Here are a few of the stories in tonight’s digest
- ‘Waiting is unbearable’: Biden consoles Surfside families
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130 countries back deal on global minimum tax for companies
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Judge orders release of Wisconsin woman in Slender Man case
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The Latest: Michigan to hold lotteries to raise vaccinations
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Los Angeles passes measure limiting homeless encampments
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US jobless claims fall to 364,000, a new pandemic low
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California sets date for recall election targeting Newsom
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Caught on camera: Libyan coastguard shoots at migrant boat
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Philippines orders evacuation as volcano Taal alert level raised
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Rethinking plastics: Team issues urgent call to action on plastics pollution
This is an open thread to post your news, tweets & pictures
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.
AP News
‘Waiting is unbearable’: Biden consoles Surfside families
President Joe Biden drew on his own experiences with grief and loss to comfort families affected by the Florida condo collapse, telling them to “never give up hope” even as the search for survivors paused early Thursday, a week after the building came down.
Addressing some of the families touched by the tragedy, Biden spoke in deeply personal terms as he offered his prayers and support in the private meeting.
“I just wish there was something I could do to ease the pain,” he said in a video posted on Instagram by Jacqueline Patoka, a woman who was close to a couple and their daughter who are still missing. .
Pelosi names GOP’s Cheney to panel investigating Jan. 6 riot
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday named Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to a new select committee on the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, elevating the most unyielding GOP critic of former President Donald Trump to work alongside seven Democrats on the high-profile investigation.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will lead the panel, which will investigate what went wrong around the Capitol when hundreds of Trump supporters broke into the building. The rioters brutally beat police, hunted for lawmakers and interrupted the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
Cheney said in a statement that she is “honored” to serve on the committee and that “Congress is obligated to conduct a full investigation of the most serious attack on our Capitol since 1814.”
Whither #MeToo? Chilling effect of Cosby reversal feared
When Indira Henard, director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, received the text message Wednesday, she thought she wasn’t reading her phone correctly. “Indira oh my god,” said the message from a colleague. “Cosby’s walking out of prison.”
“I put on the news and there it was, and my heart just dropped,” Henard said. “I thought about how all our survivors would be feeling.”
During the afternoon, Henard says the center’s hotline was “off the hook, with survivors needing a place to process, and people asking, ‘What happened? I don’t understand. He got convicted. Why would they do this?’” The center held support sessions Wednesday evening and scheduled emergency sessions Thursday to deal with the news.
130 countries back deal on global minimum tax for companies
Some 130 countries have agreed on a global minimum tax backed by U.S. President Joe Biden as part of a worldwide effort to keep multinational firms from dodging taxes by shifting their profits to countries with low rates.
The agreement announced Thursday is an attempt to address challenges presented by a globalized and increasingly digital world economy in which profits can be relocated across borders and companies can earn online profits in places where they have no taxable headquarters.
The deal calls for a global minimum tax of at least 15%, a key element pushed by Biden as he seeks to raise more revenue for his infrastructure and clean energy plans. There are still technical details that need to be worked out and it would be at least 2023 before the agreement takes effect.
Judge orders release of Wisconsin woman in Slender Man case
A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered the release of a woman who has spent 3 1/2 years in a state mental health facility after being convicted of stabbing her classmate to please the Slender Man character.
Anissa Weier, 19, was sentenced to 25 years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in December 2017. She argued in a petition for conditional release that she’s no longer a threat to anyone.
She won’t be allowed to go free immediately, however. Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren gave state officials 60 days to draw up a conditional release plan and sent Weier back to the mental hospital pending another hearing on Sept. 10.
Princes William, Harry unveil Princess Diana’s statue
Princes William and Harry put aside their differences Thursday to unveil a statue of Princess Diana, cementing their late mother’s place in royal history on what would have been her 60th birthday.
Diana’s three siblings joined the brothers for the private ceremony in the Sunken Garden at London’s Kensington Palace, a place the princess once found solace. It was only the second time the brothers have appeared together in public since Harry stepped aside from royal duties over a year ago.
The statue, which shows a larger-than-life Diana surrounded by three children, was commissioned by the brothers in 2017. The style of her dress is meant to evoke the final period of her life, when she gained confidence in her humanitarian work.
The Latest: Michigan to hold lotteries to raise vaccinations
About $5 million in cash and college scholarships will be given away in lottery-style drawings aimed at raising Michigan’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday.
The incentive program features a $2 million jackpot, a $1 million prize and 30 daily drawings of $50,000 for residents ages 18 and older who have received at least one shot. Vaccinated residents ages 12 to 17 are eligible for one of nine four-year prepaid tuition contracts valued at $55,000.
The MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes is being launched after several states, including Ohio, offered millions of dollars to boost vaccinations — with mixed results.
Nearly 62% of Michigan residents ages 16 and up have received at least one dose, ranking it near the middle among states, as infections have plummeted. Whitmer and state health officials want 70% vaccinated, which would require about 678,000 additional people to get a shot.
Los Angeles passes measure limiting homeless encampments
The Los Angeles City Council passed a sweeping anti-camping measure Thursday that will severely limit widespread homeless encampments that have become an eyesore across the city.
The measure was billed as a compassionate approach to get people off streets and restore access to public spaces in the city with nation’s second-largest homeless population, though critics said it would criminalize the problem. It wouldn’t be enforced until someone has turned down an offer of shelter.
“I can’t think of any reason why we would not unite in support of what the people of Los Angeles want us to do,” said Councilman Paul Krekorian, coauthor of the measure. “Restore order to our streets, while also uplifting and providing services to those in need.”
High court: California can’t collect charity top donor names
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered California to stop collecting the names and addresses of top donors to charities, calling the state’s requirement a “dragnet for sensitive donor information.”
The justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines to side with two nonprofit groups, including one with links to billionaire Charles Koch. The groups argued that California’s policy of collecting the information violates the First Amendment.
The nonprofits had drawn strong support from groups across the political spectrum, including The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
US jobless claims fall to 364,000, a new pandemic low
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell again last week to the lowest level since the pandemic struck last year, further evidence that the job market and the broader economy are rebounding rapidly from the coronavirus recession.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped by 51,000 to 364,000. Applications for unemployment benefits have fallen more or less steadily since the year began. The rollout of vaccines has sharply reduced new COVID-19 cases, giving consumers the confidence to shop, travel, eat out and attend public events as the economy recovers.
Last week’s drop in jobless claims was steeper than economists had expected. Applications for unemployment benefits have now fallen in 10 of the past 12 weeks.
California sets date for recall election targeting Newsom
California on Thursday scheduled a Sept. 14 recall election that could drive Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, the result of a political uprising largely driven by angst over state coronavirus orders that shuttered schools and businesses and upended life for millions of Californians.
The election in the nation’s most populous state will be a marquee contest with national implications, watched closely as a barometer of the public mood heading toward the 2022 elections, when a closely divided Congress again will be in play.
The date was set by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat, after election officials certified that enough valid petition signatures had been turned in to qualify the election for the ballot.
The announcement will set off a furious, 10-week burst of campaigning through the California summer, a time when voters typically are ignoring politics to enjoy vacationing, backyard barbecuing and travel.
Al Jazeera News
Mapping the hottest temperatures around the world
June was an exceptionally hot month for several countries in the northern hemisphere. Since Friday June 25, at least 486 sudden deaths have been recorded in Canada’s British Columbia province as temperatures soared to nearly 50C (112F). In the United States, the ongoing heatwave has buckled highways and melted power lines. A so-called “heat dome”, where high pressure traps the heat, is being blamed for the excessively high temperatures.
On June 29, Lytton, a small town about 200km (124 miles) from Vancouver, hit 49.6C (121F), setting a national record for the highest temperature ever recorded across Canada. Schools, universities and vaccination centres were closed across British Columbia.
Just south of the border in the US state of Oregon, the city of Portland hit an all-time high of 46.6C (116F), breaking the previous high of 41.6C (107F), first set in 1965.
Caught on camera: Libyan coastguard shoots at migrant boat
A non-profit sea rescue group has slammed Libya’s coastguard after it witnessed the Libyan maritime authorities in what it described as chasing a crowded migrant boat and shooting in its direction in an apparent effort to stop it from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Members of the German non-governmental group Sea-Watch filmed the incident on Wednesday while flying over the area in an observation mission.
“Those who shoot at refugees and try to capsize their boats are not there to save them. The EU must immediately end cooperation with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard,” Felix Weiss was quoted in a statement from the group released with the video.
Iranian refugee acquitted of smuggling slams UK asylum policies
Fouad Kakaei laughed when British authorities showed him photographs of him steering an inflatable dinghy over the Channel from France.
“It was ridiculous,” he said, referring to the moment he was questioned at the port of Dover in late December 2019. “I already told them I was the driver, I said so from the beginning.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera in north London, near his temporary hotel accommodation, he added: “They didn’t bring any evidence other than two pictures of me driving the boat and they said I had two SIM cards. This was given as evidence to prove I was a smuggler.”
Philippines orders evacuation as volcano Taal alert level raised
Authorities in the Philippines have started evacuating thousands of people after the alert status was raised on Thursday for a restive volcano that spewed a kilometre-high (0.62-mile) plume of gas and steam.
The alert for the Taal volcano, approximately 70km (45 miles) south of central Manila, moved from level 2 to level 3 on the 5-level scale, which the seismology and volcanology agency said meant a “magmatic intrusion” at the main crater “could further drive succeeding eruptions”.
Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 311 metres (1,020 feet), it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.
Reports of people ‘starving’ as N Korea struggles to feed itself
United Nations Security Council sanctions, the COVID-19 closure of its border with China, and a 2020 drought followed by typhoon rains are combining to create severe food shortages in North Korea, with concerns growing about widespread malnutrition and a potential repeat of the country’s 1990s famine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un acknowledged the problem at a June meeting of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee.
“The people’s food situation is now getting tense,” Kim said according to North Korea’s state media, adding that the agricultural sector had failed to meet its grain production plan because of the damage by last year’s typhoons.
Kim also mentioned the effect of COVID-19.
Patch.com
GA Brothers' Plot To Fly Drone Into Prison Lands Them Behind Bars
Two brothers are behind bars after their scheme to use a drone to smuggle tobacco and cell phones into a Georgia prison was scuttled by sheriff's deputies and the feds.
George Lo, 27, of Powder Springs and Nicholas Lo, 25, of Dallas, Georgia, were both sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges related to illegally operating a drone, according to a statement Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. also ordered each man to serve one year of supervised release after the completion of their prison terms.
In the process, the Lo brothers set precedents: Both are among the first to be sentenced under federal law regulating non-passenger aircraft, and Nicholas Lo is believed to be the first ever to be punished in the U.S. for illegally piloting a drone for pay.
Phys.org
UN confirms 18.3C record heat in Antarctica
The United Nations on Thursday recognised a new record high temperature for the Antarctic continent, confirming a reading of 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) made last year.
The record heat was reached at Argentina's Esperanza research station on the Antarctic Peninsula on February 6, 2020, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said.
"Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth's final frontiers," said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas.
Rethinking plastics: Team issues urgent call to action on plastics pollution
People lived without plastic until the last century or so, but most of us would find it hard to imagine how.
Plastics now are everywhere in our lives, providing low-cost convenience and other benefits in countless applications. They can be shaped to almost any task, from wispy films to squishy children's toys and hard-core components. They have shown themselves vital in medicine and have been pivotal in the global effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 16 months.
Plastics seem indispensable these days.
Unfortunately for the long-term, they are also nearly indestructible. Our planet now bears the weight of more than seven billion tons of plastics, with more being produced every day. An ever-growing waste stream clogs our landfills, pollutes our waterways and poses an urgent crisis for our planet.
Good News Network
Florida Just Enacted Sweeping Law to Protect Its Wildlife Corridors and Save Panthers
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, signed into law by Gov. DeSantis, ensures that animals can travel—without seeing a car or a human, from the Everglades Estuary to the borders with Georgia and Alabama—while protecting existing and new conservation areas, securing natural resources, and more.
Between the beach-bustle of Miami, Daytona, Fort Lauderdale, and elsewhere, and the lazy waters of the Gulf of Mexico on the western coast lies a mosaic of swamps, pastures, rivers, farmland, and forest. Among these varied ecosystems, 700 imperiled species live in habitat that may be owned privately, as state recreation areas, and as federally-protected wilderness.
The total bipartisan support the bill received, typical of American conservation legislation, has seen $300 million secured to protect these varied ecosystems, as well as to buy new conservation areas or to secure conservation easements—a subsidized incentive to conserve a particular feature on private acreage.