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
Egypt angry as Ethiopia fills Nile dam reservoir amid water row
Egypt has voiced anger after Ethiopia announced it had filled the reservoir at a highly controversial hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile river.
Ethiopia has been in dispute with Egypt and Sudan over the megaproject since its launch in 2011. Egypt relies on the Nile for nearly all its water needs.
Egypt's foreign ministry said Ethiopia was disregarding the interests of the downstream countries.
Ethiopia says the $4.2bn (£3.4bn) dam will not cut their share of Nile water.
Ethiopia believes the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) will double the country's electricity output, providing a vital development boost, as currently half the 127-million population lacks electricity.
The plan is to generate more than 6,000 MW at the dam, which is about 30km (19 miles) from Ethiopia's border with Sudan.
BBC
Russia hails unexpected G20 'milestone' as Ukraine fumes
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has praised a joint declaration by G20 leaders in Delhi that avoids condemning Moscow for its war against Ukraine.
Russia had not expected consensus and agreement on the wording was "a step in the right direction", said Mr Lavrov.
The closing G20 statement denounced using force for territorial gain but made no mention of Russian aggression, prompting criticism from Ukraine.
The two-day summit also inducted a new permanent member, the African Union.
The 55-member bloc joins at the invitation of hosts India, one of whose key objectives while president has been to make the G20 more inclusive with greater participation of so-called Global South countries. The UK and US talked up the joint statement too, but Ukraine - which took part in last year's Bali summit but was not invited this year - said it was "nothing to be proud of".
NPR
End may be in sight for Phoenix's historic heat wave of 110-degree-plus weather
PHOENIX — A historic heat wave continues to stifle Phoenix — but the end may finally be in sight for residents of Arizona's largest city.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.7 degrees Celsius) on Monday and 102 F (38.8 C) on Tuesday.
"I hate to say, 'Yes, this will be the last,' but it's more than likely that will be the case — this will be our last stretch of 110s this summer," said Chris Kuhlman of the National Weather Service in Phoenix.
An excessive heat warning was expected to expire at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Meteorologists said Phoenix reached 112 F (44.4 C) by early afternoon Sunday and could top out at 114 F (45.5 C) for the second consecutive day.
NPR
Moroccan rescue teams face challenges in reaching earthquake victims in the mountains
Rescue teams in Morocco continue to comb through the ruins in search for any survivors two days after a devastating earthquake struck near the historic city of Marrakech.
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Friday killed more than 2,100 people and injured more than 2,400 others. Scores of homes, as well as historical sites were destroyed.
On Sunday, parks and streets in Marrakech were filled with sleeping bags belonging to residents who lost their homes or remained afraid of going into buildings. Meanwhile, the remote villages in the Atlas Mountains, near the quake's epicenter, continue to struggle to access food, water and electricity.
(As I’ve mentioned before, we took a bus up into the Atlas Mountains during our Morocco tour and saw some of those villages.)
The Guardian
Rescuers in central Greece were working through the night to locate people trapped in villages deluged by flood waters as the death toll from rainstorms rose to at least 12.
Emergency services, backed by elite commando units and an ever-growing army of volunteers, sought to find hundreds still thought to be marooned in homes five days after downpours, described as the worst in the country’s history, struck.
By late Saturday, 48 hours after the rains eased, the operation was still under way with helicopters and rubber boats being deployed to rescue families unable to evacuate in time.
Authorities have described several villages in the Pelion peninsula, where tourists were also brought to safety, as being completely cut off.
A further 767 people had been rescued throughout the day, the fire service announced, bringing the total number of those saved since Storm Daniel hit Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey on Tuesday to 3,443.
Al Jazeera
Niger says France amassing troops, equipment in ECOWAS states
Niger’s military has accused France of gathering forces and equipment in several West African countries with a view to launching a “military intervention” against Niamey.
Colonel Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for Niger’s coup leaders, made the claim on national television late on Saturday.
He said France was continuing to deploy its forces in member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as “part of preparations for an aggression against Niger, which it is planning in collaboration with this community organisation”.
French “military cargo aircraft have enabled large quantities of war material and equipment to be unloaded in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Benin, to name but a few”, he said.
The claim came as tensions between Niger and France – its former colonial power – rise in the wake of a military coup on July 26.
Al Jazeera
Putin’s party wins controversial polls in annexed Ukraine regions: Reports
Russia has wrapped up widely condemned regional and municipal elections, including in four eastern regions annexed from Ukraine, delivering strong support for President Vladimir Putin.
The week-long polls, which wrapped up on Sunday, took place amid criticism of vote rigging and Ukraine’s push to reclaim its territories.
The Council of Europe, Europe’s leading rights group, called the polls a flagrant violation of international law, while Kyiv and its allies said they were an illegal attempt to tighten Moscow’s grip over regions in Ukraine’s south and east.
Data published by Moscow and proxy officials showed voters in Ukraine’s war-battered regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson had backed Putin’s United Russia party with more than 70 percent of the ballot in each territory, state-run news agencies reported.
The results mean that Moscow’s handpicked governors in the territories, a mixture of veteran separatist bosses and small-time local pro-Russian politicians, win full terms in office.
None of the four regions are fully controlled by the Russian army.
Reuters
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts third time this year
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island began to erupt on Sunday afternoon, with flows currently confined to the surrounding crater floor, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said on Sunday.
Webcam images show fissures at the base of the volcano's crater that are generating lava flows on the surface of the crater floor.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the eruption "does not pose a lava threat to communities" though volcanic particles and gases may create breathing problems for people exposed. Located in a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea is one of the world's most active volanoes. In 2019, a string of earthquakes and major eruption at Kilauea led to the destructions of hundreds of homes and businesses.
Deutsche Welle
Netherlands police detain thousands of climate protesters
Police in the Netherlands detained thousands of climate activists over the weekend after they shut down a major highway two days in a row.
An estimated 10,000 activists blocked A12 highway leading to The Hague for several hours on Saturday, according to the mayor's office. Police arrested some 2,400 people at the time.
Hundreds of protesters did so again on Sunday, when police arrested another 500 people.
The Extinction Rebellion activists were protesting the Dutch government's subsidies for fossil fuel companies, as they have done in recent months.
According to a report published earlier in the week by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, these subsidies total around €37.5 billion ($40.2 billion) each year.
"The seas are rising and so are we," the crowd chanted.
Raw Story
Rudy Giuliani's girlfriend sports '$60k' diamond on left hand — and he's pleading for legal donations
Rudy Giuliani is begging for financial help for his legal troubles, but his longtime girlfriend has a new $60,000 diamond ring on her left hand.
The Daily Mail revealed the photos of Maria Ryan a 57-year-old nurse practitioner. Reporting Sunday, the site described her as "smiling from ear to ear as she headed into an office building in Midtown East," where Giuliani has been seen many times.
The Daily Mail assessed the diamond, "if real" at $60,000, but it seems far bigger than some of the rings listed by an estate jewelry sale site, selling the top 30 engagement rings for $60,000.
The Diamond Registry lists the average cost of a 5-carat diamond between $9,350 to $147,400 per carat, depending on the cut, clarity and color.
Washington Post
Can golf cure its water addiction?
LOS ANGELES — At The Ranch at Laguna Beach, golfers tee off underthe dramatic shadow of a vast canyon, zipping around in electric carts and strolling along gleaming grassy fairways.
From the lush greenery, you’d never know California is emerging from a historic mega drought.
Since reopening in 2016 after an extensive renovation, the course has cut back its water use by switching to reclaimed water and planting less thirsty grass varieties.
“We know that water is a very precious resource,” Bjorkman said. “If we want to have a beautiful golf course, we’re going to need to do some things that are different.” Out of all the water soaked up by golf courses in 2020, 21 percent was recycled, according to a 2022 report by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, a group of golf course managers.