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. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
I have sometimes covered arts news in this digest, but not tonight. I do, however, want you to share with you an advent calendar of art, which comes from the Danish branch of Bonham’s, Bruun Rasmussen (the link takes you to the first episode):
Join us on a fantastic journey back to Baroque Europe, when, once again this year, we give you the opportunity to follow Peter Kær’s unique art dissemination project “Kær’s Art Calendar” in collaboration with the National Gallery of Denmark. This is the sixth year in a row that we’re doing this, and every day from the 1st to the 24th of December, the popular art detective will be zooming in on a new detail in “The Judgement of Solomon”, the dramatic painting from c. 1617 by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.
“The idea behind the art calendar is to take you on a voyage of discovery. Much like a detective, over the 24 video episodes, I look at the importance of the details to the overall scene. It’s something you can do with a painting, and you can also do iti n so many other contexts in life. This year, our investigations are based on“The Judgement of Solomon” by Peter Paul Rubens. It’s a work that has always both fascinated and irritated me. Something terrible has happened, but what? Find out more in this year’s art calendar.”
In other art news, from France 24:
Should they stay or should they go? An expert's guide to the Parthenon Marbles spat
This week, the British prime minister was accused of "losing his marbles" by the opposition for refusing to talk to his Greek counterpart. Rishi Sunak cancelled a planned meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis because the Greek prime minister had told a reporter he wanted to discuss the possibility of Britain giving back the Ancient Greek sculptures, known as the both the Parthenon Marbles and the Elgin Marbles. Setting out both sides of the argument is our Perspective guest, Alexander Herman. He's the author of "The Parthenon Marbles Dispute" and director of the Institute of Art and Law. He spoke to FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee.
A bit more on the topic, from the BBC:
By Sean Coughlan & Brian Wheeler
After Mr Sunak's Greek row, eyebrows were raised by the pattern on the King's tie
King Charles's choice of neckwear at the COP28 conference has sparked speculation that it was a coded message to Rishi Sunak.
The King's tie had a pattern based on the Greek flag - after a week-long row between the UK PM and the Greek PM over the Parthenon Sculptures.
Some interesting news you may not have heard about, this from the Straits Times:
The famous Yubari King melon has put the once-prosperous former coal mining town back on the map
By WALTER SIM
Yubari is a city only in name, with few of the modern amenities associated with urban living: There are no train services, no shopping malls, and just a few clinics in an area the size of Singapore.
It is Japan’s only bankrupt municipality among the country’s 1,741 precincts, having declared insolvency in 2007 after raking up more than 35 billion yen (S$315 million) in debt.
Another from the Straits Times:
Judith Tan
SINGAPORE – When it comes to community activities, the seniors in the Malay community seem to have cornered that market.
Associate Professor Feng Qiushi, from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said the Malays, as a community, have a lot more “outside immediate family” – neighbours, extended family and “a family size that is much bigger than that of the Chinese”.
One last cheery story, from The Guardian:
After months of legal challenges Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey registered their marriage, giving hope to other same-sex couples in the south Asian country
The dancing continued until the early hours. Family and friends – and Suru the dog – gathered in western Nepal to mark the joyful end to what had been a historic day for Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey. On Wednesday, they became the first same-sex couple in south Asia to have their marriage legally recognised.
From Spaceflight Now:
Kicking off the month of December for SpaceX was a Falcon 9 ride share mission with a payload of 25 spacecraft on board. The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was headlined by the Korea 425 mission.
The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 10:19 a.m. PST (1:19 EST, 1819 UTC). The launch is set to be the first of two missions SpaceX plans to launch over the weekend. The company aims to launch another batch of 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the early hours of Saturday morning.
More about the Irish satellite:
- EIRSAT-1, a student-built CubeSat, has been successfully launched into space, officially becoming Ireland's first satellite
- The student-led project involved more than 50 students from University College Dublin, under guidance of the European Space Agency
- It was deployed into orbit from a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on Friday evening
- The Irish government has described the history-making project as a "major milestone"
From Reuters:
TAIPEI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Beijing has sponsored cut-price trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island, according to Taiwan sources and documents, unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called "election interference".
President Tsai Ing-wen and other Taiwan officials have warned that China might try to sway voters toward candidates seeking closer ties with Beijing in the elections, which could define the island's relations with China. But the scale of the Chinese activity has not previously been reported.
From The Guardian:
Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears
As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.
From NDTV:
Assembly Elections 2023: What Are The Key Takeaways From Exit Polls?
Exit polls have given their verdict. Now we wait for the actual results which will come on Sunday. Here is a look at the 10 big takeaways from the exit polls.
From the New York Times:
A Tense Climate Summit Begins Against a Backdrop of War and Record Heat
With dire warnings of planetary catastrophe and urgent pleas to protect vulnerable populations, world leaders on Friday implored one another to stop burning fossil fuels and swiftly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are `dangerously heating the planet.
At the United Nations climate conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a parade of dignitaries invoked faith, science and economics in their calls for a rapid transition away from coal, oil and gas, and toward clean energy.
From Firstpost:
PM Modi Urges Developed Nations to Fully Reduce Carbon Footprint by 2050 |Vantage with Palki Sharma
PM Modi Urges Developed Nations to Fully Reduce Carbon Footprint by 2050 | Vantage with Palki Sharma Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered to host the UN's COP33 climate conference in 2028. Speaking at COP28 talks in Dubai, Modi said every country must fulfil their climate targets and "work in unity". Palki Sharma tells you all about India's climate pledges at COP28.
From the BBC:
COP28: King Charles says dangers of climate change are no longer distant risks
King Charles III has urged world leaders gathered in Dubai to make the COP28 climate summit a "turning point".In a speech on the second day of the conference, the monarch warned that despite some progress "we remain so dreadfully far off track".
From The Guardian:
As Cop28 gets under way, it is vital that corporations and richer nations invest in the global south
Without urgent action to bolster green jobs in developing economies, the collective action needed to win the fight against climate change will remain elusive. Developing nations face a number of socioeconomic challenges, forcing them to tighten spending. More people worldwide are living in hunger, and 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. More than 60% of low-income countries are in, or at high risk of, debt distress, while access to capital is limited and the cost of borrowing prohibitive. This leaves minimal room for the debt creation and spending needed to fund climate action.
Several stories from Africa this evening. Photos of the continent from the past week are found at the BBC.
This first news story is from Firstpost:
After Drought, Floods Wreak Havoc Across East Africa | Vantage with Palki Sharma
Floods are wreaking havoc across the Horn of Africa. Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are the worst hit. Over two million people have been displaced. Nearly 300 people have been killed. What's behind these devastating floods? How are countries coping? Palki Sharma tells you more.
From the BBC:
As many as half a million people have descended on Ethiopia's sacred city of Aksum, according to its mayor, for a religious festival taking place for the first time since the civil war in the northern region of Tigray ended.
Aksum is a holy site for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians who say it is home to the Ark of the Covenant, believed to contain the 10 commandments handed down to Moses by God - and later brought to the city from Jerusalem.
Also from the BBC:
The 'Ghana Must Go' bags are popular, under different names, across Africa
Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria has banned the infamously nicknamed "Ghana Must Go" bags from their flights there.
The luggage got the nickname in Nigeria in the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of whom were Ghanaian, were expelled.
From CBS:
A 70-year-old Ugandan woman has given birth to twins, her doctor said Thursday, in what the mother hailed as a "miracle."
Safina Namukwaya described her joy at the arrival of the twins who were born on Wednesday at a medical facility in the capital Kampala, where she had received fertility treatment.
From Premium Times:
The president, on Wednesday, presented a budget of N27.5 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year to the joint session of the National Assembly.
by Mohammed Babangida
A member of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Galambi, has accused President Bola Tinubu of presenting ’empty’ boxes supposedly containing the 2024 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly.
Mr Galambi, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa State, made the allegation during an interview with BBC Hausa Service on Friday.
From France 24:
Order restored in Guinea-Bissau following gunfire
Tonight we focus on the latest events in Guinea-Bissau. The army maintains order has been restored in Bissau following gun battle between army factions. Violence broke out last night after national guard soldiers freed an opposition minister and continued until Friday morning.
A couple from Europe, beginning with the VOA:
Finland Closes Russian Border Over Migrant Influx, Estonia Could Follow
Finland closed its entire 1,340-kilometer-long border with Russia this week, accusing Moscow of sending asylum-seekers across the frontier in a hybrid attack in retaliation for its decision to join NATO. Russia denies the accusation. VOA’s Henry Ridgwell has more.
From the BBC:
Are Parisians falling out of love with their own Olympic Games?
That conclusion might seem inescapable after a series of bad news stories over the last couple of weeks.
First the city's own Mayor Anne Hidalgo said out of the blue that transport for next summer's Games would "not be ready in time".
Then it was announced that far from buses and metros being free for competition ticket-holders - as promised in the Paris bid for the Games - fares will actually double for the six weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics.
From the BBC:
Boris Johnson is expected to apologise to the Covid Inquiry next week and acknowledge the government did not get everything right during the pandemic.
But the former PM will argue robustly that his government got many of the big calls right.
He will talk with pride about the vaccines programme and argue the UK emerged the final lockdown earlier than other comparable economies.
One last story from the Miami Herald:
By Antonio Maria Delgado and Jacqueline Charles
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is being ordered by the World Court to refrain from his efforts to take control of an oil- and mineral-rich area in neighboring Guyana that is the subject of a Sunday referendum in his troubled nation and an ongoing border dispute between the two countries.
In a legally binding decision, the United Nations International Court of Justice said Friday that, “pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area.”