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
Top Brazil court to vote on decision to ban Musk's X
Brazil's Supreme Court will vote on Monday whether or not to uphold a ruling to ban social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Justice Alexandre Moraes called for the vote after the platform was suspended in the country in the early hours of Saturday.
It came after X failed to appoint a new legal representative in Brazil before a court-imposed deadline.
A feud between Justice Moraes and X's owner Elon Musk began in April when the the judge ordered the suspension of dozens of X accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.
Reacting to the decision to ban X, Mr Musk said: "Free speech is the bedrock of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes."
In his ruling, Justice Moraes gave companies, including Apple and Google, a five-day deadline to remove X from its app stores and block its use on iOS and Android devices.
The Guardian
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson laments presidential immunity decision in TV interview
In an interview airing on Sunday, US supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson lamented her conservative colleagues’ decision to grant broad immunity to Donald Trump and other presidents for official acts as essentially protecting “one individual under one set of circumstances when we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same”.
“I mean that was my view of what the court determined,” Jackson said in the pre-recorded conversation for the news program CBS Sunday Morning. And she added: “I was concerned”
Jackson’s dissent read: “The court … declared for the first time in history that the most powerful official in the United States can (under circumstances yet to be fully determined) become a law unto himself.”.
NPR
A German far-right party wins its first state election
BERLIN — The far-right Alternative for Germany won a state election for the first time Sunday in the country's east, and was set to finish at least a very close second to mainstream conservatives in a second vote, projections showed.
A new party founded by a prominent leftist also made an immediate impact, while the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular national government obtained extremely weak results.
Projections for ARD and ZDF public television based on exit polls and partial counting showed Alternative for Germany winning 32-33% of the vote in Thuringia — well ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, the main national opposition party, with about 24%.
"An openly right-wing extremist party has become the strongest force in a state parliament for the first time since 1949, and that causes many people very deep concern and fear," said Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Greens, one of the national governing parties.
Other parties say they won't put AfD in power by joining it in a coalition.
Reuters
Russia says it will change nuclear doctrine because of Western role in Ukraine
LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Russia will make changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as Western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday.
The existing nuclear doctrine, set out in a decree by President Vladimir Putin in 2020, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.
He said the decision is "connected with the escalation course of our Western adversaries" in connection with the Ukraine conflict.
Moscow accuses the West of using Ukraine as a proxy to wage war against it, with the aim of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia and breaking it apart.
The United States and its allies deny that, saying they are helping Ukraine defend itself against a colonial-style war of aggression by Russia.
Reuters
If China wants Taiwan it should also take back land from Russia, president says
TAIPEI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - If China's claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in an interview with Taiwanese media.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government rejects those claims, saying only the island's people can decide their future.
Speaking in an interview with a Taiwanese television station broadcast late on Sunday, Lai, who China calls a "separatist", brought up the 1858 Treaty of Aigun in which China signed over a vast tract of land in what is now Russia's far east to the Russian empire, forming much of the present day border along the Amur River.
The Qing signed over Taiwan to Japan in 1895 in another "unequal" treaty, and in 1945 at the end of World War Two it was handed over to the Republic of China government, which four years later fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists.
AP
Authorities in Guyana seize a record $200 million worth of cocaine hidden in a lush jungle
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Authorities in the South American country of Guyanasaid Sunday they have seized more than 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms) of cocaine found in a lush jungle near the border with Venezuela.
The land seizure is considered the biggest in recent history, with Security Minister Robeson Benn telling reporters he estimates the drugs are worth at least $200 million.
The drugs were found in earthen pits in Guyana’s northwest region, officials said. Police arrested one suspect and said they are looking for two more who fled the scene.
Guyana’s police and military, along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, were involved in the operation.
“We are happy that we have the DEA with us sharing information and intelligence,” Benn said. “Guyana is a victim of this … illegal activity. We don’t produce cocaine; we don’t transit it.”
AP
Inflation fell to 2.2% in Europe, clearing the way for a European Central Bank rate cut in September
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in the 20 European Union countries that use the euro fell sharply to 2.2% in August, opening the door for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates as the ECB and the U.S. Federal Reserve prepare to lower borrowing costs to support growth and jobs.
The August figure was down from 2.6% in July, according to figures Friday from European Union statistics agency Eurostat. Energy prices fell in August by 3%, helping lower the overall figure, while inflation fell to 2% in Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy.
The monthly figure is now close to the ECB’s target of 2%, the level considered best for the economy. The central bank is charged with maintaining stable prices under the treaty that set up the European Union. Not all of the EU’s 27 countries use the euro.
Economists expect the ECB to cut its key rate by a quarter point from 3.75% at its Sept. 12 meeting, while the Fed is expected to cut rates from a 23-year high of 5.25%-5.5% at its Sept. 17-18 policy meeting.
USA Today
Gen Z wants an inheritance. Good luck with that, say their boomer parents
If you’re expecting a life-changing windfall when your boomer parents die, take heed: Only one fifth of the “Me” generation expects to leave an inheritance.
A new study from Northwestern Mutual, the financial services company, finds a yawning gap between how many young Americans expect to reap an inheritance and how many older Americans plan to leave one.
Many young adults are pinning their hopes on the Great Wealth Transfer, a generational exchange of riches that could pass $90 trillion from boomers to their heirs over the next 20 years.
But many boomers have other plans.
The study found that 38% of Gen-Zers, and 32% of millennials, expect to inherit money or assets. But only 22% of boomers said they expect to leave an inheritance.
Washington Post
How ancient healing hot springs could fuel a clean energy future
TSUCHIYU ONSEN, Japan — For 1,400 years, travelers have come to this town in the foothills of the Azuma Mountains, on the outskirts of Fukushima City, to bathe in the famed healing waters of its hot springs.
Through the centuries, residents have depended on this water to bring visitors to their inns, bath houses and souvenir shops. But nine years ago, local leaders took a risk that few other hot spring towns in Japan were willing to accept: They built a geothermal power plant to turn their precious hot spring water into a source of renewable electricity.
Now, Tsuchiyu Onsen is a test case for how Japan could tap into an abundant source of clean power while preserving the country’s cultural identity. Japan has the world’s third-biggest geothermal energy reserves, but it depends on imported fossil fuels for most of its electricity. Experts say geothermal could provide about 10 percent of the country’s power, if Japan took advantage of it. The government plans to triple geothermal energy output this decade, from 0.3 percent of electricity production to 1 percent.
