Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
From Ukrayinska Pravda, via Yahoo News:
The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has suggested that the "people's militia" he is creating should consist of groups of about 50 people for each village council.
Details: Lukashenko believes that those who join the "people's militia" should have basic knowledge of weapons. He emphasised that "a real man should be able to protect his family if necessary."
From Reuters:
- More than 20 cases on forced deportation - Kyiv's top prosecutor
- International law defines forced child transfers as genocide
- Russia says it is providing humanitarian aid to people fleeing
- Russia says quarter million children have arrived from Ukraine
THE HAGUE, June 3 (Reuters) - Prosecutors investigating war crimes cases in Ukraine are examining allegations of the forcible deportation of children to Russia since the invasion as they seek to build a genocide indictment, the country’s top prosecutor said in an interview.
From the New Yorker (satire):
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a move that could tip the scales in the war against Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have reached an agreement to ship Americans’ four hundred million firearms to Ukraine.
“The Second Amendment calls for a well-regulated militia necessary to secure a free state,” Biden said. “I can’t think of a better description of what’s going on in Ukraine right now.”
There is, of course, other news besides Ukraine. Follow me below the fold.
Now on to other news of the week, beginning with this from CNN:
Abu Dhabi, UAE (CNN)The nation of Turkey has had it with being associated with a large bird that is best known as a symbol of the North American Thanksgiving holiday.
On Thursday, the United Nations recognized the
country's rebranding to Turkiye, pronounced tur-key-yay, in a move Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said would "increase our country's brand value."
From Al Jazeera:
Arrest of Sanjay Shah made possible after Denmark signed an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates in March.
Dubai police say they have arrested and plan to extradite a British man wanted in Denmark over a $1.7bn tax scheme, one of Denmark’s largest-ever fraud cases.
The arrest of hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah, 52, follows after Danish officials signed an agreement in March allowing for extradition between the United Arab Emirates and Denmark.
From the BBC:
Uefa has apologised to Liverpool and Real Madrid fans caught up in events around the Champions League final and said it must not happen again.
Liverpool fans described heavy-handed policing, organisational chaos and overcrowding at last Saturday's showpiece game.
Real Madrid have asked for answers on the "series of unfortunate events".
From CNN:
Berlin (CNN)At least four people were killed and 15 severely injured when a train derailed in southern Germany on Friday, according to local police.
The regional train was traveling in the direction of Munich when it derailed near Burgrain, north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski resort in the Bavarian Alps.
From the NY Times:
David Kertzer has spent decades excavating the Vatican’s hidden history, with his work winning a Pulitzer and capturing Hollywood’s attention. A new book examines Pope Pius XII’s role in the Holocaust.
VATICAN CITY — David Kertzer put down his cappuccino, put on his backpack and went digging for more Vatican secrets.
“There’s an aspect of treasure hunting,” said Mr. Kertzer, a 74-year-old historian.
Moments later he cut through a crowd lined up to see Pope Francis, showed his credentials to the Swiss Guards and entered the archives of the former headquarters for the Holy Roman Inquisition.
Over the last few decades, Mr. Kertzer has turned the inquisitive tables on the church. Using the Vatican’s own archives, the soft-spoken Brown University professor and trustee at the American Academy in Rome has become arguably the most effective excavator of the Vatican’s hidden sins, especially those leading up to and during World War II.
From the AP:
By JON GAMBRELL and DAVID RISING
BANGKOK (AP) — China’s most advanced aircraft carrier to date appears to be nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Friday, as experts suggested the vessel could be launched soon.
The newly developed Type 003 carrier has been under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard northeast of Shanghai since 2018. Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC on May 31 suggest work on the vessel is close to done.
From The Washington Post:
In 2021, Japan recorded its lowest number of births in more than a century, according to government data released Friday. The figure is sure to stoke anxieties over the ongoing implications of population decline — a longtime subject of hand-wringing in the country’s policy circles and political discourse.
The country recorded 811,604 births and 1,439,809 deaths last year — meaning the population dropped by 628,205, the biggest natural decline since data became available,
Reuters reported.
The decline in births marks a 3.5 percent decrease from the previous year.
From KSL.com/CNN:
SHARK BAY, Australia — The world's largest living plant has been identified in the shallow waters off the coast of Western Australia, according to scientists.
The sprawling seagrass, a marine flowering plant known as Posidonia australis, stretches for more than 112 miles in Shark Bay, a wilderness area protected as a World Heritage site, said Elizabeth Sinclair, a senior research fellow at the School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia.
That's about the distance between San Diego and Los Angeles.
From the Washington Post:
Leaders are gathering for the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles
Analysis by Dinorah Azpuru
The ninth Summit of the Americas will be held in Los Angeles from June 6-10. The summit brings together the heads of government for North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean: Canada, the United States, 19 Latin American countries and 14 Caribbean countries. This is the second time the United States will host the summit, after organizing the original meeting in Miami in 1994; since then, the summit has been held in countries throughout the Americas. This year’s agenda is ambitious; parallel to the presidents’ meetings, business leaders and civil society organizations will hold talks as well.
There have been diplomatic controversies over which leaders will and will not attend the summit. As of this writing, most of the invited heads of government have confirmed their attendance, but some are still pending. While the news media are watching the heads of government, what do ordinary Latin Americans think about the United States and other powers vying for world leadership?
From the BBC:
The Democratic Republic of Congo is better known for the brutality of its many rebel groups than the quality of its coffee, but one project is trying to change that, writes Moses Sawasawa.
An ideal climate and hilly terrain has seen generations of farmers grow Arabica coffee on Idjwi island in Lake Kivu, located between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
From the BBC, as well:
By Yusuf Akinpelu
More than 2,000 confiscated motorcycle taxis have been crushed in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, following a ban on the vehicles, known as okadas.
The move comes following the lynching of a man by suspected riders last month, which sparked outrage.
Sunday David, a 38-year-old sound engineer, was killed in the upmarket Lekki neighbourhood after a disagreement over fares.
From the BBC:
The world's cities have always been radically hostile environments for trees – but there’s one variety that’s proved to be remarkably resilient.
In an unremarkable corner of London's Cheapside district, tucked away behind black wrought-iron fencing, is one of the city's oldest residents. With a towering frame and slightly stooped posture, capped with a broad thatch of leathery, star-shaped leaves, this venerable giant is thought to have presided over the city since at least the 18th Century.
Over its lifetime, the Cheapside tree has lived through countless dramas and innovations – slowly inching its way upwards while stonemasons toiled away erecting early coffee houses and banks, then gradually broadening its shoulders as the first electric hackney carriages rolled along the streets below, and later, shading the cars that replaced them. It's been a stoic witness to the infamous cholera outbreak of 1854 – which led to the introduction of modern sanitation – the 1918 flu pandemic, and the horrors of the Blitz.
From the NY Times:
Decades after militant violence forced many of them out of the disputed region, hundreds of families have left in another exodus.
ANANTNAG, Kashmir — As hundreds of Hindu families fled the Kashmir region in recent weeks amid a spike in targeted militant attacks, Sandeep Raina, a 38-year-old engineer, resigned himself to his worst fear: that he would have to abandon his home once again.
He had been 8 years old — almost the same age as his son is now — when his family was forced out of the valley by militants in the 1990s. He spent the next two decades moving from place to place before finally returning to Kashmir a decade ago to take up a job, build a home and start a family.