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.
BBC
Five US troops die in training air crash in eastern Mediterranean
Five American service members have died in a helicopter crash in the eastern Mediterranean, the US military says.
It says the aircraft suffered a mishap while refuelling as part of a routine training exercise.
The US has increased its operations in the region since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
President Joe Biden paid tribute to the victims, saying service members were putting "their lives on the line for our country every day".
"We pray for the families of all our fallen warriors today and every day," he added.
The military statement did not specify where the aircraft was flying from or where the crash happened.
BBC
DP World: Australia ports remain closed after cyber-attack
Australia's largest ports operator is set to keep its sites closed for days as it recovers from a cyber-attack, according to government officials.
Operations at its container terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have been suspended since Friday.
DP World Australia manages around 40% of goods entering and leaving the country.
The move has not affected the supply of goods to major Australian supermarkets, the BBC understands.
DP World Australia, a unit of the Dubai state-owned DP World, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.He added that the government had not yet identified the perpetrators of the cyber-attack, which caused the firm to disconnect its ports from the internet.
NPR
Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott suspends his campaign for president
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is ending his bid for the presidential nomination on the GOP ticket. He announced his move on the Fox News program, "Sunday Night in America," surprising host Trey Gowdy, who was not expecting it.
Scott announced his run in May and his candidacy centered on his Christian faith and experience as a Black man growing up with a single mom in the South.
Scott's candidacy also highlighted the lonesome position he took on more than a decade ago in GOP leadership: he is one of just three Black members of the Senate, and the only Republican.
Scott first entered politics in 2010 after winning over South Carolina's First District, which excited the state's Republican establishment as they tried to broaden their appeal to Black voters. He continued to ride the Tea Party wave when his current competitor, then-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, appointed him as the junior senator in 2012.
NPR
More than 800 Sudanese reportedly killed in an attack on a Darfur town, the UN says
CAIRO — Fighters from a paramilitary force and their allied Arab militias rampaged through a town in Sudan's war-ravaged region of Darfur, reportedly killing more than 800 people in a multiday attack, doctors and the U.N. said.
The attack on Ardamata in West Darfur province earlier this month was the latest in a series of atrocities in Darfur that marked the monthslong war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF.
Sudan has been engulfed in chaos since in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.
The war came 18 months after both generals removed a transitional government in a military coup. The military takeover ended Sudan's short-lived fragile transition to democracy following a popular uprising that forced the overthrow of longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
NPR
More than 180,000 march in Paris against soaring antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war
PARIS — More than 180,000 people across France, including 100,000 in Paris, marched peacefully on Sunday to protest against rising antisemitism in the wake of Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, representatives of several parties on the left, conservatives and centrists of President Emmanuel Macron's party as well as far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended Sunday's march in the French capital amid tight security. Macron did not attend, but expressed his support for the protest and called on citizens to rise up against "the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism."
However, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, stayed away from the march, saying last week on X, formerly Twitter, that the march would be a meeting of "friends of unconditional support for the massacre" in Gaza.
The Guardian
State of emergency declared in Los Angeles after fire engulfs interstate
Los Angeles motorists should expect traffic snarls indefinitely as crews assess how much damage was caused by a raging fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown, officials said Sunday.
Gavin Newsom, the state governor, declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon and directed the state department of transportation to request assistance from the federal government.
Hazardous materials teams were clearing burned matter from underneath Interstate 10 to make way for engineers to make sure the columns and deck of the highway can support the 300,000 vehicles that typically travel that route daily, Newsom said at a news conference.
“Remember, this is an investigation as to the cause of how this occurred, as well as a hazmat and structural engineering question,” he said. “Can you open a few lanes? Can you retrofit the columns? Is the bridge deck intact to allow for a few lanes to remain open again?”
The Guardian (I predicted this on OND one year ago_
Newsom 2024: could the California governor be a rival to Joe Biden?
One of the strongest candidates for US president in 2024 may be one who’s not yet in the race. There’s growing evidence that Gavin Newsom, the charismatic and energetic Democratic governor of California, is running something of a shadow campaign to Joe Biden and ready to step up if, or when, the incumbent is out of the running.
Several developments in recent days suggest Newsom, who romped to re-election a year ago without really campaigning, is ready to bring forward what was already expected to be a strong run for the presidency in 2028.
There are mounting concerns inside the Democratic party, matching polling among voters, that Biden is too old for a second term, the start of which in January 2025 would see him two months past his 82nd birthday if re-elected. Some want him to stand down. Newsom, 56, is among a generation of younger, prominent and popular Democrats expected to emerge from the shadow of the old guard, and has stolen a march on his peers with a series of bold moves many analysts see as strategic.
Reuters
APEC San Francisco protesters span gamut of political issues
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A lively crowd gathered on a sunny Sunday in San Francisco to protest a meeting of cross-Pacific political leaders and a wide spectrum of other issues, prominently including those calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Protesters converged on the plaza in front of San Francisco's ferry building, the gateway to the city, carrying banners and posters opposing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, calling for economic and environmental change, and waving Palestinian flags. Others were opposed to the oil industry and supported labor activists and immigrants' rights, and the crowd stretched for several blocks along the Market Street thoroughfare when the march began late afternoon.
Hand-beaten drums set the atmosphere. The home of 1960s counterculture, San Francisco has retained an anti-authoritarian sensibility even as tech companies and employees have made the city a global influencer.
Deutsche Welle
Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu hints at hostage release deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at the possibility of an agreement for the release of hostages in Gaza.
"There could be [an agreement], but I think the less I say about it, the more I increase the chances it materializes," Netanyahu told US broadcaster NBC.
He argued that Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip created movement in negotiations.
"If a deal is available, well, we'll talk about it when it's there. We'll announce it if it's achieved," he said.
Netanyahu did not provide any details on the potential deal.
Hamas took 239 people hostage during its attacks on southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli authorities.
Deutsche Welle
Ukraine updates: Germany to double 2024 military aid to Kyiv
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius commented on prior reports that Berlin would double its military aid to war-torn Ukraine, which is struggling to oust occupying Russian troops, to €8 billion ($8.5 billion) in 2024.
"This is a strong signal to Ukraine, showing we are not giving up on it" when international attention is focused on the Israel-Hamas war, Boris Pistorius told television channel ARD.
The increased money is a response to this year's experience, "which showed that planned amounts were quickly exhausted", Pistorius said.
According to ARD, the Bundestag's budget committee is to approve the additional expenditure in the so-called adjustment session, which begins on Thursday.
The measure would then go to a vote in parliament.
The announcement came on the anniversary of the post-war German Bundeswehr military's formation on November 12, 1955. Pistorius attended a ceremony in Berlin on Sunday.
Al Jazeera
Volcanic eruption could destroy Icelandic fishing town, say experts
Authorities in Iceland have completed the evacuation of some 3,700 residents of a fishing town experts believe could be destroyed by the eruption of a nearby volcano.
The town of Grindavik on the country’s southwestern coast was evacuated after magma shifting under the Earth’s crust caused hundreds of earthquakes in what was believed to be a precursor to an eruption.
“We are really concerned about all the houses and the infrastructure in the area,” Vidir Reynisson, head of Iceland’s Civil Protection and Emergency Management told the AFP news agency.
The town – around 40km (25 miles) southwest of Reykjavik – is located near the Svartsengi geothermal plant, the main supplier of electricity and water to 30,000 residents on the Reykjanes Peninsula, as well as a freshwater reservoir.
Grindavik is also near the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa resort, a popular tourist destination which closed as a precaution earlier this week.