Germany could be off Russian oil by late summer
Germany's Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck has said that he expects his country to be fully independent of Russian crude oil imports by the end of summer.
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: Mariupol civilians evacuated from steelworks bunker
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Firefighters battling the nation's largest active wildfire brace for strong winds
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A judge again upholds Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction
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Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange
* Republican Hutchinson, at odds with Trump, eyes 2024 U.S. presidential run
* Boris Becker jailed: Tennis champion sentenced over bankruptcy
* May Day violence flares in France, Turkey
* Ukraine says it disrupted Russian spy ring plot
* Oil propels Saudi GDP growth to near 10 percent in first quarter
* The tick that makes people allergic to red meat is in D.C.
BBC
Ukraine war: Mariupol civilians evacuated from steelworks bunker
Dozens of civilians have been evacuated from Mariupol to both Russia-controlled and Ukraine-controlled territory after weeks under siege.
Some have left the Azovstal steelworks, the last hold-out of Ukrainian troops in the strategically significant city.
Russia said dozens of civilians have arrived in a village it controls.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a large group is also on its way to Zaporizhzhia, which Ukraine maintains control of.
"The first group of about 100 people is already heading to the controlled area," he tweeted. "Tomorrow [Monday} we'll meet them in Zaporizhzhia. Grateful to our team! Now they, together with UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant."
The United Nations confirmed that a "safe passage operation" had begun to evacuate the citizens on Saturday, and that it was involved alongside the Red Cross.
The evacuation convoy arrived on Saturday morning, the UN said - but did not give details on where people were being taken or how many had left, saying that sharing details could jeopardise the safety of the operation.
BBC
Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange
A thick cloud of orange dust has turned the skies over Iraq orange, as a major dust storm hit large parts of the country.
Flights have been grounded at airports in Baghdad and Najaf airports due to poor visibility.
The conditions are expected to continue into Monday, forecasters said.
Dust storms have become increasingly common in the Middle East, with experts blaming a combination of climate change and mismanagement of land and water.
In some places in Iraq on Saturday, visibility was limited to less than 500 meters. Iraq experienced a series of dust storms last month, with dozens needing hospital treatment for respiratory problems.
NPR
Firefighters battling the nation's largest active wildfire brace for strong winds
Over 1,000 firefighters backed by bulldozers and aircraft battled the largest active wildfire in the U.S., after strong winds had pushed it across some containment lines and closer to a small city in northern New Mexico.
Calmer winds on Saturday aided the firefighting effort after gusts accelerated the fire's advance to a point on Friday when "we were watching the fire march about a mile every hour," said Jayson Coil, a fire operations official.
Ash carried 7 miles (11 kilometers) through the air had fallen on Las Vegas, population about 13,000, and firefighters were trying to prevent the fire from getting closer, said Mike Johnson, a spokesperson with the fire management team.
But fire managers warned of windy conditions expected in the coming days, as well as impacts from smoke, and officials urged residents to remain vigilant for further possible evacuation orders.
Stewart Turner, a fire behavior analyst with the fire management team, warned Saturday of a "very serious week" ahead with the forecasted winds.
NPR
A judge again upholds Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction
NEW YORK — A judge concluded Friday that there was enough evidence to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she also gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the same crime and she can only be sentenced for one.
U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said in her written ruling that the jury's guilty verdicts were "readily supported" by extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence at a one-month trial that concluded in December.
Lawyers for Maxwell had asked her to reject the verdict on multiple grounds, including insufficient evidence.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.
Nathan said that she'll only sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts were duplicates of the third.
Reuters
United States Republican Hutchinson, at odds with Trump, eyes 2024 U.S. presidential run
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said on Sunday he is considering a run for the 2024 Republican U.S. presidential nomination, making clear that he is "not aligned" with former President Donald Trump, another potential candidate.
Hutchinson, a former congressman and head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is in his final year as governor of the southern state, with Arkansas law barring him from seeking a third four-year term.
Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he was considering running for his party's presidential nomination, Hutchinson said, "I am. But of course you've got to get through this year. That's an option on the table.”
Hutchinson has criticized Trump's continued efforts to discredit the 2020 presidential election in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated the businessman-turned-politician.
BBC
Boris Becker jailed: Tennis champion sentenced over bankruptcy
Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has been jailed for two and a half years for hiding £2.5m worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts.
The case centred on Becker's bankruptcy in June 2017 resulting from an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his luxury estate in Mallorca, Spain.
Judge Deborah Taylor said he had shown no remorse or acceptance of guilt.
Referring to Becker's previous conviction for tax evasion in Germany in 2002, she told the former world number one: "You did not heed the warning you were given and the chance you were given by the suspended sentence and that is a significant aggravating factor...
"You have... sought to distance yourself from your offending and your bankruptcy.
Deutsche Welle
May Day violence flares in France, Turkey
Clashes took place on the sidelines of a march in France's capital on Sunday, with demonstrators protesting the policies of recently reelected French President Emmanuel Macron.
Most of the protesters were peaceful, but violence broke out at two points along the route.
Police intervened when a group reported to be "Black Bloc" anarchists tried to erect a barricade near Paris's La Republique Square. Windows of local business were also reported to have been smashed.
There were some 250 large rallies in cities across the country, including Lille, Nantes, Toulouse and Marseille.
Macron faces strong resistance to his plans, seen by some opponents on the left as pro-business. Among his policies is an increase of the retirement age to 65.
The cost-of-living crisis was also a major theme of the protests — as it was in last month's election campaign.
The French president won a new five-year term after fending off a challenge from far-right populist rival Marine Le Pen in last Sunday's runoff vote.
Deutsche Welle
Ukraine says it disrupted Russian spy ring plot
Ukrainian security forces said they uncovered a Russian spy ring and said one of the spies was working in Ukraine's military general staff.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, "The comrades were supposed to shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and then say Ukraine was responsible."
He added Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles would have been used to execute the planned shootdown.
Germany's Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck has said that he expects his country to be fully independent of Russian crude oil imports by the end of summer.
Al Jazeera
Oil propels Saudi GDP growth to near 10 percent in first quarter
Saudi Arabia’s economy has registered a nearly 10 percent rise in its first quarter compared to the same period last year thanks to high global crude prices.
The world’s largest oil exporter reported its fastest economic growth rate in a decade, as a booming oil sector fuelled a 9.6 percent rise in the first quarter.
The preliminary results on Sunday come after Saudi Arabia resisted United States entreaties to raise output in an attempt to rein in prices that have spiked since the Ukraine war began.
“Oil activities led the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Saudi Arabia to achieve the highest growth rate in [the] last 10 years,” the Saudi statistics authority said in initial estimates published online.
Growth in the oil sector reached 20.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while the non-oil sector expanded 3.7 percent year-on-year, it said.
Vegetarian Alert
Washington Post
The tick that makes people allergic to red meat is in D.C.
Our recent warm weather has reawakened ticks, and one type in particular is becoming more common in the D.C. area: the lone star tick. One bite from this tick, which is easily identified by the white spot on its back if it’s a female, can cause a life-long adverse reaction to eating red meat.
The lone star tick originated in the southern states but has spread north and west to cover much of the eastern half of the country. With a warming climate, more ticks survive the winter months, and their range is expanding.
When lone star ticks feed on mammals, such as mice, rabbits or deer, they ingest alpha-gal sugars. Later, if the ticks bite and feed on humans, they inject the alpha-gal sugars with their saliva into their human host.