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.
Some of the odder stories in the news in the past 24 hours above the fold. Other stories below. We begin with a Russian story from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Pressure against a raft of Russian celebrities who attended an “Almost Naked” party at a Moscow nightclub continues to mount, with participants in the soiree issuing public apologies and at least one ordered jailed.
Much of the official backlash has focused on the supposed lack of decorum of the December 21 event amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the pressure campaign was escalated on orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration, multiple Russian government sources were cited as saying in a December 29 report by The Moscow Times.
From the National Post:
Dec. 31 will mark the end of a temporary arrangement in which Ottawa offered London a special quota of cheese that could be imported under low tariffs
The Canadian Press, Dylan Robertson
OTTAWA — Canadian supermarkets will soon see their supply of British cheese crumble, as both countries seek fair trade terms following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
Dec. 31 will mark the end of a temporary arrangement in which Ottawa offered London a special quota of cheese that could be imported under low tariffs.
Not exactly news, but explaining… From the CBC:
Milk bags first entered the Canadian market in the late 1960s. But why is bagged milk the norm in Ontario, Quebec and Maritime provinces but not other parts of the country? The answer involves the metric system and consumer habits.
Since we have been talking about Canada, let’s continue with this opinion piece from the Globe and Mail:
Next Nov. 5, Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, could be elected its 47th president. If that happens, both America and Canada will be thrown into crisis.
And there is nothing Canadians can do, except watch.
And from Global News:
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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is calling on Canadians to commit themselves to kindness in her annual year-end message.
The Governor General says the year 2023 presented challenges brought on by climate change and global conflict.
Across the pond, from The Guardian, about someone you might have forgotten already:
Ousted prime minister allowed a resignation honours list despite lasting just 49 days in Downing Street
Ousted prime minister Liz Truss has been allowed to confer a host of honours and three new peerages – including for one of the architects of Brexit, for a Tory donor and for her former deputy chief of staff.
Truss was granted a “resignation honours” list by Rishi Sunak, despite having to resign from No 10 after only 49 days because of turmoil in the financial markets caused by her chancellor’s mini-budget.
And from the BBC, the King’s list:
Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis and bestselling writer Jilly Cooper are among those recognised in the 2024 New Year Honours list.
Actress Emilia Clarke is named MBE alongside England goalkeeper Mary Earps, while captain Millie Bright and singer Leona Lewis become OBEs.
Ex-rugby league players Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield become CBEs for raising awareness of motor neurone disease.
From the Associated Press, via ABC News:
French officials say security will be tight across the country on New Year’s Eve, with 90,000 law enforcement officers set to be deployed
PARIS -- Security will be tight across France on New Year’s Eve, with 90,000 law enforcement officers set to be deployed, domestic intelligence chief Céline Berthon said Friday.
Of those, 6,000 will be in Paris, where French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said over 1.5 million people are expected to attend celebrations on the Champs-Elysees.
From the same route, AP via ABC:
Turkey's state-run news agency says security forces have detained 32 people suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish security forces have detained 32 people suspected of links to the Islamic State extremist group who were allegedly planning to carry out attacks on synagogues and churches as well as the Iraqi Embassy, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Friday.
The suspects, including three alleged senior IS militants, were detained in raids carried out at dawn in nine provinces across Turkey, Anadolu Agency reported, citing unnamed security sources.
From The Guardian:
Military service defines who you are in Israeli society but dissent has a long tradition, despite the many obstacles
Last week, 18-year-old Tal Mitnick was jailed for 30 days for refusing Israel Defense Forces enlistment, becoming the first conscientious objector imprisoned since the Israel-Hamas war began. “I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security. I refuse to take part in a war of revenge,” Mitnick wrote in a statement.
Military conscription is a unifying cornerstone in Israeli society. It is hard to completely trust the IDF figures due to a lack of transparency, but its official numbers show that 69% of men and 56% of women are conscripted for service at 18. This makes the military uniform an emblem of collective national identity, perhaps even more important than the flag, epitomised by the Israeli maxim: “A nation building an army is a nation building itself.”
From The Guardian:
Three men and one woman hanged on charges of ‘moharebeh’ – or waging war against God
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel.
They were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan website reported.
From The Times of Israel:
Third person moderately wounded as shooting brings total number of Arab Israelis slain in violent crime so far in 2023 to 232
A nine-year-old boy and his 20-year-old uncle were shot dead in the central city of Lod on Friday evening, according to police.
A third person, a 28-year-old man, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, according to first responders.
From Al Jazeera:
Saeed is accused by India and the US of being involved in the 2008 attacks, which killed 166 people.
From NDTV:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also flag off six Vande Bharat and two new Amrit Bharat trains.
Ayodhya: Ahead of the much-awaited consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple on January 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ayodhya today to inaugurate the new airport as well as the redeveloped railway station.
Also from NDTV:
Voting To Decide Ram Lalla Idol Today, 3 Designs Up For Contest
The voting to decide the idol of Lord Ram Lalla for the grand Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya will take place today. The decision will mark a crucial step in the construction and consecration of the temple, scheduled for January 22.
From CNN:
China has named former naval commander Dong Jun as its new defense minister, two months after removing his predecessor Li Shangfu from the role without explanation following Li’s extended absence from public view.
The top body of China’s rubber stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), announced Dong’s appointment Friday following their final session for the year, Chinese state media Xinhua reported.
From Reuters:
Dec 29 (Reuters) - The former leader of a Hong Kong pro-independence group says he received up to HK$3,000 ($384) from security officers per meeting to become an informant when he was released from jail in June, before he fled to Britain and sought political asylum.
In November 2021, Tony Chung, who was then 20, was sentenced to 43 months in prison for trying to separate the city from China, and for money laundering. Chung was charged with secession under a sweeping national security law imposed by China in 2020 and denied bail. He pleaded guilty.
For NPR:
NPR's Michel Martin asks Jenny Town of the Stimson Center, a nonprofit foreign affairs think tank, about how to interpret Kim Jong Un's rhetoric.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
North Korea says it is preparing for war with the United States. State media reported that leader Kim Jong Un was ordering accelerated military preparations to counter what he called unprecedented, confrontational moves by the U.S. Jenny Town is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center - it's a foreign affairs think tank - where she directs its 38 North program that focuses on North Korea. And she's here with us to talk about all this. Jenny Town, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
And finally, a few end-of-the-year wrapups, from a lot of those circulating these days. First, from the BBC:
The past 12 months have seen a number of setbacks for the US, Europe and other major democracies on the international politics stage. None has been disastrous, for now. But they point to a shifting balance of power away from the US-dominated, Western values that have held sway for years.
On many fronts, the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for Western interests. Here's why, and what benefits could still emerge from changes under way:
And from Mother Jones:
Which one leaves you the most panicked?
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
To say that 2023 is one for the record books is a vast understatement—the year was so out of the norm that you’re forced to go back at least 125,000 years for a point of reference. The last time anyone experienced a year as warm as this one, mastodons and giant sloths roamed across North America during the beginning of the late Pleistocene. Suffice it to say, there weren’t many people around to experience it.
In 2023, it felt like Earth might run out of records to break. For a stretch in early July, the planet snapped its all-time daily heat record four times, one day after another. It added up to the hottest week ever recorded in what became the hottest summer ever recorded. Then, September broke its previous monthly heat record by half a degree Celsius—a margin so stunning that Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist, declared it “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.”