and went down just before midnight about 20 nautical miles off the coast.
The Sukhothai, a U.S.-built corvette in use since 1987, was hit by strong waves on Sunday, forcing it to tilt to one side before becoming flooded with seawater, navy spokesperson Admiral Pogkrong Monthardpalin said.
A picture shared by the navy showed the grey vessel flipped over onto its side, while another image on a scanner screen showed the bow of the ship and a gun turret poking out above the waterline as it went down.
Reuters
Ukraine watchful of borders as Putin heads to Belarus
KYIV, Dec 19 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready for all possible defence scenarios against Moscow and its ally Belarus, as Russia's Vladimir Putin headed to Belarus and Russian troops stationed there prepared to conduct exercises.
Officials in Kyiv have warned for months that neighbouring Belarus could join Russian forces and serve again as a launching pad for a new attack to form a second front in the months-long war.
"Protecting our border, both with Russia and Belarus - is our constant priority," Zelenskiy said after a meeting on Sunday of Ukraine's top military command. "We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios."
Putin heads to Belarus on Monday for his first visit in 3-1/2 years with the Kremlin describing it as a broad "working visit" with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus - one of Russia's closest allies- allowed its territory to be used as a launchpad for Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, but has not joined the fighting directly.
Washington Post
36 injured during turbulence on Hawaiian Airlines flight
Dozens of people were injured Sunday, some seriously, when a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu hit “severe turbulence” about a half-hour from landing.
According to a statement from Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, paramedics and emergency medical technicians treated 36 people, 20 of whom were taken to the hospital. Several people who were treated at the scene experienced nausea or vomiting but did not have injuries that required hospitalization, Jim Ireland, director of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, said during a news conference.
“Medical care was provided to several guests & crewmembers at the airport for minor injuries while some were swiftly transported to local hospitals for further care,” Hawaiian Airlines tweeted.
Passengers suffered injuries including cuts to the head, bruises and loss of consciousness, the emergency medical authorities said. Eleven people were in serious condition and nine others were stable at the hospital.
New York Times
What Comes Next for the Most Empty Downtown in America
The coffee rush. The lunch rush. The columns of headphone-equipped tech workers rushing in and out of train stations. The lanyard-wearing visitors who crowded the sidewalks when a big conference was in town.
There was a time three years ago when a walk through downtown San Francisco was a picture of what it meant for a city to be economically successful. Take the five-minute jaunt from the office building at 140 New Montgomery Street to a line-out-the-door salad shop nearby.
Today San Francisco has what is perhaps the most deserted major downtown in America. On any given week, office buildings are at about 40 percent of their prepandemic occupancy, while the vacancy rate has jumped to 24 percent from 5 percent since 2019. Occupancy of the city’s offices is roughly 7 percentage points below that of those in the average major American city, according to Kastle, the building security firm.