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Overnight News Digest: In a country full of hate what could possibly go wrong? [1]
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Date: 2025-02-17
The Guardian, US
A Jewish man in Miami Beach is facing charges of attempted murder following accusations that he opened fire on two men he believed were Palestinians but reportedly turned out to be Israeli visitors. According to arrest documents, at 9.30pm on Saturday surveillance video appeared to show Mordechai Brafman, 27, getting out of his truck and opening fire with a semiautomatic handgun at a vehicle as it passed. Brafman allegedly fired 17 times, striking one victim in the left shoulder and grazing the other’s left forearm. While in custody, Brafman spontaneously told detectives that while he was driving his truck, “he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both”, arrest documents said. Law enforcement officials did not confirm if the victims were in fact Palestinians and the Miami Herald reported that they were actually two vacationing Israelis, naming them as Ari Rabey and his father. Facebook posts after the shooting show Rabey at Miami’s Jackson memorial hospital and his Hyundai with several bullet holes and markings.
This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the happenings of the day. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
C/NET (02/16/2025)
I stood on a ridge in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, surrounded by pinyon trees and red-barked pines, listening to the trill of dark-eyed juncos jostling through the underbrush. Amid all this winter beauty, my phone chimed. And chimed again. And buzzed and beeped. A friend sent an Instagram link. Uber Eats offered a discount deal. Target had a coupon for cleaning products. Someone drove by my Ring doorbell camera. Enough! It was time for a challenge. It was time to embrace a day of quiet -- a day without internet. Could I do it? Would I enjoy it? I picked the Saturday before the Super Bowl. At first, I was giddy at the idea. No constant interruptions? No news? No emails? Sounds great! Then, a fuller scope hit: No security camera alerts. No traffic updates. No remote monitoring of the foster cat's shenanigans. No streaming Eastbound & Down. So it was with a mix of anticipation and trepidation that I prepared for an internet-free day.
BBC
Sir Keir Starmer has said any Ukraine peace deal would require a "US backstop" to deter Russia from attacking its neighbour again. Speaking after a hastily convened meeting with European leaders in Paris, the prime minister repeated that he would consider deploying UK troops to Ukraine in the event of a lasting peace agreement. But he said "a US security guarantee was the only way to effectively deter Russia", and vowed to discuss the "key elements" of a peace deal with US President Donald Trump when the pair meet in Washington next week. Sir Keir said Europe would "have to do more" to defend the continent in the face of the "generational" security challenge Russia poses.
BBC
The US State Department has dropped a statement from its website which stated that Washington does not support Taiwan's independence - a move which has sparked anger in China. China said the revision "sends a wrong... signal to separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence", and asked the US to "correct its mistakes". The department's fact sheet on Taiwan-US relations earlier included the phrase "we do not support Taiwan independence" - this was removed last week as part of what it said was a "routine" update. A US spokesperson was quoted as saying that it remains committed to the "One China" policy, it said, where US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than Taiwan.
Al Jazeera
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is “committed” to a United States proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and displace its Palestinian residents, as Washington’s top diplomat was in Saudi Arabia to push the plan opposed by Arab states. In a statement on Monday, Netanyahu said he was “committed to US President Trump’s plan for the creation of a different Gaza”. The Israeli leader also promised that “neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority” would rule the enclave at the end of the 15-month war, which has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and led to a dire humanitarian crisis. Netanyahu’s remarks come a day after he hailed “Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future” during a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem. Human rights groups have slammed the Trump administration’s push to take over Gaza and forcibly displace Palestinians as a violation of international law that would amount to ethnic cleansing.
Deutsche Welle
When the coalition government comprising the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), Greens and neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) emerged after the last German federal election in the fall of 2021, incoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) did not object to being called the "Climate Chancellor." That was no surprise: the climate crisis had been a top issue during the election campaign. The new government made the fight against climate change a task for the economy ministry and appointed Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck from the Greens as its head. Three and a half years later, campaign speeches barely mention climate protection. The dominant issues are how to curb irregular immigration and how to boost Germany's sluggish economy.
x Farmers across the United States are finding themselves in precarious economic positions, as they attempt to navigate a strained farm economy and a barrage of executive orders from the Trump administration that put some farm programs in limbo.
[image or embed] — Ohio Capital Journal (@ohiocapitaljournal.com) February 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Deutsche Welle
The Vatican confirmed on Monday that Pope Francis was facing a "complex clinical situation" and would be remaining in Rome's Gemelli hospital for the time being. "The results of the tests carried out in recent days and today have demonstrated a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract," the Holy See said in a short statement, adding that the issue required "an appropriate hospital stay." The Vatican said later on Monday that the pope was in a stable condition and did not have a fever. Francis, 88, has already had to cancel numerous engagements due to his illness, which has kept him in the hospital longer than a bout of pneumonia did in 2023.
The Guardian, Europe
They came smiling, but the task was immense. After dozens of summits at which a hesitant and discordant EU had failed to agree on anything like a cohesive plan for the end of the war in Ukraine, this one had, suddenly and vitally, to be different. The leaders of France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and – speaking for the Nordic and Baltic states – Denmark, plus Britain’s prime minister and the heads of Nato and the European Commission and Council, arrived in Paris reeling from a historic week. Last Monday, the US vice-president, JD Vance, had told Europe its “excessive regulation” of potentially harmful technologies was all wrong. Two days later, Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin to start talks between the US and Russia on ending the war.
The Guardian, US
Julianne Moore has said it is a “great shock” to learn that one of her books had been “banned by the Trump Administration” from schools serving the children of US military personnel and civilian defence employees. The Boogie Nights and Mary & George star wrote that she was “truly saddened” by the news in an Instagram post on Sunday. Last Monday, the Department of Defense circulated a memo stating that it is examining library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics”. After access to all library books was suspended for a week for a review, a “small number of items” were identified and have been kept for “further review”, it said. Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry, a story about a girl who dislikes her freckles but learns to live with them, is among the books caught up in the blanket review, according to a list obtained by the Guardian. However, it is not known whether the title was selected for further review or for withdrawal. “It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community,” said Moore.
The Guardian, International
A Syrian migrant living in Austria has been hailed as a hero after he rammed his car into an attacker, bringing down a radicalised assailant who had killed one teenager and left five others injured. The stabbing, described by Austria’s interior minister as having been carried out by a Syrian man who was legally living in the country and who had become radicalised by the Islamic State group, happened on Saturday in the southern Austrian city of Villach. As the country mourned, many hailed the bravery of Alaaeddin al-Halabi, a food delivery driver who left Syria in 2015 and who had been driving past the area on Saturday when he noticed a commotion. He slowed down, he told Reuters , “because there were many people, some running, some scared, and some were shouting for help”. It was then that he noticed that one of the people at the scene had a knife. “I immediately understood what was happening – there were people on the ground bleeding, and this person was waving the knife in a threatening manner.”
Reuters
TORONTO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - A Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) , opens new tab regional jet flipped upside down upon landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday amid windy weather following a snowstorm, injuring 18 of the 80 people on board, officials said. Three people on the flight that originated at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport suffered critical injuries, among them a child, authorities added. Canadian authorities said they would investigate the cause of the crash, which was not yet known. "The aircraft is upside down and burning," an emergency worker told the air traffic control tower after a controller noted that some passengers were walking near the crashed plane, according to a recording of the incident posted on liveatc.net.
Reuters
MOSCOW, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday ruled out territorial concessions to Ukraine, setting out a tough opening stance on the eve of talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump's team in Saudi Arabia. Trump said after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the two sides would begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser who has also been ambassador to Washington, would meet U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
x The GOP's response to the air crash in DC illustrates the moral decay of today’s Republican Party. Make no mistake, the recent plane crashes are a harbinger of what is to come. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
[image or embed] — The Nation Magazine (@thenation.com) February 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
NPR
On Monday, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum outlined a letter she received from Google regarding the controversy over renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Last week, the tech company updated Google Maps in the U.S. to reflect Trump's preferred title of "Gulf of America." Users in Mexico still see the body of water with its original name, while all other international users view it with both names listed. Three things to know:
NPR
Protests are set to take place in several major cities across the U.S. on Monday, the Presidents Day holiday, according to activists. These demonstrations are being organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for "50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement." The protests are a response to what organizers describe as "the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration." This marks the second nationwide protest by the group, following an event held on Feb. 5. The protests follow a series of executive orders signed by President Trump, including actions led by billionaire Elon Musk, which have been criticized for their aims to diminish the role of the federal government.
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