Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
I’ve shared nothing about the 2021 college football season in my OND’s; no Top Tens...nothing...My Michigan Wolverines still have work to do; Iowa always gives Michigan problems...but it is nice to get over one hump...at least for this year.
Still have work to do...
A 15-year-old Oxford High School sophomore, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, is accused of a shooting at his school Tuesday afternoon, killing three students and injuring seven others and a teacher.
The incident unfolded in about five minutes and police said the shooter, who was not injured, was arrested, turning himself over to officers.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she planned to issue "appropriate charges quickly" and that the community has her commitment and promise that she "will seek justice."
Michael McCabe, the Oakland County undersheriff who lives about 1½ miles from the school, said at a news conference it appeared the suspect worked alone and investigators are interviewing students and scouring social media for clues to a motive.
Police said the three slain students were a 16-year-old boy, and two girls, 14 and 17. Two of the other victims were in surgery Tuesday evening, and the other six were at hospitals in stable condition.
Mississippi is asking the Supreme Court on Wednesday to affirm its legislature’s judgment that it should be practically impossible to obtain an abortion in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
But the state’s goals are more ambitious than that, significantly raising the stakes on the most important challenge to abortion rights in decades.
Mississippi also has a six-week ban on abortions that has been put on hold by lower courts. And if the Supreme Court agrees with the state’s assertion that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, the state already has decided to ban the procedure altogether, except in cases of rape or “preservation of the mother’s life.”
“If the court does overrule Roe and says that bans on abortion before viability are fair game, there are about half of the states in the country that would be poised to either ban abortion entirely or at an extremely early point in pregnancy,” said Julie Rikelman, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents Mississippi’s only abortion clinic.
New York Times: Merck’s Covid Treatment Pill Wins Blessing of F.D.A. Panel by Rebecca Robbins and Carl Zimmer
A federal advisory committee on Tuesday voted to recommend that the government for the first time authorize the use of an antiviral pill to combat the worst effects of Covid-19.
The advisory committee, in a surprisingly narrow 13-to-10 vote, endorsed the pill from Merck, while public health officials worldwide raced to buttress their defenses against the newly emerging Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The Merck treatment, known as molnupiravir, has been shown to modestly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from Covid. The pill could be authorized for use in the United States within days and available to patients within weeks.
In the coming weeks, the F.D.A. may also authorize a similar pill from Pfizer that appears to be significantly more effective than Merck’s. Together, the arrival of the two easy-to-use treatments could provide a cushion against a resurgent virus.
Buzzfeed: Ghislaine Maxwell Made Jeffrey Epstein’s Abuse Possible, Prosecutors Said In Opening Statements by Julia Reinstein and Ellie Hall
NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein’s main “partner in crime” who made his “pyramid scheme” of sexually abusing young girls possible for years, prosecutors said as her federal trial began Monday in Manhattan.
“For a decade, the defendant played an essential role in the scheme,” Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said in her opening statement. “She knew exactly what she was doing — she was dangerous.”
Maxwell, the daughter of a British media magnate, is the former girlfriend and longtime associate of Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, whose death in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges on Aug. 10, 2019, was ruled a suicide. With his death coming before he faced a jury, Monday’s proceedings in Maxwell’s case marked a major milestone in a saga that has stretched decades, only drawing renewed attention after a series of articles in the Miami Herald highlighting how the justice system had failed the women who said they were abused.
AlJazeera: ‘This is a new wave’: Hundreds of Cubans seek refuge in Greece by John Psaropoulos
Athens, Greece – Greece has become a European port of call for refugees from Africa and Asia.
But in recent months, authorities have been surprised to find large numbers of Cubans seeking shelter far from home.
The issue came to light on October 28 when some 130 Cubans tried to fly from the island of Zakynthos, in the Ionian Sea, to Milan, in northern Italy.
“It was accidental that so many Cubans met in the same place,” said Pedro, 28, who was among them. “Usually we try to use lots of different airports.”
“When police saw one Cuban passport after another, they put us all in a separate room.”
A video clip posted by a local news outlet showed Cubans in an uproar when police tried to bus them to the local precinct. They were given written orders to leave Greece before being released.
Guardian: Russia will act if Nato countries cross Ukraine ‘red lines’, Putin says by Andrew Roth
Vladimir Putin has warned Nato countries that deploying weapons or soldiers to Ukraine would cross a “red line” for Russia and trigger a strong response, including a potential deployment of Russian missiles targeting Europe.
Nato countries have warned Putin against further aggression against Ukraine as foreign ministers gathered in Latvia to discuss the military alliance’s contingencies for a potential Russian invasion.
Tensions have soared following a buildup of nearly 100,000 Russian troops, as well as tanks, artillery, and even short-range ballistic missiles, within striking distance of Ukraine’s borders.
While a similar crisis played out over a Russian troop buildup in April, officials from the US and Ukraine have warned that the threat of a Russian offensive this winter remains very real because of a failing ceasefire agreement and a worsening political climate.
DW: Kashmir: Why is anger rising over secretive militant burials? By Samaan Lateef
Mushtaq Ahmad Wani cried out for public support after Indian security forces refused to return the body of his teenage son, who was killed in a controversial operation on the outskirts of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
"Today it's about my son. Tomorrow it will be your son as well," Wani shouted while he was being taken away by Indian police during a protest at the Lal Chowk square in Srinagar, the region's summer capital.
On December 30 of last year, Wani's son, 16-year-old Ather Mushtaq, was killed along with two other local youths.
Mushtaq's body was buried by Indian authorities in northern Kashmir's Sonamarg area, nearly 150 kilometers (93 miles) away from his home in southern Kashmir. His father has been calling for the return of Mushtaq's body.
Hundreds of other families in Kashmir are also calling for the return of their relatives' bodies.
ESPN: College Football Playoff Rankings- Top Ten
1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Alabama
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma State
6. Notre Dame
7. Ohio State
8. Mississippi
9. Baylor
10. Oregon
Championship Weekend Lineup
Friday December 3
Pac 12- #10 Oregon v. #17 Utah (Fri.)
Saturday, December 4
Big 12- #5 Oklahoma State v. #9 Baylor
SEC- #1 Georgia v. #3 Alabama
AAC- #21 Houston at #4 Cincinnati
Big 10- #2 Michigan v. #13 Iowa
ACC- #15 Pittsburgh v. #16 Wake Forest
Go Blue! Bring home that Big 10 Championship. (Iowa will be rough, though!)
Everyone have a great evening!