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.
Chicago Sun-Times: Trump administration cutting millions in Illinois HIV prevention grants, citing 'agency priorities' by Tina Sfondeles and Elvia Malagon
The Trump administration is planning to slash $600 million in public health grants for Illinois and three other Democrat-led states, including $5.2 million in cuts for an HIV prevention program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.
In total, at least $29 million in Illinois grants are on the chopping block, including city, state and other health centers’ HIV prevention programs, according to a list of grants obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. The list represents a first wave of cuts, which is anticipated to total around $600 million, and it specifically targets family planning and HIV prevention programs.
The New York Times on Monday reported the pending cuts to programs in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. They also included $7.2 million in grant cuts to the American Medical Association in Illinois, which supports gender affirming care.
An HHS spokesperson confirmed the total amount of cuts, including the $5.2 million in cuts for Lurie grants.
“These grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities,” a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services spokeperson told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
The New York Times: Lutnick Acknowledges Traveling to Epstein’s Island by Ana Swanson
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged in a Senate hearing on Tuesday that he had traveled to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island and had another encounter with Mr. Epstein, years after Mr. Lutnick claimed to have cut ties with him.
Mr. Lutnick, a member of President Trump’s cabinet, is one of the highest-profile political figures in the United States to come under intense scrutiny stemming from millions of new documents that were released by the Justice Department last month.
The files revealed that Mr. Lutnick, who had been a neighbor of Mr. Epstein, continued correspondence with Mr. Epstein long after the disgraced financier had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The records and Tuesday’s testimony contradict Mr. Lutnick’s assertion on a podcast last year that he had been so disgusted by Mr. Epstein during a 2005 visit to his townhouse that Mr. Lutnick never set foot in a room with Mr. Epstein again. There had been calls for Mr. Lutnick’s resignation even before he gave his testimony.
“Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team and the president fully supports the secretary,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday.
Mother Jones: Trump’s Immigration Officials Don’t Want to Talk About the Cruelty by Alex Nguyen
“I’m not going to speak about personnel actions,” acting ICE director Todd Lyons said in response to a question from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) about whether ICE agents have been fired for misconduct during his leadership.
“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the family in private, but I’m not going to comment on any active investigation,” Lyons said again, this time to a question about whether the immigration chief was willing to apologize to Renée Good’s family for the Trump administration calling her actions “domestic terrorism.”
Later in Rep. Swalwell’s questioning, Lyons refused to say whether he agreed with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s justification of Good’s killing on the same grounds.
This was the theme of more than three hours of testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Tuesday, as Lyons and two other top immigration officials, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow, largely deflected questions on accountability and killings by ICE officers.
The Guardian: FDA declines to review Moderna application for new flu vaccine by Melody Schreiber
US regulators will not review Moderna’s request to license a new, potentially more effective flu shot – even though the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) previously gave the green light to the project – in a decision that could have implications for all new and updated vaccines in the US.
It’s the latest move by the Trump administration against vaccines. Officials in January decided to stop fully recommending one-third of routine childhood vaccines, including flu vaccines.
“This is likely to discourage industry from investing in future influenza vaccines, and makes working with the US FDA uncertain and problematic,” said Dorit Reiss, professor of law at UC Law San Francisco.
“They are refusing to review a new vaccine with a more flexible technology, while creating a real risk we will not have traditional vaccines for next year.”
AlJazeera: Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate by Mohammad Mansour
At dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City, searching for her son, Saad. She found her husband screaming, but of Saad, there was no trace.
“I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” Mahani told Al Jazeera Arabic for an investigation that aired on Monday. She searched hospitals and morgues for days. “We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
Mahani is one of thousands of Palestinians whose loved ones have simply vanished during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people.
According to the Al Jazeera Arabic investigation, The Rest of the Story, Civil Defence teams in Gaza have documented 2,842 Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the war began in October 2023, leaving behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of flesh.
Experts and witnesses attributed this phenomenon to Israel’s systematic use of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, often referred to as vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius [6,332 degrees Fahrenheit].
El País in English: Emmanuel Macron: ‘The strategy of bowing down to the US doesn’t work’ Daniel Verdú
Everything about Emmanuel Macron, 48, that Jupiter who arrived on the political scene in 2017 to radically transform it, has always been precocious. His great success, and also his own decline. After nine years as head of state of France, he has gone through practically every phase. Today, after a period riddled with political crises, he is entering the final stretch of his term. Weakened internally, he has decided to focus on his role as an international leader and staunch opponent of the new U.S. imperialism, ending his adventure as he began it with his famous Sorbonne speech. That is to say, by invoking the urgent need for European sovereignty. “It is time for Europe to wake up, to emerge from its status as a geopolitical minority. If we do not decide for ourselves, we will be swept away,” he said in an interview at the Élysée Palace with EL PAÍS and a group of six international newspapers, addressing some of the points he will propose at the informal meeting of EU leaders on Thursday, focused on revitalizing the EU economy.
Question. France’s fragility seems to have weakened the historic Franco-German axis in favor of Italy. We have seen this in the latest document that both countries have prepared together on competitiveness.
Answer. When the Franco-German group is aligned, Europe can move forward, but it’s always necessary to respect others and engage their interests. It’s normal that a joint document on growth was drawn up for a German-Italian summit. I don’t see anything new under the sun. The issue is how Europe positions itself in the face of a new world order.
