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 (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, JeremyBloom, FarWestGirl, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos since 2007, 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.
BBC
Trump told Israel not to kill Iran's supreme leader - report
US President Donald Trump rejected a plan by Israel to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three US officials have told BBC's US partner CBS News.
Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that assassinating Khamenei was "not a good idea", according to one official. The president has not commented publicly on the report.
The conversation is said to have happened since Israel launched its attack on Iran on Friday.
During an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu did not directly confirm or deny a report from Reuters that Trump had vetoed a plan to kill the ayatollah.
"There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened and I'm not going to get into that," the Israeli prime minister said.
"But I can tell you I think we do what we need to do. We will do what we need to do and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States and I'm just not going to get into it."
NPR
Deadly flash floods kill 13 in San Antonio and at least 3 in West Virginia
Flash floods hit the San Antonio area late last week, leaving 13 dead, the San Antonio Fire Department confirmed over the weekend.
The flooding arrived in the San Antonio area on Thursday, when a record 6.11 inches of rain fell, including about 4 inches that fell in a single hour early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
On Saturday, the fire department released the names of most those killed, Texas Public Radio reported.
The fire department said it responded to more than 70 water rescues, according to TPR. The fire department did not immediately respond to NPR's request for information about rescues.
AP News
Protester shot and killed at ‘No Kings’ rally in Utah, police say
A man who was believed to be part of a peacekeeping team for the “No Kings” protestin Salt Lake City shot at a person who was brandishing a rifle at demonstrators, striking both the rifleman and a bystander who later died at the hospital, authorities said Sunday.
Police took the alleged rifleman, Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody Saturday evening on a murder charge, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said at a Sunday news conference. The bystander was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, a fashion designer from Samoa.
Detectives don’t yet know why Gamboa pulled out a rifle or ran from the peacekeepers, but they accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo’s death. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.
Redd said the man believed to be part of the peacekeeping team, dressed in a neon green vest, fired three shots from a handgun at Gamboa, inflicting a relatively minor injury but fatally shooting Ah Loo. Redd did not share the man’s name.
Christian Science Monitor
How bird poachers in Indonesia turned their town into a perch for birders
A decade ago, when Kelik Suparno heard the Javan blue flycatcher’s melodic whistle, he perked up at the promise of a payday. Knowing a single bird could earn him two months’ salary at one of Indonesia’s bustling bird markets, he set off to capture the critically endangered creature.
Now, when he hears its distinct, high-pitched “twee-twoo” sounds, he perks up for a different reason. It means he gets to introduce a group of outsiders – researchers, photographers, tourists – to his favorite species.
Like many other men in the mountain village of Jatimulyo, Mr. Suparno made the switch from bird hunter to nature guide shortly after the village banned poaching. And now, as increasingly popular birdsong competitions across Asia threaten the country’s wildlife, Jatimulyo could set an example for other communities.
Hindustan Times
Who is ‘Q’ aka Blaise Metreweli? First woman to lead UK spy agency MI6 in its 116-year history
MI6 will be led by a woman for the first time in Britain’s foreign intelligence service's 116-year history. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer named Blaise Metreweli as the first female head of the Secret Intelligence Service.
The 47-year-old is a career intelligence officer and currently the spy agency’s head of technology.
Metreweli joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1999. She has spent most of her career working in European or Middle Eastern countries.
She will replace the current chief of MI6, Richard Moore, who will step down after completing his five-year tenure.
"I am proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service," Metreweli said.
Prior to joining MI6, she held a director-level role in MI5 - the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency.
Reuters
BARCELONA/MADRID, June 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of people took to the streets of cities in southern Europe on Sunday to demonstrate against overtourism, firing water pistols at shop windows and setting off smoke in Barcelona, where the main protest took place.
"Your holidays, my misery," protesters chanted in the streets of Barcelona while holding up banners emblazoned with slogans such as "mass tourism kills the city" and "their greed brings us ruin".
Under the umbrella of the
SET alliance - Sud d'Europa contra la Turistització, or Catalan for "Southern Europe against Overtourism" - protesters joined forces with groups in Portugal and Italy, arguing that uncontrolled tourism was sending housing prices soaring and forcing people out of their neighbourhoods.
Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million, drew 26 million tourists last year.
International travel spending in Europe is expected to rise by 11% to $838 billion this year, with Spain and France among the countries set to receive record numbers of tourists.
Reuters
Iran rejects ceasefire negotiations while under Israeli attack, official says
DUBAI, June 16 (Reuters) - Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday, as the two foes launched fresh attacks and raised fears of a wider conflict.
"The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conflict.
Iran made "clear that it will not negotiate while under attack," the official said.
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days.
Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation in what has emerged as the biggest ever confrontation between the longstanding enemies.
Deutsche Welle
Risk of nuclear war grows amid new arms race
There are nine nuclear-armed states in the world and nearly all of them continued with intensive nuclear modernization programs in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions.
That is one of the key findings of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's (SIPRI) Yearbook 2025, an annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security.
In the mid-1980s, nuclear warheads, bombs and shells worldwide numbered around 64,000. Today, the figure stands at an estimated 12,241. That trend now looks set to be reversed, according to the latest assessment.
"The most worrying single thing that we see in the nuclear arsenals at the moment is that the long-term reduction in the numbers of nuclear warheads is coming to an end," SIPRI Director Dan Smith told DW.Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War, the dismantling of retired warheads — warheads removed from the nuclear stockpile — has outpaced the deployment of new ones.
