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 Rise above the swamp. . 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.
Since 2007 the OND has been 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 and consider this an open thread.
BBC
Iraq Covid hospital fire: 82 dead after 'oxygen tank explodes'
At least 82 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in the capital of Iraq, Baghdad.
More than 100 others were injured in the blaze, which erupted at the Ibn Khatib hospital on Saturday night.
Reports say an accident had caused an oxygen tank to explode, sparking the blaze.
Videos on social media show firefighters scrambling to extinguish the flames as people flee the building.
Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday suspended the health minister and ordered an investigation into the tragedy.
ABC15 Arizona
'Flag Fire' prompts evacuations near Kingman
MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ — The "Flag Fire" burning near Kingman has prompted the evacuation of approximately 200 homes in the Pine Lake community, as well as the closure of the Hualapai Mountain Resort and the Park.
Officials say the Atherton Acres and Pinion Pine communities are currently on set status for evacuations.
Officials say the fire was reported Sunday around 2 p.m. Crews say it originated between the Flag Mine and Wild Cow Campground in the Hualapai Mountains, south of Kingman.The Mohave County Sheriff's office says several air attack drops have taken place so far despite the heavy smoke in the area.
The Guardian
US promises India Covid aid after fourth straight day of record cases
The US has promised to “rapidly deploy” aid to beleaguered healthcare workers in India where there has been a fourth straight day of world-record Covid case numbers.
The US said it was in high-level talks to deploy extra help to Indian healthcare workers and that it was gravely concerned about the situation there.
“Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak. We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India’s health care heroes,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on twitter.
On Sunday the India prime minister, Narendra Modi, said the country had been shaken by its overwhelming second wave, which saw the nation record a fourth consecutive day of world record cases.
NPR
Indonesian Military Locates Wreckage Of Missing Submarine
The wreckage of a lost Indonesian submarine has been located, according to the country's military. The KRI Nanggala 402 went missing early Wednesday morning during a training exercise near Bali.
The Indonesian navy said Saturday that it believed the ship had sunk and its crew of 53 were dead, an assessment later confirmed with underwater photos of the wreckage.
"With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead," said military chief Hadi Tjahjanto, according to a translation by The Associated Press.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo addressed the nation Sunday. "All Indonesians convey deep sorrow for this tragedy, especially to all of the families of the submarine's crew," Widodo said, per the AP report. "They are the best sons of the nation, patriots guarding the sovereignty of the country.”
NPR
Biden Taps A Former Top Scientist At NOAA To Lead The Weather And Climate Agency
President Biden is nominating Rick Spinrad to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the government's premier agency on climate science which oversees the National Weather Service.
Prior to his current role as a professor of oceanography at Oregon State University, Spinrad served as NOAA's top scientist under President Obama and the U.S. representative to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
The nomination comes at a difficult moment in NOAA's history. The agency has been without an official, Senate-confirmed leader since former President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, after his two nominees to lead the agency failed to garner enough support to win a full vote before the Senate.
If Spinrad manages to win over the Senate, he will have to contend with a challenge beyond the agency's already-rigorous scientific mandate: restoring public confidence in a traditionally apolitical agency marred by political scandal.
Al Jazeera
Fire extinguished on oil tanker off Syria after suspected attack
Firefighters have extinguished a fire on an oil tanker off Syria’s Banias refinery after a suspected attack by a drone coming from the direction of Lebanese waters.
The identity of the vessel was unclear with Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim denying it was an Iranian ship. TankerTrackers said in a tweet “the tanker seen burning today off the coast of Banias is not an Iranian vessel” but Beirut-registered.
Syrian state news agency SANA, which on Sunday cited an oil ministry statement, gave no further details about what it said was a drone attack.
It said the fire erupted after “what was believed to be an attack by a drone from the direction of Lebanese waters”.
Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam TV said there was some damage to an Iranian tanker but no casualties. But Iran’s Tasnim news agency, quoting “certain sources”, said: “The accident happened to another vessel … and is not linked to a ship carrying Iranian cargo.”
Raw Story
Europe to allow American tourists -- but only those who are fully vaccinated: report
Full vaccination will be required for American tourists seeking to visit Europe this summer, according to a new report by The New York Times. "American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc's executive body said in an interview with The New York Timeson Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus," the newspaper reported. "The fast pace of vaccination in the United States, and advanced talks between authorities there and the European Union over how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors, will enable the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to recommend a switch in policy that could see trans-Atlantic leisure travel restored."
L A Times
Judicial overreach? Some say judge went too far in ordering L.A. to clear skid row
The city and county of Los Angeles may have a strong case as they seek to overturn a sweeping federal judicial order requiring them to offer shelter to everyone on skid row, legal analysts who have followed the case say.
The city and county have asked for the order to be stayed until the appeal is heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A stay would freeze the order from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, including the requirement that the city put $1 billion in escrow to pay for the clearance, until the appeal was decided.
At the heart of Carter’s injunction is the argument that a long history of state-sponsored racism in Los Angeles has driven Black people into homelessness. Legally, the argument rests on the question of whether there’s a “state-created danger” and whether government inaction has put more people at risk.
The injunction was necessary, Carter wrote, because the city and county failed to fix the problem “despite numerous opportunities and resources to do so.”