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 JeremyBloom. 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.
BBC
Gulnara Karimova: How Uzbek president’s daughter built a £200m property empire
A dictator's daughter who moonlighted as a pop star and diplomat spent $240m (£200m) on properties from London to Hong Kong, a report has found.
Gulnara Karimova used UK companies to buy homes and a jet with funds obtained through bribery and corruption, the Freedom For Eurasia study says.
It adds that accounting firms in London and the British Virgin Islands acted for UK companies involved in the deals.
The story raises fresh doubts about the UK's efforts to tackle illegal wealth.
British authorities have long been accused of not doing enough to prevent criminals from overseas using UK property to launder money.
The report says the ease with which Karimova obtained UK property was "concerning".
BBC
San Diego: Eight dead after boats, possibly used for people smuggling, capsize
At least eight people have died after two boats capsized off the California coast, emergency services have said.
A search began after the boats got in trouble off Black's Beach, San Diego.
A 911 caller told emergency services she had been on a boat with eight people that made it to shore, but another vessel, carrying eight to 10 people, had capsized.
San Diego Lifeguard chief James Gartland called it one of the state's worst maritime smuggling tragedies.
Officials said they did not know the nationalities of the victims but they were all adults.
Emergency responders from several agencies found two overturned boats with bodies spread over an area of 400 yards (366m), and a search operation continued into Sunday morning.
It was unclear what caused the incident but Mr Gartland described the area as "hazardous" due to sand bars and in-shore rip currents.
Rescuers did not find any survivors, but some may have left the beach before the emergency services arrived, he suggested.
The Guardian
Dozens of people reported missing in Mediterranean after vessel capsizes
Dozens of people reported missing in Mediterranean after vessel capsizes
Rescue organisations say passengers on boat attempting crossing from Libya to Italy are feared dead
Several dozen people are missing and feared dead in the central Mediterranean after the boat in which they were travelling from Libyacapsized in bad weather, two rescue organisations have said.
The Mediterranea Saving Humans NGO tweeted that according to several sources, the vessel, travelling in the direction of Italy, capsized this morning about 110 miles (180km) north-west of Benghazi.
Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from vessels in distress, said on Twitter it had first alerted authorities on Saturday, emphasising that the boat, which was carrying 47 people, needed immediate rescue.
“We are in shock. According to different sources, dozens of people from this boat in distress have drowned,” it said on Twitter. Italian authorities had requested merchant vessels in the area to intervene, according to Mediterranea. However, it said they did not carry out a rescue operation once they reached the area.
The Guardian (I mention this because it’s the only Oscar film we’ve seen)
All Quiet on the Western Front wins best international feature film Oscar
All Quiet on the Western Front has won the Oscar for best international feature film at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
The German-language first world war film is an adaptation of Erich Remarque’s landmark 1928 novel; an earlier Hollywood adaptation, directed by Lewis Milestone, won the best picture Oscar in 1930. This version, directed by Edward Berger, stars Felix Kammerer as initially eager soldier Paul Bäumer who is traumatised by life in the trenches.
Having premiered at the Venice film festival, All Quiet on the Western Front has made a strong impression at previous awards ceremonies, including a spectacular performance at the Baftas where it won seven prizes including best film. At the Oscars it had to defeat a strong field in the international film category, including Jerzy Skolimowski’s donkey fable EO and Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl, directed by Colm Bairéad.
The Guardian
Another ‘atmospheric river’ threatens to hit California as state reels from storms
Storm expected to hit Monday after weekend of destruction and flooding left thousands without power and two people dead
Another “atmospheric river” storm was expected to hit California on Monday, after thousands of residents were left without power following a weekend of heavy rainfall, powerful floods and deadly destruction.
Atmospheric rivers, streams of moisture that transport water vapor from the tropics following evaporation of warm water in the Pacific, are often accompanied by powerful winds and destructive flooding.
According to the US National Weather Service (NWS), another atmospheric river is set to sweep across California on Monday, a storm expected to produce “very heavy rainfall”, particularly for northern and central parts of the state.
Heavy mountain snowfall and strong winds are also expected, with the worst of the conditions likely “occurring late during the day Monday, continuing through the day on Tuesday when the heaviest rainfall amounts are likely”.
NPR
As Biden weighs the Willow oil project, he blocks other Alaska drilling
WILMINGTON, Del. — As President Biden prepares a final decision on the huge Willow oil project in Alaska, his administration announced he will prevent or limit oil drilling in 16 million acres in Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
Plans announced Sunday night will bar drilling in nearly 3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea — closing it off from oil exploration — and limit drilling in more than 13 million acres in a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska.
The moves come as regulators prepare to announce a final decision on the $8 billion Willow project, a controversial oil drilling plan pushed by ConocoPhillips in the petroleum reserve. Climate activists have rallied against the project, calling it a "carbon bomb" that would be a betrayal of Biden's campaign pledges to curb new oil and gas drilling. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, called Willow "one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state's history."
NPR
Texas officials have told residents Mexico is too dangerous to visit for spring break
The Texas Department of Public Safety has urged residents to avoid spring break travel to Mexico, warning that drug cartel violence and other crime pose a significant safety threat.
"We have a duty to inform the public about safety, travel risks and threats," said DPS Director Steven McCraw in a statement on Friday. "Based on the volatile nature of cartel activity and the violence we are seeing there; we are urging individuals to avoid travel to Mexico at this time."
U.S. citizens who decide to travel to Mexico are encouraged to register with an embassy or consulate before they go, the Texas agency said.
The advisory follows the kidnapping of four Americans earlier this month in the Mexican city of Matamoros.
Reuters
Hundreds of migrants try to force their way into US at Mexico border
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, March 12 (Reuters) - U.S. officials stopped hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants entering the country from Mexico on Sunday after a large group broke through Mexican lines to demand asylum in the U.S., only to be thwarted by barbed wire, barriers and shields.
Frustrated with problems securing appointments to seek asylum using a new U.S. government app, the migrants gathered at the frontier in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, but could not breach the crossing connecting the two countries.
"Please, we just want to get in so we can help our families," said Camila Paz, an 18-year-old Venezuelan, sobbing heavily. "So I can have a future and help my family."
Neither U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nor the Mexican government's national migration authority immediately replied to requests for comment.
Washington Post
Silicon Valley Bank CEO should return stock-sale gains, lawmaker says
The list of companies and banks potentially affected by Friday’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is growing. But at least one person seems to have cashed in recently: chief executive Greg Becker, whose trust sold $3.6 million worth of shares on Feb. 27, according to SEC filings.
Becker is now coming under scrutiny, including from a personal acquaintance, Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna, who said Sunday that Becker should give that money back.
“There should be a clawback of any of that money,” Khanna said in an interview with The Washington Post. “It should be going to the depositors.”
The sharp comments from Khanna, who represents the district where Silicon Valley Bank was headquartered, comes amid a furor in Washington over what the government’s role should be in bailing out the bank and making its customers whole.