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.
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.
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AP News
As hospital numbers fall, fatigued staff get relief at last
When COVID-19 patients inundated St. Louis hospitals, respiratory therapists arriving for yet another grueling shift with a dwindling supply of ventilators would often glance at their assignments and cry, heading into the locker room to collect themselves.
“They were like, ‘Man, another 12 hours of this slog of these on-the-verge-of-death patients who could go at any moment.’ And just knowing that they had to take care of them with that kind of stress in the back of their head,’” recalled Joe Kowalczyk, a respiratory therapist who sometimes works in a supervisory role.
Now the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. has dropped by 80,000 in six weeks, and 17% of the nation’s adult population has gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, providing some relief to front-line workers like Kowalczyk. On his most recent shift at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, there were only about 20 coronavirus patients, down from as many as 100 at the peak of the winter surge.
AP News
House votes to expand legal safeguards for LGBTQ people
The Democratic-led House passed a bill Thursday that would enshrine LGBTQ protections in the nation’s labor and civil rights laws, a top priority of President Joe Biden, though the legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
The bill passed by a vote of 224-206 with three Republicans joining Democrats in voting yes.
The Equality Act amends existing civil rights law to explicitly include sexual orientation and gender identification as protected characteristics. The protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas. Supporters say the law before the House on Thursday is long overdue and would ensure that every person is treated equally under the law.
“The LGBT community has waited long enough,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who is gay and the bill’s lead sponsor. “The time has come to extend the blessings of liberty and equality to all of Americans regardless of who they are and who they love.”
AP News
Biden marks 50M vaccine doses in first 5 weeks in office
Days after marking a solemn milestone in the pandemic, President Joe Biden is celebrating the pace of his efforts to end it.
On Thursday, Biden marked the administration of the 50 millionth dose of COVID-19 vaccine since his swearing-in. The moment came days after the nation reached the devastating milestone of 500,000 coronavirus deaths and ahead of a meeting with the nation’s governors on plans to speed the distribution even further.
“The more people get vaccinated, the faster we’re going to beat this pandemic,” Biden said at the White House ceremony, noting that his administration is on course to exceed his promise to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.
“We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days,” Biden said. “That’s weeks ahead of schedule.”
All told, more than 45 million Americans have been administered at least one dose of the approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna since they received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in December, with more than 20 million receiving both required doses.
AP News
Monarch butterflies down 26% in Mexico wintering grounds
The number of monarch butterflies that showed up at their winter resting grounds in central Mexico decreased by about 26% this year, and four times as many trees were lost to illegal logging, drought and other causes, making 2020 a bad year for the butterflies.
The government commission for natural protected areas said the butterflies’ population covered only 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) in 2020, compared to 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres) the previous year and about one-third of the 6.05 hectares (14.95 acres) detected in 2018.
Because the monarchs cluster so densely in pine and fir trees, it is easier to count them by area rather than by individuals.
Gloria Tavera, the regional director of Mexico’s Commission for National Protected Areas, blamed the drop on “extreme climate conditions,” the loss of milkweed habitat in the United States and Canada on which butterflies depend, and deforestation in the butterflies’ wintering grounds in Mexico.
Illegal logging in the monarchs wintering rounds rose to almost 13.4 hectares (33 acres), a huge increase from the 0.43 hectare (1 acre) lost to logging last year.
AP News
Explainer: Mount Etna puts on its latest spectacular show
Mount Etna, the volcano that towers over eastern Sicily, evokes superlatives. It is Europe’s most active volcano and also the continent’s largest.
And the fiery, noisy show of power it puts on for days or weeks, even years every so often, is always super spectacular. Fortunately, Etna’s latest eruption captivating the world’s attention has caused neither injuries nor evacuation.
But each time it roars back into dramatic action, it wows onlookers and awes geologists who spend their careers monitoring its every quiver, rumble and belch.
On Feb. 16, Etna erupted, sending up high fountains of lava, which rolled down the mountain’s eastern slope toward the uninhabited Bove Valley, which is five kilometers (three miles) wide and eight kilometers (five miles) long. The volcano has belched out ash and lava stones that showered the southern side.
Aljazeera News
Alexey Navalny moved out of Moscow prison, says lawyer
ailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been moved to an undisclosed detention centre outside Moscow that may be a prison camp, according to his lawyer and a member of a rights organisation.
Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed earlier this month for alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he said was trumped up for political reasons, which the authorities have denied.
The European Сourt of Human Rights has also ruled the case unlawful and, citing risks to Navalny’s life in custody, ordered the Russian government to release him.
Russia has rebuffed the court’s demand as unlawful and “inadmissible” meddling in the country’s affairs.
Aljazeera News
‘Anarchist jurisdictions’ no more: Biden revokes Trump’s order
President Joe Biden on Wednesday formally revoked a series of presidential orders by his predecessor, including one that sought to cut funding from several United States cities that former President Donald Trump deemed “anarchist” havens.
Since taking office last month, Biden has revoked dozens of orders by Trump and issued dozens more of his own as he has sought to target foundational aspects of Trump’s legacy and promote aspects of his own agenda without going through Congress.
The latest slate of revocations targeted a grab bag of issues, including a few that Trump signed in his last months in office.
Trump issued a memorandum in September that sought to identify municipal governments that permit “anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities” during his re-election campaign, which was based heavily on a “law and order” message.
Aljazeera News
Yellen backs new allocation of IMF’s currency to aid in recovery
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday threw her support behind a new allocation of the International Monetary Fund’s own currency, or Special Drawing Rights (SDR), but said broad parameters were needed to boost transparency on how the reserves are used and traded.
Reversing the opposition of the administration of former US President Donald Trump, Yellen told Group of 20 (G20) finance officials in a letter that a new SDR allocation could boost liquidity for poor countries, which have been particularly hard hit by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The US Treasury chief gave no specific size for possible allocation of SDRs, which can be converted to hard currency by IMF members. Italy, which holds the presidency of the G20 this year, and other members of the group of rich and emerging economies have backed a $500bn allocation, but the US had been guarded about its view until now.
Aljazeera News
In Pictures: Ecuador prison riots leave dozens dead
Ecuador on Wednesday raised the death toll from riots in four jails to 79, including 18 prisoners who were found dismembered at one site, one of the bloodiest outbreaks of prison violence in the country’s history.
But even as authorities said they had regained control following the initial riots, the head of Ecuador’s national police wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night that a new mutiny in Guayaquil’s prison was under way.
Police and troops were stationed at detention centres in the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga, where gangs on Tuesday fought one another with handmade weapons in what authorities said was a coordinated outbreak of violence.
Several of Tuesday’s confrontations took place in maximum security areas of the Guayaquil and Cuenca prisons.
USA Today
Pilot reports UFO, says missile-like object flew over plane during flight to Phoenix
A pilot on a Phoenix-bound American Airlines flight radioed that an unidentified object flew over the plane in New Mexico on Sunday.
At approximately 1:19 p.m. CST, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 2292 from Cincinnati reported, "Do you have any targets up here? We just had something go right over the top of us," according to a radio transmission recorded by a blogger, Steve Douglass, and uploaded on Douglass' blog, Deep Black Horizon.
At that time, the aircraft was over the northeast corner of New Mexico, according to Douglass.
BBC News
Man survives 14 hours in Pacific Ocean 'clinging to sea rubbish'
A sailor who fell overboard survived by clinging to a "piece of sea rubbish", his son has revealed.
Vidam Perevertilov spent 14 hours in the water after he fell off the cargo ship into the Pacific Ocean in the early hours of the morning.
The 52-year-old, who was not wearing a life jacket, credits his decision to swim towards a "black dot" several kilometres away with saving his life.
It turned out to be a fishing buoy, which he held onto until his rescue.
Reuters News
Exclusive: U.S. carries out airstrike against Iranian-backed militia target in Syria - officials
The United States on Thursday carried out an airstrike in Syria against a structure belonging to what it said were Iran-backed militia, two officials told Reuters.
The strike comes after a series of recent rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the strike was approved by President Joe Biden.
Sadly in tonight’s Night Owl Meteor Blades announced it would be his last