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 JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man (RIP), 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Photos this week come from The Guardian, and from BBC Africa.
More fun stories above the fold and the more depressing and serious ones below. But first the fun ones, beginning with a very happy story from USA Today:
A man who vanished in mid-October while hiking in the freezing Canadian wilderness was discovered to be alive earlier this week, authorities said.
According to a press release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Sam Benastick was initially reported missing on Oct. 19.
From the BBC:
Sean Coughlan
If you ever wanted to put your feet up at Buckingham Palace, the opportunity might come in an unexpected way.
Curtains that were once hung on palace walls, and in grand rooms at Windsor Castle, have been recycled into coverings for foot stools.
Another from the BBC:
Sebastian Usher
A young Palestinian couple in Jerusalem have produced a range of perfumes to embody the heritage of their people. Despite the horror of the war in Gaza, they hope their scents can still summon memories of a better time, as Sebastian Usher reports from Jerusalem.
Out in the fields of the Jordan valley, Palestinian women still sing old folk songs as they harvest the olive groves. One tells the story of how a fabled ship carrying a life-saving cargo of food heads to port during a terrible famine that swept the Levant in the dying days of Ottoman rule. While in the Old City of Jerusalem, the scents of leather, spices and livestock fuse into a fragrance that evokes thousands of years of history.
From Deutsche Welle (link includes a video):
Idriss Gasana Byringiro in Kigali, Rwanda
14 hours ago
Mandatory community cleaning of public spaces and cooperatives of women help keep the rubbish off Kigali's street, earning it the title of Africa's cleanest city.
Common prejudices about big African cities are: they are loud, overcrowded and above all: they are drowning in filth! Is that true?
And how has Kigali, Rwanda's capital, established itself as the cleanest city in Africa?
From the BBC:
Ismail Einashe
Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has long been known as “the green city in the sun” because of its mix of forest and grasslands among the urban sprawl, but it all depends on where you are viewing it from.
Seen from one of the city’s comfortable apartment blocks or homes, then yes, perhaps – from one of its densely packed slums, then no.
From France24:
In this edition, we meet the Oprah Winfrey of China. Born a man and once crowned the country's best male dancer, Jin Xing has gone on to become China's first transgender icon and a star TV host. Now in Paris for her upcoming show, she shares her life story with FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer.
From the BBC:
Sadaf Hussain
"It's not just about brewing a good cup of coffee but connecting with customers on a deeper level."
It was this one thought that made Harmanpreet Singh leave his family bakery to open a specialty coffee shop in the northern Indian city of Jalandhar.
From CNN:
Coffee lovers with a keen interest to catch a glimpse of life in the world’s most reclusive nation should get ready to travel: Starbucks has the perfect spot for them to hang.
The American chain’s latest outpost in South Korea is located on an observation tower at the border with North Korea, allowing patrons to sip on their brews while looking out at the hermit kingdom from across the Jo River that separates the two sides.
From the Associated Press:
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te will stop over in Hawaii and Guam during his trip to the South Pacific, drawing criticism from China.
Lai is to leave Taiwan on Saturday on a weeklong trip to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island.
From CBS News:
By Tracy J. Wholf, Duarte Dias
Delegates from 175 countries have been meeting this week in Busan, South Korea, in an attempt to negotiate a legally binding treaty to address global plastic pollution. The gathering marks the fifth and final phase of multiyear talks of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5), with a decision expected on a treaty when the summit ends on Sunday.
"We have a historic moment to end the world's plastic pollution crisis and protect our environment, our health, and our future," Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, told attendees at the start of the week's negotiations, calling it a "moment of truth" for the delegations, and the planet.
From the BBC:
Farhat Javed
A charred lorry, empty tear gas shells and posters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan - it was all that remained of a massive protest led by Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, that had sent the entire capital into lockdown.
Just a day earlier, faith healer Bibi - wrapped in a white shawl, her face covered by a white veil - stood atop a shipping container on the edge of the city as thousands of her husband’s devoted followers waved flags and chanted slogans beneath her.
From the Associated Press:
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators protesting the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union rallied outside the parliament and clashed with police for a second straight night on Friday.
The night before, police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse protesters who took to the streets of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the suspension. The interior ministry said it detained 43 people during the protests.
From The Guardian:
Government approves up to four days of paid leave so workers can avoid travelling during weather emergencies
Spain’s leftwing government has approved “paid climate leave” of up to four days to allow workers to avoid travelling during weather emergencies, a month after
floods killed at least 224 people.
Several companies came under fire aft er the 29 October catastrophe for ordering employees to keep working despite a red alert issued by the national weather agency. The firms said the authorities failed to inform them sufficiently and sent telephone alerts too late during the European country’s deadliest floods in decades.
From the NY Times:
Mauritius' new prime minister said he has asked for an independent review of a deal with the United Kingdom over the future of the Chagos Islands.
Under the agreement, which has still to be signed, the UK would relinquish sovereignty over the archipelago but maintain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, home to a major UK-US military airbase.
