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, sometimes09OP0az 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.
Photos from euronews:
By Theo Farrant
The Sony World Photography Awards 2023 has just announced its overall winners at a special gala ceremony in London.
The Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Edgar Martins (Portugal) for his moving series, 'Our War', paying homage to his friend, photojournalist Anton Hammerl, who was killed during the Libyan Civil War in 2011.
There are a few others from the same competition in The Guardian. And The Guardian has pictures of the week and wildlife pictures of the week.
We begin with the cocaine hippos, in the news again. This comes from USA Today:
Natalie Neysa Alund
Offspring of one of Pablo Escobar's famed "cocaine hippos" illegally brought to Colombia by the late drug kingpin is dead after being hit by an SUV along a highway near his former ranch, officials say.
The fatal collision took place Tuesday night along a highway that runs from Bogota to Medellin, environmental authorities said.
A story from a couple of days ago, but connected, comes from CNN:
Forrest Brown
Paul Templer was living his best life.
He was 28 and conducting tours in his native Zimbabwe, with a focus on photographic safaris.
He had been away for a few years, including a stint in the British army. But he had returned to Africa’s bush country “and fell back in love with it. The wildlife, the flora, the fauna, the great outdoors, the space – just everything about it. I was at home.”
From Reuters:
- No immediate damage or casualties reported
- Quake struck deep at 632 km - agency
- Indonesia straddles highly active seismic zone
A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck deep off of Indonesia's Java island on Friday, but there was no risk of tsunami, the country's geophysics agency said.
From The Guardian:
Scientists calculate 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano released 1,000 times more energy than Hiroshima bomb
A huge underwater volcanic event in Tonga last year was of a magnitude comparable with the most powerful nuclear detonation by the US, researchers have revealed.
Scientists have used eye and earwitnesses accounts, along with data from tide gauges, satellites, evidence of broken windows and other sources, to calculate that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which occurred on 15 January 2022 and was felt around the world, likely involved five blasts. The last of them released energy equivalent to about 15 megatonnes of TNT.
From Yahoo! News:
March of 2023 was the planet's second-warmest month in recorded history.
David Knowles
Planet Earth continues to run a fever. Data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service last week showed that March of 2023 was the planet’s second-warmest month in recorded history, registering average global temperatures 0.92 degrees Fahrenheit above normal high temperatures measured between 1991 and 2020.
On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the March findings, adding that “Polar sea ice saw its second-smallest March coverage on record.”
Another item from Indonesia, from The Guardian:
Business groups fear cost could damage tourism sector still recovering from effects of pandemic
Indonesia is considering imposing a tax for tourists after a series of incidents in which badly behaved foreigners have violated laws or customs, according to local media.
The tourism and creative economy minister, Sandiaga Uno, told reporters this week that the possibility of a tourism tax was “currently being studied”.
From CBS News:
The entire Russian Pacific Fleet was put on high alert on Friday for snap drills that will involve practice missile launches in a massive show of force amid tensions with the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the goal of the war games was to test the capability of Russia's armed forces to mount a response to aggression.
Moving from east to west, then south. We begin with the New York Times and a story about China:
There was optimism at the spring meetings of the I.M.F. and World Bank that China will make concessions over restructuring its loans.
WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries.
China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments. Their problems have been compounded by rising interest rates and disruptions to supplies of food and energy as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
From France24:
The death toll from an air strike on a central Myanmar village rose to an estimated 171 victims on Friday, according to a team member involved in cremating bodies and media reports.
From the Tribune of India:
Asad is the third son of jailed gangster Atiq Ahmad
At 19, he was like any other young boy of his age -- looking forward to making a career in law.
However, destiny had other plans for him and Asad, the third son of gangster Atiq Ahmad, crossed over to the other side of law, turned into the most wanted criminal in the state with a reward of Rs five lakh on his head and met a bloody end on Thursday -- all within a span of 47 days.
From VOA:
Russia said Friday that Afghanistan’s Taliban had made progress against terrorism and drug trafficking but needed to resolve women’s rights issues and create an inclusive government to win recognition for their rule.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the remarks a day after participating in a regional conference in Uzbekistan, along with six immediate neighbors of Afghanistan, including China.
From Al Jazeera:
The release and swap of nearly 900 detainees by the two sides in Yemen’s conflict has begun, a significant confidence-building measure as peace talks between Saudi envoys and Houthi rebels intensify.
From the Middle East Eye:
WATCH: Israeli forces attacked Palestinian worshippers with teargas, stun grenades and batons in front of Jerusalem’s Gate of Remission (Bab Hitta), which leads to Al-Aqsa Mosque, as they were on their way towards morning prayers in the holy month of Ramadan on Friday
From VOA:
A new draft bill passed by Russian lawmakers on April 11 will make it nearly impossible for men to avoid military conscription, just as Moscow is expected launch a fresh counteroffensive in its war on Ukraine. Anna Rice has the story.
From Deutsche Welle:
With Finland joining NATO, the alliance's border with Russia has doubled in length. DW's Teri Schultz reports from the town of Imatra, near a border area where Finland is constructing a pilot security fence of 3km length. The fence is set to stretch over 200 km in the upcoming years.
From the Washington Post:
MOSCOW — Finland’s embassy in Moscow said it received an envelope containing white powder and has turned it and two other sealed envelopes to authorities for investigation, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.
From the Associated Press:
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron toured the reconstruction works at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday, cheering on workers painstakingly restoring the medieval monument four years after it suffered a devastating fire.
With light streaming through the cathedral’s stained-glass rose windows, Macron and his wife Brigitte gazed up at activity underway to replace the roof and spire, consumed by the flames on April 15, 2019.
From The Guardian:
Beatriz Flamini says she endured swarms of flies, read 60 books and never missed the sunlight
After spending 500 days alone in a dark cave 70 metres below the Earth’s surface, assailed by a plague of flies and the odd tantalising vision of roast chicken, most people would be craving a wash and some company.
But after emerging from her subterranean lair in southern Spain a little after 9am on Friday and having a quick checkup with a doctor and a psychologist, Beatriz Flamini was treated instead to a 50-minute press conference in which she endeavoured to explain the almost inexplicable.
From CNN:
Some of England’s trainee doctors are paid less than fast-food workers. They’ve had enough
Tens of thousands of England’s trainee doctors have gone on strike this week over pay. For many, hourly pay falls below that of some baristas and fast-food workers.
Junior doctors working in the country’s National Health Service (NHS) walked out Tuesday — the first of four days of strikes — demanding a 35% increase in annual salaries.
From Reuters:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top aide on Friday refused to say when Trudeau first learned about allegations that China tampered with recent elections, citing security concerns.
Canadian authorities have started several investigations into the allegations of interference in Canada's 2019 and 2021 elections, accusations that Beijing denies.
From US News (Reuters):
By Horacio Soria and Juan Carlos Bustamante
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentines, painfully accustomed to decades of spiraling prices, say that the current 102.5%-and-climbing inflation rate is on another level and is making it almost impossible to get by.
"In my case, I have zero capacity to save," said Claudia Hernansaez, a publishing company employee.
From Al Jazeera:
After years of instability and coups, fears are growing of another armed conflict in Sudan.
The paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces has deployed fighters to major cities.
The army warns the move could fuel divisions and threaten security.
And plans to sign an agreement for a new transitional government have again been delayed.With a potential battle for power, could an armed conflict turn into a civil war?
From Al Jazeera:
Nizar Issaoui, 35, said the reason for his protest was being falsely accused of ‘terrorism’ in the village of Haffouz.
A professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week as a protest against “police injustice”, his family said.
Tunisian football player Nizar Issaoui, 35, suffered third-degree burns and was taken to the specialist burns hospital in Tunis, but doctors were unable to save his life, his brother said on Friday.