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Overnight News Digest: April 23, 2025 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-23
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, doomandgloom and FarWestGirl. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, JeremyBloom, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw. OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos since 2007, 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. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
The Guardian: Thousands from around world wait hours to visit coffin of Pope Francis
Thousands of people queued for hours under the hot spring sun in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose simple wooden coffin has been placed on the main altar of the 16th-century basilica, where he will lie in state until Friday evening. The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in Casa Santa Marta on Monday aged 88 after a stroke and subsequent heart failure. He had been recovering from double pneumonia, which had kept him in hospital for five weeks. In keeping with his requests for simple funeral rites, Francis was dressed in his vestments, holding a rosary, with his open casket lined with red cloth.
The Guardian: What did Pope Francis think of JD Vance? His view was more than clear
We might never quite know what Pope Francis said to the US vice-president during their very brief meeting on Sunday. In the widely shared video clip, it was hardly audible. The morning after, Francis died, and Vance jetted to visit India, finding time to tweet that his heart went out to the millions of Christians who loved Francis (implying, I suppose, that not all Catholics loved him) and patronizing the dead pontiff by calling one of his homilies “really quite beautiful”). Francis had been as outspoken as could be without naming names, when he criticized Vance in his February letter to US bishops; but he was not just registering his rebuke of Trump and Vance’s cruel treatment of refugees and migrants; he was reacting to a broader trend of instrumentalizing religion for nationalist and authoritarian populism. In February, Vance had an online “close-quarters street fight” with Rory Stewart, the former UK Conservative minister, diplomat and now professor in the practice of grand strategy at the very university from which Vance obtained his law degree. At issue was what to most of us wouldn’t seem an obvious source of social media outrage: the correct reading of St Augustine’s notion of ordo amoris, the right ordering of love.
The Guardian: Families of detainees in El Salvador and Venezuela decry Bukele’s prisoner swap offer
The Guardian: Richard Branson accuses Trump of ‘doing so much damage’ to the world
Sir Richard Branson has attacked Donald Trump’s policies as “doing so much damage” to the world, adding that he did not believe the US president’s actions were backed by most Americans. The Virgin Atlantic founder warned that the “erratic and unpredictable” actions of the White House were undermining business, although he singled out Trump’s policy on Ukraine as the one that “should worry the world the most”. The British billionaire said that he had spoken to Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive, who has become a prominent Trump adviser, about Ukraine, but did not divulge further details. In comments made to reporters before Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural flight to mark the start of services from London to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, Branson said that Trump’s policies, from imposing tariffs to “jumping side” in the war, were “awful for everyone”. He said: “I honestly think this is a fairly small elite of people around Trump. I don’t think he is carrying the vast majority of Americans in what he is doing.”
India TImes: Twelve states sue Donald Trump administration in trade court over ‘chaotic and illegal’ tariff policy
A coalition of 12 US states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the US Court of International Trade in New York, seeking to overturn President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, which they say is unlawful and has disrupted the national economy.
The legal challenge accuses Trump of abusing emergency powers under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to unilaterally impose tariffs without Congressional approval. The plaintiffs argue that only Congress has the authority to levy tariffs and that the president can only invoke IEEPA in response to “unusual and extraordinary threats” from abroad — not to enact sweeping changes to trade policy. “By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit states. The 12 states listed as plaintiffs include Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont. They are asking the court to declare Trump’s tariffs illegal and to bar federal agencies and officials from enforcing them.
Deutsche Welle: Kashmir attack: a tragedy and a security 'setback' for India
Indian officials on Wednesday continued to work out a response to a deadly mass shooting at a popular tourist location in India-administered Kashmir that killed at least 26 people and wounded 17 others. Security was tightened throughout the region, with schools closed and roadblocks set up. Eyewitnesses told Indian media that on Tuesday afternoon, gunmen dressed in military-style uniforms emerged from nearby forests and attacked the Baisaran meadow, a popular hiking spot located outside the town of Pahalgam in the southern district of Anantnag. Most of the tourists killed were Indian. The Indian government in recent years has promoted Jammu and Kashmir as a tourist destination, having consolidated political control over the region while beefing up security against a decades-long insurgency opposing its rule. Kashmir a dangerous flashpoint India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in its entirety, but each country only controls a section of territory, which makes the Muslim-majority region a flashpoint in the larger India-Pakistan geopolitical rivalry. Tuesday's attack, which India considers a terrorist attack, is the deadliest one targeting Indian civilians since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and threatens to again raise tensions between India and Pakistan to a dangerous level.
DW : Turkey: Powerful earthquake shakes Istanbul, injures dozens
Turkey's largest city Istanbul was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake on Wednesday, leaving at least 151 people injured. The office of Istanbul's governor said most of the injuries were a result of people trying to jump from buildings, adding that "their treatments are ongoing in hospitals, and they are not in life-threatening condition." According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles).
DW : Jordan outlaws Muslim Brotherhood opposition group
The Jordanian Interior Ministry outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most prominent opposition group, on Wednesday, closing its offices and confiscating its assets. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the decision was a response to a sabotage plot to which a son of one of the group's leaders had been linked and would take immediate effect. What did Jordan say about the Muslim Brotherhood ban? "It has been decided to ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any [of its] activity a violation of the provisions of the law," Faraya said, adding that any promoters of the group's ideology would be held accountable by law. "It has been proven that members of the group operate in the dark and engage in activities that could destabilize the country," read an Interior Ministry statement. "Members of the dissolved Muslim Brotherhood have tampered with security and national unity, and disrupted security and public order."
DW : Kenya: Kidney probe launched, clinic denies allegations
Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday launched a full-scale probe into reports of illegal organ trafficking as a clinic at the center of the allegations strongly denied any wrongdoing, according to media reports in the East African country. What do we know about Kenya's organ trafficking investigation? The investigation, which is being led by the DCI's elite Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) under Director Mohamed Amin, comes a day after Kenyan health authorities ordered the suspension of all kidney transplant operations at Mediheal Group clinics until further notice. "We are here to ensure justice in this matter, and we assure victims of the same," said Amin, as quoted by Kenya's The Star daily. This follows the suspension last Thursday of operations at the clinic at the center of the allegations, the Mediheal Hospital and Fertility Centre in the western city of Eldoret, which on Wednesday staged a press briefing at which the hospital denied malpractice and promised to cooperate with the authorities.
DW : EU Commission fines Apple, Meta over digital law breaches
The European Commission on Wednesday found tech giants Apple and Meta in breach of obligations under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), fining the two US companies €500 million ($572 million) and €200 million respectively. Apple was found to have breached its "anti-steering" obligation under the DMA, while Meta was considered not to have given consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data, another stipulation of the DMA. However, the EU also closed an investigation of Apple over its user choice obligations after the tech giant complied with the DMA by making it easy to select a default browser and for users to remove pre-installed apps such as Safari.
DW : EU seeks to attract American scholars as Trump freezes funds
As US President Donald Trump freezes billions in funding for top universities until they give in to a list of demands, the European Union (EU) sees a chance to attract the finest scientific minds and scholars to the bloc. The EU commission and several European universities have announced a slew of programs aimed at offering academic freedom to US researchers if they relocate to Europe, especially those targeted by the Trump administration in the fields of immunology and communicable diseases, climate change and social sciences involving gender studies, diversity and migration. European academics have said that, as their counterparts in the US faced political interference and job loss, they were compelled to act and offer whatever help they could.
Al Jazeera : Trade war with China to hit US healthcare
As the United States and China engage in a trade war driven by steep tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and counter levies by President Xi Xinping, one sector that could be deeply impacted – and in turn have a disproportionate impact on the health of Americans – is pharmaceuticals. The US imports 75 percent of its essential medicines. The Trump administration has begun its investigation into imports of medications and the active ingredients needed to make them, saying a lack of that in the US poses a national security threat. It as also threatened sectoral tariffs – that could range from 7.5 percent to 100 percent – in addition to the 145 percent currently in place on China. While pharmaceuticals have been exempt from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs thus far, it’s not clear how long that will last, especially with potential sectoral levies in the pipeline. In the immediate term, there is some insulation between the looming escalated prices and what consumers will pay when they go to pick up their medication at their local pharmacy.
AL Jazeera: China’s Xi says tariffs undermine ‘legitimate rights’ of all countries
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that tariffs threaten the interests of all countries amid an ongoing de facto trade embargo between China and the United States. During a meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday, Xi said trade wars “undermine the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, hurt the multilateral trading system and impact the world economic order”, the state-run news agency Xinhua said. “Xi said that China is willing to work with Azerbaijan to safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, firmly protect respective legitimate rights and interests, and defend international fairness and justice,” Xinhua said. Xi’s remarks come as trade between the world’s two largest economies is at an effective standstill following the imposition of punishing tariffs on each other’s exports.
Al Jazeera : How Pope Francis redefined the Church’s ties with Africa
Thousands of miles from the Vatican, the death of Pope Francis is being mourned by millions of Catholics on the African continent. Francis, who was renowned for his liberal embrace of all groups of people and his vocal support for poor and marginalised communities, was a key figure on a continent sometimes referred to as the “future of the Catholic Church”, owing to the vast population of African Catholics: One in five Catholics is African. Throughout his papal leadership, Pope Francis solidified recently established Vatican conventions by visiting 10 African countries, reinforcing engagements made by his predecessors. Before the 1960s, popes hardly left the Vatican. Leaders across Africa, too, are mourning his death. Kenya’s President William Ruto referred to the late pope as someone who “exemplified servant leadership through his humility, his unwavering commitment to inclusivity and justice, and his deep compassion for the poor and the vulnerable”.
Al Jazeera : UN food agency cites funding gap as it halts aid to 650,000 in Ethiopia
The World Food Programme (WFP) said it is suspending aid for 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia due to a lack of funding. The UN agency warned on Tuesday that 3.6 million people in Ethiopia overall are at risk of losing access to food aid in the coming weeks unless new financial support can urgently be sourced. “WFP is being forced to halt treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children in May due to insufficient funding,” the UN agency said in a statement. The agency said it had planned to reach two million mothers and children with life-saving nutrition assistance in 2025 but will fall short due to a predicted funding shortfall of $222m between April and September.
Al Jazeera : ‘A cancer’: UN warns Asia-based cybercrime syndicates expanding worldwide
Asian cybercrime syndicates have caused an estimated $37bn in losses in the East and Southeast Asian regions, with the United Nations warning that the reach of the criminal networks is expanding globally. In a report released on Monday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) detailed how Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs have been raking in tens of billions of dollars annually targeting victims in an array of cybercrimes, including fake investments, cryptocurrency, romance and other scams. The criminal organisation have largely operated out of squalid compounds in the border areas of Myanmar, as well as in so-called “special economic zones” designed to attract foreign investment in Cambodia and Laos. They have relied on often trafficked workers forced to work in squalid compounds. While the report said countries in East and Southeast Asia lost an estimated $37bn to cyber-fraud in 2023, there were “much larger estimated losses” worldwide.
The Guardian: Hue new? Scientists claim to have found colour no one has seen before
After walking the Earth for a few hundred thousand years, humans might think they have seen it all. But not according to a team of scientists who claim to have experienced a colour no one has seen before. The bold – and contested – assertion follows an experiment in which researchers in the US had laser pulses fired into their eyes. By stimulating individual cells in the retina, the laser pushed their perception beyond its natural limits, they say. Their description of the colour is not too arresting – the five people who have seen it call it blue-green – but that, they say, does not fully capture the richness of the experience. “We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented colour signal but we didn’t know what the brain would do with it,” said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley. “It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated.”
Hope everyone has a nice evening.
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