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
The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth
When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done.
To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter?
While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different.
The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF).
BBC
Ukraine war: Military chiefs in Kyiv under pressure over deadly Russian strike
Ukraine's military chiefs are facing growing criticism over a recent Russian missile strike that is believed to have caused heavy Ukrainian casualties.
Ukrainian media and Russian military bloggers say more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers were killed at Friday's award ceremony near the southern frontlines.
Ukraine's military has not yet given casualty figures of what it says was a "tragedy" in the Zaporizhzhia region.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the incident "could have been avoided".
"Criminal proceedings have been initiated," the Ukrainian leader added in a post on social media on Sunday.
"Every soldier in the combat zone - in the enemy's line of fire and aerial reconnaissance - knows how to behave in the open, how to ensure safety."
A number of Ukrainian soldiers and military experts say the ceremony should not have taken place in a strike-risk area.
They say Ukrainian officers should have been aware that Russian drones are constantly monitoring Ukrainian troops' activities near the frontlines to guide air and artillery strikes.
The Guardian
Middle East war could spark global recession, say Wall Street experts
A global recession could be set in motion by the conflict in the Middle East as the humanitarian crisis compounds the challenges facing an already precarious world economy, two of Wall Street’s biggest names have warned.
The downbeat comments come as the City braces for another gloomy update on the UK economy, with the Office for National Statistics due to provide an update on how it fared during the third quarter on Friday.
After barely growing during 2023, the UK economy is again expected to be almost at a standstill, according to estimates by City economists. There are also new downbeat figures on the housing market, with UK mortgage lending predicted to show decade-low growth during 2023 and 2024.
In terms of the global economy, Larry Fink, chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, said a combination of the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, Israel’s resultant attack on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year had pushed the world “almost to a whole new future”.
The Guardian (Enjoy your farmed salmon)
Sea-lice outbreak on Icelandic salmon farm a ‘welfare disaster’, footage shows
Images of severely diseased, dead and dying salmon at an Icelandic fish farm, obtained by the Guardian, have been described by one veterinary expert as an “animal welfare disaster” on a scale never previously seen.
The drone footage, shot last week over an open-pen sea cage in the country’s remote Westfjords region, shows salmon suffering from such a severe infestation of sea lice that huge numbers of the fish are having to be prematurely slaughtered.
Up to 12 pens are believed to be affected by the parasites, which contained about a million fish last month, although the exact numbers have not been confirmed. A specialised vessel, the Hordafor III, sent from Norway to euthanise the fish, is seen in the footage. The parasite, a crustacean known as salmon lice – Lepeophtheirus salmonis– feeds on the salmon’s skin, causing open sores that stress and weaken the salmon’s immune system. In extreme cases, it can cause mass deaths.
Reuters
Afghanistan opium poppy supply plummets 95% after Taliban ban, U.N. says
Nov 5 (Reuters) - Opium poppy production in Afghanistan, previously the world's top supplier, has plummeted since the Taliban administration banned the cultivation of narcotics last year, a United Nations report said on Sunday.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said opium cultivation fell throughout the country to just 10,800 hectares (26,700 acres) in 2023 from 233,000 hectares the previous year, slashing supply by 95% to 333 tons.
This was putting pressure on farmers in the war-torn country, where most people depend on agriculture and the value of poppy exports had at times outstripped the value of all formal exported goods, UNODC said.
The sharp decline could have major consequences for the economy in a country where around two-thirds of the population are already in need of humanitarian aid, the report said.
"Over the coming months Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghan farmers with opportunities away from opium.”
Deutsche Welle
Greece: Cost of living crisis hits ordinary households hard
"The money I now spend in the supermarket to buy three day's worths of food for my family, last year was enough for an entire week's worth of groceries," Anna Petropoulou told DW. For the 49-year-old Greek mother of three, visiting the supermarket is full of unpleasant surprises as the cost of living soars. Together with her husband, Petropoulou earns fairly well by Greek standards, and the family lives in a condo. But the dramatic rise in food and fuel prices is forcing them to carefully watch their spending — it is a bit like a return of the 2010 financial crisis.
The price of olive oil has skyrocketed, in particular. Olive oil is a Greek staple, which is used in many of the country's dishes. But it has become a luxury good of late, with prices climbing week by week. One year ago, a liter of average quality olive oil cost €4,80 — today, that same oil will cost upwards of €10, or even €11, depending on the supermarket.
Al Jazeera
Russia says it test-fired nuclear-capable Bulava missile from new submarine
Russia has said it successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from one of its submarines.
Sunday’s launch comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the withdrawal of its ratification of the global nuclear test ban treaty in a move Moscow argued was needed to bring it into line with the United States.
“The new nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine cruiser Emperor Alexander the Third has successfully launched the Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The missile, which the Federation of American Scientists says is designed to carry as many as six nuclear warheads, was launched from an underwater position in the White Sea off Russia’s northern coast and hit a target thousands of kilometres away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East.
Raw Story
'Cannon has to be removed': Mueller prosecutor hammers rookie Trump judge
Cannon reprimanded federal prosecutors for flagging that there is an ongoing battle for scheduling between the Florida case and the other federal case in Washington, D.C. But when doing so, she cited the wrong rule relating to something completely different. It has drawn mockery and further questions about Cannon being in over her head for one of the most important cases in the United States.
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman agreed with Weissmann's assessment, but noted it doesn't matter whether she's all-in for Trump. Cannon can't handle the case.
"Biased or not, Cannon simply doesn’t have game; and she masks it with prickly remonstrations of the government," Litman wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "She needs to go back to judges’ school, except there isn’t such a place.”