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. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Happy news above the fold and the rest (sigh) below. There is some happy news tonight. We begin with the Hindustan Times:
“This made my day,” wrote an X user while reacting to a video of a mother elephant and her rescued baby.
A story of the rescue and reunion of a baby elephant with its mother has gone viral on social media. Posted by IAS officer Supriya Sahu, the rescue operation by the Tamil Nadu forest department received applause from many, including Anand Mahindra. Sahu took to X to share a glimpse of a scene captured after the rescue. A video she shared shows the elephant's mother giving a ‘reassuring hug’ to the little one.
In case you don’t want to follow the story’s link to X, ITV has a more detailed story through Youtube:
From The Guardian:
Will Fransen was on a solo fishing trip south of Auckland in New Zealand when he was yanked into the water after hooking a big fish
Mostafa Rachwani
A New Zealand man who survived more than 23 hours in cold waters and an encounter with a shark has been rescued after fishers spotted the reflection from his watch.
Will Fransen, 61, had set off on a solo fishing trip from Whangamatā on the Coromandel Peninsula, south of Auckland, on 2 January, but was yanked overboard after hooking what he suspected was a marlin.
And from CNN we have pictures of the week.
From Nikkei Asia:
Runway monitor in working order before crash that killed 5 coast guard members
KOJI MURAKOSHI
TOKYO -- Air traffic controllers at Tokyo's Haneda Airport did not notice the Japan Coast Guard aircraft entering the runway before Tuesday's deadly plane collision even though a warning system was in working order, Nikkei has learned.
Haneda's air traffic controllers have acknowledged that the coast guard cargo plane's entry into the runway escaped their notice, a source close to the investigation said.
From Deutsche Welle:
Four days after a major earthquake rocked Japan, authorities are in a race against time to locate survivors among the 242 people believed still to be missing. The death toll has now risen to 92. Japan's western coastline was worst affected by the 7.6 magnitude event, which flattened entire neighborhoods and damaged infrastructure. A large area of land was flooded by the tsunami triggered by the earthquake. Japan's government has earmarked around 30 million euros worth of aid to support communities affected.
From NPR (Associate Press):
SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas fired artillery rounds into the sea as part of provocative drills along their disputed sea boundary Friday, in violation of the fragile 2018 inter-Korean agreement, and threatened strong responses against each other if provoked.
The development is expected to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The last two years have seen North Korea performing a record number of missile tests and South Korea and the U.S. expanding their defense exercises in a tit-for-tat cycle. Experts say North Korea will likely intensify a run of weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
From The Guardian:
Intense speculation over future role of daughter, reportedly 10, comes as North Korea fires shells near South Korean islands
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
The young daughter of Kim Jong-un is seen as her father’s heir apparent, South Korea’s spy agency has said, after speculation that the North Korean ruler is grooming her to become the fourth member of the dynasty to lead the country since its foundation more than seven decades ago.
There has been intense international speculation about Kim Ju-ae, who is reportedly about 10 years old, since she made her first public appearance in November 2022 when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.
From France 24:
Taiwan elections: China's shadow looms large over presidential poll
In Taiwan, the stakes are higher than ever as 19 million voters head to the polls on January 13 to choose their new president. China, which claims the island as its own territory, has gone so far as to cast the vote as a choice between war and peace. In this special edition, FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Victor Louzon, assistant professor at Paris's Sorbonne University, about one of the most closely-watched elections around the world this year. We also look back at the history of the island.
From CNN:
China has protested to Myanmar after five people were injured by artillery shells lobbed during battles between its ruling junta and rebel groups that strayed into a small town near their border, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.
Armed conflict has surged in Myanmar’s north between the military and rebel groups since late October, spurring calls for a ceasefire from neighboring China, which has also facilitated dialogue between the two sides.
From NDTV:
While both New Delhi and Beijing are vying for influence in the region, Muizzu's government is considered to be leaning towards China.
The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, will pay a state visit to China from Jan. 8 to 12, the Chinese foreign ministry said in statement on Friday, in what would be a high-profile snub to the island nation's huge neighbour India.
Multiple calls by Reuters to the Foreign Ministry and President's Office in Male on Friday - the weekend in the Maldives - to confirm the president's trip went unanswered.
From Al Jazeera:
Why Bangladesh’s opposition is boycotting the election
Bangladesh's main opposition party is boycotting Sunday's election, essentially guaranteeing PM Sheikh Hasina's fourth consecutive term in office amid accusations of suppressing dissent and violently targeting opposition leaders.
From NDTV:
Four tracts of agricultural land owned by the terrorist were auctioned on Friday, and two of them received no bids.
The auction of four properties owned by Dawood Ibrahim concluded today, with two of the land parcels getting no bids and one, which had a reserve price of just ₹ 15,000, being sold for an eye-popping ₹ 2 crore. Dawood is India's most wanted terrorist and is believed to be hiding in Karachi.
The buyer of the plot said he paid so much for it because the survey number and the amount add up to a figure in numerology that works in his favour. He intends to set up a Sanatan school there.
From the BBC:
By Matt McGrath
For the second year in a row, a minister with vast experience of the oil industry will be in charge of global climate negotiations.
Azerbaijan's Mukhtar Babayev has been named as the president-designate of the COP29 talks in Baku next November.
An article that seems interesting but is hidden behind a paywall comes from the Independent (UK):
Bomb attacks in Iran and the killing of a Hamas leader in Lebanon have fulled fears of Iran escalating conflict in the Middle East. But the regime knows that going up against the military might of the US would cost them dear, writes Camelia Entekhabifard
The two bomb blasts that shook the Iranian city of Kerman this week led to almost 100 deaths and more than 200 injured. The attack – on the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qassem Soleimani – came just one day after Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas leader, was killed in Lebanon.
From Reuters:
The Iraqi government is beginning the process to remove the U.S.-led international military coalition from the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said on Friday.
The U.S. has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says advises and assists local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.
News from Africa, beginning with this, from Deutsche Welle:
A new deal granting landlocked Ethiopia access to the Berbera Port holds potential for a huge upheaval in the Horn of Africa. What does it mean for the breakaway region of Somaliland?
Under different circumstances, the kind of deal agreed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland would have been relatively straightforward.
One country grants its landlocked neighbor access to a seaport and, by extension, to international trade and, in return, is rewarded a political prize.
From Deadspin:
The former track star gets to live the rest of his life a free man while his murdered girlfriend becomes a forgotten side note
Dubbed the “Blade Runner” during his sparkling performances at the 2012 Olympics, Pistorius served only part of his 13-year sentence for fatally shooting Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Pistorius claimed he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder in his home in a heavily guarded and gated community on the outskirts of Pretoria. He proceeded to shoot Steenkamp four times through the door to his bathroom, which is definitely where intruders usually hang out in the middle of the night. Later, a neighbor testified at trial that she heard Steenkamp “screaming terribly and yelling for help” in the early hours of the morning, followed by four shots, then more screaming. Steenkamp, a model and paralegal, was found slumped over the toilet, dead. She was 29.
From France 24:
Senegal Constitutional Council rejects opposition leader's presidential candidacy
Senegal's Constitutional Council on Friday rejected the candidacy of jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to run in February's presidential election on the grounds his application was incomplete, his lawyer said.
And finally, news from Europe. This is from Deutsche Welle:
A German cabinet minister had a scare when protesting farmers prevented him disembarking from a ferry he was traveling on. Economy Minister Robert Habeck was returning from holiday on a North Sea island.
Police had to use pepper spray to disperse the angry nighttime crowd. Farmers have been up in arms over government plans to withdraw tax breaks for the agricultural sector. Habeck later reached the mainland safely.
From the Catholic News Agency:
Nine bishops from France have instructed priests in their dioceses that they may bless homosexual individuals but should refrain from blessing same-sex couples, following new Vatican guidelines that permit nonliturgical pastoral blessings of homosexual couples.
The Archdiocese of Rennes, which is led by Archbishop Pierre d’Ornellas, issued the statement on Jan. 1 on behalf of the bishops from the Ecclesiastical Province of Rennes.
From the CBC:
England facing worst flooding in over a decade
England is facing some of its worst flooding since 2007 after storm Henk drenched central parts of the country earlier this week. Today, there are nearly 600 flood warnings and alerts in place.
From The Guardian:
Former minister also resigns as an MP, which will trigger byelection in his Kingswood constituency
A former Conservative minister has announced he is resigning as an MP in protest at the party’s dash for oil and gas, setting up an awkward vote for the prime minister on the issue on Monday and an even more difficult byelection within weeks.
Chris Skidmore, a leading voice within the Tory party on green issues, said on Friday he would resign from parliament as soon as it returns next week over Rishi Sunak’s bill to allow new oil and gas licences to be issued.
From Deutsche Welle:
Ella JoynerJanuary 4, 2024
Junior doctors in the United Kingdom are staging the National Health Service's longest-ever strike. It's about pay, one doctor explains, but also a decade of perceived neglect of a vital public service.
Aditya Nambiar knew he wanted to work for Britain's National Health Service even before he began his medical studies in 2012. But the junior doctor, who now works in the southern city of Brighton, has seen many things in the past few years that have saddened him: long lines for emergency care, short-staffed hospitals and a lack of beds.
"You go away from a shift thinking you could have done loads of good things, but you come away just thinking you've done absolutely nothing good to those people because their basic human needs haven't been met. This is really horrible," the 29-year-old told DW by phone from his northern English hometown, Scarborough.
And finally, Prince Andrew, from the BBC:
The Metropolitan Police says it is not investigating allegations against the Duke of York detailing connections to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In unsealed US court files, Prince Andrew is accused of groping a woman at Epstein's house, which he has previously denied.
The Met said it would assess "new and relevant" information should it be brought to its attention.