Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, annetteboardman, jck, Rise above the swamp, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but are not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), ScottyUrb, Interceptor 7, Neon Vincent, 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.
Pictures of the week come from The Guardian. Here are the best photos of the day, and also from The Guardian:
The Female in Focus international award from the British Journal of Photography and its publisher 1854 Media, was established to champion the work of exceptional female photographers and combat gender inequality in the industry
And Weather.com has photos of the most recent volcanic eruption in Iceland.
There is so little good news today that I at least wanted to highlight a bit of the good news so we will start with that and then move on to the rest below the fold.
First up, from The Guardian:
Birdwatcher ‘overcome with emotion’ on spotting the Santa Marta sabrewing, only third time it has been documented
A rare hummingbird has been rediscovered by a birdwatcher in Colombia after going missing for more than a decade.
The Santa Marta sabrewing, a large hummingbird only found in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, was last seen in 2010 and scientists feared the species might be extinct as the tropical forests it inhabited have largely been cleared for agriculture.
From Axios:
The big picture: Though parts of the reef have seen some recovery, other areas are still vulnerable to climate change and mass bleaching, the government agency said. The GBR has been suffering from mass bleaching due to rising ocean temperatures.
...and that’s pretty much it for the good news.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. We start this time from western Europe to east Asia (with a few from Africa thrown in), with this from the BBC:
The family of Archie Battersbee were "devastated" that all legal routes have been exhausted, campaign group Christian Concern has said.
The 12-year-old must spend his final days in hospital after the High Court ruled he could not move to a hospice.
Another from the BBC:
By Joshua Nevett
Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have set out competing plans to deal with the economic recession forecast by the Bank of England in their latest TV clash.
Ms Truss said a recession was "not inevitable" if "bold" action was taken.
But Mr Sunak said the foreign secretary's "unfunded" tax cuts would pour "fuel on the fire" of inflation.
From Al Jazeera:
Extreme heatwave sees ‘crisis’ task force activated in France as prolonged dry spell in the UK causes ‘alarming’ prognosis for British farmers.
The French government has activated a crisis task force to coordinate efforts to alleviate the effects of an “historic” drought exacerbated by an extreme summer heatwave.
Authorities have already ordered water restrictions in nearly all of France’s 96 mainland departments, with 62 at the highest alert level. Meanwhile, the Meteo France weather agency has forecast little relief for the coming weeks as temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Ah… summer. This is from the Washington Post:
PARIS — In normal times, more than 9 out of 10 Parisians live within a
five-minute walk of a bakery. Some people have a choice between two or three on their street. Don’t want to cross the road? Not to worry. In many spots, there’s a boulangerie on either side.
But these aren’t normal times. It’s August in Paris.
And from The Guardian:
Mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains imposed measure after dozens of ‘pseudo-mountaineers’ ignored warnings
Climbers attempting to reach the summit of Mont Blanc from a popular path in France will have to pay a €15,000 (£12,640) deposit to cover costs in case they need to be rescued, or worse, die.
Jean-Marc Peillex, the mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, from where climbers can make it to the top of the highest peak in western Europe via the Goûter Route, imposed the measure in response to dozens defying warnings and engaging in what he described as “a game of Russian roulette”.
From The Guardian:
Businesses along the river say drought means they are on the verge of having to shut production
Germany’s Rhine, one of Europe’s key waterways, is just days away from being closed to commercial traffic because of very low levels caused by drought, authorities and industry have warned.
Crucially, the impending crisis could lead energy companies to cut their output, one of the country’s biggest gas companies has said.
From the Washington Post:
BERLIN — Germany’s new government had been in power for just a week last December when it was presented with a test of its mettle.
In a wood-paneled hearing room at Berlin’s highest court, Vadim Krasikov, 56, was convicted of carrying out a killing on behalf of Russia — an act the judges slammed as “state terrorism.” The 2019 murder of former Chechen fighter Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, had been particularly brazen. He was shot three times in broad daylight in a Berlin park by a hit man riding a bike.
From The Guardian (there was a lot in The Guardian this week, as always):
UN says terror organisation, whose affiliate recently attacked Mali’s most important military base, ‘is once again the leader of global jihad’
From the BBC:
Residents of the South African township of Kagiso near Johannesburg have set ablaze the homes of migrants who they blame for the gang rape of eight women last week.
From Reuters:
ATHENS, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The head of Greece's intelligence service stepped down on Friday amid increased scrutiny of the agency's surveillance practices including an accusation by an opposition party leader that he was wiretapped in 2021.
Panagiotis Kontoleon, chief of the EYP intelligence service, submitted his resignation "following mistaken actions found during lawful wiretapping procedures," a statement from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' office said.
Also from Reuters:
This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
MOSCOW, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Russia has banned investors from so-called unfriendly countries from selling shares in key energy projects and banks until the end of the year, stepping up pressure in the sanctions stand-off with the West.
From Newsweek:
BY JAMES BICKERTON
A prominent Russian scientist involved with the development of "hypersonic rocket systems" has been arrested and charged on suspicion of treason, according to Russia's TASS news agency.
Alexander Shiplyuk was detained in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and has been taken to Moscow's Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
The scientist worked at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences as director of its Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
From CNN:
A CBS Reports documentary gives a firsthand look at the difficulties of getting military aid to troops on Ukraine's front lines. Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi joins CBS News to discuss the project and what he learned while working on it.
From NPR:
Amnesty International issued a report on Thursday accusing the Ukrainian military of stationing its troops and artillery near hospitals, schools and residential buildings in ways that may amount to war crimes. The international human rights organization says it spent two months in Ukraine interviewing locals and collecting physical evidence to compile the report.
"Viable alternatives were available that would not endanger civilians – such as military bases or densely wooded areas nearby, or other structures further away from residential areas," the report states.
Zelensky’s response, courtesy of the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service:
From CNN:
By Andrew Carey, Abeer Salman, Amir Tal and Ibrahim Dahman
Jerusalem and Gaza (CNN)The Israeli military launched deadly strikes against what it said were Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza on Friday as tensions continue to rise between Israel and Palestinian militant groups.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement one of its senior leaders, Tayseer Al Jabari, had been killed in an Israeli strike. He was a commander in the Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the group said, and a member of its Military Council.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 10 people were killed, including a 5-year-old girl and a 23-year-old woman. Another 75 were injured, it said. Israel insists most of those killed were militants.
From CNN:
Bangkok (CNN)At least 14 people have been killed and 35 injured after a fire broke out in the early hours of Friday at a nightclub in Thailand, police said.
The fire broke out at around 1 a.m. at the Mountain B nightclub, a one-story building in the Sattahip district of Chonburi province, southeast of Bangkok and about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Pattaya City, a popular tourist resort destination, Thai police said.
From Politico:
Officials and experts say Beijing's silence is a dangerous move.
Top Chinese military officials have not returned multiple calls from their American counterparts this week as a crisis erupted in the Pacific over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, according to three people with knowledge of the attempts.
Beijing’s ghosting of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley comes as China continues launching missiles and positioning warships and aircraft in unprecedented military drills around Taiwan. Officials and experts say China’s silence is a shortsighted and reckless move that increases the risk of escalation in an already tense situation.
And from NPR:
YONAGUNI ISLAND, Japan — For years it was known as the "Two Gun" island – one gun for each of the two policemen stationed here.
Yonaguni, Japan's most westerly island, can feel like a peaceful paradise — it is covered in tropical forests and hammerhead sharks glide through its azure waters.
But there is trouble on the horizon. Almost 70 miles away lies the island of Taiwan — the self-governing democracy which once again finds itself in the headlines.
From Business Insider:
Apple warned suppliers not to identify Taiwan as an independent country on Friday, Nikkei reported.
The announcement came after some Apple components were held for review by Chinese authorities.
Earlier this week, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi garnered China's ire for visiting Taiwan.
And a couple of not-disastrous stories to finish off with, beginning with this set of pictures from The Guardian:
Margaret Rarru Garrawurra, a senior Yolngu artist from Langarra in Arnhem Land, has taken out first prize in the prestigious National Aboriginal art award (Natsiaa) with a stunning 2.8m-high handwoven pandanus sail.
And this, finally, from NPR:
As the people of New Zealand confront their nation's troubled past with colonization and denying the Maori people rights, a name change for the island nation is being considered as a part of its own reckoning.
A petition that aims to change the Dutch anglicized name of New Zealand to its indigenous Maori designation of Aotearoa has collected more than 70,000 signatures, prompting a parliamentary committee to consider the idea.