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.
BBC
US military ship heading to Gaza to build port
A US military ship is sailing towards the Middle East, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, the army says.
The support ship, General Frank S Besson, set sail from a military base in the state of Virginia on Saturday.
It comes after President Joe Biden said the US would build the floating harbour to help get aid into Gaza by sea.
The UN has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is "almost inevitable" and children are starving to death.
The US and Jordan carried out an airdrop on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals that included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food, the US military said. Aid deliveries by land and air have proved difficult and dangerous.
BBC
Red Sea: US, UK and French destroy dozens of Houthi drones
US, British and French forces say they repelled a series of Iranian-backed Houthi attacks off the coast of Yemen.
US military said at least 28 uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) were downed over the Red Sea early on Saturday.
Along with coalition forces, the US said it acted after determining the "large-scale" attack "presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels".
The Houthis said they had targeted a commercial ship, Propel Fortune, and a number of US destroyers.
A statement from the US Central Command said no US or coalition military vehicles were damaged and there were no reports of damage from commercial ships.
Since November, the Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's war in Gaza.
The Guardian
Indonesia opens inquiry after pilots fell asleep on flight carrying 153 people
Two Indonesian pilots fell asleep for almost 30 minutes mid-flight, an investigation has revealed.
A pilot and co-pilot were simultaneously asleep for about 28 minutes. The Batik Air flight was travelling from South East Sulawesi to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on 25 January, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) said.
The incident resulted in a series of navigation errors, but the Airbus A320’s 153 passengers and four flight attendants were unharmed during the flight that lasted two hours and 35 minutes.
The transport ministry “strongly reprimands” Batik Air over the incident, said the air transport director general, Maria Kristi Endah Murni, who called for airlines to pay more attention to their aircrew’s rest time.
The Guardian
Gaza food aid ship stuck at Cyprus with ‘technical difficulties’
n aid ship carrying 200 tonnes of food to alleviate looming famine in the Gaza Strip remained docked in Cyprus on Sunday night, despite the push for maritime aid in the face of stalling ceasefire talks and the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Cyprus government spokesperson, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, told the island’s official news agency that the exact timing of the vessel’s departure would not be made public for “security reasons”. It was later reported that due to “technical difficulties”, it might not depart until Monday morning.
World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based non -governmental organisation, and the Spanish charity Open Arms, set up to rescue refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean, were expecting a first delivery of goods including rice, flour, lentils, beans and canned fish and meat to leave via an Open Arms vessel from Larnaca this weekend and arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza in two or three days’ time.
But the boat remained moored in Cyprus on Sunday evening.
The Guardian
‘Waiting for the storm’: Israelis and Palestinians fear difficult week as Ramadan starts
Israelis and Palestinians are bracing themselves for a tense and potentially violent week, with no sign of a ceasefire likely in Gaza and calls from Hamas for protest marches around the Islamic world to mark the start of Ramadanon Monday.
Earlier this month, a halt to hostilities before the Muslim holy month looked possible, but hopes have dimmed since indirect talks in Cairo ended without progress last week.
On Friday, President Joe Biden said a deal between Hamas and Israel was now “looking tough”, and when asked if he was worried about violence in Jerusalem, said, “I sure am.”
Every year, Ramadan shines a spotlight on Israel’s control of the raised compound in Jerusalem’s Old City known as al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews, as hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers try to access al-Aqsa mosque for special prayers only performed during Ramadan. The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Almost adjacent to al-Aqsa mosque is the Western Wall, the holiest prayer site for Jews.
NPR
It's not easy being Colombia's 1st left-wing president
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Chanting and waving flags, hundreds of supporters of Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first-ever left-wing president, surrounded the Supreme Court building last month. They were angry because the judges inside were stonewalling Petro's push to appoint Colombia's next female attorney general.
"This is a progressive government that is trying to help the people," said one Petro partisan, retired schoolteacher Cecilia Vargas. "But they are blocking him."
Petro, who is a former left-wing guerrilla and Bogotá mayor, has pledged to transform Colombia into a more equal society. But during his nearly two years in office, Petro has often floundered and then made matters worse by lashing out at his critics on social media and in incendiary speeches.
Petro, 63, has gotten some things done.
He pushed through what analysts describe as a more equitable tax code. He reestablished diplomatic and commercial ties with neighboring Venezuela that had been severed in 2019 over that country's crackdown on democracy. Petro has also maintained good relations with Washington, despite his efforts to overhaul Colombia's long-running U.S.-backed anti-drug strategy.
Deutsche Welle
Russia reports several attacks, one far from border
Russian authorities reported several attacks, often involving drones, overnight and on Sunday, including hundreds of kilometers northeast of the border to Ukraine in Novgorod and Leningrad oblasts.
A woman was killed when artillery fire set her house ablaze in the border area of Kursk, while her husband suffered severe burns, according to local governor Roman Starovoit.
He also said the debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil depot.
The border city of Belgorod's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that nine drones were shot down overnight.
The Russian Defense Ministry later reported three drones being shot down, including one in the Leningrad area near St Petersburg, and another in the Novgorod region, around 1,000 kilometers (roughly 600 miles) from the border to Ukraine.
Al Jazeera
Centre-right party ahead in Portugal election, exit polls show
Portugal’s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) is poised to win the most votes in the country’s parliamentary election but fall well short of an outright majority, three exit polls showed.
The polls, published after voting closed at 8pm (20:00 GMT) on Sunday by the three main television channels SIC, RTP and TVI, showed the AD alliance in the 27.6-33 percent range, just ahead of the incumbent Socialists.
The polls projected that all right-leaning parties combined, including the far-right Chega, were likely to secure an outright majority.
Chega was likely to win 14 to 21.6 percent, a large jump from its 7.2 percent in the last election in January 2022.
However, the AD has so far ruled out any agreement with Chega, which could make for an unstable government.
The polls put the Socialist Party in the 24.2 percent to 29.5 percent range.
Reuters
Australian farmers rip out millions of vines amid wine glut (Could happen with pot in Ca.)
GRIFFITH, Australia, March 9 (Reuters) - Millions of vines are being destroyed in Australia and tens of millions more must be pulled up to rein in overproduction that has crushed grape prices and threatens the livelihoods of growers and wine makers.
Falling consumption of wine worldwide has hit Australia particularly hard as demand shrinks fastest for the cheaper reds that are its biggest product, and in China, the market it has relied on for growth until recent years.
The world's fifth largest exporter of wine had more than two billion litres, or about two years' worth of production, in storage in mid-2023, the most recent figures show, and some is spoiling as owners rush to dispose of it at any price.
"There's only so long we can go on growing a crop and losing money on it," said fourth-generation grower James Cremasco, as he watched clanking yellow excavators strip out rows of vines his grandfather planted near the southeastern town of Griffith.
Reuters
China trying to 'normalise' military drills near Taiwan, island's top security official says
TAIPEI, March 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan's top security official told parliament on Monday that China runs "joint combat readiness patrols" near the democratic island every 7-10 days on average, saying Chinese forces were trying to "normalise" drills near Taiwan.
China has in recent years stepped up military activities near Taiwan, with almost daily incursions into the island's air defence identification zones and regular "combat readiness patrols" that included drills by its air and naval forces.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the island's strong objections.
Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said Beijing usually dispatches around 10 warplanes and 3 to 4 naval ships on joint patrols near Taiwan, calling them part of a "multi-front" effort that also includes economic coercions and misinformation campaign to pressure the island.
N Y Times
Xi Sticks to His Vision for China’s Rise Even as Growth Slows
Even with growth faltering in China, Xi Jinping appears imperiously assured that he possesses the right road map to surpass Western rivals.
China’s economy has lurched into a slower gear. Its population is shrinking and aging. Its rival, the United States, has built up a lead in artificial intelligence. Mr. Xi’s pronouncement several years ago that “the East is rising and the West is declining” — that his country was on the way up while American power shrank — now seems premature, if not outright hubristic.
The problems have brought growing talk abroad that China could peak before it fully arrives as a superpower. But Mr. Xi seems unbowed in insisting that his policies, featuring extensive party control and state-led industrial investment in new sectors like electric vehicles and semiconductors, can secure China’s rise.