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Overnight News Digest: Auschwitz 80 years on [1]
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Date: 2025-01-27
BBC
Their numbers are dwindling but the voices of the Auschwitz survivors remain powerful. "We were stripped of all humanity," said Leon Weintraub, 99, the oldest of four who spoke beside the notorious Death Gate at the Birkenau extermination camp. World leaders and European royalty rubbed shoulders with 56 survivors of Hitler's genocide of European Jews on Monday as they marked 80 years since its liberation. "We were victims in a moral vacuum," said Tova Friedman, who described witnessing the horrors of Nazi persecution as a five and a half year-old girl clinging to her mother's hand. She described watching from her hiding place at a labour camp, "as all my little friends were rounded up and driven to their deaths, while the heart-breaking cries of their parents fell on deaf ears". The warnings from history were clear: the survivors more than anyone understood the risks of intolerance, and antisemitism was the canary in the coal mine.
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x "I stand before this monument of mutilated dreams, and I cannot help but think, eight decades after the liberation of Auschwitz, how much has humankind actually changed?"
[image or embed] — Mother Jones (@motherjones.com) January 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
BBC
Shares in major US technology firms have plunged after the rapid rise of a low-cost chatbot built by a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm. The DeepSeek app, which was launched last week, has overtaken rivals including OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the most downloaded free app in the US. US tech giants including AI chipmaker Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta all saw their share prices drop on Monday. In a separate development, DeepSeek said on Monday it will temporarily limit registrations because of "large-scale malicious attacks" on its software.
Deutsche Welle
Tsikhanouskaya, who is regarded by many in the West as the real winner of the election in 2020, thanked demonstrators for turning out in opposition to Lukashenko as the polling took place. "To all the Belarusians who stood together yesterday against the regime's fake elections—in Warsaw, Vilnius, Berlin, Kyiv and so many other cities — I cannot thank you enough." "Your courage and solidarity are a powerful reminder that Belarusians will never stop fighting for freedom, democracy and a European future.”Tsikhanouskaya stood for the office after her husband, activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski, tried to run in 2020 but was jailed. He remains imprisoned while she is now based in Lithuania.
x What's the history of the #DoomsdayClock? When and why was the time changed over the years? How has it inspired pop culture? Our interactive timeline tells the story. ⬇️
[image or embed] — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@thebulletin.org) January 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Deutsche Welle
The European Union (EU) renewed sanctions against Russia and agreed on a road map to lift some of those imposed on Syria. At an EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday, leaders also called for a unified approach to deal with US President Donald Trump and what analysts refer to as his "divide and rule policy." The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said as the US undertook a "transactional" foreign policy, Europe needed to "close ranks." "We are stronger when we are united," she told reporters. Zsuzsanna Vegh, a program officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said that Trump intends to weaken the EU and deal with countries bilaterally. "European leaders competing for attention from the Trump Administration will have a negative impact on the unity of the EU," she told DW. "And Trump's support for the euroskeptic European far right could further weaken the union."
Al Jazeera
Israeli forces shot and killed at least two people and wounded 17 on Monday in the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon, health officials said, as residents displaced by the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah attempted to return to villages where Israeli soldiers remain. The shootings came a day after 24 people were killed and more than 130 were wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on protesters who breached roadblocks set up along the border. Under a United States-brokered ceasefire on November 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah was to move north of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the border, by January 26. While the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers had already deployed in several villages before the deadline, Israeli forces remain in more than a dozen villages.
x Proposed legislation this session would allow Native governments in New Mexico to create cultural schools in an effort to immerse students in their culture and preserve their language.
[image or embed] — Source New Mexico (@sourcenm.com) January 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Al Jazeera
Dhaka, Bangladesh — On the afternoon of July 16, 2024, as Abu Sayeed, a student leader at the forefront of protests against then-Prime Minister Sheikh Haisna’s leadership, was shot dead by police in Rangpur – a northern district – a strikingly different scene was unfolding in the capital, Dhaka. At the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Abdur Rahman, a senior leader of Hasina’s Awami League and a minister in her government, sat unperturbed in his office enjoying a poetry recital by a local poet. A video from that day captures Abdur Rahman reclining in his chair, resting his fist against his right cheek, listening casually. Towards the end, he offered a lighthearted response: “Wonderful.” Moments later, when informed by an aide of the escalating unrest following Sayeed’s killing, he dismissed the concerns, saying, “Oh, nothing will happen. The leader [Hasina] will handle everything.”
The Guardian, UK
Bill Gates has labelled Elon Musk’s embrace of far-right politicians and attempt to interfere in the politics of other countries – including the UK – as “insane shit”. Musk has in recent weeks launched a series of unfounded smears at British politicians for supposedly covering up a rape scandal over a decade ago. The UK is currently preparing a new online safety law that would restrict some of Musk’s businesses, including the social media site X. Musk – the boss of the electric carmaker Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX – also gave a Nazi-style salute at a recent rally, and responded to the immediate global condemnation he received by posting a series of puns on the word “Nazi” and related terms. Monday was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
x Exclusive: Sen. Tillis assured Hegseth’s former sister-in-law her sworn statement could sway GOP senators to oppose his confirmation. Tillis cast the deciding yes vote.
[image or embed] — The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) January 27, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The Guardian, Europe
Serbian students have staged a daylong blockage of a major traffic intersection in Belgrade with the support of farmers, stepping up pressure on the president, Aleksandar Vučić. The wave of student-led demonstrations began as a protest against government corruption after the collapse of a roof of a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad on 1 November, which killed 15 people. Despite attacks on the protesters and limited government concessions, the near daily protests have grown and spread, affecting more than 100 cities and towns and drawing in increasing support from members of the judiciary, teachers, private businesses and the general public. On Monday the demonstrators occupied the Autokomanda junction, where two major roads from the south-east converge on the way to Belgrade’s centre. Thousands of Belgrade residents joined the protests along with some farmers who brought their tractors to the capital, some of which were used to protect the protesters, after two serious incidents of cars ramming the crowds of demonstrators.
The Guardian, US
An Indiana man who was pardoned by Donald Trump for taking part in the January 6 insurrection was killed by police during a traffic stop on Sunday. Matthew Huttle, 42, was shot by a sheriff’s deputy after allegedly resisting arrest and getting into an altercation with an officer, local news outlets in Indiana report, based on the Indiana state police’s account of the incident. Huttle was one of the more than 1,500 people pardoned by Trump for their roles in the 2017 Capitol riot on the first day of his second term in office.
The Guardian, International
Fighters from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group claim to have taken the eastern city of Goma after a lightning advance in recent weeks that has forced thousands from their homes and risked reigniting a broader regional war. The M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X: “We urge all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully carried out and the situation is under control.” It was not clear on Monday morning how much of Goma, the capital of North Kivu state in eastern DRC, was controlled by the rebels but witnesses in the city said rebel fighters could be seen in the centre. Residents said gunfire could be heard near the airport, the city centre and near the border with Rwanda. Residents’ reaction to the arrival of the M23 rebels was mixed. Some stayed indoors while others came out to cheer.
x Denmark said it would spend 14.6 billion Danish kroner ($2.05 billion) boosting its military capabilities in the Arctic – a decision that comes amid continuing furor following US President Donald Trump’s renewed interest in controlling Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
[image or embed] — CNN (@cnn.com) January 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
NPR
The books The First State of Being and Chooch Helped have won the Newbery and the Caldecott awards, respectively — the biggest honors in children's literature. The awards were announced Monday morning at the American Library Association's annual Youth Media Awards. The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, takes place in 1999. It's about a young kid named Michael Rosario, fretting about the turn of the century, when he meets a time traveler from the future. This is Kelly's second John Newbery Medal, which honors the most distinguished American children's book published in a given year. Kelly's book, Hello, Universe, won the prize in 2018.
Reuters
HOUSTON, Jan 27 - Wall Street expects U.S. oil and gas companies to keep a lid on spending in 2025 and keep their focus on generating shareholder returns, despite calls by President Donald Trump to "drill, baby, drill." Big Oil begins reporting fourth-quarter results this week, and outlooks for the coming year should reflect the dissonance between Trump's oil and gas-maximizing agenda and investor expectations. The industry has pushed in recent years to drive down costs and increase production by using more efficient technology rather than drilling many new wells. Producers also must contend with lower global oil prices as the post-pandemic demand rebound runs its course and as China's economy struggles. Benchmark Brent crude oil prices are projected to average $74 per barrel in 2025, down from $81 in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Overall, for the U.S. exploration and production sector, analysts at Scotiabank expect companies to target up to 5% production growth this year, and flat to slightly lower year-over-year capital expenditures.
x ⚡️Russia's Ryazan oil refinery suspends operations after drone strike, Reuters reports. "The railway loading equipment has been damaged. There have been no railways loadings, they stopped oil processing," an industry source said.
[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) January 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
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