(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Overnight News Digest October 20, 2022 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-10-20

NPR

The Supreme Court won't block the student loan debt relief program, at least for now

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to block the rollout of the Biden administration's student debt relief plan, allowing the program to move forward – at least for now. Loan forgiveness is scheduled to begin as early as Sunday. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is assigned to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, was the one who received the emergency application. Presumably the court's other justices agreed with her decision. Within hours of the Supreme Court action, another closely watched challenge to the program, this one brought by six GOP-led states, was tossed out by a federal district court in Missouri. The emergency request to the Supreme Court was brought by the Brown County Taxpayers Association, a Wisconsin organization made up of around 100 taxpaying individuals and business owners that advocates for conservative economic policy.

The Guardian

Canada’s largest grocer to freeze prices amid profiteering accusations

Canada’s largest grocer has announced a price freeze on its low-cost product line, amid accusations of profiteering a worsening cost of living crisis – and a looming parliamentary investigation into the food retail industry. Inflation figures on Wednesday showed that grocery prices in the country rose 11.4% over last month, continuing a surge not seen in more than four decades. Energy and housing costs have soared in recent months, but Canadian political leaders have focused their most pointed attacks on the country’s three grocery companies, calling out their increased profits amid high inflation. Earlier this week, Loblaw Companies – which owns more than 20 grocery and supermarket chains – said it would lock in the prices of its ‘no name’ house brand, which includes more than 1,500 grocery items, until 31 January 2023. Company president Galen Weston framed the move as a way of temporarily shielding customers from the effects of inflation, writing that costs were “maddeningly” out of his control.

The Guardian

Iceberg lettuce in blond wig outlasts Liz Truss

A wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig has been crowned the winner of a bizarre competition after outlasting Liz Truss’s tenuous grip on power. Seven days ago the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. To add to Truss’s humiliating resignation, the lettuce won. As Truss made her resignation statement, those viewing the video on YouTube soared to more than 20,000. When the prime minister confirmed her departure on Thursday lunchtime, a plastic gold crown was placed on the now browning leafy vegetable. The caption changed from “Day Seven: Will Liz Truss outlast his lettuce?” to “The Lettuce Outlasted Liz Truss”. The national anthem was played to mark the lettuce’s triumph, and champagne was poured.

Deutsche Welle

Navalny facing fresh charges and up to 30 years in prison

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Thursday that authorities had opened a new case against him that could potentially more than double his current prison sentence. "I received an official notification that a new criminal case was opened against me," Navalny said on Twitter. "My attorneys calculated that, taking into account the punishments under each of these articles, my cumulative sentence must be about 30 years," he added. Navalny is already serving consecutive prison terms of more than 11 years. The 46-year-old critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he recovered from being poisoned with the deadly Novichok nerve agent — an attack he blames on the Kremlin. In the latest crackdown, Navalny said authorities charged him with propagating extremism, calling for terrorism, financing extremist activity and rehabilitating Nazism.

Deutsche Welle

LNG tankers stuck amid gas crunch

Spain's gas storage facilities are full. So full, in fact, that several huge liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers that supply the southern European EU member state with fuel are unable to unload their cargo and are stuck in a jam outside port terminals on Spain's coasts. There are 15 gas tankers in the bay of the southern Spanish Atlantic city of Cadiz alone, according to Spain's public television station TVE. Around the Iberian Peninsula and in the Mediterranean Sea, at least 35 gas ships are said to be in waiting positions. Not far from Cadiz, the port city of Huelva is home to a gas terminal where ships up to 300 meters long can discharge their cargo. Spain has a total of six terminals with connected depots. A seventh facility will soon be put into operation in the Atlantic port of Gijon. In the terminals, the LNG used for ship transport is converted back to its gaseous state so that it can be transported further in pipelines. According to Spanish gas grid operator Enagas, the country's facilities hold one-third of all LNG storage capacity in the EU and 45% of the bloc's total LNG regasification capacity. However, even this infrastructure is currently overburdened — with the result that tankers have to be turned away.

Reuters

Pfizer expects to hike U.S. COVID vaccine price to $110-$130 per dose

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc expects to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to about $110 to $130 per dose after the United States government's current purchase program expires, Pfizer executive Angela Lukin said on Thursday. Lukin said she expects the vaccine - currently provided for free to all by the government - will be made available at no cost to people who have private insurance or government paid insurance. Reuters earlier on Thursday reported that Wall Street was expecting such price hikesdue to weak demand for COVID vaccines, which meant vaccine makers would need to hike prices to meet revenue forecasts for 2023 and beyond. The U.S. government currently pays around $30 per dose to Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE). In 2023, the market is expected to move to private insurance after the U.S. public health emergency expires.

Reuters

Former PM Johnson flying back to Britain this weekend, Telegraph reports

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is flying back to the UK this weekend, a journalist at the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday. The Times newspaper had reported that Johnson, who is on holiday abroad, was expected to stand in the race to replace Liz Truss who resigned as Prime Minister earlier on Thursday.

Raw Story Looney Tunes

Video shows Lauren Boebert ranting about the end times at GOP event: 'We are in the last of the days’

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was welcomed at a Tennessee GOP Lincoln Day event in Knoxville where she was championed for her belief that the world was going to end. Far-right Christians believe that if they can usher in the end timesthat they will bring about The Rapture or the second coming of Jesus Christ, as told in the Bible. "We are in the last of the days," said Boebert. "You get to be part of ushering in the second coming Jesus." One of the main moments foretold, they believe, is the Jewish people returning to power in Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple. So, when Donald Trump declared the U.S. Embassy at the Capitol of Jerusalem, some believe that it began the prophecy of the end times.

NPR

Genetic sequencing gives us the first-ever look at a Neanderthal clan

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/20/2130288/-Overnight-News-Digest-October-20-2022

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/