These are some of the stories we have for you tonight
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Afghan officer who fought with US forces rescued from Kabul
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Taliban suppress more dissent as economic challenges loom
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Man surrenders after claiming to have bomb near US Capitol
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Record delta wave hits kids, raises fear as US schools open
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Aid flows a bit more quickly into Haiti; challenges remain
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Texas Democrats return, end 38-day holdout over voting bill
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Hurricane Grace hits Mexico near Tulum
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Oil continues to fall as Fed mulls tapering, OPEC+ turns on taps
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UN experts demand Eritrea release journalist jailed for 20 years
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CA Wildfires Latest: See A Map Of All Fires Burning
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A Rare Blue Moon Is Coming To U.S. Skies This Weekend
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School In Maplewood Will Change Name From 'Enslaver' Jefferson
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Mom’s Zoo Pic is Adorably Photo-bombed by Stingray With Remarkable Resemblance to Her Daughter
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, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
AP News
Afghan officer who fought with US forces rescued from Kabul
Time was running out for Mohammad Khalid Wardak, a high-profile Afghan national police officer who spent years working alongside the American military.
Hunted by the Taliban, he was hiding with his family in Kabul, constantly moving from place to place as they tried — and failed — several times to reach a rendezvous point where they could be rescued.
After at least four attempts in as many days, the family finally was whisked away by helicopter Wednesday in a dramatic rescue — called Operation Promise Kept — carried out under cover of darkness by the U.S. military and its allies, said Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush, who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan.
Taliban suppress more dissent as economic challenges loom
The Taliban violently dispersed scattered protests for a second day Thursday amid warnings that Afghanistan’s already weakened economy could crumble further without the massive international aid that sustained the toppled Western-backed government.
The Taliban have sought to project moderation and say they want good relations with the international community, but they will face a difficult balancing act in making concessions to the West, satisfying their own hard-line followers and suppressing dissent.
A U.N. official warned of dire food shortages, and experts said the country was severely in need of cash, while noting that the Taliban are unlikely to enjoy the generous international aid that made up most of the ousted government’s budget.
Man surrenders after claiming to have bomb near US Capitol
A North Carolina man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hourslong standoff Thursday that prompted a massive police response and the evacuations of government buildings in the area.
Authorities were investigating what led the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry, to drive onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress, make bomb threats to officers and profess a litany of antigovernment grievances as part of a bizarre episode that he live-streamed for a Facebook audience. Police later searched the vehicle and said they did not find a bomb but did collect possible bomb-making materials.
The standoff was resolved peacefully after roughly five hours of negotiations, ending when Roseberry crawled out of the truck and was taken into police custody. But even in a city with a long history of dramatic law enforcement encounters outside federal landmarks, this episode was notable for its timing — Washington remains on edge eight months after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — and for the way the suspect harnessed social media to draw attention to his actions in the hours before his arrest.
Record delta wave hits kids, raises fear as US schools open
The day before he was supposed to start fourth grade, Francisco Rosales was admitted to a Dallas hospital with COVID-19, struggling to breathe, with dangerously low oxygen levels and an uncertain outcome.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, thought his frightened mother, Yessica Gonzalez. Francisco was normally healthy and rambunctious. At 9, he was too young to get vaccinated, but most of the family had their shots. She had heard kids rarely got sick from the coronavirus.
But with the highly contagious delta variant spreading across the U.S., children are filling hospital intensive care beds instead of classrooms in record numbers, more even than at the height of the pandemic. Many are too young to get the vaccine, which is available only to those 12 and over.
The surging virus is spreading anxiety and causing turmoil and infighting among parents, administrators and politicians around the U.S., especially in states like Florida and Texas, where Republican governors have barred schools from making youngsters wear masks.
Aid flows a bit more quickly into Haiti; challenges remain
Relief for the victims of a powerful earthquake and tropical storm began flowing more quickly into Haiti on Thursday, but the Caribbean nation’s entrenched poverty, insecurity and lack of basic infrastructure were still presenting huge challenges to getting food and urgent medical care to all those who need it.
Private relief supplies and shipments from the U.S. government and others were arriving in the southwestern peninsula where the weekend quake struck, killing more than 2,100 people. But the need was extreme, made worse by the rain from Tropical Storm Grace, and people were growing frustrated with the slow pace.
Adding to the problems, a major hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where many of the injured were being sent, was closed Thursday for a two-day shutdown to protest the kidnapping of two doctors, including one of the country’s few orthopedic surgeons.
Texas Democrats return, end 38-day holdout over voting bill
A standoff in Texas over new voting restrictions that gridlocked the state Capitol for 38 consecutive days ended Thursday when some Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., dropped their holdout, paving the way for Republicans to resume pushing an elections overhaul.
It abruptly and messily drew to a close one of the few — and lengthiest — quorum breaks in modern Texas history. Instead of a unified and celebratory return by Democrats, some members lashed out at their colleagues over what they criticized as breaking ranks. Many of the proposed changes to Texas voting that Democrats have railed against for months remain in a bill that already passed the state Senate, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could now sign the legislation in a matter of weeks, if not sooner.
Only three new Democrats showed up Thursday, and the vast majority of the more than 50 Democrats who bolted for the nation’s capital in July continue to stay away from the Texas Capitol. Still, Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan said enough were there to achieve a quorum, which in the House is normally 100 present legislators. Growing impatience among Republicans had led to escalating threats that missing lawmakers could face arrest, but officers never appeared to do more than leave warrants at Democrats’ homes.
Al Jazeera News
Hurricane Grace hits Mexico near Tulum
Hurricane Grace has struck Mexico’s Caribbean coast just south of the ancient Mayan temples of Tulum, pushing a dangerous storm surge. Heavy rain and strong winds threaten to destroy flimsier homes and keep tourists off white sand beaches until it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Category 1 storm had already soaked earthquake-damaged Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands en route to a direct hit on the Riviera Maya, the heart of Mexico’s tourism industry. Grace’s centre struck just south of Tulum at 4:45am (9:45 GMT) on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 130kmph (80mph), according to the US National Hurricane Center.
As it moved over land, Grace weakened to a tropical storm on Thursday morning with 100kmph (65mph) sustained winds. It was moving west across the peninsula at 30kmph (18mph) and was located about 130km (85 miles) west of Tulum.
Oil continues to fall as Fed mulls tapering, OPEC+ turns on taps
Oil fell for the sixth day in a row to the lowest level since May after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled it was set to start tapering asset purchases within months.
West Texas Intermediate futures ended the session down 2.7%, dipping below $64 a barrel amid a broader commodity selloff as the prospect of reduced stimulus shook markets.
The delta virus variant for air travel is denting demand, with enthusiasm for air travel waning in the both the U.S. and Japan.
Asia’s physical market is softening with muted buying from China and a move by India to sell oil from its strategic reserves.
UN experts demand Eritrea release journalist jailed for 20 years
United Nations rights experts have demanded that Asmara immediately release a Swedish-Eritrean journalist held without charge and largely incommunicado for two decades, voicing fear he may no longer be alive.
Dawit Isaak was among a group of some two dozen senior cabinet ministers, members of parliament and independent journalists who were seized in what was described as a draconian purge in September 2001.
The government of Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki says those arrested were a threat to national security.
“To this day, Dawit Isaak has never been charged with a crime, spent a day in court or spoken to his lawyer,” Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Patch.com News
CA Wildfires Latest: See A Map Of All Fires Burning
The wildfire season has yet to begin officially in the southern half of the Golden State, but already more than 6,500 brush fires have scorched 1.3 million acres across California.
This week, 11,000 firefighters were scattered across the state battling wildfires that have already destroyed more than a thousand homes and forced entire towns to evacuate.
The Dixie fire, the second-largest fire in California's history, has burned for more than a month, and it devoured another 43,000 acres since Wednesday. It's scorched 678,369 acres and was only 35 percent contained on Thursday.
A Rare Blue Moon Is Coming To U.S. Skies This Weekend
Sky gazers, take note: This weekend brings more than a brief respite from the stresses of the workweek. It also brings a chance to catch a glimpse of a rare seasonal blue moon.
The blue moon will adorn the night sky on Sunday. The last seasonal blue moon occurred on Halloween in 2020.
There are two instances in which we experience a "blue" moon. Many of us are familiar with the first instance: A blue moon happens when there are two full moons in a calendar month. The second is usually called a blue moon, according to The Farmers' Almanac.
School In Maplewood Will Change Name From 'Enslaver' Jefferson
The South-Orange Maplewood school board voted to approve a resolution Monday night to seek other names for the district's existing Jefferson Elementary School, saying the school "bears the name of an enslaver committed to upholding the institution of slavery."
The resolution directs Superintendent Ronald Taylor or a designee to work with the students to find a new name by June 30 of next year, and change the name by fall 2022.
Before the Monday night vote, parent Sally Unsworth of South Orange, who said her family are descendants of Jefferson, supported the move at the meeting, according to a story in TAPInto. She called Jefferson a "flawed historical figure" and said, "No part of the entire truth of who he was, how he lived and who he harmed should be ignored," according to the story.
Good News Network
Mom’s Zoo Pic is Adorably Photo-bombed by Stingray With Remarkable Resemblance to Her Daughter
A mom’s photo was amusingly photobombed by a bemused stingray—pulling the exact same face as her baby daughter.
41-year-old Wendy Armstrong regularly takes her young daughters, two-year-old Aurora and six-month-old Daisy, for a day out to the Lake District Coast Aquarium in England.
During one visit, Wendy noticed a stingray was taking a particular interest in Daisy… and that both were pulling the same forlorn facial expression.
Nurse Wendy and her power plant worker husband, Mike Armstrong, said Daisy has been a very serious baby.
Be sure to check out the picture !