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.
Let’s start with COVID news, from the Washington Post:
Dutch researchers on Monday said they have trained honeybees to stick out their tongues when presented with the virus’s unique scent, acting as a kind of rapid test.
From NBC News:
“People were desperate, they tried to break the glass, they wanted to open the windows to escape,” says Erik Bravo, 34. “It was a shock, I had been there."
From NYPost:
Keishla Rodríguez
The Puerto Rican boxer accused in the horrific slaying of his pregnant lover was indicted by a federal grand jury for the killing this week — and may now face the death penalty.
Félix Verdejo is accused carrying out the brutal and calculated murder of 27-year-old Keishla Rodríguez, according to a complaint filed by the FBI in the US territory.
From The Guardian:
After the alleged murder of Polikalepo Kefu, Pacific LGBTQI groups are calling for change, including revoking sodomy laws
Leni Ma'ia'i
The large hall of the basilica in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa, hasn’t seen many crowds since Covid restrictions were introduced a year ago.
But on Thursday night, people from across all parts of society packed every inch of available space in the venue, clad mostly in black and the traditional woven ta’ovala dress.
From CBS News:
BY SOPHIE LEWIS
Shopping sites in China are being accused of animal cruelty for allegedly shipping "mystery boxes" to customers containing live puppies and kittens. According to local reports, many of the animals suffer significant harm in transit.
Chengdu Love Home Animal Rescue Center shared on Weibo that it found 160 crates containing cats and dogs in the back of a delivery truck in Chengdu earlier this week. A video from the incident features distressed animals tightly packed together in small crates, apparently lacking any food or water.
From Reuters:
China has urged United Nations member states not to attend an event planned next week by Germany, the United States and Britain on the repression of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang, according to a note seen by Reuters on Friday.
"It is a politically-motivated event," China's U.N. mission wrote in the note, dated Thursday. "We request your mission NOT to participate in this anti-China event."
From CNN:
Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN
(CNN) — Travelers from the UK have been given the go ahead to visit Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel from May 17 when months of restrictions making it illegal to travel abroad for a vacation will come to an end.
The UK government has finally revealed the 12 countries and territories that will be designated "green" once the current ban on non-essential travel is lifted after weeks of speculation.
From The Guardian:
Police treating attack in capital Male that wounded four others including British national as act of terrorism
From Haaretz:
A government is being quietly constructed at this very moment, but it seems that any coalition agreement will be very sparse, and have nothing to say about Israel's controversial topics
Knesset members from Labor and Meretz probably never imagined they would one day hope that Yamina Chairman Naftali Bennett could form a government. The ideological, diplomatic and religious divides among the parties are unbridgeable.
From the Associated Press:
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.
Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides reached the summit at about 6 p.m., Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said.
From the Associated Press:
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in his first public comments on the war in the country’s Tigray region is sharply criticizing Ethiopia’s actions, saying he believes it’s genocide: “They want to destroy the people of Tigray.”
In a video shot last month on a mobile phone and carried out of Ethiopia, the elderly Patriarch Abune Mathias addresses the church’s scores of millions of followers and the international community, saying his previous attempts to speak out were blocked. He is ethnic Tigrayan.
From CNN:
By Rob Picheta, CNN
(CNN)Amnesty International has reversed its decision to strip the jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny of his "prisoner of conscience" status, the human rights group said on Friday.
The group had revoked the label from Navalny in February over past comments he had made. The activist has been criticized in some corners for past statements against illegal immigration, and for attending a nationalist march years ago.
After a review of the process, Amnesty said that while "some of Navalny's previous statements are reprehensible and we do not condone them in the slightest," the group also recognized "that an individual's opinions and behaviour may evolve over time."
From Reuters:
Lobbying by Poland and Hungary has led to the removal of the phrase "gender equality" from a Friday declaration on advancing social cohesion in the European Union as it strives to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poland's nationalist ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and eurosceptic ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promote what they call traditional social values at home and have repeatedly clashed with their more liberal Western peers over the rights of women, gay people and migrants.
From the New York Times:
The unauthorized killing of a bear called Arthur in the Carpathian Mountains has set off a wave of anger in Romania.
BUCHAREST, Romania — The apparent killing of a large brown bear in Romania by a member of the Liechtenstein royal family has set off a wave of anger across the southeastern European country, which officially banned trophy hunting in 2016 but allows the killing of bears deemed to be problematic. Permits to kill these bears can cost many thousands of dollars.
The killing, which took place in March, came to light this week after two environmental groups accused Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein of killing the bear, nicknamed Arthur, in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains. Romanian police have opened a criminal investigation into Arthur’s death, with poaching one of the potential charges.
From CNN:
BY CAITLIN O'KANE
A farmer in Belgium inadvertently changed geography by moving his country's border with France. The farmer was driving a tractor and apparently got annoyed by a large stone blocking his path, BBC News reports. So, he slightly moved it.
Another person recently walking in the forest noticed the stone had been moved. The history enthusiast knew it wasn't just any stone — it was there to mark the boundary between the two countries.
The marker had moved about 7.5 feet, according BBC News, effectively giving Belgium more land.