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) Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbook (RIP), 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.
BBC
Super Bowl 2021: Tom Brady wins seventh title as Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Kansas City Chiefs
Tom Brady steered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a comfortable 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs to extend his record for Super Bowl wins to seven.
In his first season after a glittering 20-year stint with the New England Patriots, the evergreen quarterback helped Tampa Bay become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium.
And despite playing Kansas City and their dynamic young quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who came in as favourites, Brady threw three touchdown passes to prevent the Chiefs becoming the first back-to-back NFL champions since Brady and the Patriots in the 2004 season.
At 43 years and 188 days, Brady became the oldest player to play in the biggest game in US sport, extending his record for Super Bowl appearances to 10 and joining Peyton Manning as the only quarterback to win Super Bowls with two different teams.
Already widely considered the greatest NFL player of all time, Brady decided to leave New England in the off-season for a new challenge and was lured to Tampa Bay, whose only previous Super Bowl win came in the 2002 season.
BBC
Uttarakhand: Seven dead after India glacier bursts dam
At least seven people are dead and 170 missing after a piece of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river and triggered a huge flood in northern India.
The floodwaters burst open a dam and a deluge of water poured through a valley in the state of Uttarakhand.
Most of the missing are believed to be workers from two hydro power plants in the area.
Hundreds of troops, paramilitaries and military helicopters have been sent to the region to help with rescue efforts.
Experts are investigating the incident though it is not yet clear what might have caused the glacial burst.
NPR
Tens Of Thousands Rally In Myanmar Protesting Military Coup
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Myanmar on Sunday demanding an end to the military coup and release of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained alongside other elected officials in last week's military takeover.
Protesters amassed in Yangon, Myanmar's most populated city, chanting anti-military slogans and waving the red peacock flag representing Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party. Many wore shirts and carried balloons with the party's colors in the day's largest protest.
Protesters carried banners reading "Respect our vote," the BBC reports, a reference to a landslide victory by Suu Kyi's party in a Nov. 8 election. Military leaders justified their takeover claiming, without evidence, that the vote was fraudulent. One demonstrator, quoted by the BBC, called Suu Kyi "our true leader."
"She is our only hope for our democracy. If she died or something happened to her, what is our future? We really need her back," the protester told the BBC.
Al Jazeera
China to build the world’s biggest dam on sacred Tibetan river
In the foothills of the Himalayas, where the ancient Yarlung civilisation established the first Tibetan Empire, China has plans to build the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam.
In November of last year, China’s state-owned media shared plans for a 60-gigawatt mega-dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).
From its origin in the glaciers of western Tibet, the Yarlung Tsangpo reaches heights of nearly 5,000 metres (16,404 feet) above sea level, making it the highest river in the world as it snakes its way through the Himalayan mountain range.
The river plunges 2,700 metres (8,858 feet) through what is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, forming a gorge more than twice the depth of the Grand Canyon in the United States.
The precipitous fall makes it particularly conducive to collecting hydroelectric power but experts have warned the record-breaking dam is likely to have political and environmental.
Al Jazeera
South Africa suspends Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine roll-out
South Africa has suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in its immunisation programme until a committee of scientists advises on the best way to proceed.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s announcement on Sunday came after trial data showed the vaccine developed by drugmaker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford offered only limited protection against mild and moderate disease caused by the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa.
The government had intended to soon roll the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot out to healthcare workers, after receiving 1 million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on Monday.
Instead, it will offer vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Pfizer in the coming weeks while experts consider how the AstraZeneca shot can be deployed.
“When new information is brought to light and viruses change and mutate, decisions need to be made. This is possibly why the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout is on hold for now. In the next few weeks, South Africa will have the J&J and Pfizer vaccine,”
Deutsche Welle
Coronavirus digest: German nursing home sees outbreak after vaccines
Local officials in the district of Osnabruck, Germany, said there was an outbreak of the UK variant of coronavirus at a nursing home in Belm.
The outbreak came despite all of its residents already receiving two doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, with their last shot on January 25.
A local goverment spokesperson said 14 residents tested positive for the virus at the end of last week.
None of them showed any serious symptoms associated with COVID-19. It is unclear exactly how and when the residents became infected, officials said.
The news came as South Africa suspended its vaccination campaign over revelations that the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine had limited effect against the South African variant.
New York Times
Virus Variant First Found in Britain Now Spreading Rapidly in U.S
A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first found in Britain is spreading rapidly in the United States, doubling roughly every 10 days, according to a new study.
Analyzing half a million coronavirus tests and hundreds of genomes, a team of researchers predicted that in a month this variant could become predominant in the United States, potentially bringing a surge of new cases and increased risk of death.
The new research offers the first nationwide look at the history of the variant, known as B.1.1.7, since it arrived in the United States in late 2020. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that B.1.1.7 could become predominant by March if it behaved the way it did in Britain. The new study confirms that projected path.
This is good.
Deutsche Welle
Egypt frees Al-Jazeera journalist after four years jail
Egyptian authorities on Saturday released journalist Mahmoud Hussein, who worked for the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera network, after four years in detention.
The decision came after Egypt, part of a bloc with gulf countries, reconciled with Qatar following years of diplomatic rift.
The Egyptian journalist was held on charges of "spreading false information” and affiliation with the banned group the Muslim Brotherhood, an accusation authorities have used against several journalists since President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi took power in 2014.
Hussein's daughter, Azzahraa Hussein, said on Facebook that her father had made it home late Saturday.
"For four years, my father slept on the floor in a small cell, where he was locked for 22 hours a day,” Azzahraa wrote, accusing Egyptian authorities of ill treatment of journalists in prison.
The Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a non-profit organization advocating press freedom in the region, said that Hussein's critical reporting had made him a target to the regime.
L A Times
23 miles of Highway 1 near Big Sur are closed. Repairs will take months
Caltrans officials say landslide repairs will keep Highway 1 south of Big Sur closed for months, rewriting travel plans for anyone who had been hoping to make a coastal road trip from Southern California in early spring.
Beyond that, “It is too early to establish a timeline,” Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski said. Though Monterey County officials partially lifted a storm-related evacuation order in the area Monday afternoon, the debris flow in some places “is still active. … And we have rain coming as soon as tonight.”
The biggest problem is a 150-foot-long chasm where the highway used to run at Rat Creek, two miles south of the Esalen Institute. That area, authorities noted, lies below the “burn scar” left by the Dolan fire, which blackened about 125,000 acres last August.
Washington Post
Amanda Gorman clearly has talent. But there’s more to her meteoric rise.
After dazzling the nation at President Biden’s inauguration, gripping hearts and minds with her rousing, propulsive verse, Amanda Gorman became the first bard to perform at the country’s most-watched sporting event.
With rhythmic speech and graceful gestures, she delivered a poem in honor of a trio of essential workers, three honorary captains — James Martin, a U.S. Marine veteran; Trimaine Davis, an educator; and Suzie Dorner, an ICU nurse manager — in a recorded video right before the coin toss at Super Bowl LV in Tampa.
“Let us walk with these warriors, charge on with these champions, and carry forth the call of our captains,” Gorman said. “We celebrate them by acting with courage and compassion, by doing what is right and just, for while we honor them today, it is they who every day honor us.”