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Overnight News Digest August 7, 2022 [1]

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Date: 2022-08-07

NPR

These Ukrainian volunteers recover soldiers' remains to return them to their families

DNIPRO, Ukraine — Outside a morgue in the central eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, a scene plays out all day, every day. Coffin lids are brought out and leaned against a wall, along with large crosses and flowers. The coffins soon follow, the pale face of a dead soldier sometimes visible inside. They're slid inside a waiting van; the lids put on. This is where Oleg Repnoy's journey begins. He's a volunteer for Evacuation 200, an organization that returns dead Ukrainian soldiers — or their remains — to their families. "My job is to accompany these heroes on their last trip home," he says. Since fighting began on Feb. 24, no one could keep up with the number of casualties, he says. So this special volunteer unit was created to help.

NPR

Ex-rebel sworn in as Colombia's president in historic shift

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's first leftist president will be sworn into office Sunday, promising to fight inequality and heralding a turning point in the history of a country haunted by a long war between the government and guerrilla groups. Sen. Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia's M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential election in June by beating conservative parties that offered moderate changes to the market-friendly economy, but failed to connect with voters frustrated by rising poverty and violence against human rights leaders and environmental groups in rural areas. Petro is part of a growing group of leftist politicians and political outsiders who have been winning elections in Latin America since the pandemic broke out and hurt incumbents who struggled with its economic aftershocks. The ex-rebel's victory was also exceptional for Colombia, where voters had been historically reluctant to back leftist politicians who were often accused of being soft on crime or allied with guerrillas.

NPR (Public service announcement)

Get ready to look up in the night sky at all those meteor showers

Watch out for the shooting stars coming your way in the next few weeks. The most popular meteor shower, known as the Perseids, is about to reach its peak — with up to 100 meteors per hour. The Perseids are annual and are active between July and September. The warm summer weather makes it easier to be outdoors for viewing, NASA notes. The Perseids will peak Aug. 13 and be most visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the hours before dawn, but might be seen as early as 10 p.m. A bright, full moon will appear during the shower, which could affect visibility. This meteor shower is known for what scientists call fireballs, which NASA describes as "larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak.”

The Guardian

Yet more human remains found as drought shrinks Lake Mead reservoir

A fourth set of human remains has been found at the shrinking reservoir of Lake Mead as the drought gripping the western US continues to blaze and sends its water levels plunging. The fourth set of skeletal remains was found on Saturday at Swim Beach in Nevada, and are now being assessed by the local Clark county coroner. The identity of the body is unknown, nor the manner of death. “Park rangers responded and set a perimeter to recover the remains with the support from Las Vegas Metropolitan police department’s dive team … The investigation is ongoing,” the National Park Service said in a statement. The lake is now at its lowest level for more than 80 years, posing a dire threat to a water source that is crucial for 25 million people. The dry spell has dried out its tributaries, threatened key hydropower production and hurt tourism at what is a popular recreation site for many hundreds of miles. But it is the regular discovery of bodies as the water recedes that has captured a gruesome slice of the public imagination in the US – and beyond.

The Guardian

Alabama city disbands police force after racist text messages revealed

The small city of Vincent in Alabama has voted to disband its police force after the revelation of racist text messages exchanged between two of its officers. In the exchange, which recently surfaced on social media, one user named “752” asked: “What do y’all call a pregnant slave?” To this, one person who is not identifiable through the text, responded with question marks. The user named 752 then responded: “BOGO Buy one, get one free.” The messages were first reported by AL.com on Tuesday, the same day the Vincent city council met to decide on the issue. Earlier on Tuesday, the police chief, James Srygley, had said the department had “conducted an internal investigation” and that they had taken “appropriate disciplinary action”. But on Thursday, Srygley himself was identified as one of the officers who was terminated. Assistant chief John L Goss was also terminated, and the city council then voted to disband the whole department.

Reuters

Stock rally may end this week.

NEW YORK, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A rally in U.S. stocks that has powered on despite skepticism from Wall St faces a reality check in the coming week, as key inflation data threatens to shut the door on expectations of a dovish shift from the Federal Reserve. read more The S&P 500 (.SPX) has walked a tightrope this summer, rising 13% from its mid-June lows on hopes that the Fed will end its market-bruising rate increases sooner than anticipated. A blowout U.S. jobs number on Friday bolstered the case for more Fed hikes but barely dented stocks – the S&P fell less than 0.2% on the day and eked out its third straight week of gains.

New York Times

Biden Emerges From Isolation Again After Second Negative Coronavirus Test

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