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 now moi, 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.
It’s that time of year for the retrospective articles, so we start with this from NPR:
An infant, a father, a look of exquisite tenderness on the dad's face.
This is one of the heart-stirring photos in a story we published this year on kangaroo care: When a baby is born prematurely, a good way to help the baby survive and thrive is simply to hold it close to a parent's naked chest.
That photo tells you everything you need to know about the bond between a parent and a vulnerable child. The dad is Yappe Pako of the Ivory Coast. His wife gave birth to triplets who were five weeks premature. One died. The two survivors were not thriving. Kangaroo care was a godsend. "I started taking part myself to give the love of a father to my children," says Pako.
And from CNN:
(CNN) — In 2022, the world started traveling again -- and with that came the return of all the usual misbehavior and antics abroad. But with nerves perhaps frayed by a record year for airline cancellations, delays, lost luggage and inflated prices, misconduct was a particularly strong theme. Here are the standout moments from a year of travelers behaving badly.
From NPR:
LONDON — This was a tumultuous year in the United Kingdom, where the only constant seemed to be change. In one four-month stretch, the U.K. had four chancellors of the exchequer (essentially Britain's treasury secretary), three prime ministers and two monarchs.
The year concluded with near-11% inflation and a series of walkouts by nurses, immigration officers, driving test examiners, postal staff and railway workers in the worst strikes the country has seen in more than a decade.
From USA Today:
- Climate change hasn't always been so polarizing and even today relatively few Americans deny global warming is real.
- Experts say easily disprovable narratives about the climate keeps circulating.
- These lies and distortions target renewable energy, economics and political polarization.
There was a time – a recent time – when concern about the environment was relatively bipartisan, not a cultural flashpoint.
And from the BBC, a year end/year beginning tradition:
By Sarah Bell
Queen guitarist Brian May has been knighted in a New Year Honours list that celebrates the Lionesses' victory at Euro 2022.
What is happening currently, below the fold.
From the Washington Post:
The simplest way to capture the achievements of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Brazil’s unparalleled Pelé, is to tally the numbers. In two decades, he scored 1,283 goals (although the exact number sometimes is disputed) — 1,000 of them before he was 30 and 95 wearing the national team colors. He helped bring home three of Brazil’s five World Cups, a feat unequaled by any other player to this day.
But soccer is not a ledger, and Pelé’s magic doesn’t fit in a trophy room. When colon cancer finally killed him Thursday at age 82, the country lost a bit of its soul. From 1956 to 1977, he brought grace and majesty to the world’s most popular sport. He also became Brazil’s most enduring brand, the boyish star with a halogen smile, who put soft power in short pants and joyfully conflated the country’s name with his own.
Also from the Washington Post:
SÃO PAULO — Two days before leaving office, ending a tumultuous four years as the race-baiting, Amazon-developing, coronavirus-downplaying, vaccine-skeptical leader of Latin America’s largest country, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remained defiant in a teary farewell address on Friday, defending his record and saying the election that led to his ouster was not impartial, but condemning violence against the result.
From the ET Times:
Abhishek Bachchan has penned a heartfelt tribute to legendary Brazilian footballer Pele who passed away recently. Sharing a couple of his pictures on Instagram, the actor wrote, ‘As a child my father introduced me to Pelé and his magic. And thus began a lifelong love for football. We had shelves filled with VHS tapes of his and the Brazilian team’s matches. I would religiously watch them with my father. A magician we’ve all been blessed to witness. A few years ago, whilst visiting India I somehow managed to get an autographed jersey of his. It has pride of placement in my office.Thank you, sir for teaching us about joga bonito and being such a hero and idol to billions. Rest in Peace to the greatest!’
From WION:
Tensions continue in the Korean peninsula and in the latest North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles. South Korea's Joint Chief's of Staff stated that it was fired into the East Sea. The Japan Coast Guards also confirmed the same.
From the New York Times:
In the absence of credible information from the Chinese government, researchers around the world are looking for any clues to determine the size and severity of the surge.
By Alexandra Stevenson and Benjamin Mueller
As Covid barrels through China, scientists around the world are searching for clues about an outbreak with sprawling consequences — for the health of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, the global economy and the future of the pandemic.
But in the absence of credible information from the Chinese government, it is a big scientific guessing game to determine the size and severity of the surge in the world’s most populous country.
From The Independent (Premium):
Editorial: The reality is that China needs the West more than it needs Russia; and Russia needs China more than China needs Russia
From Deutsche Welle:
A Myanmar junta court convicted Aung San Suu Kyi on further five corruption charges, adding seven more years to her prison sentence, reports said.
The court session in army-ruled Myanmar was held behind closed doors and a gag order prevented lawyers from discussing the trial.
Since the army overthrew Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021, a number of charges, which critics call politically motivated, have resulted in her being sentenced to a total of 33 years in jail.
From India Today:
From CNN:
The Indian maker of a cough syrup linked to at least 18 deaths in Uzbekistan has halted production after an investigation by drug regulators, India’s health minister said Friday.
Uzbekistan’s health ministry said the cough syrup, Doc-1, manufactured by the Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech, had contained ethylene glycol, a toxic solution.
From the Hindustan Times:
Late actor Pratyusha Banerjee's father reacted to the recent death of actor Tunisha Sharma. He called it a ‘100 percent murder'.
Late actor Pratyusha Banerjee's father Shankar Banerjee said he was disheartened to find out about Tunisha Sharma who died by suicide. He also said being a father himself, he can understand the pain of Tunisha's mother, Vanita Sharma. Pratyusha died by suicide in 2016 when she was 24.
From VOA:
The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan remained unmoved Friday by relentless global calls to remove a ban on women humanitarian workers, insisting their Islamic law or Shariah-based governance mandates it.
The hard-line rulers ordered international and national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) last Saturday to immediately suspend Afghan female staff for allegedly not observing Islamic hijab and breaching mandatory gender segregation at work.
From the Washington Post:
What to expect in 2023:Going into the new year, I’ll be keeping my eye on two stories that could dramatically change the geopolitics of the Middle East: the protests in Iran and the general election in Turkey. I’ll focus on the former here, and come back to the latter in a column soon.
The most important question about the Iranian protests is whether they can evolve into a full-blown revolution capable of toppling the Islamic Republic. Some argue that bridge has already been crossed: What began as sporadic demonstrations against the restrictive dress code for women — sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police — has long since evolved into full-throated calls for the downfall of the regime.
From VOA:
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Friday in an update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that “The continued churn of senior Russian officers probably reflects internal divisions regarding the Russian Ministry of Defence's future conduct of the war.”
The ministry said, “Lieutenant General Yevgenly Nikiforov is likely in the process of taking over command of Russia's Western Group of Forces (WGF) in Ukraine. He would be at least the fourth commander of the formation since the invasion, and replaces Colonel General Sergei Kuzovlev, who was appointed just three months ago.”
From Insider:
A Danish intelligence official said Putin was taking thyroid-cancer drugs in February 2022.
- He told Danish media the drugs can cause "delusions of grandeur" and may have warped his thinking.
- Rumors of Putin being ill have abounded, but experts say they've yet to see credible evidence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking thyroid-cancer drugs that may have warped his decision-making when he decided to invade Ukraine, a senior Danish military-intelligence official said in an interview.
From ABC News:
Turkish officials say a gas canister explosion at a restaurant in western Turkey has killed seven people
ISTANBUL -- A gas canister explosion at a restaurant in western Turkey killed seven people on Friday, officials said.
The blast injured five others in the Nazilli district of Aydin province, Gov. Huseyin Aksoy tweeted.
From Al Jazeera:
Ethnic tensions along Kosovo’s eastern border appear to be easing amid fears of an armed conflict.
All border crossings linking Kosovo to Serbia have reopened after ethnic Serbs removed roadblocks set up in protest over a policeman’s arrest, easing tensions in the volatile region.
The main crossing between the neighbours opened on Thursday after barricades were dismantled from the Serbian side of the Merdare border point. Kosovo police said two smaller border crossings “opened for traffic in the afternoon” on Friday.
From the Washington Post:
VATICAN CITY — As Pope Emeritus Benedict’s
health falters, with a Mass to pray for him held Friday in Rome, the relationship between Germany and its most famous modern Catholic figure has perhaps never been more fraught.
In Germany, the pace of secularization, a force Benedict XVI spent decades warning about, has been dramatic. Abuse scandals, including one that showed Benedict mishandling cases, have hastened the emptying of pews. Attempting to salvage credibility, German Catholic leaders have shown new willingness to reconsider stances on hot-button issues such as homosexuality and celibacy — areas where Benedict sees church teaching as immutable.
From NPR:
When the man known as "father of genetics" turns 200, how do you celebrate?
By digging up his body and sequencing his DNA, of course.
That's what a team of scientists in the Czech Republic did this year to celebrate Gregor Mendel, a scientist and friar whose experiments in the mid-1800s laid the groundwork for modern genetics.
From MSNBC:
What kind of a world demands this of a young girl, and now a young woman?
By Noor Noman, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
The best and worst thing to happen on social media this week must be the saga of the young Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and the professional misogynist Andrew Tate. Tate, a former kickboxer, aspiring extremist right-wing influencer and all-round grotesque human, tried to goad Thunberg via his emissions-spewing private car collection. But Thunberg, no stranger to male harassment, responded with impressive bravado.
Barely had the dust settled from this Twitter tussle — which Thunberg indisputably won — that news broke of Tate’s arrest in Romania amid allegations of human trafficking. Not a good week for the self-described “success coach.”
From myCBS4.com:
DONCASTER, U.K. (TND) — A medical center in the United Kingdom reportedly meant to text thousands of its patients a message wishing them a "very Merry Christmas" but instead sent a message claiming recipients had a diagnosis of "aggressive lung cancer."
It's a mistake staff at Askern Medical Practice immediately apologized for in a follow-up mass text, according to the BBC, but that isn't stopping the criticism from flowing in.
From BBC:
The father of Elle Edwards, who was fatally shot in a pub on Christmas Eve, has said she was "the most beautiful and bright star".
The family of Ms Edwards, who was hit outside The Lighthouse in Wallasey, need answers, police said.
Her loved ones said the beautician, who was not thought to have been the target of the attack, was "the glue that held this big family together".