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.
Some stories for tonight:
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Ukraine war: Trucks stuck at Poland-Belarus border as EU sanctions deadline passes
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Unrest in Sweden over planned Quran burnings
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NATO troops conducted a routine war exercise in the Arctic. This year felt different
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South Africa’s flood-ravaged east hit by more heavy rain
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Tunisia’s neighbours offer help to contain damage after fuel ship sank
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At least 47 dead in Afghanistan after Pakistan attacks: Officials
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Myanmar’s military government grants amnesty to 1,600 prisoners
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Shanghai targets lockdown turning point by Wednesday
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Le Pen accused of embezzlement ahead of French presidential run-off
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Nor’easter to paste Appalachians and interior New England with snow
BBC
Ukraine war: Trucks stuck at Poland-Belarus border as EU sanctions deadline passes
A huge queue of trucks has formed on the Poland-Belarus border as Russian and Belarussian drivers try to leave the EU following a sanctions deadline.
In the run-up to the Saturday deadline, the line extended to 80km (60 miles), with some stuck for up to 33 hours.
The EU has banned lorries from Russia and Belarus - except those carrying medicine, mail or petroleum products - from entering or staying in the bloc.
The move is part of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Drone footage filed by Reuters news agency showed long queues remaining as the midnight deadline neared.
"There are still many kilometres to drive... so it's unrealistic," it quoted a Belarusian driver on his chances of crossing the border in time.
BBC
Unrest in Sweden over planned Quran burnings
Clashes have taken place for a fourth day in several Swedish cities, sparked by the apparent burning of a Quran by a far-right, anti-immigrant group.
Local media said three people were injured in the eastern city of Norrköping on Sunday when police fired warning shots at rioters.
Several vehicles were set on fire and at least 17 people were arrested.
On Saturday, vehicles including a bus were set on fire in the southern city of Malmo during a far-right rally.
Earlier, the governments of Iran and Iraq summoned Swedish envoys to protest about the burning.
Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan, who leads the Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, movement said he had burned Islam's most sacred text and would repeat the action.
At least 16 police officers were reported to have been injured and several police vehicles destroyed in unrest on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in places where the far-right group planned events, including in the suburbs of Stockholm and in the cities of Linköping and Norrköping.
NPR
NATO troops conducted a routine war exercise in the Arctic. This year felt different
In March, a U.S. Marine Corps general aboard an Italian aircraft carrier floating in an Arctic fjord directed French troops to launch an amphibious assault from a Dutch ship to repel the occupation of Norway.
It was just a simulation — part of NATO's "Cold Response" exercise, which happens every two years. This year, however, with all eyes looking across Norway's border with Russia, the exercise felt a bit more real.
"Having a major power in Europe engaging in a broad land-air war, attacking your neighbor, influences everything," said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who was observing the war games. "Norway needs an alliance, allies, training, relevant defense to be safe. And that's what we practice here."
Troops from 27 countries participated in one of the largest NATO war games since the 1980s. Although it was scheduled two years ago, Russia's invasion of Ukraine gave this NATO exercise a Cold-War feel — and a renewed mission to deter Russia from thinking that any NATO country might be a soft target.
The Guardian
South Africa’s flood-ravaged east hit by more heavy rain
South Africa’s flood-ravaged east has been hit by another downpour of rain, after the catastrophic storm killed nearly 400 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
Flood waters from the deadliest storm to hit the country in living memory engulfed parts of the coastal city of Durban earlier this week – tearing apart roads, sweeping away homes and those trapped inside them, and sinking heavy cargo containers.
Emergency services in the south-eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is located, were on high alert as weather forecasters predicted more rain over the Easter weekend.“It’s already raining in some parts of KZN but it won’t be as hectic as it was in the past few days,” said Puseletso Mofokeng, a senior forecaster at the South Africa weather service, adding: “But because of the soil being oversaturated with water, we can still get a lot of flooding.”
The Guardian
Tunisia’s neighbours offer help to contain damage after fuel ship sank
Some neighbouring countries have offered to help Tunisia prevent damage to the environment after a merchant ship carrying up to 1,000 tonnes of fuel sank off the country’s coast, the Tunisian defence ministry has said.
The ship, which was travelling from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening due to bad weather. It sank near Gabes, and the Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members. After being checked in hospital, all seven were taken to a hotel.
Xelo carried between 750 and 1,000 tonnes of fuel. The tanker was 58 metres (190ft) long and nine metres wide, according to the ship monitoring website Vesseltracker.com.
In a statement sent to Reuters, the defence ministry said that in order to control the environmental damage, the Tunisian navy would work with countries that had expressed their desire to help.
Divers who inspected the tanker detected no leaks on Sunday, officials said.
The transport minister, Rabie Majidi, said rescue workers had checked during the operation that the valves were closed, and the team of divers ensured they were sealed and intact.
Al Jazeera
At least 47 dead in Afghanistan after Pakistan attacks: Officials
The death toll from Pakistan’s military air raids on targets in the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost and Kunar on Saturday has risen to at least 47, officials said.
“Forty-one civilians, mainly women and children, were killed and 22 others were wounded in air strikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand Line in Khost province,” Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in Khost, told AFP on Sunda.
Two other officials confirmed the death toll in Khost, while an Afghan official said on Saturday that six people were killed in Kunar province.
Afghanistan’s largest news channel, TOLO News, showed images of children’s bodies it said were killed in the air attack.
The same channel showed protests by hundreds of residents in Khost condemning Pakistan and shouting anti-Pakistan slogans.
Al Jazeera
Myanmar’s military government grants amnesty to 1,600 prisoners
Myanmar’s military government has started releasing more than 1,600 prisoners to mark the Southeast Asian nation’s traditional New Year festivities, but no political detainees have been freed despite the country’s ruling general promising to restore peace this year.
Among those imprisoned by the military are opposition party leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is held in the capital Naypyidaw, and her Australian economic policy adviser, Sean Turnell, who is in the notorious Insein Prison facility on the outskirts of Yangon.
Reuters
Shanghai targets lockdown turning point by Wednesday
SHANGHAI, April 17 (Reuters) - Shanghai has set a target to stop the spread of COVID-19 outside of quarantined areas by Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter said, which would allow the city to further ease its lockdown and start returning to normal life as public frustrations grow.
The target will require officials to accelerate COVID testing and the transfer of positive cases to quarantine centres, according to a speech by a local Communist Party official dated Saturday, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Ending community-level transmission has been a turning point for other Chinese localities that locked down, such as Shenzhen city which last month reopened public transport and let businesses go back to work shortly after achieving that target. Shanghai has become the epicentre of China's largest outbreak since the virus was first identified in Wuhan in late 2019, and has recorded more than 320,000 COVID infections since early March when its surge began.
Raw Story
Le Pen accused of embezzlement ahead of French presidential run-off
Accusations of embezzlement have surfaced against Marine Le Pen, just as the far-right nationalist politician is set to enter the run-off election for the French presidency on April 24.
The public prosecution in Paris had received a report from the EU's anti-fraud office OLAF issued on March 11 which contained allegations against Le Pen and was currently being examined, the prosecutor's office told dpa on Sunday.
Parts of the report were published by investigative news site Mediapart on Saturday. In it, Le Pen is being accused of embezzling nearly €137,000 ($148,000) in EU funds during her time as lawmaker in the European Parliament between 2004 and 2017.
Le Pen's lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut, who is quoted in the Mediapart report, has denied the accusations. The presidential hopeful reserved the right to take legal action against former assistants or service providers who may have embezzled funds or committed other misconduct without Le Pen's knowledge, he said.
Washington Post
Nor’easter to paste Appalachians and interior New England with snow
Even as recent warmth may have residents of the Northeast looking ahead toward summer, a late-season winter storm is threatening to bring snow to portions of the region on Monday and Tuesday.
In an acute case of weather whiplash, at least 4 to 8 inches of snow could fall in hilly and mountainous areas of the interior Northeast amid temperatures up to 25 degrees below normal. Even the high elevations of the Mid-Atlantic (above 2,000-3,000 feet) could see snow accumulation.
“This late season system will have high water content (moisture) and will be quite heavy,” the National Weather Service wrote Sunday. “This could result in downed trees, power outages, and difficult shoveling. Hazardous travel conditions may develop due to slushy, snow-covered roads.”