Here are some of what I found tonight:
- U.S. sanctions Ukrainian officials accused of helping Russia
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4 Belarus officials charged with air piracy
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Jury selected for federal trial over George Floyd’s killing
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EXPLAINER: Why fear of 5G halting flights has faded
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China, Russia block US bid to sanction North Koreans at UN
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‘Loss of lives’ as explosion in Ghana destroys buildings
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US charges second man in killing of Haitian President Moise
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Top Georgia election official Raffensperger details Trump call for Jan. 6 committee
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Congressman Jamaal Bowman Arrested By Capitol Police
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Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds
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.
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.
AP News
Jan. 6 committee requests interview with Ivanka Trump
The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection is asking Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump, to voluntarily cooperate as lawmakers make their first public attempt to arrange an interview with a Trump family member.
The committee sent a letter Thursday requesting a meeting in February with Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser to her father. In the letter, the committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Ivanka Trump was in direct contact with her father during key moments on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win.
The riot followed a rally near the White House where Donald Trump had urged his supporters to “fight like hell” as Congress convened to certify the 2020 election results.
The committee says it wants to discuss what Ivanka Trump knew about her father’s efforts, including a telephone call they say she witnessed, to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject those results, as well as concerns she may have heard from Pence’s staff, members of Congress and the White House counsel’s office about those efforts.
U.S. sanctions Ukrainian officials accused of helping Russia
The U.S. Treasury Department levied new sanctions Thursday against four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for further invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions name parliament members Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn and two former government officials. According to Treasury, all four have been intimately involved in disinformation efforts by Russia’s federal security service, known as the FSB.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the four men were at the heart of a Kremlin effort begun in 2020 “to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian state to independently function.”
The new sanctions were announced less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden said he thinks Moscow will newly invade Ukraine. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a “dear price” in lives lost and a possible restriction in access to the global banking system if it does.
US charges Belarus with air piracy in reporter’s arrest
U.S. prosecutors charged four Belarusian government officials on Thursday with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last year to arrest an opposition journalist, using a ruse that there was a bomb threat.
The charges, announced by federal prosecutors in New York, recounted how a regularly-scheduled passenger plane traveling between Athens, Greece, and Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 23 was diverted to Minsk, Belarus by air traffic control authorities there.
“Since the dawn of powered flight, countries around the world have cooperated to keep passenger airplanes safe. The defendants shattered those standards by diverting an airplane to further the improper purpose of repressing dissent and free speech,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a news release announcing the charges.
Jury selected for federal trial over George Floyd’s killing
A jury was picked Thursday for the federal trial of three Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing, with the judge stressing repeatedly that fellow Officer Derek Chauvin’s conviction on state murder charges and guilty plea to a federal civil rights violation should not influence the proceedings.
J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority as Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the street. Separately, they’re charged in state court with aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter in the videotaped killing that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a reexamination of racism and policing.
Jury selection took just one day for the federal trial. The judge said opening statements would be Monday, with the court taking up some evidentiary matters on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson questioned potential jurors in groups to get a pool of 40 people, who had already answered an extensive questionnaire. Each side then used their challenges to strike jurors until they had just 18 people -- 12 who will deliberate and six alternates.
Georgia DA asks for special grand jury in election probe
The Georgia prosecutor looking into possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Donald Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. She wrote in the letter that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”
Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of her investigation, but in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month she confirmed that its scope includes — but is not limited to — a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.
EXPLAINER: Why fear of 5G halting flights has faded
The rollout of new 5G wireless service in the U.S. failed to have the much-dreaded result of crippling air travel, although it began in rocky fashion, with international airlines canceling some flights to the U.S. and spotty problems showing up on domestic flights.
Airline industry officials say the decision by AT&T and Verizon — under pressure from the White House — to delay activating 5G towers near many airports has defused the situation.
The delay is giving the Federal Aviation Administration more time to clear more planes to operate freely around 5G networks. On Thursday, the FAA said it had granted new approvals that will allow an estimated 78% of the U.S. airline fleet to make landings even under low-visibility conditions at airports where the new, faster wireless service has been turned on.
At 113, NAACP evolves for relevance on racial justice agenda
As the NAACP turns 113, look for its voice to grow louder on issues like climate change, the student debt crisis and the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic — while keeping voting rights and criminal justice reform at the forefront of its priorities.
The nation’s oldest civil rights organization’s birthday next month comes as it undergoes a restructuring to reflect a membership and leadership that is trending younger, to people in their mid-30s. As a result, it is adding endeavors like producing TV streaming content for CBS.
The hope is that younger Americans see the NAACP has modernized beyond being grandma and grandpa’s go-to civil rights hub, good for much more than voter-registration drives and the star-studded Image Awards.
“We had to reinvigorate the organization,” national president Derrick Johnson, 53, told The Associated Press.
Al Jazeera News
US, Europe present united front before Blinken-Lavrov talks
The United States and its Western allies have insisted they will be united in responding strongly to any Russian incursion into Ukraine before talks between Washington and Moscow’s top diplomats over the crisis.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said any “new acts of aggression” from Moscow towards its neighbour would be met with a “swift, severe, united response” from the White House and its partners.
Blinken’s remarks to reporters came after he held talks in Berlin with officials from the so-called transatlantic quad group – made up of the US, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – as part of a whistle-stop diplomatic tour to Europe aimed at finding a way to defuse tensions with the Kremlin.
China, Russia block US bid to sanction North Koreans at UN
China and Russia have delayed a US effort at the United Nations to impose sanctions on five North Koreans in response to recent missile launches by Pyongyang, diplomats said.
The move by Beijing and Moscow came before a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on North Korea on Thursday – the second in two weeks – after Pyongyang fired tactical guided missiles this week.
China and Russia, however, placed a “hold” on the United States’s proposal on Thursday, which puts it in limbo.
China told council colleagues it needed more time to study the sanctions, while Russia said more evidence was needed to back the US request, the diplomats said.
‘Loss of lives’ as explosion in Ghana destroys buildings
A vehicle carrying explosives used in mining collided with a motorcycle and blew up in western Ghana, causing an unknown number of fatalities and injuring scores of people, the police have said.
Videos from the scene posted on social media on Thursday showed a large blast area in which at least dozens of buildings had been felled and reduced to piles of wood, brick and twisted metal.
The police released a statement saying that a “preliminary investigation has established that a mining explosive vehicle … collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion.”
“The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are under way.”
US charges second man in killing of Haitian President Moise
The United States Justice Department has announced charges against a second man it accuses of being involved in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise last year.
Rodolphe Jaar, 49, a dual Haitian-Chilean citizen, was charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside of the US, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
He was also charged with “providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap” in relation to Moise’s killing at his residence in Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.
NBC News
Top Georgia election official Raffensperger details Trump call for Jan. 6 committee
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol interviewed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for several hours Tuesday in a meeting that included discussion of former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“I spoke to the January 6th committee to ensure they included the full record of how stolen election claims damage our democracy — whether in 2016, 2018, or 2020. While liberals in Washington, D.C. remain focused on Trump, conservatives should focus on the kitchen table issues that really matter to the American people,” Raffensperger, a Republican who is the state's top elections official, said in a statement.
The meeting was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
CBS News
FBI says it's conducting "court-authorized law enforcement activity" at congressman's Texas home
The FBI is conducting "court-authorized law enforcement activity" at Representative Henry Cuellar's Laredo, Texas, home, the agency confirmed in a short statement Wednesday.
Cuellar's office said in a statement that he will "fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld." It did not confirm an ongoing investigation by the FBI.
He is presumably not in Washington, D.C. right now, since he has been voting by proxy in the House, and the proxy letter he has filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives remains active.
Patch.com News
Congressman Jamaal Bowman Arrested By Capitol Police
Rep. Jamaal Bowman was arrested Thursday during a voting rights protest at the US Capitol, a spokesperson for his office said in a statement.
"Today, Congressman Jamaal Bowman joined a voting rights non-violent direct action at the North Barricade of the US Capitol Building and was arrested by the US Capitol Police," Bowman spokesperson Marcus Frias said in a statement released this afternoon. "We will provide more information and updates as we gather them."
Bowman represents parts of the Bronx and Southern Westchester, including Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle.
U.S. Capitol Police said a total of 27 people, including Bowman, were arrested for nonviolent offenses during the protest.
Florida Man Charged In Human Smuggling Case, Arrested In MN
A Florida man is facing human smuggling charges after border patrol agents stopped his vehicle and arrested him near the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Lancaster, Minnesota, Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Kovats announced Thursday.
Steve Shand, 47, was arrested Wednesday after border patrol agents stopped a white, 15-passenger van about a mile south of the border in a rural area between Lancaster and Pembina, North Dakota.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, Shand was traveling with two undocumented Indian nationals. Authorities also discovered cases of plastic cups, bottled water, bottled juice, and snacks located in the rear of the van. Authorities also discovered a receipt showing the van had been rented in Shand's name.
Good News Network
Outdoor Cats Are Using $500 Starlink Satellite Dishes as Self-Heating Beds
A man using a $500 Starlink satellite dish to connect to the internet was surprised to find five cats curled up inside of it on a snowy day.
Attracted to the dish for its self-heating feature that melts off snow to prevent interference with the connection, the cats would pile in all day, until night when they would return to their heated cat house.
Aaron Taylor suspects that the wide metal bowl of the satellite dish absorbs and reflects heat from the sun, while the self-heating feature warms from below, creating a kind of sleeping bag effect which the kitties found irresistible.
He confirmed in a tweet that five cats “slows everything down,” while another Starlink user reported a similar occurrence when a raptor was photographed enjoying the heat on its talons.