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
Former OpenAI boss Sam Altman pictured at firm's HQ amid reports of return
The ex-boss of leading artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has posted a photo of himself at its HQ, following reports he is set to return after being sacked on Friday.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Sam Altman is pictured holding a guest ID pass and comments: "First and last time i ever wear one of these".
The 38-year-old helped launch the firm which created the popular ChatGPT bot.
On Friday the board dismissed Mr Altman saying it had lost confidence in him.
Reports this weekend, however, have suggested investors and employees are pushing for Mr Altman to be reinstated.
According to tech news site The Information, Mr Altman and Greg Brockman - another co-founder who quit on Friday as the company's president - were invited to the firm's San Francisco headquarters for talks on Sunday. However, whatever the board was so alarmed about on Friday has perhaps been overtaken by the global reaction to its decision.
BBC
Dominican Republic: At least 21 dead after storm brings torrential rain
At least 21 people have died in the Dominican Republic after heavy rain over the weekend which displaced thousands of residents, officials say.
An investigation has been launched after nine people died when torrential rain caused a highway tunnel wall to collapse in the capital Santo Domingo.
More than 13,000 people were evacuated to secure areas after heavy downpours
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) said rain caused flooded homes, power cuts and damaged bridges and roads.
Three children were among those killed.
Dominican President Luis Abinader called it the "largest rainfall event ever" in the country's history, following torrential storms over the past 48 hours.
NPR
Swedish dockworkers are refusing to unload Teslas at ports in broad boycott move
At the Malmo port in southern Sweden, a cargo ship looms over row after row of shiny new cars — Volkswagens, Volvos, Mercedes.
Notably missing are Teslas. That's because dockworkers are refusing to unload them.
Goran Larsson, a cargo ship inspector, said he's informing the crew on each arriving vessel of the labor action and assessing whether any Teslas are on board.
"We want there to be good regulation in Sweden — law and order all around the workplaces," Larsson said. "And this is the first step that we will do."
Tesla has long fended off efforts to unionize its workforce around the world. But in Sweden, the electric vehicle maker is facing its first formal labor action over its anti-union stance, with potential ripple effects for the company globally. The strike is a response to the company's refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement for its employees, almost all of them mechanics, because Tesla doesn't have a manufacturing plant in Sweden.
The Guardian
‘Hell de Janeiro’: scorching heat highlights Brazil’s glaring inequality
The start of summer in the southern hemisphere is still a month away, but Brazil has already experienced its eighth heatwave of the year so far, as temperatures soar to dangerously high levels.
Large swathes of the country were put under red alert this week by Inmet, the national meteorological institute, which warned of risks to health “and even life” as temperatures stayed at least five degrees Celsius above average for more than five days.
The dangers were brought into sharp relief by the death of a fan at a Taylor Swift concert on Friday night in Rio de Janeiro, at which thousands of other concertgoers reportedly had to be treated for dehydration.
Ana Clara Benevides Machado, 23, collapsed in the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos stadium and died shortly afterwards, reportedly from a cardiac arrest, after sweltering conditions were reported at the venue where the temperature was far higher than the official 39.1C outside.
.Christian Science Monitor
Why is Finland closing crossing points along its Russia border
Finland will close four crossing points on its long border with Russia to stop the flow of Middle Eastern and African migrants that it accuses Moscow of ushering to the border in recent months, the government said Nov. 16.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said the southeastern crossing points – Imatra, Niirala, Nuijamaa, and Vaalimaa – will be closed at midnight Nov. 17 on the Finland-Russia land border that serves as the European Union’s external frontier.
It runs a total of 1,340 kilometers (832 miles), mostly through thick forests in the south, all the way to the rugged landscape in the Arctic north. There are currently nine crossing points, with one dedicated to rail travel only. He referred to dozens of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, who have arrived in the Nordic nation over recent days without proper documentation and have sought asylum after allegedly being helped by Russian authorities to travel to the heavily controlled border zone.
Reuters
Zelenskiy calls for rapid operations changes for soldiers, sacks commander
Nov 19 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday demanded rapid changes in the operations of Ukraine's military and announced the dismissal of the commander of the military's medical forces.
Zelenskiy's move was announced as he met Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, and coincided with debate over the conduct of the 20-month-old war against Russia, with questions over how quickly a counteroffensive in the east and south is proceeding.
"In today's meeting with Defence Minister Umerov, priorities were set," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "There is little time left to wait for results. Quick action is needed for forthcoming changes."
Zelenskiy said he had replaced Major-General Tetiana Ostashchenko as commander of the Armed Forces Medical Forces.
"The task is clear, as has been repeatedly stressed in society, particularly among combat medics, we need a fundamentally new level of medical support for our soldiers," he said.
Al Jazeera
Iran unveils upgraded hypersonic missile as Khamenei touts Israel ‘failure’
Tehran, Iran – Iran has unveiled an upgraded version of its hypersonic missile in a military exhibition for the country’s supreme leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday visited a university run by the aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, where a more advanced version of the Fattah hypersonic missile was put on display along with an array of arms, including the Iranian-made Gaza drone. A new version of the Shahed series of unmanned aerial vehicles and an upgraded version of the 9-Dey missile defence system, capable of launching short to medium-range projectiles, were also unveiled.
No more information was provided on the upgraded version on Sunday, but Iran had said Fattah is capable of moving at a speed of up to Mach 15 (5.1 km or 3.2 miles per second) with a range of 1,400km (870 miles).
Al Jazeera
Yemen’s Houthi rebels seize cargo ship in Red Sea, Israel blames Iran
Yemen’s Houthis say they have taken control of an Israeli-owned ship in the southern Red Sea, with Israel describing the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.
A Houthi military spokesman confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that its fighters hijacked the British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship.
At least 22 people were onboard the Galaxy Leader – reported to be partly owned by an Israeli businessman – which was en route from Turkey to India.
“We have received confirmation from a Houthi official that they hijacked this ship. Earlier today [Sunday], they announced the beginning of operations to attack Israeli-flagged ships. They warned international sailors not to work for such companies,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed al-Attab, reporting from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
“We are treating the crew in accordance with Islamic norms and principles,” said Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree in a statement later on Sunday.
Raw Story
Judge Engoron warned by legal expert over 'pushing the envelope' in fraud trial
In a column for MSNBC, former U.S. House Judiciary Committee counsel Michael Conway implored Judge Arthur Engoron to be careful with the language he uses as he oversees the $250 million financial fraud civil suit filed against Donald Trump and his TrumpOrganization.
According to Conway, in the early days of the Trump Org trial, Engoron went toe-to-toe with the lead defendant and his legal team and used intemperate language that will likely be highlighted in an inevitable appeal by the former president's lawyers.
But the more Engoron pushes the envelope, the more he risks an appellate court disagreeing with his assessment. And Trump’s lawyers can and will argue the judge’s rhetoric is evidence of judicial bias."
New York Times
Dubai’s Costly Water World
For a desert city, Dubai appears like a water wonderland. Visitors can scuba dive in the world’s deepest pool or ski inside a mega mall where penguins play in freshly made snow. A fountain — billed as the world’s largest — sprays more than 22,000 gallons of water into the air, synchronized to music from surrounding speakers.
But to maintain its opulence, the city relies on fresh water it doesn’t have. So it turns to the sea, using energy-intensive desalination technologies to help hydrate a rapidly growing metropolis.
All of this comes at a cost. Experts say Dubai’s reliance on desalination is damaging the Persian Gulf, producing a brackish waste known as brine which, along with chemicals used during desalination processing, increases salinity in the Gulf. It also raises coastal water temperatures and harms biodiversity, fisheries and coastal communities.