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.
Pictures of the week come from The Guardian — general pictures of the week, and wildlife pictures.
There are some good news and/or fun stories this week (for a change). Those will be above the fold, and the more serious items are below the fold. We begin with news from the BBC:
The city of Malmö is to host next year's 68th Eurovision song contest, it was announced on Friday, following Sweden's victory in Liverpool in May.
The coastal town in the south of the country was selected ahead of the capital Stockholm after "dialogue with several cities", organisers said.
From Reuters:
Inside the world's first robot-human press conference
Nine humanoid robots gathered at the United Nations’ 'AI for Good' conference in Geneva for the world’s first human-robot press conference.
From USA Today:
An archaeological expedition from Sweden's University of Gothenburg has uncovered tombs rich in artifacts and antiquities in Cyprus that makes the discovery among the richest ever found in the Mediterranean region.
Peter Fischer, the leader of the expedition and a professor of archaeology at the University of Gothenburg, said “considering the richness of the grave goods, it is a reasonable assumption that these were royal tombs, even though we do not know much about the form of government practiced in the city at the time."
From WION:
Here, we bring you the news that is trending across WION's social media platforms- The government of the Netherlands has decided to return over 400 highly valuable and culturally significant artworks that were looted in Indonesia and Sri Lanka during the Dutch colonial era. The artefacts included range of jewelry precious metals and richly decorated cannons.
And because a Friday night digest is not really complete without a cocaine hippos story, we have this from livescience.com:
By Megan Shersby
A new census of the world’s largest invasive species reveals the population is roughly double the size scientists previously estimated.
Thirty years after Pablo Escobar's death in 1993, the notorious cartel leader's "cocaine hippos" are still wreaking havoc in one of the world's most biodiverse countries.
A new study of the invasive mammals' population in Colombia revealed there could be double the number experts previously estimated,
Nature reported. A
study in 2021 estimated that there were around 98 individuals, but the more recent census, published in April, puts the population at between 181 and 215.
And two from the BBC:
A 1930s novel that was acclaimed by George Orwell and WH Auden before being forgotten for decades is to be republished after a Manchester bartender rediscovered it and solved a mystery about the author's last wishes.
Jack Chadwick chanced upon an old copy of Jack Hilton's semi-autobiographical Caliban Shrieks in 2021.
And:
By Jess Warren
A poster for a West End play featuring a wedding cake was banned by Transport for London (TfL) because it was seen to promote "foods high in fat, salt and sugar".
The ad for Tony n' Tina's Wedding, a dinner show at Wonderville, Haymarket, featured a three-tier sponge cake.
From The Guardian:
Exclusive: Trading standards body warns shoppers with severe allergies could face ‘tragic consequences’
More than a third of foods labelled vegan contained animal products, research has found, prompting experts to warn shoppers with severe allergies they face potentially “tragic consequences”.
Forensic scientists found traces of egg or milk in an array of goods that were labelled as vegan or plant-based, with trading standards bosses calling for legal protection to stop consumers being “exploited by unethical food businesses”.
From Deutsche Welle:
Medics say six people have been hurt, none badly, on the first day of the famous "running of the bulls" in the northern Spanish city. The event is strongly opposed by animal rights activists.
The popular event, during which a group of bulls races through the city's narrow cobbled streets, has led to 16 fatalities since 1911.
From the NY Times:
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, had struggled to reach an agreement with his coalition partners about migration, including more restrictions.
The Dutch government collapsed on Friday after the parties in its ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on migration policy, underlining how the issue of asylum seekers coming to Europe continues to divide governments across the continent.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was overseeing his fourth cabinet and is one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, told reporters on Friday that he would submit his resignation to the king.
From the BBC:
Switzerland and Austria have signed a declaration of intent to join the European air defence system Sky Shield.
The system was initiated by Germany following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and is designed to allow European countries to buy defence systems together, and train together.
From Politico:
A new investigation suggests the German intelligence service knew about the Wagner uprising before it occurred.
The German intelligence service listened in as Yevgeny Prigozhin negotiated with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to stop the Wagner Group’s march towards Moscow, according to German media reports.
A joint investigation by German public-broadcasting outlets NDR and WDR claims the country’s intelligence service (BND) knew more about the Wagner discussions than was first reported, including the intermediary role played by Lukashenko, who negotiated the end to the attempted uprising.
From Japan Times:
Moscow is known for its ability to fight wars on a relatively small budget — the war in Ukraine is no exception
In the aftermath of the failed mutiny by the Wagner Group mercenary army and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, dissatisfaction with Russia’s military and political leadership will continue to brew with the fighting in Ukraine.
As more details become available about Wagner — until recently, the best-equipped, always regularly paid part of the Russian invasion force — officers and soldiers alike will wonder why their units often need to rely on public collections for vital equipment and why their pay is often delayed or reduced.
From CNN:
Ukraine deserves to have NATO membership, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia said it was closely watching.
Zelensky spent this week visiting NATO countries, courting support ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania next week where members are expected to reaffirm that Ukraine will eventually join.
From The Guardian:
After record breaking days on Monday and Tuesday, unofficial analysis shows the world may have seen its hottest seven days in a row
The UN secretary general has said that “climate change is out of control”, as an unofficial analysis of data showed that average world temperatures in the seven days to Wednesday were the hottest week on record.
“If we persist in delaying key measures that are needed, I think we are moving into a catastrophic situation, as the last two records in temperature demonstrates,” António Guterres said, referring to the world temperature records broken on Monday and Tuesday.
From the Times of Israel:
Former pilot Udi Ori dismisses ‘completely false’ claim he lost his eye after taking direct hit from water cannon on Tel Aviv highway, hopes to regain sight after further surgeries
A colonel in the Israeli Air Force reserves who was injured and required eye surgery after taking a direct hit from a water cannon during a protest against the judicial overhaul said Friday that he will no longer volunteer for reserve duty, vowing not to serve under a “dictatorship.”
Udi Ori was hit in the right eye during a protest Wednesday night that deteriorated into clashes with police who sought to clear several thousand demonstrators blocking Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway.
From the New York Times:
India Arrests 3 Railway Workers in Train Crash That Killed 290
The workers were detained on charges that included endangering the safety of passengers and tampering with evidence, the Central Bureau of Investigation said.
Indian officials on Friday arrested three railway workers in connection with a deadly train crash last month that left at least 290 people dead and once again highlighted safety problems across a vast train network that serves as an important lifeline for the poor.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the criminal inquiry into the train accident in the eastern state of Odisha, said the workers were arrested on charges of endangering the safety of passengers, culpable homicide without murder, and tampering with evidence.
From The Guardian:
More than 9m hectares of country had burned, federal data shows, shattering 34-year record
Canadian officials have warned that the country faces a “long, tough summer” of wildfires as the current season shatters previous records and forecasts predict even hotter temperatures to come.
Federal data showed that on Friday more than 9m hectares (22.2m acres) of the country had burned, shattering a 34-year record.
From Deutsche Welle:
Silja Fröhlich14 hours ago
The world’s youngest country, South Sudan celebrates 12 years of independence from Sudan. In that time it has lurched from crisis to crisis and has yet to hold elections. Many people who fled the civil war in the country back then are again on the move – forced out of their new homes in Sudan by the war there. DW reporter Silja Fröhlich met some of them in Bentiu, in the north of the country.
From CBS News:
The last of the U.S. declared chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed in eastern Kentucky at a military installation, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced Friday, a milestone that closes a chapter of warfare dating back to World War I.
According to the Defense Department, the last sarin nerve agent-filled M55 rocket was destroyed Friday at the Blue Grass Army Depot.