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, 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 since 2007, 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.
BBC
King and Queen to visit Australia in October
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to visit Australia and Samoa in October, as the King takes on more public duties while receiving cancer treatment.
The pair will carry out engagements in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, before heading to Samoa for a Commonwealth summit.
The King will make the lengthy journey despite his diagnosis for an undisclosed form of cancer earlier this year.
But Buckingham Palace have confirmed that the couple will not visit New Zealand, saying doctors have advised against an extended visit on health grounds.
Reuters
Israeli military says Hamas Khan Younis brigade commander killed in Gaza Maybe.
JERUSALEM, July 14 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said that Rafa Salama, Hamas' Khan Younis brigade commander, was killed in an air strike on Saturday that also targeted the head of the group's armed wing, Mohammed Deif.
The military said Salama was one of Deif's closest associates and was involved in planning Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. His death, "significantly impedes Hamas' military capabilities," the military said. Hamas has not confirmed Salama's fate.
Al Jazeera
Israel’s war on Gaza live: ‘Endless massacre’ in Gaza as Israel kills 17
- Officials in Gaza say Israeli missiles have killed 17 Palestinians and injured 80 sheltering at a school for displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
- Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounces the “endless massacre” in Gaza amid condemnation of Israel’s “successive attacks” on so-called “safe zones”, including a strike that killed 90 in the al-Mawasi camp.
- At least 38,443 people have been killed and 88,481 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139, and dozens of people are still held captive in Gaza.
Al Jazeera
Venice entry tax failed to deter tourists, critics say
Venice has wrapped up its pilot programme of charging a 5-euro ($5.46) entrance fee for day trippers arriving on particularly congested days, after opponents called the experiment a failure.
Authorities in the famed Italian destination, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in April introduced an entrance levy, hoping it would deter some people from visiting. The system was designed to manage the flow of tourists when visitor numbers are at their peak.
Simone Venturini, the city councillor responsible for tourism and social cohesion, said the initial assessment of the programme was positive and confirmed the system would be renewed in 2025, but acknowledged that there were still large crowds.
“On some weekends there were less people than the same time last year … but no one expected that all the day trippers would miraculously disappear,” he told the Reuters news agency.
“It will be more effective in the coming years when we increase the number of days and lift the price,” he added, without saying how much visitors might have to pay in 2025.
AP
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demands answers as customers remain without power after Beryl
DALLAS (AP) — With around 270,000 homes and businesses still without power in the Houston area almost a week after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday said he’s demanding an investigation into the response of the utility that serves the area as well as answers about its preparations for upcoming storms.
“Power companies along the Gulf Coast must be prepared to deal with hurricanes, to state the obvious,” Abbott said at his first news conference about Beryl since returning to the state from an economic development trip to Asia.
While CenterPoint Energy has restored power to about 2 million customers since the storm hit on July 8, the slow pace of recovery has put the utility, which provides electricity to the nation’s fourth-largest city, under mounting scrutiny over whether it was sufficiently prepared for the storm that left people without air conditioning in the searing summer heat .Abbott said he was sending a letter to the Public Utility Commission of Texas requiring it to investigate why restoration has taken so long
USA Today
What went wrong? How did Secret Service allow shooter to get so close to Trump?
Investigations into the sniper shooting that injured Donald Trump and killed a local firefighter must focus on whether several key Secret Service protocols were violated, current and former law enforcement officials said Sunday.
Chief among them: Why wasn't a building well within 1,000 yards of the former president locked down enough to prevent the shooter from nearly assassinating the presumptive GOP presidential nominee?
In an exclusive interview, former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson told USA TODAY that maintaining such a sniper security perimeter is part of the agency's responsibility for safeguarding "protectees" like Trump from harm. Yet the man identified as the sniper, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired off numerous rounds from a building top about 150 yards from Trump's lectern at Saturday's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
John Miller, a former senior FBI and New York Police Department official, said on CNN that Crooks had been observed acting suspiciously near the magnetometers, or metal detectors stationed outside the event by local law enforcement agencies.
Those officials then shared those concerns with the Secret Service and other authorities “and people had his description and were looking around for him,” said Miller, who’s currently a CNN analyst.
NPR
After saying she wouldn't be there, Nikki Haley will now speak at Republican convention
Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley will be speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after all. According to her spokesperson, she will take to the stage on Tuesday.
Haley has taken baby steps toward supporting Trump, and her speech at the RNC will represent a full surrender to Trump’s dominance in the party.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley served as a United Nations Ambassador under Trump before challenging him for the Republican nomination.
When she dropped her bid earlier this year, Haley said she wasn’t sure if she would support Trump. She later announced that she planned to vote for him. At that time, a spokesperson said Haley was not invited and was "fine with that," but wished Trump well. Two sources familiar with her plans now say Haley WILL speak at the RNC.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sister of North Korean leader Kim hints at resuming flying trash balloons toward South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed Sunday to respond to what she called a fresh South Korean civilian leafleting campaign, signaling North Korea could soon resume flying trash-carrying balloons across the border.
Beginning in late May, North Korea floated numerous balloons carrying waste paper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure toward South Korea in a series of late-night launch events, saying they were a tit-for-tat action against South Korean activists scattering political leaflets via their own balloons. No hazardous materials were found.
In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said that “dirty leaflets and things of (the South Korean) scum” were found again in border and other areas in North Korea on Sunday morning.
