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.
We will begin with India, which is soon to become the most populous nation in the world. This comes from Al Jazeera:
Indian authorities have promised to compensate homeowners in the Himalayan town of Joshimath as they begin demolishing unsafe buildings. Hundreds of people were evacuated after their houses began to crack and sink into the ground. Al Jazeera's Pavni Mittal reports from Joshimath, India.
And from the Deccan Herald:
Jaishankar also called for working collectively towards a 'new globalisation paradigm'
India on Friday vowed to work towards building a consensus among the G20 nations for a green development pact to facilitate investments in sustainable lifestyle and pitched for larger discussions on "data for development" to bridge digital divide among various countries.
And from Reuters:
Pernod facing many legal, regulatory challenges in India
- Company allegedly helped Delhi retailers gets loans from HSBC
- Retailers in return stocked more Pernod goods-Indian agency
- Pernod denies allegations, says will cooperate with authorities
From the BBC:
When Edison Davis and Augustine Nemus set out to fish from India's southern coast on 27 November, they promised their families they would be home for Christmas.
Then, there was no word from them for weeks.
From CBS:
Police in Pakistan said Friday they busted an organ trafficking ring when a missing 14-year-old boy was found in an underground lab after having his kidney removed.
The ring was responsible for luring young, vulnerable victims with promises of lucrative jobs and large payouts before removing their organs — mainly kidneys — to sell for up to 900,000 rupees ($4,000).
From WION:
Cities across China are offering cash incentives to couples who have more children. Some cities are also offering childcare subsidies. Why does the World's most populous country want more babies?
From The Guardian:
Antony Blinken says China is ‘greatest shared strategic challenge’ in the region as US backs Japan’s biggest military build-up since second world war
The US and Japan have said that an attack in space would trigger their security treaty, as senior officials from both countries warned that China represents the “greatest strategic challenge” to regional security.
“We agree that [China] is the greatest shared strategic challenge that we, our allies and partners face,” the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Washington.
From AA.com (not American Airlines, but the Turkish news service):
Outgoing chief of staff says army worked on 3 programs for strikes in Iran
Abdel Raouf Arnaout
Iran has amassed enough enriched nuclear material to make four bombs, according to Israel’s outgoing military chief.
"Iran today has enough enriched material to produce four nuclear bombs, three at 20% and one at 60%," outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told reporters, Israeli Public Broadcasting Organization KAN reported Friday.
From Al Jazeera:
Iranian foreign minister says he hopes diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia can be restored via dialogue after years of tensions.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has expressed hope that diplomatic ties between Tehran and Riyadh could be restored through dialogue between the two regional rivals.
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016 after protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran following Riyadh’s execution of the Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr.
From CNN:
Neom: Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion bet to build a futuristic city
Saudi Arabia is building a futuristic city in the middle of a vast desert— from scratch.
A vital element of the country’s Vision 2030 plan, the project is the brainchild of Saudi’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS. The site covers an area of more than 10,000 square miles, about the same size as Massachusetts. And it could cost $500 billion to complete.
From Reuters:
JERUSALEM, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu defended on Friday a proposed shakeup of the judiciary but also indicated changes could be made to draft legislation that critics say would damage democracy and the independence of courts.
The 73-year-old political veteran, who is on trial for corruption charges that he denies, returned to power in December at the head of a nationalist, religious government.
From NBC News:
Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi expressed particular concern about the coalition’s plans to create three separate sources of authority in the West Bank.
From The Hill:
More than a thousand private jets shuttled dignitaries to last year’s global economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, a Greenpeace report revealed on Friday.
The flurry of these jets in and out of the mountain resort generated four times the carbon dioxide emissions that such aircraft would create in an average week, according to the report.
From the Seattle Times:
In the week before Davos plays its usual wintry part as host of the World Economic Forum’s annual jamboree, the biggest question isn’t what might be discussed among business and political leaders, but whether there’ll be enough snow for skiing.
Though it’s perched at an altitude of 1,560 meters, this year’s rare winter heat wave saw the Swiss town basking in temperatures well above freezing in early January, with its mountainsides covered in dead, brown grass and hikers out with their dogs. The snow arrived just in time for the elite visitors, replenishing the slopes and covering the concrete conference center with its familiar frosting. More is on the way. But 2023 is no freak year: It’s a sign of things to come in the Davos region, where the atmosphere is heating up faster than most of the planet.
A couple of other environment studies, beginning with this from WION:
The United Nations-mediated climate talks will take place in the UAE from November 30 through December 12. The development organisation ActionAid's global lead on climate justice, Teresa Anderson, warned that this nomination "goes beyond putting the fox in control of the henhouse."
From CNN News 18:
Swedish Climate Activists Greta Thunberg Joins Protesters In Luetzerath. German police said their methodical operation to clear hundreds of climate change activists from a tiny town that's been sold to an energy company to dig up for coal was going according to plan on Wednesday. As Sweden's high-profile climate campaigner Greta Thunberg said she would join the demonstrators squatting in the otherwise abandoned village, Day Two of the police's effort got off to a rocky start.
And a few others to wrap up our international news wander today. This comes from Reuters:
Jan 13 (Reuters) - A close ally of President Vladimir Putin suggested on Friday confiscating the property of Russians who have left the country and who "insult" the state and its armed forces from abroad.
The proposal from Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament, was clearly aimed at opposition figures - many already designated as "foreign agents" - who have condemned the Ukraine war after fleeing the country to avoid arrest.
From the BBC:
By Phelan Chatterjee
Protesters in Stockholm who hung an effigy of Turkey's president from a lamppost were trying to sabotage Sweden's application to Nato, the Swedish prime minister has said.
Turkey still needs to approve Sweden's application - and has made that conditional on Stockholm cracking down on groups that Turkey describes as terrorists, including those it blamed for the effigy.
From Insider:
Andrew Tate is currently in jail as part of a human-trafficking and rape investigation in Romania.
- A lawyer told Insider his biggest legal challenge is going to be the things he himself has said.
- Tate's has willingly described his tactics recruiting women, and came close to endorsing rape.
From the Catholic News Agency:
A Catholic journalist from Italy revealed Wednesday that Cardinal George Pell, who died on Jan. 10, had been the author of a controversial memo about the next papal election.
The anonymous memo was circulated among cardinals during Lent last year and made public by Sandro Magister on March 15, 2022.
From AgenceFrancePresse (via Barrons):
The suicide of a 13-year-old French boy who was bullied at school for being gay has shocked the country, prompting warnings that homophobia kills.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into harassment of a minor after the boy, Lucas, hanged himself last weekend in the Vosges region of eastern France.
Regional prosecutor Frederic Nahon said late Thursday that the boy's friends told investigators he had been bullied "by pupils at his school for several months due to his homosexuality".