Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), 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.
From CNN:
(CNN)A pizza bar worker with Covid-19 who lied about their employment activities triggered a lockdown across the entire state of South Australia, authorities were forced to admit Friday.
The state of 1.7 million people
would not have gone into the six-day "circuit breaker" had the employee told the truth to a contact-tracing team, South Australia Premier Steven Marshall told reporters at a press conference. He announced the state had decided to lift its six-day lockdown early, based on new information.
From Bloomberg:
Canada’s largest province ordered a lockdown in Toronto and one of its suburbs, a declaration that forces shopping malls, restaurants and other businesses to close their doors to slow a second wave of coronavirus cases.
Ontario, home to 14.7 million of the country’s 38 million people, said all non-essential retail stores in Toronto and Peel will have to close, though they can take orders for outdoor pickup and delivery. Restaurants will be allowed to operate takeout and delivery services only. Personal services such as salons will also shut down and indoor gatherings will be largely banned.
From USA Today:
SALEM, Ore. — Environmental groups are raising alarms after reports of COVID-19 outbreaks in farmed mink in the United States, and of a mutant COVID-19 strain spreading from mink to humans in Denmark.
The nation's largest farmed mink industries are found in Wisconsin, Utah and Michigan. And as of Nov. 4, 11 mink farms in the three states had reported COVID-19 outbreaks.
From NPR:
India's total reported coronavirus cases have surpassed 9 million – a milestone so far crossed only by the United States.
But new infections appear to be declining in India, with 45,882 new cases reported Friday, compared to daily tallies that were more than double that, in September.
From CNN:
By Martin Goillandeau and Kara Fox, CNN
(CNN)The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, died in a Belgrade hospital on Friday after contracting coronavirus, according to a statement from the church.
Irinej, who was 90, led an open-casket funeral service for the church's top cleric in Montenegro, Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović, on November 1.
But there are other things going on in the news other than COVID. From the AP:
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SAMYA KULLAB
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran has instructed allies across the Middle East to be on high alert and avoid provoking tensions with the U.S. that could give an outgoing Trump administration cause to launch attacks in the U.S. president’s final weeks in office, Iraqi officials have said.
The request — delivered by a senior Iranian general to allies in Baghdad this week — reflects the growing regional anxiety over President Donald Trump’s unpredictable behavior and the uncertainty in the chaotic transition period until President-elect Joe Biden takes over in two months.
From CNN:
George Engels and Amy Woodyatt, CNN
(CNN) —
An ancient Islamic necropolis containing over 4,500 bodies has been uncovered in northeastern Spain, with archaeologists excavating more than 400 tombs in the five-acre site.
The tombs were discovered in an 8th-century burial ground in the town of Tauste, near Zaragoza in Aragon, Eva Gimenez, an archaeologist currently excavating the area with the Paleoymás archaeology firm, told CNN.
From the NY Post:
By James Leggate, Fox News
The saying “You are what you eat” may soon become a lot more literal.
A “DIY meal kit” for growing steaks made from human cells was recently nominated for “design of the year” by the London-based Design Museum.
Named the Ouroboros Steak after the circular symbol of a snake eating itself tail-first, the hypothetical kit would come with everything one needs to use their own cells to grow miniature human meat steaks.
From The Guardian:
Berlin prosecutors say suspect in death of 44-year-old man had interest in the subject
German prosecutors say there is evidence of cannibalism in the killing of a 44-year-old man whose remains were found in Berlin this month.
A 41-year-old man was arrested at his home on Thursday on suspicion of murder with sexual motives, close to the site where the victim’s bones were found.
From Phys.org:
by University of Exeter
A plant used in traditional Chinese medicine has evolved to become less visible to humans, new research shows.
Scientists found that Fritillaria delavayi plants, which live on rocky slopes of China's Hengduan mountains, match their backgrounds most closely in areas where they are heavily harvested.
This suggests humans are "driving" evolution of this species into new colour forms because better-camouflaged plants have a higher chance of survival.
From The Guardian:
Inflatables taken on marches to mock authorities protect protesters from police violence
On the frontline of Thailand’s pro-democracy protests a new and unlikely mascot has emerged: a giant, inflatable duck.
When demonstrators tried to get past concrete barricades and gather outside parliament on Tuesday, they faced a police response that rights groups have described as unnecessary and excessive. The protesters, who are calling for democratic reforms including curbs on the power of the monarchy, were repeatedly fired at with teargas and water cannon. Some of the water blasts contained chemical irritants.
From CNN:
(CNN)An elderly man has been killed by a pack of hyenas in Zimbabwe, after they pulled him from his bed while he was sleeping.
The man, who has been identified by the authorities as 87-year-old Tendai Maseka, was dragged about 1,000 feet from his mud and wood hut.
The incident occurred on Monday night in the rural region of Chirumanzu. in central Zimbabwe.
From The Guardian:
Humans now known to have polluted Earth from deepest ocean to highest peak
Microplastic pollution has been discovered in snow close to the peak of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. With plastic debris revealed in 2018 at the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, it is now clear that humanity’s litter has polluted the entire planet.
The tiny plastic fibres were found within a few hundred metres of the top of the 8,850-metre mountain, at a spot known as the balcony. Microplastics were found in all the snow samples collected from 11 locations on Everest, ranging from 5,300 metres to 8,440 metres high.
The Washington Post:
A Honduras airport has been underwater twice in two weeks
For the second time in November, the Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in Honduras was engulfed by floodwaters because of devastating rains from the remnants of Hurricane Iota. Earlier this month, it was deluged by Hurricane Eta. Both systems made landfall 15 miles apart in the span of two weeks on Nicaragua’s northern coast at Category 4 strength.
From the Washington Post:
By Halima Athumani and Lesley Wroughton
KAMPALA, Uganda — More than 30 people were killed in violent protests in Uganda this week, officials said Friday, as supporters of presidential candidate and pop star Bobi Wine clashed with security forces over his arrest, in some of the worst unrest in the East African country in a decade.
It was unclear who was responsible for the deaths. Most of the 37 dead suffered gunshot wounds and traumatic injuries, said Uganda police’s chief pathologist, Moses Byaruhanga.
From The Hill:
The Vatican has called on Instagram to assist in an investigation after Pope Francis’s official account liked an image of a Brazilian model wearing lingerie.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported Tuesday that the Vatican was looking into a picture featuring Brazilian model and Twitch streamer Natalia Garibotto that had been “liked” by the Pope’s verified Instagram account, @franciscus.
The image shows Garibotto wearing a lingerie outfit resembling a school uniform, with her largely uncovered posterior clearly visible.
News of the Arts
From The Verge:
The FBI art crime team is tracking down masterpieces that have gone missing
Shortly after midnight on March 18th, 1990, security guard Rick Abath allowed two men dressed as police officers to enter the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This decision may have been “the most costly mistake in art history,”
according to The Boston Globe. The men stole 13 artworks worth more than $500 million and left Abath handcuffed in the basement.
The mystery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist has never been solved. Today, the pilfered works are part of the National Stolen Art File, a database of looted treasures curated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
From The Guardian:
Galleries are closed due to Covid – so a group of artists have taken to displaying their work from their houses for passersby. Our writer takes to the streets
It is not a good time for art lovers. The second lockdown has closed galleries once more – I’m imagining portraits waiting moodily in the National Gallery in London to be admired again; Van Gogh’s sunflowers wilting further – and so it is not a good time for artists.
Artists Walk is an initiative that aims to improve that state of affairs. It’s a simple idea for an art trail that began as a joint endeavour between printmaker and painter Rosha Nutt, and her art marketing consultant friend Holly Collier. Those who in normal times would be exhibiting in galleries or community spaces can now place their work in the windows or surroundings of their homes for passers-by to admire. Kind of like “how much is that doggy in the window?” Except that it might be that Picasso sketch of his dachshund.
From the Gothamist:
The stunning ArtDeco skybridge on the MetLife buildings by Madison Square Park is being demolished.
Workers have hacked away at the bridge for the past few weeks to remove the detailed metal work piece by piece, reports Untapped New York. As of Friday, photos show the bridge reduced down to its signature arch curving over East 24th Street.
From the Albion Pleiad:
November 20, 2020 Jordan Revenaugh
Thus far, 2020 has been notorious for derailing the hope and optimism many people held onto at the turn of the decade. 2020 has seen a rise in political partisanship across the United States leading up to one of the most contentious elections of all time. George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were both killed in violent encounters with the police. Wildfires overtook the west coast from California to Washington. Prominent figures, including Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, passed away. First spotted in Washington, murder hornets also surged across the United States.
These events all occurred in addition to the raging COVID-19 global pandemic and other unfortunate instances outside of the US.
From Montana Public Radio:
By TOM BERICH
The Montana Museum of Art and Culture has two very different and thoroughly unique exhibits currently on display. "Bookish" which displays books as physical works of art; and "Works In Progress" highlighting original art funded by the US federal government between 1932 and the beginning of World War II.
Learn more now as Director of The Montana Museum of Art and Culture Rafael Chacone talks with MTPR's Tom Berich.