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Overnight News Digest: July 9, 2025 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-09
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.
Hope everyone’s managing to stay cool/warm/safe.
Space.com: See interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS zoom through solar system in new telescope imagery (video).
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has captured the clearest images yet of the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS as it moves inward through the solar system. ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) snapped new images of the comet just two days after it was discovered, recording a timelapse as the object moved across the sky. The resulting stacked image is the deepest view yet of the interstellar intruder. "These data were obtained with the FORS2 instrument on the VLT on the night of 3 July 2025," ESO officials wrote in a July 8 statement. The VLT timelapse shows the comet moving over the course of 13 minutes.
Space.com: Every living former NASA science chief opposes Trump's proposed budget cuts in letter to Congress.
In a grand show of unity, all seven living former Associate Administrators of NASA's Science Mission Directorate have signed a joint letter opposing the Trump administration's proposed 47% cut to NASA's 2026 science budget. They "unanimously urge Congress to reject the proposed cuts to NASA's budget" and request that the NASA Science Mission Directorate retain its 2025 budget. The seven signatories — John Grunsfeld, Alphonso Diaz, Lennard Fisk, Wesley Huntress, Alan Stern, Edward Weiler, and Thomas Zurbuchen — warn the "indiscriminate cut" would end dozens of current and future missions, "severely [damaging] a peerless and immensely capable engineering and scientific workforce" and "needlessly [putting] to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer investments." Furthermore, the budget cut would eliminate the United States as a global leader in space science, ceding power to China and other nations. They also call attention to the numerous benefits of NASA's science programs, which only comprise about 3% of NASA's total budget. "The economics of these proposed cuts ignore a fundamental truth: investments in NASA science have been and are a powerful driver of the U.S. economy and technological leadership," the authors write in the letter, pointing to successful missions like the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Parker Solar Probe, among many others.
Space.com: Scientists discover ice in space isn't like water on Earth after all.
Water ice is everywhere in space, from frozen moons to frosty dust grains in interstellar clouds. However, researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge have recently discovered that ice in space isn't like what we thought it was. On Earth, the relatively warm temperatures in which ice exists gives the water molecules enough energy to form an ordered, crystalline structure akin to the symmetry of snowflakes. However, in space, temperatures plunge much lower, down to –148 or –328 degrees Fahrenheit (–100 or –200 Celsius) and colder, and it wasn't thought that water-ice could crystallize under such conditions. Instead, water ice in space was thought to be purely amorphous; in other words, no crystallization and no ordered structure between molecules. When plumes of water vapor from Saturn's moon Enceladus spew into space, that water vapor freezes and snows back onto the icy moon's surface, but those snowflakes would, according to previous theories, not have the intricate structure of snowflakes on Earth. But now, new research suggests that it could, at least to a degree. Matching computer simulations of how amorphous ice freezes to X-ray diffraction measurements of real amorphous ice suggest that in some cases, up to a quarter of amorphous ice can be made up of crystals.
Space.com: Private Ax-4 astronauts aboard ISS are filling their time with science, views of Earth and pierogis (video).
Houston-based company Axiom Space's fourth crewed mission to space is nearing its end, and its four astronauts are filling every last minute with science, amazing views of Earth and pierogis. The crew of Axiom-4 (Ax-4) have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked there on June 26. Their days have been filled with more than 60 research experiments and outreach events, breaking an Axiom mission record for on-orbit activities. Lucie Low, Axiom's chief scientist, spoke with the Ax-4 crew during a mission science briefing on July 5. The four astronauts discussed some of the experiments they have been working on during their time aboard the orbital laboratory.
The Guardian: Trump praises English of the leader of Liberia – where English is the official language.
Donald Trump was basking in the praise of a group of African leaders on Wednesday, when the Liberian president took the microphone. “Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States and we believe in your policy of making America great again,” President Joseph Boakai said in English at a White House meeting before advocating for US investment in his country. “We just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.” Trump, clearly impressed, inquired where Boakai got his language skills. “Such good English, such beautiful …” Trump said. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated?” Boakai seemed to chuckle. English is the official language of Liberia. “In Liberia?” Trump asked. “Yes sir,” Boakai said. “That’s very interesting, that’s beautiful English” Trump said. “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
The Guardian: US completes deportation of eight men to South Sudan after legal wrangling.
Eight men deported from the US in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have reached the Trump administration’s intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the state department advises against travel to due to “crime, kidnapping and armed conflict”. The men from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to relocate them in a case that had gone to the supreme court, which had permitted their removal from the US. Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the US. “This was a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people,” Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, said in a statement on Saturday announcing the men’s arrival in South Sudan. The supreme court cleared the way for the transfer of the men last Thursday.
The Guardian: Firefighters from Mexico aid Texas flood search and rescue: ‘There are no borders’.
A contingent of firefighters and first responders from Mexico arrived in Texas over the weekend to aid in search and rescue efforts following the devastating flooding of the Guadalupe River in a show of solidarity with their northern neighbors. “When it comes to firefighters, there’s no borders,” Ismael Aldaba, founder of Fundación 911, in Acuña, Mexico, told CNN on Tuesday. “There’s nothing that’ll avoid us from helping another firefighter, another family. It doesn’t matter where we’re at in the world. That’s the whole point of our discipline and what we do.” They represent one of a handful of volunteer groups, including highly skilled search and rescue teams from California, that have traveled to Texas after the flooding which is being described as one of the US’s deadliest floods in decades. Dozens of people are still missing. Under the command of Mountain Home fire department and Texas state police, Fundación 911 is assisting along the Guadalupe River and coordinating to bring in reinforcements equipped with search and rescue canines from the Mexican state of Nuevo León.
The Guardian: Canadian police seize largest ever weapons cache in terrorism inquiry.
Police in Canada have arrested and charged four people, including active military members, who they allege were “planning to create anti-government militia” and to “forcibly take possession of land” in the province of Quebec. The scope of material uncovered by police, including explosives and assault rifles, marks the largest weapons cache ever seized as part of terrorism investigation. On Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged Marc-Aurèle Chabot, 24, of Quebec City, Simon Angers-Audet, 24, of Neuville, and Raphaël Lagacé, 25, of Quebec City, alleging the group took actions to facilitate terrorist activity. “The three accused were planning to create anti-government militia. To achieve this, they took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises. They also conducted a scouting operation,” the RCMP said in a statement.
The Guardian: Ex-South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol returned to prison over martial law bid.
Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol returned to jail on Thursday after a court approved a warrant sought by prosecutors investigating his attempt to impose martial law last year. The Seoul central district court’s decision bolstered the special counsel investigation into allegations that Yoon’s move in December represented obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The court said in a statement that it granted the request because of concerns Yoon could seek to destroy evidence. The conservative politician already faces criminal charges of insurrection over his martial law decree, and that could carry a sentence of life in prison or death. The former president returned to confinement in the Seoul detention centre about 12 miles south of the capital after the decision. He spent 52 days in jail earlier in the year but was released four months ago on technical grounds.
Time of India: US hikes H-1B visa fee: $250 security deposit made mandatory for tourists too.
From 2026, students, tourists, and even asylum seekers will have to pay more as Donald Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill which is now an Act introduced several new provisions for visa. According to the new rule, this mandatory fee would apply to "any alien issued a non-immigrant visa" applications, including tourist/business (B-1/B-2), student (F/M), work (H-1B), and exchange (J) visas, with exemptions only for diplomatic visa categories (A and G). According to reports, a fixed $250 fee will be charged at the time of the visa issuance, but it is refundable if the applicant complies with all the rules and departs timely. There is no waiver available and it is seen as a measure to ensure that foreigners on a visa abide by immigration laws. From 2026 onward, the amount of $250 will increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index. Fragomen, a US-based immigration services firm reported that the Act has other travel-related fees including a $24 I-94 fee, a $13 Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) fee for Visa Waiver Programme travellers, and a $30 Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) fee for certain Chinese nationals with 10-year B-1/B-2 visas, none of which are waivable.
Times of India: 'Worrisome’: US visa delays hit all-time high, 11.3 million cases pending.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is struggling to keep up with a piling number of immigration cases, reaching an all-time high of 11.3 million pending applications.Immigration attorneys said the Trump administration’s efforts to find fraudulent cases have set back the pace of the process and resulted in “massive backlogs” across an immigration system that is already grappling with a growing number of cases, as reported by Newsweek. The data from USCIS from January to March indicates that, with backlogs growing in number every quarter, certain immigration categories are going through worsening delays as processing times are stretched. Applicants have to wait for months or even years in the end. Charles Kuck, the founding partner at Kuck Baxter in Atlanta, told Newsweek, “The Trump administration has told USCIS to slow down processing of cases. Predictably, the system has quickly developed massive backlogs. By the end of 2028, we will pine for the days of a functioning legal immigration system because it will effectively not exist by the end of the Trump term." USCIS is funded solely by fees from immigrants applying for services like green cards and work permits. For years, reports have pointed to problems with this model, including ongoing staffing shortages that cause long delays.
Times of India: Kash Patel's girlfriend dragged into Epstein case: 'Why would she date a not-so-attractive Indian-American?'
Conspiracy theories like the Donald Trump administration dropped the Epstein case altogether, as the president was named in his files, or because Epstein was a Mossad agent, have been doing the rounds amid a major MAGA meltdown. Now, FBI chief Kash Patel's singer girlfriend Alexis Wilkins has been dragged into the conspiracy. A viral post on X claimed that Alexis works for an "NGO that's basically Israeli intelligence". "And seriously, why would an attractive young woman date a not so attractive Indian American. Classic honey pot," the post claimed adding that Alexis works for PragerU. "Plus: she is 26 and he is 45. Red flags all over," the conspiracy theorist noted. Alexis Wilkins is indeed a PragerU media personality, as she's listed on the website of PragerU as a presenter. But the connection between PragerU and Israel that the viral post drew is far-fetched. It said Marissa Strey, who is the CEO of PragerU served in the military intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces.
Times of India: Epstein client list: Megyn Kelly blasts Pam Bondi, calls her 'too lazy' as MAGA wants her to resign.
Right-wing commentator Meghyn Kelly has been the latest to turn on Attorney General Pam Bondi after the US administration closed the Epstein case forever, announcing that the convicted sex offender indeed died by suicide in his prison cell, and he did not have a list of clients. The joint memo of the DOJ and the FBI led to a major meltdown of the MAGA activists, as releasing Epstein files was one of the promises that the Donald Trump administration promised with certainty. Megyn Kelly said on her show that Pam Bondi's days are numbered as a member of the Trump administration. “Pam Bondi knew she was about to embarrass some of his most loyal surrogates out there, and did that willingly, or she didn’t take the time to make sure what was in those binders,” Kelly said. “It was all publicly released information that had already been out there…She was too lazy to actually figure out none of this is new, and yet she called a meeting with the influencers that included Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, and the sitting vice president.” “Then she acted indignant. She didn’t know. It was the sleazy FBI who had withheld the real documents from her,” Kelly said. “She was going to get to the bottom of it. Then she said further release would come. One did not come. Then she was caught on tape saying there are tens of thousands of kiddie porn or child pornography material that we found, which again, is like, a third issue over here. And next thing we know there’s no there there.”“They f***ed up because they trusted her,” Kelly said. “They were humiliated because she gave them all these binders that read ‘Epstein Files,’ you know, ‘Volume 1,’ and there was nothing new in there. Nothing. There was no scoop. Why would she do that?”
Al Jazeera: Six rescued, four killed after Houthi attack on cargo ship in Red Sea.
Six crew members have been rescued from a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea, according to a European Union naval force, after an attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The attack is so far known to have killed at least four sailors out of the 25 people on the vessel, with 15 still missing, sources at security companies involved in the rescue operation told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday. The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said that the Eternity C had been headed towards Israel, and that the Houthis had “responded to rescue a number of the ship’s crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location” after the attack on Monday. The European Union’s Operation Aspides said it had rescued five Filipinos and one Indian out of the 22-member crew and three-member security team.
Al Jazeera: Can India stop Pakistan’s river water — and will it spark a new war?
Islamabad, Pakistan – Seven decades ago, one of South Asia’s greatest fiction writers, Saadat Hasan Manto, published a short story set in a village in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The plot revolved around rumours of an Indian plan to “shut down” water to Pakistan by closing off rivers that irrigated the province’s crops. A character in the 1951 story titled Yazid responds to that chatter by saying, “…who can close a river; it’s a river, not a drain.” That theory is now on test, 74 years later — with implications for two of the world’s most populous nations that are also nuclear-armed neighbours. In April 2025, after gunmen killed 26 civilians, almost all tourists, in an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, New Delhi blamed armed groups that it said were backed by Pakistan for the violence. India announced it was walking out of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a six-decade-old transboundary water agreement that governs the division of water from the Indus Basin’s six rivers. The treaty is a lifeline for more than 270 million people, most of whom live in Pakistan.
Al Jazeera: In Taiwan, migrants flee oppressive workplaces for life on the periphery.
Heading to work on the streets of Taiwan, the 45-year-old Filipino migrant worker dodges glances and often checks his face mask to make sure his appearance is concealed. To hide his accent, he often speaks in a near-whisper. Often, he declines invitations to social occasions from his fellow countrymen, worried that a “Judas” among them might report him to the authorities. Hired at one of Taiwan’s many electronics factories, Bernard came to the island legally in 2016. But since June 2024, he has been among Taiwan’s growing population of undocumented workers. He blames his broker, a private employment agent to which migrants are usually assigned, for his current predicament.
Al Jazeera: In Armenia, a bitter dispute escalates between PM Pashinyan and the Church.
A confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s top Christian clerics seems to be deepening, polarising the deeply religious South Caucasus nation of 3 million. St Echmiadzin, the Armenian Apostolic Church’s headquarters, has been “taken over by the anti-Christian, immoral, antinational and antistate group and has to be liberated”, Pashinyan wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, adding: “I will lead this liberation.” The dispute escalated late last month, with bells ringing tocsin over St Echmiadzin on June 27. Usually, the loud and alarming sound signals an event of significance, such as a foreign invasion. But on that parching-hot June day, the noise rang out to signal the detention of a top cleric who, according to Pashinyan, was part of a “criminal-oligarchic clergy” that was involved in “terrorism” and plotted a “coup”.
Deutsche Welle: China: 10 years after 709 crackdown, human rights are waning.
Chen Jiangang is one of hundreds of Chinese lawyers whose lives have been upended since July 9, 2015 — the day China's government launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on legal professionals defending human rights. "That night, I was like a frightened bird," Chen told DW. "I was in Beijing and figured someone might come looking for me. I drove far away and hid in my car until two or three in the morning." The incident, known as the "709 crackdown," led to more than 300 human rights lawyers and legal assistants being arrested and interrogated. At least 15 were later convicted of national security offenses. Lawyers face restrictions, surveillance Although Chen wasn't arrested, he soon became a target after he represented several lawyers who were detained during the crackdown. In 2019, under mounting pressure, he fled to the United States with his wife and sons to seek asylum.
DW: Turkey: Government silences last critical media outlets.
Turkey's freedom of expression and press freedom has been making headlines in Germany for years. The non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has ranked Turkey 159 out of 180 countries in its global press freedom index 2025. At the moment, officially "only" four people are in prison for their journalistic activities. While this marks a significant drop from a few years ago, the government is constantly finding new ways to suppress independent journalism. For example, passports of media professionals released from prison have been withheld so they are not able to leave the country. Foreign journalists are also unable to work freely in Turkey, as the arrest of Swedish journalist Kaj Joakim Medin shows. According to estimates by Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute (IPI), more than 95% of Turkish media are considered to be close to the government. This means that they are either directly or indirectly run by business people loyal to the government.
DW: Fact check: Viral ICE deportation claims debunked.
DW: German-Polish border: Controls, commuters, citizen patrols.
The bridge that connects the German city of Frankfurt an der Oder and the Polish city of Slubice is quite a strange sight these days. Rows of EU flags have been hoisted on it and on either side of it. Those crossing from the German side see a sign that reads "Frankfurt Oder - Slubice" and the words "Ohne Grenzen. Bez Granic" — "without borders" in German and Polish. But the slogan, which both cities have been using in their joint marketing campaign for years now, no longer applies the way it used to. Germany began carrying out spot checks at the border in October 2023, and Poland followed suit on Monday, July 7.
DW: Denmark finalizes US defense deal despite Greenland gripes.
At first glance, it doesn't seem to make any sense. The US president has deeply rattled Denmark by reiterating several times he may invade and occupy the semi-autonomous island of Greenland for "national security" reasons. But rather than looking at how it could bolster its national defenses against a possible — even if unlikely — incursion, the Danish parliament on June 11 overwhelming approved an agreement to let the US military enter the country whenever it wants, for whatever reason it sees fit. "[T]he purpose of such presence of US forces is to further the efforts of the Parties to promote peace and security in the areas of mutual interest and benefit and to take part in common defense efforts," the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) states. Some areas may even be put under the exclusive control of the US, although Greenland — which already hosts a US base — and the Faroe Islands are excluded.
Phys.org : Autonomous gallbladder removal: Robot performs first realistic surgery without human help.
A robot trained on videos of surgeries performed a lengthy phase of a gallbladder removal without human help. The robot operated for the first time on a lifelike patient, and during the operation, responded to and learned from voice commands from the team—like a novice surgeon working with a mentor. The robot performed unflappably across trials and with the expertise of a skilled human surgeon, even during unexpected scenarios typical in real-life medical emergencies. The work, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers, is a transformative advancement in surgical robotics, where robots can perform with both mechanical precision and human-like adaptability and understanding. "This advancement moves us from robots that can execute specific surgical tasks to robots that truly understand surgical procedures," said medical roboticist Axel Krieger. "This is a critical distinction that brings us significantly closer to clinically viable autonomous surgical systems that can work in the messy, unpredictable reality of actual patient care."
Phys.org: Prehistoric 'Swiss army knife' made from cave lion bone discovered in Neanderthal cave.
Archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known multifunctional tool made from cave lion bone, shedding new light on Neanderthal ingenuity. The ancient utensil dates back to the end of the Saalian glaciation, around 130,000 years ago, and consists of four tools carved from a single cave lion tibia, a sort of prehistoric Swiss Army knife. Published in Scientific Reports, the detailed analysis of the bone revealed signs of deliberate shaping, use and repurposing. It's thought that the tools were first used for tasks such as chiseling and then later broken and reused to shape or sharpen flint tools in a process known as retouching. The bone tools were discovered in the Scladina Cave in Belgium, which has proven to be a treasure trove of ancient secrets. Previous discoveries include the well-preserved remains of an eight-year-old Neanderthal girl (dubbed the Scladina child), dating to around 127,000 years, as well as thousands of flint tool fragments and the bones of prehistoric animals.
Phys.org: Practical changes could reduce AI energy demand by up to 90%.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be made more sustainable by making practical changes, such as reducing the number of decimal places used in AI models, shortening responses, and using smaller AI models, according to research from UCL published in a new UNESCO report. In recent years, the use of generative AI has expanded rapidly, with large language models (LLMs) developed by companies such as OpenAI, Meta and Google becoming household names. For example, OpenAI's ChatGPT service, powered by the GPT-4 LLM, receives about 1 billion queries each day. Each generation of LLMs has become more sophisticated than the last, better able to perform tasks like text generation or knowledge retrieval. This has led to a vast and increasing demand on resources such as electricity and water, which are needed to run the data centers where these AI models are trained and deployed.
Phys.org: Semiconducting polymers and collagen combine to create safe, green wearable tech.
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