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.
The Guardian
Israel will no longer approve Unrwa food aid to northern Gaza, agency says
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said on Sunday that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.
“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @Unrwa food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said on X.
“This is outrageous & makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man made famine.”
Gaza faces dire humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas that began nearly six months ago, triggered by Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
Last week a UN-backed food security assessment warned that famine was projected to hit the north of Gaza by May unless there was urgent intervention
The Guardian
Nigerian army rescues students abducted earlier this month
The Nigerian army has rescued students and staff who were abducted by gunmen from a school in the country’s north earlier this month, the military said, days before the deadline for a ransom payment.
School officials and residents had said 287 students were taken on 7 March in the town of Kuriga, in the north-western state of Kaduna. A military spokesperson said 137 hostages – 76 female and 61 male – were rescued in the early hours of Sunday in the neighbouring state of Zamfara.
“In the early hours of 24 March 2024, the military, working with local authorities and government agencies across the country in a coordinated search and rescue operation, rescued the hostages,” Maj Gen Edward Buba said in a statement.
Reuters
Ecuador's youngest mayor found shot to death alongside staffer
QUITO, March 24 (Reuters) - Ecuador's youngest mayor, Brigitte Garcia, and a staffer were found shot dead in a car early on Sunday, said police in the South American country, which is in the grips of a wave of violence that authorities blame on drug trafficking
National police said they were investigating the deaths of Garcia, the 27-year-old mayor of San Vicente, and Jairo Loor, her communications director, after the discovery of their bodies in the province of Manabi. Both had suffered gunshot wounds, police said in a statement.
Later on Sunday, police said that the gunfire had come from within the car, which was rented, and they were tracking the vehicle's GPS system.
Garcia belonged to former President Rafael Correa's Citizen Revolution Movement party.
Reuters
France raises terror alert warning to highest level
PARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - The French government is raising its terror alert warning to its highest level following the shootings on Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday after a meeting with senior security and defence officials with President Emmanuel Macron.
Attal said in a post on X that the decision, which comes months before Paris hosts the Olympic Games, was taken "in light of the Islamic State's claiming responsibility for the (Moscow) attack and the threats weighing on our country".
France's terror alert system has three levels, and the highest level is activated in the wake of an attack in France or abroad or when a threat of one is considered to be imminent.
It allows for exceptional security measures such as stepped-up patrols by armed forces in public places like train stations, airports and religious sites.
CNN
Fire extinguished on Carnival Freedom cruise ship after witnesses reported possible lightning strike
Heath Barnes opened his book on the upper decks of the Bahamas-bound Carnival Freedom cruise ship in between bouts of rain.
But his relaxation Saturday afternoon was suddenly stolen with “the loudest thunder and lightning I have ever heard,” he told CNN.
Barnes, of Woodsboro, Maryland, went back inside and minutes later learned from his nephew and his nephew’s two friends, all 16, the ship was on fire.
Cruise ship officials reported the fire broke out on the port side of the ship’s exhaust funnel around 3:15 p.m. local time, according to a news release from Carnival Cruise Line.
Witnesses reported the ship may have been struck by lightning, but that has not been confirmed and the cause is still being investigated, according to the cruise line.
AP
Geomagnetic storm from a solar flare could disrupt radio communications and create a striking aurora
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an ouburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing.
There’s no reason for the public to be concerned, according to the alert issued Saturday by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.
The storm could interrupt high-frequency radio transmissions, such as by aircraft trying to communicate with distant traffic control towers. Most commercial aircraft can use satellite transmission as backup, said Jonathan Lash, a forecaster at the center.
Satellite operators might have trouble tracking their spacecraft, and power grids could also see some “induced current” in their lines, though nothing they can’t handle, he said.
“For the general public, if you have clear skies at night and you are at higher latitudes, this would be a great opportunity to see the skies light up,” Lash said.
Deutsche Welle
Brazil: Hundreds of homes destroyed in deadly floods
Heavy rains have brought destruction to Brazil, killing at least 25 people and forcing thousands more to flee as flooding and landslides destroy swaths of property in the country's mountainous southeast.
With more rain expected on Sunday, rescuers in the states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro raced to rescue trapped citizens.
Dozens of soldiers, firefighters and rescue dogs are currently carrying out search and rescue operations.
Authorities have described the scene as "chaotic."
So far, 15 deaths have been reported in Espirito Santo, 13 of them in the town of Mimoso do Sul. State authorities said more than 5,400 people had been evacuated from affected areas, where more than 270 homes were destroyed.
Deutsche Welle
UN: 2.2 billion people have no access to clean water
Globally, 2.2 billion people have no access to clean water while 3.5 billion people are forced to manage daily without hygienic sanitation, according to the report.
One in two people around the world are suffering from water scarcity for several months of the year, it found.
"In some parts of the world, this water scarcity has become the rule, rather than the exception," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.
Although agriculture uses more than two-thirds of the water worldwide, the competition for water resources comes primarily from industry and urban households.
The report cited the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals from 2016 or achieving universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in 140 low- and middle-income countries, estimating that it would cost approximately $1.7 trillion (€1.5 trillion) from 2016 to 2030, or $114 billion (€105.4 billion) per year.
Raw Story
'Funeral for her own career': Lauren Boebert mocked for 'sad turn out' at Colorado event
Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert became the subject of mockery this weekend as social media users made jokes about the lawmaker's apparently sparse crowd at a speaking event in her state.
Boebert, who earlier in the month was ridiculed on social media as she sought to highlight an endorsement from Donald Trump, once again took to her X account to share some pictures.
"Great to be with you today, Adams County GOP!" she wrote along with the photos.Referencing Boebert's earlier scandal, user @4HumanUnity said, "It looks like only 10 people showed up.
Washington Post
Deepfake Kari Lake video shows coming chaos of AI in elections
Hank Stephenson has a finely tuned B.S. detector. The longtime journalist has made a living sussing out lies and political spin.
But even he was fooled at first when he watched the video of one of his home state’s most prominent congressional candidates. There was Kari Lake, the Republican Senate hopeful from Arizona, on his phone screen, speaking words written by a software engineer. Stephenson was watching a deepfake — an artificial-intelligence-generated video produced by his news organization, Arizona Agenda, to underscore the dangers of AI misinformation in a pivotal election year.
As a tight 2024 presidential election draws ever nearer, experts and officials are increasingly sounding the alarm about the potentially devastating power of AI deepfakes, which they fear could further corrode the country’s sense of truth and destabilize the electorate.