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:
- Viking Orion: Cruise passengers stranded after marine growth halts ship
- At least 10 people are dead and 20 escaped after a prison riot in Juárez, Mexico
- A U.N. official met with a Taliban leader over a ban on women working for NGOs
-
- Faint hopes that Taliban will relax ban on NGO women after UN condemnation
- *Kim Jong-un vows to ‘exponentially’ increase nuclear warhead production
*Yoon says South Korea, U.S. discussing exercises using nuclear assets
*Photos: Huge crowds gather for Lula’s swearing-in ceremony
*Republican Caucus call ends up being another debate with Matt Gaetz — but this time McCarthy gave in
*U.S. watchdogs guarding $5 trillion in covid aid say they need more money
*A Toxic Stew on Cape Cod: Human Waste and Warming Water
BBC
Viking Orion: Cruise passengers stranded after marine growth halts ship
Hundreds of passengers have been stranded on a cruise ship off the Australian coast after a potentially harmful growth was found on its hull.
The Viking Orion was reportedly denied permission to dock in Adelaide after authorities discovered "biofoul" - an accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals.
This can allow invasive species to be imported into non-native habitats.
Officials said the ship's hull must be cleaned before entering Australia.
Previous reports suggested the growth was a fungus, but this was not confirmed by the Australian fisheries department.
The department said the management of biofoul was a "common practice for all arriving international vessels" and that the ship had to be cleaned to avoid "harmful marine organisms being transported" into Australian waters.
"Professional divers were engaged directly by the vessel line/agent to clean the hull while at anchor outside Australian waters," it added.
NPR
At least 10 people are dead and 20 escaped after a prison riot in Juárez, Mexico
At least 20 escaped inmates are now on the loose after a riot in one of Mexico's most notorious prisons turned into a deadly jailbreak on Sunday. At least 10 people were killed.
The state prosecutor said in a statement that the Mexican military, the national guard and local police now had the situation under control as of Sunday afternoon.
The prison riot took place in Ciudad Juárez, a northern border city plagued by cartel violence. The mayor of Juárez, Cruz Pérez Cuéllar, told local media that armed gunmen had entered the prison.
The Cereso state prison, located in the city, is considered to be one of Latin America's most dangerous institutions. Deadly prison riots are commonplace: including one in 2009, where 20 people died, and another in 2011, where 17 people died.
NPR
A U.N. official met with a Taliban leader over a ban on women working for NGOs
KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan met on Sunday the deputy prime minister of the Taliban-led government to discuss a ban on women working for nongovernmental groups that Afghan authorities have announced in a series of measures rolling back women's rights.
The decision by the Taliban government to bar women from NGO work has prompted major international aid agencies to suspend operations in the country. The ban has raised fears that people will be deprived of food, education, healthcare and other critical services, as over half of Afghanistan's population needs urgent humanitarian assistance.
Aid agencies have warned the ban will have catastrophic consequences and "hundreds and thousands" of Afghans will die because of the Taliban decision.
The Guardian
Faint hopes that Taliban will relax ban on NGO women after UN condemnationFaint hopes exist that the Taliban may relax its ban on all women working for the non-governmental aid agencies in Afghanistan after the UN security council condemned the ban in a rare show of unanimity.
Almost all the large NGO aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have suspended almost all their work while talks continue to persuade the Taliban to rescind or clarify their decision. Tens of thousands of aid workers – many of them the chief breadwinners for the household – have been told to stay at home during the suspension, as the UN seeks to persuade the Taliban of the consequences for ordinary people in Afghanistan.
The aid agencies say under Afghanistan’s customs they cannot provide vital services to women in Afghanistan such as health advice without female staff or doctors.
The sabres are being rattled:
The Guardian
Kim Jong-un vows to ‘exponentially’ increase nuclear warhead production
Kim Jong-un has vowed to ramp up the production of nuclear warheads and build a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), while singling out South Korea as his country’s “undoubted enemy”, North Korean state media reported on Sunday.
In a sign of deepening animosity towards the US, South Korea and Japan, Kim called for an “exponential increase” in the regime’s nuclear arsenal during an address at a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ party that ended on Saturday.
The leader’s statement was released hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards its eastern waters, starting 2023 as it had ended the previous year, when it conducted a record number of weapons tests.“The currently established situation calls for our country doubling down our efforts to strengthen our military power overwhelmingly to safeguard our sovereignty, safety and basic national interest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the US and other hostile forces that target us,” Kim said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
Reuters
Yoon says South Korea, U.S. discussing exercises using nuclear assets
SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using U.S. nuclear assets in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at a more effective implementation of the U.S. "extended deterrence.”
The term means the ability of the U.S. military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on U.S. allies.
"The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States," Yoon said, adding Washington is also "quite positive" about the idea.
Yoon's remarks come a day after North Korean state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and an "exponential increase" of the country's nuclear arsenal to counter U.S.-led threats amid flaring tension between the rival Koreas.
Al Jazeera
Photos: Huge crowds gather for Lula’s swearing-in ceremony
Tens of thousands of people flooded Brazil’s capital to attend the inauguration of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva as the country’s new president.
The veteran leftist defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in October’s election to return for a third term that supporters hope will turn the page on four turbulent and divisive years.
The crowd of people gathered near the seat of power in Brasilia on Sunday sang at the top of their lungs, parading with carnival-style flare and waving giant red and rainbow flags.
A group of Indigenous dancers covered in body paint played traditional percussion instruments and sang.
Fans from across the country stood in huge lines to filter through the tight security cordon around the presidential palace and Congress, belting out chants as they waited, such as “Lula, guerreiro do povo brasileiro!” (Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people).
Raw Story
Republican Caucus call ends up being another debate with Matt Gaetz — but this time McCarthy gave in
Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) path to the Speaker of the House continues to be a difficult one as a call with the Republican Caucusended with huge concessions and more debates with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Politico reporter Olivia Beavers wrote that a GOP source told her that they would only agree to a rules change that would make it easier to topple the Speaker of the House.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) reportedly asked Gaetz if Republicans lowered the threshold for the motion to vacate if he would ultimately support McCarthy for Speaker. Gaetz then replied that McCarthy wouldn't agree to it. McCarthy then argued that it's the conference wouldn't find it acceptable.
Washington Post
U.S. watchdogs guarding $5 trillion in covid aid say they need more money
Michael Horowitz came to Congress with a plea: If the U.S. government truly hoped to keep track of roughly $5 trillion in coronavirus aid, then federal watchdog agencies would need some new money of their own.
It was June 2022, more than two years after the pandemic first arrived in the United States — and Horowitz, the leader of the country’s chief pandemic oversight body, said some of the government’s top officials could use the help. Criminals already had bilked billions of dollars from generous programs meant to help jobless Americans and small businesses in need, and Washington faced long, costly work to try to get it all back.
“I can tell you the fraud numbers, and the investigative work, is growing,” Horowitz told lawmakers at a congressional oversight hearing, acknowledging at one point it had been “frustrating, frankly” that lawmakers had not provided the funds.“Is it being spent in a way that’s wasteful? Did the money go to the right place? Was it defrauded? Accountability goes with understanding where the money went.”
New York Times
A Toxic Stew on Cape Cod: Human Waste and Warming Water
MASHPEE, Mass. — Ashley K. Fisher walked to the edge of the boat, pulled on a pair of thick black waders, and jumped into the river to search for the dead.
She soon found them: the encrusted remains of ribbed mussels, choked in gray-black goo that smelled like garbage and felt like mayonnaise. The muck on the bottom of the Mashpee River gets deeper every year, suffocating what grows there. It came up to Ms. Fisher’s waist. She struggled to free herself and climb back aboard. The muck is what becomes of the poisonous algae that is taking over more of Cape Cod’s rivers and bays each summer.
The algal explosion is fueled by warming waters, combined with rising levels of nitrogen that come from the antiquated septic systems that most of the Cape still uses. A population boom over the past half-century has meant more human waste flushed into toilets, which finds its way into waterways.
More waste also means more phosphorus entering the Cape’s freshwater ponds, where it feeds cyanobacteria, a type of algae that can cause vomiting, diarrhea and liver damage, among other health effects. It can also kill pets.