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.
We begin WAAAYYY internationally, with this from CNN:
By Jackie Wattles
The history-making Chandrayaan-3 mission, which landed on the lunar surface two days ago, has deployed its small, six-wheeled rover on an exploratory expedition to better understand the composition of the moon’s soil.
The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a social media post that the rover, which rode to the lunar surface tucked inside the lander, successfully exited the spacecraft on Thursday by rolling down a small ramp.
And from Firstpost POV:
Neil deGrasse Tyson on India's Moon Landing & Its Significance
From WION (India):
Edited By: Srishti Singh Sisodia
Pakistan finally got time to congratulate India for its historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a rover on the south pole of the Moon, becoming the first nation to do so.
During a weekly press briefing on Friday (August 25), Pakistan MoFA said: "India getting to the Moon is a big achievement. We congratulate Indian scientists on achieving this milestone."
From Space.com comes this story that, while not international, is space related:
It's time to see where the sun will be located for you during the total eclipse on Apr. 8 2024.
If you want to get on top of your total solar eclipse planning, now is the time to find the best viewing locations for the ultimate eclipse experience.
Between Aug. 25 and Sept. 8 at 3:20 p.m. ET, the sun will be positioned approximately in the same location in the sky as during the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, according to the Rochester Museum & Science Center.
More news below the fold.
From CNN Travel:
In many ways, raising a baby gorilla is very similar to nurturing human newborns, says Chad Staples, a father of four and the director of Mogo Wildlife Park, a small private zoo in the town of the same name on Australia’s southeastern coast.
“The similarities are amazing. Even just looking at his eyes, it’s just like when you look at a newborn and they just take in the whole universe with every blink,” Staples told CNN of Kaius, the wide-eyed baby gorilla he’s reared from birth.
From the BBC:
By Navin Singh Khadka
Japan has begun releasing treated radioactive water from its damaged Fukushima power plant into the Pacific Ocean - 12 years after a nuclear meltdown.
That's despite China slapping a ban on Japanese seafood and protests in Japan itself and South Korea.
The UN's atomic regulator says the water will have "negligible" radiological impact on people and the environment.
From CNN:
The BRICS economic bloc ended a historic three-day summit in South Africa Thursday after making multiple headlines.
The five-country group, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is one of the leading global voices for more representation of the developing world and the Global South in world affairs.
From Al Jazeera:
Teacher at school in Uttar Pradesh state heard saying she wants the seven-year-old evicted because of his religion.
By Meer Faisal
A school teacher in India has subjected a seven-year-old Muslim student to degrading treatment inside a classroom, asking his classmates to slap him and asking for him to be evicted due to his religion, a video now viral on social media has revealed.
The video, which surfaced on Friday, showed Trapta Tyagi, the teacher at the school in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, making Islamophobic remarks in addition to encouraging other students to slap him harder.
From Deutsche Welle:
The Russian President faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant and also did not attend the BRICS summit in South Africa.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be going to the G20 summit in India in early September in person.
Such a visit is currently not on the calendar, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday in Moscow.
From Ukrayinska Pravda (via Yahoo.com):
Graves at a cemetery for Wagner Group mercenaries in the village of Nikolayevka, Samara Oblast, have had their crosses removed and been bulldozed to the ground.
Source: Russian media outlet 63.ru
Details: Local residents said that the crosses and wreaths had been piled up like rubbish, and the graves themselves had been levelled to the ground with heavy machinery.
From Reuters:
RIYADH, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco aims to achieve net zero emissions from its operations by 2050 while also expanding its maximum sustained production capacity to 13 million barrels per day, Chief Executive Amin Nasser said on Saturday.
Nasser also warned that global spare capacity of crude was declining fast and there was a need for more investment, saying "demonising" the hydrocarbon industry was counterproductive to ensuring stable energy supplies.
From Forbes:
At least 21 people have died and 79 others have been arrested and charged with arson as wildfires continue through Greece, according to officials, as the ongoing fire now ranks as the largest ever in the European Union.
Key Facts
The Hellenic Fire Service—Greece’s nationwide fire department—said Friday the death toll rose by one, after officials recovered a man’s body from the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park near the Turkish border on Thursday.
More than 73,000 hectares—an estimated 281 square miles—have been burned by wildfires in Greece, according to the European Commission, which noted the fires are “now the largest wildfires on record that the E.U. has faced.”
From Al Jazeera:
Greece has lost 120,000 hectares of land to blazes this year – one of its worst annual tallies and fire season is not over yet.
Alexandroupolis, Greece – Vagia Arvaniti wept for her livestock as she lifted the corrugated sheet metal that formed their barn to reveal charred bodies.
Her sheep and goats lay in poses of terror, carbon statues of themselves, mouths open, heads lifted as if in a final scream when the wildfire rushed over them. The intense heat had skinned them. One’s intestines were visible on its belly.
Arvaniti is one of thousands of farmers in the neighbourhood of Alexandroupolis hit hard by forest fires that started a week ago.
From Reuters:
Italy's northern city of Milan registered a new record high average daily temperature of 33 Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday as a heatwave which began around mid-August reached its peak, the regional environmental protection agency (ARPA) said on Friday.
It was the hottest day since the Milano Brera weather station started recording temperatures in 1763. Milan's previous record of 32.8 C was set on Aug. 11, 2003.
From the NY Times:
Danish and Swedish authorities have struggled to balance free speech with growing anger that security officials say has elevated the risk of terrorist attacks.
Denmark’s government said on Friday that it would move to criminalize the public mistreatment of religious objects, setting aside free-speech concerns with what one minister called a “targeted intervention” after a spate of public Quran desecrations caused furors in many Muslim-majority countries.
Those found guilty of mistreating an object with major religious significance could be fined or sentenced to up to two years in prison, according to a draft of a bill published by the Danish Justice Ministry. Danish coalition officials said they could enact the policy as soon as the end of the year if it is approved by Parliament.
From Al Jazeera:
Canadian police have arrested a suspect from the Toronto area accused of using websites to market and sell sodium nitrite around the world.
Police are investigating the deaths of 88 people in the United Kingdom who allegedly bought substances to assist with suicide from Canadian websites.
The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest in Canada this year of Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counseling and aiding suicide.
From the BBC:
Two men have been released from custody after being arrested over a fire that tore through the Crooked House pub.
Once known as "Britain's wonkiest" inn, it set alight on 5 August, and was then demolished less than 48 hours later.
From USA Today:
Zookeepers say the weigh-in helps them ensure creatures at the zoo are healthy and eating well, and can even help detect and monitor pregnancies
Saman Shafiq
Penguins, tigers, tarantulas and gorillas were just some of the thousands of creatures that stood on a scale as London Zoo keepers began recording vital statistics for the zoo’s annual weigh-in.
More than 14,000 species will participate in the zoo's annual event, with the zoo staff expected to take several days to weigh and measure every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate in its care to ensure accurate and up-to-date information.
Let’s finish up with a few from Africa and the Americans, beginning with this from the BBC:
By Dr Alex Vines
Cradling a rifle, dressed in a military uniform and with a desert in the background, Yevgeny Prigozhin had a message for Africa.
His Wagner group of mercenaries was "making Russia even greater on every continent - and Africa even more free". "Justice and happiness for the African nations," he declared.
The video, thought to be recorded in Mali, was released on Monday. Two days later, the Wagner leader was reported to have died in a plane crash in Russia.
From Deutsche Welle:
The UN urged donors who had pledged aid to deliver on their promised contributions. Meanwhile, Sudan's military ruler left the capital to visit army bases on a rare trip since the start of the fighting.
The fighting between Sudan's military and its paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has gripped the country since mid-April, threatens to "consume" all of the country, the UN warned on Friday.
From Deutsche Welle:
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Niger’s junta authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to its defense and asked the French ambassador to leave the country Friday, raising the stakes in a standoff with other West African nations who are threatening force to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president.
The junta leader, Brig. Gen. Abdrahmane Tchiani, signed two executive orders authorizing the “security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” senior junta official Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi said late Thursday, after hosting a delegation from the two countries in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.
From Reuters:
WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Niger's Foreign Ministry has told the U.S. government that images of letters circulating online calling for the departure of certain American diplomatic personnel were not issued by the ministry, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
"No such request has been made to the U.S. government," the spokesperson said after AFP reported that Niger had given the U.S. ambassador 48 hours to leave the African country.
From NBC News:
Charles Gladstone, a descendant of former plantation owner John Gladstone, traveled to Guyana from Britain with five relatives to offer the formal apology.
London's Gladstone Memorial, a statue of former British Prime Minister William Gladstone, the son of sugar and coffee plantation owner John Gladstone.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
The descendants of a 19th-century Scottish sugar and coffee planter who owned thousands of slaves in Guyana apologized Friday for the sins of their ancestor, calling slavery a crime against humanity with lasting negative impacts.
From the BBC:
By Joshua Nevett
The descendants of former Prime Minister William Gladstone are facing calls to pay reparations to Jamaica for an ancestor's role in slavery.
The Gladstone family apologised for its slaveholding past in Guyana and pledged to fund research into slavery and other projects at a ceremony on Friday.
But the family has been accused of failing to acknowledge the case for paying slavery reparations in Jamaica.