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Overnight News Digest July 23, 2023 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-07-23
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.
BBC
Corfu latest Greek island to evacuate over wildfires
Corfu has become the latest Greek island to issue an evacuation order, as the country grapples with wildfires. Photos uploaded to social media show flames engulfing Corfu. A fire broke out on the northern part of the island which is popular with British tourists. It comes after some 19,000 people were evacuated on the island of Rhodes, which has also been hit by fires. Many were forced to flee their hotels as the flames continued to spread from the centre of the Greek island. Greece has been grappling with searing heat, with temperatures exceeding 40C across the country, and fires have blazed for nearly a week in some areas. A national holiday that had been planned for Monday has been cancelled "in view of the extraordinary conditions prevailing in the country due to the fires", the Greek presidency said.
NPR
Hundreds of thousands march in Israel against Netanyahu's judicial overhaul
JERUSALEM — Tens of thousands of protesters marched into Jerusalem on Saturday evening and hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities in a last-ditch show of force aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul. Also Saturday, more than 100 of Israel's former security chiefs signed a letter pleading with the Israeli premier to halt the legislation, and thousands of additional military reservists said they would no longer report for duty, in a protest against the plan. In scorching heat that reached 33 C (91 F), the procession into Jerusalem turned the city's main entrance into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags as marchers completed the last leg of a four-day, 70-kilometer (45-mile) trek from Tel Aviv to Israel's parliament.
NPR
Hun Sen's party claims a win in Cambodian election after opposition was suppressed
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The ruling party of Cambodia's longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed a landslide victory in Sunday's general election, an outcome that was virtually assured after the suppression and intimidation of the opposition in a vote called a farce of democracy. Hun Sen posted on his Telegram channel late Sunday that unofficial results compiled by authorities in each province showed the Cambodian People's Party won 120 seats and the royalist FUNCINPEC party won five. The National Election Committee said 84.6% of eligible voters had cast ballots. CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan told The Associated Press he believed his party captured 78-80% of the total turnout. The European Union, the United States and other Western countries had refused to send observers to the polls, saying the election lacked the conditions to be considered free and fair.
Al Jazeera
Hosting Lukashenko, Putin says Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s counteroffensive to take back land captured by his country “has failed” as he hosted his close ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, for talks in Putin’s native city of St Petersburg. The meeting on Sunday was the first to be held between the two leaders since Minsk helped end a revolt by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group of fighters. Belarus now hosts Wagner fighters on its territory, after Lukashenko brokered a deal that convinced Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to end a march on Moscow and exile himself to Belarus. “There is no counteroffensive,” Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying. Putin interrupted: “It exists, but it has failed.” Ukraine began its long-anticipated counteroffensive last month, but has so far made only small gains against well-entrenched Russian forces who control more than a sixth of its territory after nearly 17 months of war.
Al Jazeera
Russia says it foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow
Russia’s air defence forces have “suppressed” a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow, the Russian defence ministry has announced, accusing Kyiv of launching a “terrorist act” against the country’s capital. The attack early on Monday involved two drones, the ministry said in a statement. “A Kyiv regime attempt to carry out a terrorist act using drones on objects on the territory of the city of Moscow was stopped,” it said. “Two Ukrainian drones were suppressed and crashed. There are no casualties.” There was no comment from Ukraine. The Russian TASS news agency said that one of the drones fell on Komsomolsky Prospekt, which is close to Russia’s defence ministry, while another hit a business centre on Likhacheva Street near one of Moscow’s main ring roads. The Reuters news agency reported two loud explosions before the reported attacks.
The Guardian (If not fire, then rain)
Canada’s heaviest rains in 40 years block roads and cut power for thousands
The heaviest rains in more than 40 years badly damaged a city in Canada’s Atlantic region on Saturday but authorities are no longer concerned a dam may breach, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said. Police reported that four people were missing, including two children. The storm, which started on Friday, dumped more than 25cm (10in) on some parts in 24 hours, the same amount that usually lands in three months. “We have a scary, significant situation here,” said provincial premier Tim Houston. “The list of infrastructure damage to bridges, roads and other buildings is long … and it will continue to grow,” he told a televised press conference. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Halifax, the province’s largest city, and four other regions.
The Guardian
Avian flu may have killed millions of birds globally as outbreak ravages South America
Millions of wild birds may have died from bird flu globally in the latest outbreak, researchers have said, as the viral disease ravages South America, with 200,000 deaths recorded in Peru alone. The highly infectious variant of H5N1, which gained momentum in the winter of 2021, caused Europe’s worst bird flu outbreak before spreading globally. The disease reached South America in November 2022, and has now been reported on every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.
Working out how many wild birds have died is difficult because so many carcasses are never found or counted. Michelle Wille, from the University of Sydney, co-authored research that is believed to be the first attempt to assess numbers on a global scale. It documents deaths since October 2021. “We estimate the scale of mortality among wild birds is in the millions rather than tens of thousands reported,” the paper says.
“The outbreaks among wild birds are causing population and species level concerns which may drive extinctions and jeopardise decades of conservation efforts,” it adds.
Deutsche Welle
Spain election: Conservatives win but fall short of majority
Spain's opposition right-wing Popular Party (PP) won Sunday's snap general election, with 100% of the votes counted, but was set to fall short of a parliamentary majority. The PP and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez' Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) had 33.1% and 31.7% shares of the vote respectively, the results showed. This would give the PP, under leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, 136 seats in the 350-seat lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies, and the Socialists 122 seats. The PP now requires support from several junior parties to achieve a governing majority of 176 seats, so the result is likely to produce weeks of political jockeying. The far-right Vox, which offered to partner with the PP was projected to win 33 seats. But even with the 169 seats this would amount to, the PP would still be seven seats short. But if that partnership is later confirmed, along with a third party, it would be the first time a far-right party had entered government in Spain since Francisco Franco's dictatorship ended in the 1970s.
Reuters
Mayor of Ecuadorian city of Manta assassinated in attack
QUITO, July 23 (Reuters) - The mayor of the Ecuadorian Pacific port city of Manta, Agustin Intriago, was shot dead on Sunday, authorities said, in a brazen attack that stunned the political establishment. Police said the 38-year-old Intriago, who was re-elected as mayor of Manta in February, had been inspecting public works in the city at the time of the attack. Regional police commander Edwin Noguera told reporters a gunman got out of a stolen truck and opened fire on Intriago, hitting him and a woman described as a "collateral victim." Both died of their injuries. Security officials with the mayor returned fire and wounded the driver of the vehicle, who is now in police custody while receiving medical attention in hospital. Noguera said the man was a Venezuelan national without a prior criminal record. Police said officers had secured the truck with a grenade inside it and a gun which was likely used in the attack. It was not immediately clear why the mayor had been attacked, though police said that he had reported receiving threats to authorities, without providing more details.
Washington Post
Roman ruins reveal how emperors used winemaking in a lavish power play
ROME — Fights involving exotic cats, chariot races, gladiatorial battles: At the banquets of ancient Rome, there was no skimping on dinnertime entertainment. And, according to a recent study, sport for elite guests included something rarer, too: winemaking as a form of theater. The findings, published in the journal Antiquity, describe how the Villa of the Quintilii used alcohol production for show in what is now believed to be the among the most lavish wineries in the ancient world. This makes the 2nd-century villa only the second known to have used wine in this way, said lead study author Emlyn Dodd, a lecturer in classical studies at the University of London. The villa has “this amazing level of decoration and luxurious appointments in it that we never see in ancient wineries,” Dodd said. The discovery highlights the use of wine as a form of power for the privileged in one of the ancient world’s bloodiest empires.
Washington Post
‘Barbenheimer’ shatters expectations — and box office records
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