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 rise above the swamp. . 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.
Since 2007 the OND has been 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 and consider this an open thread.
Miami Beach officials have warned that the unruly spring break crowd gathering by the thousands, fighting in the streets, destroying restaurant property and refusing to wear masks has become a serious threat to public safety, after 1,000 arrests were made.
At a last-minute meeting, city officials voted to extend a highly unusual 8pm curfew for another week along famed South Beach, with the possibility of extending it well into April if needed, and stressed this wasn’t the typical spring break crowd. They said it’s not college students, but adults looking to let loose in one of the few states fully open during the pandemic.
Law enforcement officers from at least four other agencies, along with Swat teams, were added to help contain the raucous crowds, but it wasn’t enough. After days of partying, including several confrontations with police, Miami Beach officials enacted a highly unorthodox curfew Saturday from 8pm until 6am, forcing restaurants to stop outdoor seating entirely, and encouraging local businesses to voluntarily shut down.
The Guardian
Fight against tuberculosis set back 12 years by Covid pandemic, report finds
Twelve months of Covid-19 has reversed 12 years of global progress against tuberculosis, worse than previously estimated.
The pandemic has resulted in nearly a 25% decrease in diagnosis and treatment around the world, according to research published on Thursday by a coalition working to end TB.
Due to the impact of the Covid pandemic on services, the number of people diagnosed and treated for TB in the worst-affected countries has dropped back to 2008 levels, said Stop TB Partnership’s executive director, Lucica Ditiu. A modelling study published last year estimated a setback of five to eight years.
“Twelve years of impressive gains in the fight against TB – including in reducing the number of people who were missing from TB care – have been tragically reversed by another virulent respiratory infection,” said Ditiu.
“I hope that in 2021, we buckle up and smartly address, at the same time, TB and Covid-19 as two airborne diseases with similar symptoms.”
Al Jazeera
Saudi oil giant Aramco’s profits plunge nearly 45% amid pandemic
Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco has reported a 44.4 percent plunge in last year’s net profit, as the coronavirus pandemic curbed global demand.
The effect of COVID-19 took a heavy toll on the company and its peers in 2020, but oil prices have rallied this year as economies recover from the downturn and after oil producers extended output cuts.
“Aramco achieved a net income of $49bn in 2020,” the company said in a statement on Sunday, down from $88.2bn in 2019.
It said “revenues were impacted by lower crude oil prices and volumes sold, and weakened refining and chemicals margins”.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser described 2020 as “one of the most challenging years in recent history”.
But compared with many of its loss-generating international peers, the company, which made its stock market debut in 2019, played up its “strong financial resilience” despite the challenges and said shareholders would still receive dividends totalling $75bn.
Al Jazeera
Icelandic volcano subsiding after first eruption in 900 years
A volcano that spewed glowing red lava near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik after awakening for the first time in 900 years appeared to be subsiding and posing no danger to people, experts said.
Streams of red lava bubbled and flowed out of a fissure in a valley in Geldingadalur, close to Mount Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland.
As the lava flow slowed under rain showers on Saturday, a blue gas plume and a vapour cloud rose from the site, just 40km (25 miles) from the capital and near a popular tourist destination, the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.
The eruption occurred on Friday about 20:45 GMT, lighting up the night sky with a crimson glow as hundreds of small earthquakes shook the area.
Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport and the small fishing port of Grindavik are just a few kilometres away, but the zone is uninhabited and the eruption did not present any danger to the public.
Reuters
Factbox: Highlights of CP's $25 billion planned purchase of Kansas City in world's top rail merger
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP) on Sunday said it has agreed to buy Kansas City Southern (KCS) for $25 billion in a cash-and-shares deal to create the first rail network connecting the United States, Mexico and Canada as it bets on a pickup in North American trade.
Here are some highlights of the transaction.
* The new entity would be the smallest of six U.S. Class 1 railroads by revenue; have a combined operating rail network of about 20,000 miles (32,200 km), employ close to 20,000 people and generate total revenue of approximately $8.7 billion based on 2020 actual revenue. The combined group would create the first rail network connecting the three nations, offering a single-network link between points on CP’s system in Canada, the U.S. Midwest, and the U.S. Northeast and points on KCS’ system throughout Mexico and the South Central United States.
Reuters
Myanmar activists plan new protests after weekend bloodshed
(Reuters) - Myanmar activists plan fresh protests on Monday including a call for vehicle convoys to drive through intersections honking horns with occupants raising three-finger anti-coup salutes despite reports of security forces killing more people at the weekend.
Media reported dawn protests in at least two parts of the commercial hub of Yangon on Monday after hundreds of people in Mandalay, including many medical staff in white coats, marched before sunrise on Sunday.
The Southeast Asian nation has been locked in crisis since the elected government led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1 was overthrown by the military, bringing an end to 10 years of tentative democratic reform.
At least 250 people have now been killed since the coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.
The violence has forced many citizens to think up novel ways to express their rejection of a return to army rule.
Deutsche Welle
France rescues 72 migrants in Channel on way to UK
French maritime authorities rescued 72 people who were trying to cross the English Channel, officials said on Sunday. There were 11 children in the group.
The migrants had planned to navigate to the UK, but their vessels got into difficulties just off the coast from the French port city of Calais.
One boat was picked up by a French patrol vessel and the 38 people on board taken to Calais.
Some 34 others were rescued by a tugboat operated by the French navy and taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer, also on France's northern coast.
No injuries were reported and the migrants were handed over to the border police.
A growing number of migrants are using small boats to make the 34 kilometer (21 mile) sea journey to try to reach Britain, despite the huge dangers. This is partly due to tougher border checks on trucks and trains.
Buzzfeed News
West Virginia Is Trying To Block Needle Exchanges Amid The Worst HIV Outbreak In The US
A dangerous HIV outbreak gripping Charleston, West Virginia, comes just as the state is trying to dismantle one of the most effective ways to stop it: needle exchanges.
Undercover police officers have run stings on a volunteer group that distributes clean needles from parking lots in the city’s neglected west side. And lawmakers are moving not just to outlaw the program, but to criminalize it.
Last month, Daskalakis spoke to the Charleston City Council about the outbreak, explaining that the textbook public health response would be to increase needle exchanges.
Instead, the West Virginia state legislature has moved to block such programs. Last week, the state senate passed a bill, now under consideration in the state’s House of Delegates, that would give local sheriffs final say over needle exchanges, require the tracking and returning of every needle, and impose criminal penalties for operating without a license — a restriction aimed directly at shutting down SOAR. Public health experts say the bill is extremely dangerous and comes at a time when needle exchanges are needed most.
New York Times
How to Collect $1.4 Trillion in Unpaid Taxes
When the federal government started withholding income taxes from workers’ paychecks during World War II, the innovation was presented as a matter of fairness, a way to ensure that everyone paid. Irving Berlin wrote a song for the Treasury Department: “You see those bombers in the sky? Rockefeller helped to build them. So did I.”
The withholding system remains the cornerstone of income taxation, effectively preventing Americans from lying about wage income. Employers submit an annual W-2 report on the wages paid to each worker, making it hard to fudge the numbers.
But the burden of taxation is increasingly warped because the government has no comparable system for verifying income from businesses. The result is that most wage earners pay their fair share while many business owners engage in blatant fraud at public expense.In a remarkable 2019 analysis, the Internal Revenue Service estimated that Americans report on their taxes less than half of all income that is not subject to some form of third-party verification like a W-2. Billions of dollars in business profits, rent and royalties are hidden from the government each year. By contrast, more than 95 percent of wage income is reported.