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
Storm Hilary begins battering southern California
Tropical storms have been once-in-a-lifetime events for Californians. The last one to hit was in September 1939, when flooding killed 45 people in southern California and another 48 at sea. In Los Angeles, 5.66in (144mm) of rain fell over a 24-hour period.
The city has also seen relentless rain ahead of Hilary. But Mayor Karen Bass told reporters that it was ready.
“Our message today is clear, stay safe, stay home, and stay informed," she said. "This is an unprecedented weather event, but Los Angeles has deep experience responding to crises whether it be wildfire or earthquakes."
Ms Bass added that officials would do their best to keep city services going throughout the storm.
In its latest bulletin at 17:00 local time on Sunday (00:00 BST on Monday), the US National Hurricane Center says the centre of tropical storm Hilary has now moved into southern California.
The storm has winds up to 50mph (85km/h), the NHC says, warning that "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding is likely in parts of the south-western US and Mexico's Baja California peninsula through Monday.
Al Jazeera
Guatemalans head to polls in run-off presidential election
Guatemalans are casting their votes in a presidential run-off election that many hope will reverse democratic backsliding under recent administrations.
Recent polls have predicted that Bernardo Arevalo, a progressive candidate running on an anti-corruption platform, will defeat establishment figure and former First Lady Sandra Torres.
Arevalo was leading with 50 percent, according to the most recent pre-election poll by CID/Gallup and the Freedom and Development Foundation, with Torres coming in second with 32 percent.
That outcome could usher in a new era after widespread allegations of corruption and creeping authoritarianism in recent years.
Al Jazeera
Kim Jong Un oversees cruise missile test, S Korea-US military drills start
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a strategic cruise missile test as South Korea and the United States began annual military drills that Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal of war.
The test took place as Kim visited a naval unit on the east coast, state-run news agency KCNA reported on Monday, where he was pictured standing on the deck of a vessel surrounded by officers. Another photo showed Kim on the quay watching a missile being fired.
KCNA did not specify the date of the trip or elaborate on the missiles themselves.
The launch was aimed at verifying the “combat function of the ship and the feature of its missile system,” while improving the sailors’ capability to carry out an “attack mission in actual war,”, KCNA said.
Deutsche Welle
Africa-Russia: A tricky relationship
According to organizers, the upcoming BRICS summit — held in South Africa from August 22 to 24 — aims to spearhead a fairer global governance system and push back against the economic dominance of Western nations.
But some observers have said the absence of Russian leader Vladimir Putin from the talks may dent his growing influence in Africa.
Russia is one of five BRICS member states — also including Brazil, India, China and South Africa — which count themselves as fast-growing economies.
The Russian president is currently the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the backdrop of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has been widely met with international condemnation.
His potential visit had posed a diplomatic and legal dilemma for South Africa, until it was later confirmed that his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, would lead Russia's delegation.
The Guardian
Canada wildfires: thousands told to flee in British Columbia, as drone-flying tourists criticised
Officials in the Canadian province of British Columbia have implored tens of thousands of residents to heed warnings and evacuate from areas threatened by “severe and fast-changing” wildfires, and urged “irresponsible” wildfire tourists to stop flying drones in the area.
“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical it is to follow evacuation orders when they are issued,” Bowinn Ma, the province’s minister of emergency management, said on Saturday. “They are a matter of life and death not only for the people in those properties, but also for the first responders who will often go back to try to implore people to leave.”
The situation in large parts of the scenic Okanagan Valley, including the city of Kelowna, was “highly dynamic”, Ma said. About 30,000 people were under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, she said. Wildfire tourists and drone operators were urged to stay away to allow emergency crews to operate safely. “Drones are a significant hazard to our air crews fighting fires,” British Columbia’s minister of forests, Bruce Ralston, said on Saturday.
The Guardian
China is too big for a Soviet Union-style collapse, but it’s on shaky ground
China’s economy is going through a rough patch. Growth is slowing and its property bubble has well and truly burst. Unemployment is rising.
So what, you might say? Every country has difficult periods when past excesses catch up with it. Eventually the economic cycle turns and recovery begins. China is the world’s second biggest economy and has grown at a stupendous pace over the past four decades. It plays a pivotal role in the global economy and has invested heavily in advanced manufacturing and AI. Sure, it has problems but it will emerge from them relatively unscathed.
China’s economic miracle is over. What’s been happening in the past week – the weakness of the currency, the fall in prices, the financial stress evident in the residential housing sector – are all signs of a deeper malaise that will require the ruling Communist party to undertake structural economic changes that will demand a loosening of rigid political control. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is a self-styled strongman who will not be prepared to make any concessions to freedom and democracy.
Reuters
Canada to deploy military in British Columbia to tackle fast-spreading fires
REVELSTOKE, British Columbia, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Canada is sending the military to tackle fast-spreading wildfires in British Columbia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday, as the western province deals with flames that have led to evacuation orders for more than 35,000 people.
British Columbia declared a state of emergency and imposed a ban on non-essential travel to free up accommodations for evacuees and firefighters, and urged drone operators and others capturing images of the fires to stay clear of rescue workers.
West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said he saw some hope after battling "epic" fires for the past four days. He said conditions have improved, helping firefighters to put "boots on the ground" and dump water on flames that threatened the town of 150,000.
Reuters
Meadows seeks dismissal of Georgia charges against him
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is asking a federal court to dismiss Georgia state criminal charges against him stemming from former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election, according to a court document.
Meadows claims that his alleged actions, including participating with Trump in a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, should be immune from state prosecution because they were performed in his capacity as a federal official.
A 37-page document filed on Saturday with a U.S. district court in Georgia asserts that Meadows' actions are protected by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution under which federal officials are immune from state prosecution for acts committed within the reasonable scope of their duties.
"The conduct charged here falls squarely within the scope of Mr. Meadows's duties as chief of staff and the federal policy underlying that role," Meadows' attorneys said in the filing.
Washington Post
Taliban bringing water to Afghanistan’s parched plains via massive canal
AQCHA, Afghanistan — The morning sun was still rising over the shriveled wheat fields, and the villagers were already worrying about another day without water.
Rainwater stored in the village well would run out in 30 days, one farmer said nervously. The groundwater pumps gave nothing, complained another. The canals, brimming decades ago with melted snow from the Hindu Kush, now dry up by spring, said a third.
Village chief Mohammed Ishfaq threw his hands up. If everyone could hold out for two more years, he said, then the excavators and engineers — hundreds of them already working over the horizon — would arrive. “If we only had that water,” Ishfaq said, “everything will be solved.
Two years after its takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban is overseeing its first major infrastructure project, the 115-mile Qosh Tepa canal, designed to divert 20 percent of the water from the Amu Darya river across the parched plains of northern Afghanistan.
The canal promises to be a game changer for villages like Ishfaq’s in Jowzjan province.