Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, annetteboardman, FarWestGirl, 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, 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.
NPR
U.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn is in 'stable condition' after crash in Olympic downhill
Just 13 seconds into her downhill run, as she skied through the fourth gate of the course, Vonn hooked her right arm and shoulder around the gate, which swung her whole body to the right as she skied off a jump. Her body spun in the air then landed — hard — on the snow and tumbled end-over-end down the slope.
The extent of her injuries was not immediately clear. In a brief statement, U.S. Ski & Snowboard said she had "sustained an injury, but is in stable condition." According to reports by the Associated Press and Reuters, Vonn was transported to a hospital.
NPR
U.K. leader's chief of staff quits over hiring of Epstein friend as U.S. ambassador
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain's most important diplomatic post in 2024.
"The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself," McSweeney said in a statement. "When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice."
Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgement after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government's business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.
The Guardian
Weather tracker: Storm Leonardo continues to batter Europe and northern Africa
The Iberian peninsula has been placed under severe weather alerts as Storm Leonardo continues to batter parts of Spain and Portugal with torrential rain and strong winds.
Since Tuesday, the slow-moving system has brought widespread disruption, flooding and evacuations. In Grazalema, in southern Spain, more than 700mm of rain has fallen since Wednesday, roughly equivalent to the country’s average annual rainfall.
Across Andalucía, about 3,500 people have been evacuated, with roads and schools closed, and transport networks disrupted. Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, issued its highest red alert for heavy rainfall in Cádiz and parts of Málaga, where around 150mm was recorded in only 12 hours on Thursday. Portugal, still recovering from Storm Kristin, which killed at least five people last week, has also been badly affected. Fresh downpours have triggered flooding, landslides and falling trees, forcing more than 200 people to evacuate.
Deutsche Welle
US oil blockade: How long before Cuba collapses?
The United States, after attacking Venezuela — Cuba's closest ally — and abducting its leader Nicolas Maduro has effectively cut off Venezuelan oil supplies to Havana. And in late January, US President Donald Trump called Cuba "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security and threatened to impose tariffs on any state that supplied oil or oil products to the island nation.
"Trump is crazy, he wants to take away the very air that we breathe," says Aleida, who runs a homestay in Havana and did not want to share her last name, like all private citizens DW spoke with. "And the other one is even more of a fanatic when it comes to Cuba."
She's referring to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state and son of Cuban migrants. He's long been seen as a leading voice of "maximum pressure" toward Venezuela and Cuba to force regime change.
AP News
Hong Kong ex-media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison in national security case
HONG KONG (AP) — Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoonand a fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in one of the most prominent cases under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.
Lai was convicted in December of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. The maximum penalty for his conviction was life imprisonment. Given he is 78 years old, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
His co-defendants, six former employees of his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists, received jail terms between 6 years and 3 months, and 10 years.
AP News
Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 jumps after PM Takaichi’s ruling party wins a super majority in election
BANGKOK (AP) — Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 share index jumped as much as 5% to a record on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party secured a two-thirds supermajority in a parliamentary election.
Takaichi is expected to pursue market-friendly policies, having declared she will work to make Japan strong and prosperous by reviving its sluggish economy.
Markets across Asia also advanced, with South Korea’s Kospi surging 4% and other benchmarks gaining more than 1%.
The gains came after the U.S. stock market roared back on Friday as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin halted its plunge.
The S&P 500 rallied 2% for its best day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,206 points, or 2.5%, and topped the 50,000 level for the first time, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.2%.
Hindustan Times
Sensex opens 600 points higher, Nifty climbs 150 points on India-US trade deal sentiment
Sensex and Nifty 50 opened in the green on Monday, February 9, tracking positive global cues and optimism around the interim India–US trade framework announced last week. The Sensex was trading at 84,177 , up 597 points, while the Nifty 50 hovered around 25,800, gaining 150 points in early trade.
The interim India-US trade deal framework, released on Saturday, outlines steps to lower tariffs, strengthen energy ties and deepen economic cooperation as both countries look to realign global supply chains.
Under the proposed arrangement, the US will reduce tariffs on Indian exports such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear to 18%, while India is expected to trim or eliminate duties on all US industrial goods and cut tariffs on a wide range of American farm and food products.
Reuters
UBS banked Ghislaine Maxwell for years, moving her money after Epstein's arrest
LONDON/TORONTO/FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Swiss wealth giant UBS
(UBSG.S), opens new tab opened accounts for Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014 just months after JPMorgan Chase decided to end its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and helped her manage as much as $19 million in the years leading to her sex-trafficking conviction, documents show.
The documents, part of a cache released by the U.S. Justice Department last month, provide fresh insights into the extent of UBS’ banking relationship with Maxwell, who was arrested in 2020 and found guilty in 2021 for
her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The documents, which include emails and bank statements, show the Swiss lender opened personal and business accounts for Maxwell holding cash, shares and investments in hedge funds. UBS assigned her two relationship managers, who then helped Maxwell move millions of dollars and accorded her other benefits the bank reserves for its wealthy clients.
Al Jazeera
Antonio Jose Seguro of the centre-left Socialist Party has secured a landslide victory and a five-year term as Portugal’s president in a run-off vote, beating his far-right, anti-establishment rival, Andre Ventura, according to partial results.
With 95 percent of votes counted, 63-year-old Seguro has garnered 66 percent. Ventura trailed at 34 percent, still likely to secure a much stronger result than the 22.8 percent his anti-immigration Chega party achieved in last year’s general election. Ballots in large cities such as Lisbon and Porto are counted towards the end.
Portugal’s presidency is a largely ceremonial role, but it holds some key powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament under certain circumstances.
USA Today
A new study on statins reveals surprise about popular drugs (Good; I’ve been on statins for 50 years)
The long list of side effects marked on the packaging of statins can be a turn-off for those who might benefit from the cholesterol-lowering drugs. But a new study found only a few of those side effects are really a risk.
In the meta-analysis, published Feb. 5 in the Lancet, researchers discovered only four of 66 undesirable outcomes attributed to statins were significant. This included no meaningful excess of memory loss or dementia, depression, sleep disturbance, erectile dysfunction, weight gain, nausea, fatigue or headache.
Statins are the drugs of choice for treating high cholesterol and preventing or reducing heart disease.
About 39 million adult Americans are on statins, with the largest demographic taking the medication being over 40 years old.
