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 (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, JeremyBloom, 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
US tornadoes, wildfires and dust storms leave 37 dead and 'staggering' damage
At least 37 people have died after tornadoes ripped through a swathe of the US Midwest and South.
Missouri bore the brunt of the twisters, which began to spawn on Friday. At least 12 people have died in that state.
Powerful winds in Texas and Kansas whipped up dust storms that resulted in vehicle pile-ups and a dozen deaths.
The extreme weather, covering an area of the country that is home to more than 100 million people, fanned nearly 150 wildfires in Oklahoma. Fatalities were also recorded in Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
Parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina were under flood advisories.
More than 320,000 people across the region were without power on Sunday evening, according to tracker PowerOutageUS.
BBC
Ten detained after North Macedonia nightclub fire kills 59
Police have detained 10 people after a fire at an nightclub in North Macedonia killed at least 59 people, officials have told the BBC.
The blaze broke out around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday at the Pulse club in Kocani, where about 500 people had gathered for a concert by DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country.
Only one member of the band survived and was being treated in hospital, a spokesman for the public prosecutors office told the BBC's Newshour. In total, 155 were injured at the concert.
Biljana Arsovska said short-term detentions had been issued for 10 suspects believed to be responsible for the fire - including "officials from the ministries which gave out this licence".
AP
What to know about El Salvador’s mega-prison after Trump sent hundreds of immigrants there
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The crown jewel of El Salvador’s aggressive anti-crime strategy — a mega-prison where visitation, recreation and education are not allowed — became the latest tool in U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration on Sunday, when hundreds of immigrants facing deportation were transferred there.
The arrival of the immigrants, alleged by the U.S. to be members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, took place under an agreement for which the Trump administration will pay the government of President Nayib Bukele $6 million for one year of services.
The facility has eight sprawling pavilions and can hold up to 40,000 inmates. Each cell can fit 65 to 70 prisoners.
CECOT prisoners do not receive visits and are never allowed outdoors. The prison does not offer workshops or educational programs to prepare them to return to society after their sentences.
The Guardian
US says airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen will continue indefinitely
US officials have said airstrikes launched against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis will continue indefinitely, after a first round on Saturday killed at least 53 people and injured almost 100 more.
The strikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, are Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, told Fox News: “The minute the Houthis say ‘we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones’, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
Hegseth was among several senior officials underlining that the strikes were designed to signal a new assertive approach to Iran, and more generally in the Middle East.
Michael Waltz, the US national security adviser, said in separate interviews that the strikes “targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out” and had involved “overwhelming force [that] put Iran on notice that enough is enough”.
Washinton POst
Iran rejects Trump’s ‘bullying’ on nuclear talks, as threats ratchet up
Days after a letter from President Donald Trump reached Iran’s supreme leader, giving him a choice between negotiating a deal to end Iran’s nuclear program or U.S. military action to destroy it, the two sides remain far apart on the conditions that would allow such a conversation, let alone an agreement.
“All options are on the table,” White House national security adviser Michael Waltz said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” If Iran doesn’t “hand over … the missiles, the weaponization, the enrichment” of nuclear materials, “they can face a whole series of other consequences.”
Iran quickly responded in kind. “If threatened, Iran will give appropriate and crushing responses,” said Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hindustan Times
NASA confirms Sunita Williams' Earth return date, shares splashdown time
NASA said in a statement on Sunday evening that the astronauts' anticipated ocean splashdown will take place off the Florida coast on March 18 (GMT). With curiosity building over the return of a pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station (ISS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Sunday confirmed that the duo will return to Earth on Tuesday, March 18, evening (GMT).
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are to be transported home with another American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, which arrived at the ISS early Sunday.
The duo has been on the ISS since June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed journey was hit by propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
Splashdown is slated for approximately 5:57pm Tuesday, March 18:
Al Jazeera
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week, special envoy Steve Witkoff said, as Russia has yet to agree to a US-brokered ceasefire proposal with Ukraine.
Earlier, Moscow said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The pair discussed “concrete aspects of the implementation of understandings” at a US-Russia summit in Saudi Arabia last month.
The February Riyadh gathering was the first high-level meeting between the United States and Russia since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022. The exchanges come as Washington this week pushed forward a 30-day immediate ceasefire proposal following talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the plan, Putin has yet to commit to the ceasefir
Reuters
Russia, Ukraine continue air attacks with ceasefire prospects uncertain
March 16 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine continued aerial attacks on each other, inflicting injuries and damages, officials said early on Sunday, as the fate of a proposed ceasefire to the
three-year-old warremained uncertain.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he supported in principle Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine but that his forces would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
Both sides have since traded heavy aerial strikes, and Russia moved closer on battlefield to
ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region of
Kursk.The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that its air defence units destroyed a total of 31 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
Deutsche Welle
Will air pollution jack up health insurance costs? The story is from India, but it’s a worldwide problem.
Health insurance premiums in India, particularly in big cities like the capital, New Delhi, could become more expensive as insurers consider the impact of air pollution on policy pricing.
Discussions are underway to impose a 10-15% increase in premiums for new health insurance policies in Delhi following a surge in pollution-related health claims in 2024.
Just this week, the World Air Quality Report 2024 by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir said Delhi remains the most polluted capital city globally, while India ranked as the world's fifth-most polluted country in 2024.
"Air pollution remains a significant health burden in India, reducing life expectancy by an estimated 5.2 years," it said.
"Many non-communicable diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are exacerbated by air pollution," said Manish Sarin, of Reliance General Insurance.
"It will be a good step if insurers factor in air pollution in future health policies. What is more important is that awareness goes up among the public," he added.
The Guardian
‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds
The red tape of government bureaucracy spans more than 4,000 years, according to new finds from the cradle of the world’s civilisations, Mesopotamia.
Hundreds of administrative tablets – the earliest physical evidence of the first empire in recorded history – have been discovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq. These texts detail the minutiae of government and reveal a complex bureaucracy – the red tape of an ancient civilisation.
These were the state archives of the ancient Sumerian site of Girsu, modern-day Tello, while the city was under the control of the Akkad dynasty from 2300 to 2150BC.
One tablet lists different commodities: “250 grams of gold / 500 grams of silver/ … fattened cows… / 30 litres of beer.” Even the names and professions of the citizens are recorded, Rey said: “Women, men, children – we have names for everyone.
“Women held important offices within the state. So we have high priestesses, for example, although it was a society very much led by men. But the role of the woman was at least higher than many other societies, and it’s undeniable based on the evidence that we have.”
