Since 2007, the Overnight News Digest has been a nightly, community series chronicling the day’s news and the American dystopia. This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share articles, stories, and tweets along with your comments to discuss the happenings of the day.
568,517 PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CORONAVIRUS IN THE U.S.
134.4 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE U.S. HAVE RECEIVED A VACCINATION DOSE
AP News
Grim list of deaths at police hands grows even after verdict
Just as the guilty verdict was about to be read in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, police in Ohio shot and killed a Black teenager in broad daylight during a confrontation.
The shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, who was swinging a knife during a fight with another person in Columbus, is in some ways more representative of how Black and other people of color are killed during police encounters than the death of George Floyd, pinned to the ground by Chauvin and captured on video for all the world to see. […]
The day after Bryant was fatally shot, at least two other people were also killed by police in the United States.
Search for Indonesia submarine focuses on oil slick off Bali
The search for a missing Indonesian submarine on Thursday focused around an oil slick north of the resort island of Bali with help from Australia, Singapore and other countries, the navy said.
The KRI Nanggala 402 with 53 people on board was participating in a training exercise Wednesday when it missed a scheduled reporting call. The oil slick was spotted near the starting position of its last dive, about 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of Bali.
Mother Jones
Police Reforms Don’t Work When Cops Ignore Them
[…] When protesters assembled outside the city’s police headquarters, they were met with brutal crowd control tactics. The following day, Brooklyn Center’s city council banned tear gas, rubber bullets, and kettling. But videos show protesters getting bombarded with tear gas just 15 minutes after that resolution passed. (It’s unclear whether the gas came from Brooklyn Center police or outside agencies, which are not included in the ban.)
It’s the latest instance of police appearing to ignore the hard-won reforms that followed last summer’s uprisings. More than 30 states, along with countless municipalities and police departments, have set new rules to reduce police violence—including funding cuts, crowd-control restrictions, body-camera mandates, and bans on no-knock warrants and neck restraints—since protests on behalf of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others killed by police rocked the country. But officers in at least half a dozen cities have allegedly violated those policies or carved out major loopholes. These flagrant work arounds throw into question how effective reforms are at controlling violent police behavior.
Los Angeles Times
Justice Dept. to investigate Minneapolis police after Chauvin verdict
The Justice Department on Wednesday launched a broad investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department a day after a white former officer was convicted of murdering George Floyd, a Black man, during a police stop last year. Floyd’s death sparked a wave of nationwide protests over racial discrimination in policing, and a broader national conversation around race and justice in the United States.
Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland announced the start of the probe during a video address from the Justice Department, saying the agency’s Civil Rights Division will conduct what is known as a “patterns and practice” inquiry that will scrutinize nearly all corners of how the Minneapolis police do their jobs, from recruitment to the possible use of excessive force.
Biden needs Asia’s help to meet climate goals, but is it ready to give up coal?
[…] Though many countries rely on coal for power, the Biden administration is focusing on China, Japan and South Korea because of their global influence. Cash from these nations has funded the construction of coal plants in developing countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, which are eager for a source of cheap electricity and jobs.
For China, which has taken steps to limit its use of coal within its borders, financing the construction of dozens of coal-fired power plants in other countries as part of its Belt and Road Initiative has become a way of expanding its influence across the globe.
The three Asian coal backers have acknowledged that the continued burning of coal to generate electricity is accelerating climate change and said they plan to move away from financing new coal projects overseas. None, however, has declared a ban on supporting coal power development internationally.
Bloomberg
Global Virus Resurgence Threatens Vigorous Growth Momentum
The renewed surge in Covid-19 infections is threatening to further divide the world economy between the rich and poor, potentially damaging overall global growth if the fresh outbreaks spread or if key sources of demand falter.
More people were diagnosed with Covid-19 last week than any other since the pandemic began. The World Health Organization this week warned that new infections are increasing everywhere except Europe, led by rocketing numbers in India with cases also rising in Argentina, Turkey and Brazil.
That’s casting a shadow over a previously vigorous global economic rebound given that failure to control the virus or get vaccines distributed evenly risks driving new mutations, first in emerging markets and then on to developed nations that had been beating the pandemic back.
Harris to Discuss Migrant Surge With Guatemala’s President
Vice President Kamala Harris will speak with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday to discuss the migrant surge at the southern border, Harris’s office said Wednesday night.
Harris, whom President Joe Biden picked to oversee the administration’s diplomatic response to the influx, plans to visit the region in June, according to a senior White House official.
The vice president, according to her spokesperson, Symone Sanders, will discuss relief for Guatemala with Giammattei and ways to deepen cooperation with his government on migration.
The Sydney Morning Herald
As Australia tiptoes to 2050 climate targets, the world moves on 2030
On Monday night Scott Morrison again voiced the government’s intention to create a net-zero economy “as quickly as possible and preferably by 2050” in a speech widely interpreted as an effort to delicately shift Australia’s climate position another pace closer to that of its international peers.
That may have been the case, but the speech also highlighted how isolated Australia has become in a world that has largely banked its 2050 targets and is now concerned with 2030 plans. […]
The European Union has made it clear that it intends to introduce a border tariff on emissions intensive imports from countries that do not price carbon. Last week the new US Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, gave a speech signalling the US is considering similar measures.
The Hindu
India records world’s highest single-day coronavirus spike on April 21, 2021
For the first time, more than 3 lakh [300,000] COVID-19 cases were registered in a single day in India on April 21. As many as 3,15,660 cases and 2,091 deaths were recorded in the country as of 11.15 p.m. IST on April 21. No country has recorded more cases in a single day. The country has so far reported a total of 1,59,24,914 cases and 1,84,662 deaths.
The figures do not include cases and deaths in Tripura and Ladakh. The data is sourced from covid19india.org, an independent aggregator of daily COVID-19 figures. […]
The daily vaccination rate in India has declined in the past week. Between April 7-13, India administered an average of 34.43 lakh doses every day. However, one week later, as on April 20, the average daily doses given fell to 27.05 lakh.
The Wall Street Journal
Brazil’s Climate Overture to Biden: Pay Us Not to Raze Amazon
Brazil’s government, widely criticized by environmental groups as a negligent steward of the Amazon rainforest, has made an audacious offer to the Biden administration: Provide $1 billion and President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will reduce deforestation by 40%. […]
But supported by some influential scholars and Amazon dwellers, Mr. Bolsonaro argues that the only way to save the jungle is through carbon credits and by financing sustainable economic activities so people can make a living from fish farming, cacao production and other activities that don’t require the razing of trees. The theme has been central to talks Brazil’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, said he has had in recent weeks with Biden administration climate officials.
Deutsche Welle
Anger and uncertainty as slain president’s son named Chad’s interim leader
Chad's presidency on Wednesday released a "transition charter" that will repeal the country's constitution and serve as the "basic law of the republic." The military council in temporary control had already announced that President Idriss Deby's son Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno would take over the reins of power in the Central African country after the killing of his father on Monday by rebels, but sought to solidify that position on Wednesday.
The younger Deby, a 37-year-old general, will now head a Military Transitional Council consisting of himself and 14 military leaders who were allies and supporters of his father. He has been named "Supreme Head of the Armed Forces" and will "occupy the functions of the president of the republic," as well as assuming the leadership of the councils of ministers and of defense.
US exit from Afghanistan: Leaving local staff at Taliban's mercy
Sekandar (name changed), who lives in Kabul, started working in 2019 as an interpreter for US Special Forces at Bagram Airbase, the largest US military base in Afghanistan. He told DW that he faces a dangerous situation now.
"NATO and US forces are withdrawing completely from Afghanistan; I am concerned about my future," he said. "I don't know what happens to us now," he added.
Sekandar said the nature of his work with the US mission had left him in a bad mental state.
MercoPress
Uruguayan President seizes Pfizer vaccines Argentine neglected
Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou successfully carried out a personal negotiation with the Pfizer laboratory in Buenos Aires in December as talks between the Argentine government and the manufacturers of the vaccine began to stall, it was reported.
According to press reports, the laboratory's offer was of 13.3 million doses, but for months, the Argentine authorities remained silent. Until it was too late. Lacalle Pou had negotiated personally with the laboratories.
Health Minister at the time in Argentina was Ginés González García, who first postponed any dealings with Pfizer because they were too keen on the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, but when this product began recording setback after setback and González García tried to resume dealings with Pfizer it was too late. Moscow's offer of the Sputnik V became the next best option.
Toronto Star
Ontario playing ‘critical care hopscotch’ with record COVID-19 patients being transferred between hospitals to free up ICU space
Patient transfers between Ontario hospitals are increasing as the number of people with COVID-19 in ICUs reached a pandemic record of 790 Tuesday, with 566 requiring ventilators.
Ornge, Ontario’s air ambulance and medical transport service, and local paramedics have transported 570 patients so far in April to create ICU capacity, including 243 since April 14. That’s a 135 per cent increase from March when 242 patients were transported.
“We are now seeing ‘critical care hopscotch,’” wrote Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital, on Twitter. “This is very concerning. Options are running out.”
The race for Canada’s special, one-time permanent-residence program is flooding English-language test providers
[…] With 90,000 spots up for grabs under a new one-time special program offering a pathway to permanent residence, international graduates and essential migrant workers see what they feel is the best chance to make their immigration dreams come true.
However, to qualify, they must meet the language-proficiency requirement and many are now scrambling to book one of the two mandatory language tests — CELPIP and IELTS — as soon as possible amid the third wave of COVID-19, when spaces at test centres are limited. […]
Last Wednesday, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino announced the time-limited immigration pathway to grant permanent residence to 40,000 recent international graduates, 20,000 temporary foreign workers in health care and 30,000 in other essential occupations.
Reuters
Russia arrests over 1,400 at rallies for hunger-striking Navalny
Police rounded up more than 1,400 protesters on Wednesday as Russians in dozens of cities took part in rallies organised by allies of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over his failing health in jail.
His spokeswoman was jailed for 10 days, and another close ally detained, on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivered a state-of-the-nation speech warning the West not to cross Russia’s “red lines” and pointedly made no mention of Navalny.
Xi to attend Biden’s climate change summit in first meeting of two leaders
China’s President Xi Jinping will attend a U.S.-led climate change summit on Thursday at the invitation of President Joe Biden, in the first meeting between the two leaders since the advent of the new U.S. administration.
Biden has invited dozens of world leaders to join the two-day virtual summit starting on Thursday, after bringing the United States back into the 2015 Paris Agreement on cutting global carbon emissions.
Xi will attend the summit via video and will deliver an "important" speech, Hua Chunying, spokeswoman at the Chinese foreign ministry, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Space.com
NASA's Perseverance rover makes oxygen on Mars for 1st time
NASA's Perseverance rover just notched another first on Mars, one that may help pave the way for astronauts to explore the Red Planet someday.
The rover successfully used its MOXIE instrument to generate oxygen from the thin, carbon dioxide-dominated Martian atmosphere for the first time, demonstrating technology that could both help astronauts breathe and help propel the rockets that get them back home to Earth.
BBC News
Russia plans its own space station in 2025
As tensions simmer between Russia and a number of Western countries on the ground, the head of the Russian space agency has announced work has begun on a space station of its own.
The International Space Station (ISS) was launched in 1998 by the Russian and US space agencies and has been hailed for its exemplary co-operation involving numerous countries.
But Russian officials have indicated they could pull out of the ISS in 2025.
Al Jazeera
Western countries, activists slam Syria’s upcoming election
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday submitted his application to run for re-election next month, in a presidential vote decried by Western governments and political opponents as a sham.
The scheduled May 26 polls will be the second since Syria’s war broke out in 2011, the first elections taking place in 2014. The United States and the European Union have called for a political solution in the long-running conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to leave the country before elections are held.
‘Setting the standard’: EU unveils plan to rein in risky AI uses
European Union officials unveiled proposals Wednesday for reining in high-risk uses of artificial intelligence (AI) such as live facial scanning that could threaten people’s safety or rights.
The draft regulations from the EU’s executive commission include rules on the use of the rapidly expanding technology in systems that filter out school, job or loan applicants. They also would ban artificial intelligence outright in a few cases considered too risky, such as “social scoring” systems that judge people based on their behaviour and physical traits.
The Guardian
Melting ice in Arctic linked to bowhead whales holding off annual migration
As the ice melts at pace in the Arctic, the mining and shipping industry has carved itself an opportunity out of the crisis. Meanwhile, the marine ecosystem is left to coping with the heat, noise, pollution and the cascade of other changes that come with the upheaval of the environment.
Now researchers have found a whale species that typically migrates away from solid sea ice each autumn and returns every summer to feast on tiny crustaceans did not make the 6,000km (3,700-mile) roundtrip in 2018-2019.
Ex-minister Johnny Mercer says ‘almost nobody’ tells truth in Johnson’s government
The former veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer has launched an extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson’s government, describing it as a “cesspit” and “the most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in”.
A day after his resignation, the MP also accused ministers of being “cowards” for not implementing a controversial pledge to end “vexatious historical investigations” of veterans who served in Northern Ireland.
The New York Times
Putin Warns of a Russian ‘Red Line’ the West Will Regret Crossing
…even as President Vladimir V. Putin lashed out at foreign enemies real or perceived in a state-of-the-nation speech on Wednesday, tens of thousands of Russians defied a heavy police presence to pour into the streets to challenge his rule. In Moscow, some gathered across the street from the Kremlin to chant, “Go Away!”
It was a snapshot of Russia in the third decade of Mr. Putin’s rule: a leader facing an increasingly angry and desperate opposition but firmly in power with his country’s vast resources and huge security apparatus at his disposal.
Biden Preparing to Declare That Atrocities Against Armenia Were Genocide
More than a century after the Ottoman Empire’s killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian civilians, President Biden is preparing to declare that the atrocities were an act of genocide, according to officials familiar with the internal debate. The action would signal that the American commitment to human rights outweighs the risk of further fraying the U.S. alliance with Turkey
Mr. Biden is expected to announce the symbolic designation on Saturday, the 106th anniversary of the beginning of what historians call a yearslong and systematic death march that the predecessors of modern Turkey started during World War I. He would be the first sitting American president to do so…
ProPublica
How Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene Juiced Their Fundraising Numbers
Two of the leading Republican firebrands in Congress touted big fundraising hauls as a show of grassroots support for their high-profile stands against accepting the 2020 election results.
But new financial disclosures show that Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., relied on an email marketing vendor that takes as much as 80 cents on the dollar. That means their headline-grabbing numbers were more the product of expensively soliciting hardcore Republicans than an organic groundswell of far-reaching support. […]
The tallies generated favorable press coverage for Hawley and Greene, and they both seized on the numbers to claim a popular mandate.
Politico
Capitol Police official being investigated for directions to pursue only 'anti-Trump' protesters Jan. 6
A Capitol Police official radioed units outside of the building on the morning of Jan. 6 and told them only to scout for anti-Trump troublemakers — not pro-Trump protesters, according to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who described what she said were details of an internal investigation conducted in the aftermath of the mob attack.
Lofgren (D-Calif.) revealed the finding while she questioned Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton, who appeared before the House Administration Committee Wednesday to testify about security failures that precipitated the Jan. 6 attack. Lofgren, who chairs the panel, described the findings as she asked him whether he had read the internal investigation reports.
Lofgren said the department's Office of Professional Responsibility was reviewing information that a radio transmission to "all outside units' attention" that they should not be "looking for any pro-Trump in the crowd," according to Lofgren. She added they were "only looking for any anti-Trump."
The Oregonian
Federal agents sent to Portland to defend courthouse lacked consistent training, equipment or use of force policies, report says
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had authority to send federal officers to Portland to protect the federal courthouse but not all officers had completed required training, had the necessary equipment or used consistent uniforms, munitions or tactics, a final report from the department’s inspector general says.
Homeland Security lacked a comprehensive strategy, according to the report made public Wednesday. Not all officers were trained to respond to riots or on crowd control. Some federal agents even questioned their own involvement in the Portland operation due to their lack of training, the inspector general found.
NPR News
Civil Rights Attorney Vanita Gupta Confirmed As Associate Attorney General
The Senate on Wednesday narrowly voted to confirm Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, elevating a longtime civil rights attorney to the third-highest position inside the Justice Department on the same day the agency announced renewed efforts to monitor local police practices.
Gupta was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 49, with only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, breaking ranks to join Democrats in approving her nomination.
With her confirmation, Gupta, 46, will become the first woman of color in Justice Department history to serve as associate attorney general — a role in which she will oversee the department's civil rights litigation as well as its antitrust, civil and environment divisions.
A 'Relic' And 'Burden': Manhattan District Attorney To Stop Prosecuting Prostitution
Manhattan's district attorney announced Wednesday that his office will no longer prosecute prostitution and unlicensed massage under a new policy that's believed to be the first of its kind in New York.
Cyrus Vance Jr. also appeared virtually in Manhattan Criminal Court to request the dismissal of more than 900 such cases dating back to the 1970s, according to a press release. […]
"Over the last decade we've learned from those with lived experience, and from our own experience on the ground: criminally prosecuting prostitution does not make us safer, and too often, achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers," Vance said.
The Washington Post
U.S. sees unprecedented drop in vaccinations over past week
Daily coronavirus vaccinations have slowed significantly for the first time since February, a sign that demand is slipping even though every American adult is now eligible for the shots.
About 3 million Americans are getting vaccinated daily, an 11 percent decrease in the seven-day average of daily shots administered over the past week. The unprecedented drop is rivaled only by a brief falloff that occurred in February, when winter storms forced the closure of vaccination sites and delayed shipments nationwide.
The downturn hits as half of all eligible Americans have received at least one vaccine dose. And it coincided with the pause last week of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is under review by a panel of experts following a handful of cases of severe blood clotting.
Senate Republicans take step to revive debt ceiling brawls with White House
Senate Republicans on Wednesday signaled they might oppose any future increase to the debt ceiling unless Congress also couples it with comparable federal spending cuts, raising the specter of a political showdown between GOP leaders and the White House this summer.
Republican lawmakers staked their position after a private gathering to consider the conference’s operating rules this session, issuing what [Republican Party] leaders described later as an important yet symbolic statement in response to the large-scale spending increases proposed by President Biden in recent months.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Tempest Storm, legendary burlesque star, dies at 93
Tempest Storm, the legendary burlesque star who blazed a trail for strip-tease artists for more than a half-century, has died. She was 93.
Storm died in her Las Vegas apartment at 5:55 p.m. Tuesday, according to her longtime friend, confidant and business partner Harvey Robbins, He was at Storm’s home when she died, as were BurlyCares nonprofit organization nurse Stephanie Castellone, and Vegas burlesque performers Kalani Kokonuts and Miss Redd.
“She was the last of the great legends in the golden age of burlesque,” Robbins said. “She was perhaps the biggest of all.”
Ars Technica
Trump EPA sidelined its own scientists when rewriting fuel economy rules
The Trump administration effectively muffled scientific staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency when it rewrote automobile pollution rules, the agency’s watchdog said.
When drafting fuel economy and greenhouse gas pollution rules for cars and light trucks, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt decided to cede various EPA duties to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in what is typically a collaborative process, the independent inspector general said in a report released yesterday. Though Pruitt signed the final report for the EPA, he allowed NHTSA staff to write a significant portion of the rules and to complete all modeling and analysis for both agencies.
The NHTSA’s modeling efforts did not use the EPA’s established tools that had been created to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions standards. Instead, the NHTSA hacked its own Corporate Average Fuel Economy models and sent EPA experts the results late in the process. “Technical personnel were unable to fully collaborate on rule development,” the report said.