Welcome to Overnight News Digest, where the usual crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, Interceptor7, jlms qkw, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with tonight's news. 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 12:00AM Eastern Time.
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From the New York Times: Older members say a diversity initiative for the Oscars, sought by actors like Jada Pinkett Smith, right, creates a new problem of ageism
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled 20 all-white acting nominees this month, the furor was immediate. The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, created last year, returned in force, and there was talk of an Oscar boycott. Then, last week, the academy declared that it was doubling its diversity push and ending guaranteed lifelong voting rights.
This time, it was academy members’ turn to react in disbelief and outrage.
The most common cri de coeur: The changes were ageist (a possibility) and insulting to blacks (if there’s a black academy member out there who agrees, please do get in touch). Another: “I’m liberal, so I can’t be racist,” a tautological cry that largely misses the point. For what it’s worth, Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith did not utter the dreaded r-word when they announced they were not attending the awards; Ms. Smith wished the academy “grace and love.”
There is, among older academy members, genuine bewilderment in the wake of this tidal shift. Sidney Furie, an 82-year-old member, noted that it was his brethren who made Sidney Poitier the first black man to win best actor, in 1963, and named “In the Heat of the Night” (1967) best picture. “The very people who voted for those Oscars are now being accused of being the roadblocks to the diversity the academy now seems committed to,” Mr. Furie wrote to the Bagger in an email. Valid, but part of the charge against the academy is how out of touch it is with contemporary black culture.
From The Hollywood Reporter: Working in Hollywood When You're Not White: Three Players Reveal All
"The system works to my disadvantage for no other reason than that I am a person of color." So says 'Dear White People' writer-director Justin Simien, who, along with veteran producer Stephanie Allain and 'Master of None' showrunner Alan Yang, let THR in on their heartfelt, sometimes funny dialogue (and why the word "minority" is "the worst word").
The topic America never wants to discuss is now all anyone in Hollywood can talk about. Should the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shoulder the blame for a field of white nominees in the acting categories, or is that merely a symptom of a more complex problem that touches almost every facet of the filmmaking process — from the agents pigeonholing their clients to executives not championing work by people of color to awards tastemakers ignoring diverse voices in favor of familiar ones? To shine a light on these issues and more, THR invited three Hollywood players to have a conversation on Saturday, Jan. 23 — Stephanie Allain, 57, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, producer of 2005's Hustle & Flow and, when she was an executive at Columbia, a champion of John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood (1991); Justin Simien, 32, the former publicist who wrote, directed and produced 2014's Sundance award-winning Dear White People; and Alan Yang, 33, who cut his teeth on Parks and Recreation before co-creating and executive producing the Aziz Ansari-starring seriesMaster of None for Netflix. "The Academy is the endgame," says Allain, but "the problem is totally systemic throughout Hollywood."
From Gizmodo: Seeing One Day Pass on Earth from Space Is Beyond Stunning
This is what one day looks like on Earth from space. The footage condenses 24 hours of imagery from Japan’s Himawari-8 satellite into 12 seconds and shows us how the our beautiful blue marble peels itself from the darkness in unbelievable detail. The reveal of Earth is just beyond words. No planet is as beautiful as Earth and videos like this where we see Van Gogh in the moving clouds mixed with the colors of our land mass projected against the blue, no other planet even comes close.
Geo de Graff writes:
Japan’s Himawari-8 satellite is in stationary orbit over New Guinea where it captures some truly amazing imagery of the Earth. Every day the satellite captures imagery of the western Pacific, Australia, and parts of Asia, Antarctica & Alaska.
Glittering Blue is a video of Himawari 8's imagery from just one day. The video shows 24 hours of imagery from August 3rd 2015 in 12 seconds. What makes Glittering Blue stand out is its sheer size, which really showcases the amazing quality of Himawari-8's imagery.
From the Washington Post: Scientists open the ‘black box’ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery
For the first time, scientists have pinned down a molecular process in the brain that helps to trigger schizophrenia. The researchers involved in the landmark study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, say the discovery of this new genetic pathway probably reveals what goes wrong neurologically in a young person diagnosed with the devastating disorder.
The study marks a watershed moment, with the potential for early detection and new treatments that were unthinkable just a year ago, according to Steven Hyman, director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute at MIT. Hyman, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, calls it "the most significant mechanistic study about schizophrenia ever."
"I’m a crusty, old, curmudgeonly skeptic," he said. "But I’m almost giddy about these findings."
The researchers, chiefly from the Broad Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, found that a person's risk of schizophrenia is dramatically increased if they inherit variants of a gene important to "synaptic pruning" -- the healthy reduction during adolescence of brain cell connections that are no longer needed.
From CNN: Oregon occupiers: What officials say happened at traffic stop
A high-speed getaway attempt and a reach for the waistband are said to have prompted police SWAT team members to open fire on a group of leaders of the Oregon armed occupiers.
A law enforcement official described the dramatic showdown that occurred Tuesday night on a desolate stretch of U.S. 395, some distance away from the federal wildlife refuge where the group took over federal buildings nearly a month ago.
FBI and Oregon State Police at a command center in Burns were monitoring the group when they departed the refuge to attend a town hall meeting with local residents in the town of John Day.
For days, they watched as members of the group came and went freely from the refuge. Some went home on weekends. Ammon Bundy, the group's leader, visited family near Boise, Idaho.
"They got quite comfortable coming and going. This was a 'standoff-lite,'" said one official who was monitoring the events as they went down.
From BBC News: Sweden 'to expel up to 80,000 failed asylum-seekers'
Sweden expects to expel up to 80,000 asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected, its interior minister was quoted as saying.
Anders Ygeman said that charter aircraft would be used to deport the migrants over several years.
"We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000," Swedish media quoted him as saying.
Some 163,000 migrants applied for asylum in Sweden in 2015, the highest per capita number in Europe.
Of the approximately 58,800 cases processed last year, 55% were accepted.
From Reuters: Global health body under pressure to stop Zika virus
The World Health Organization will hold a special session on Thursday on the Zika virus as the U.N. agency comes under pressure for quick action against the infection linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil that is spreading through Latin America and the Caribbean.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan was set to address the agency's executive board in Geneva as countries took new steps on Wednesday to try to stop the mosquito-transmitted virus linked to the dangerous birth defect called microcephaly.
The United States said it will block people who have visited regions impacted by the virus from donating blood in a bid to fight its spread.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is working with other federal agencies, blood collection establishments and industry organizations to quickly implement "donor deferral measures for travelers who have visited affected regions in order to protect the blood supply in the United States."
From USA Today: Honoring heroes of the Holocaust, Obama warns of growing anti-Semitism
President Obama warned of growing anti-Semitism in the United States and the world Wednesday as he honored two Americans and two Poles who helped save Jewish lives duringWorld War II.
"Here, tonight, we must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it," Obama said at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the Israeli embassy Wednesday night. He cited Jews fleeing European cities, attacks on Jewish centers in Mumbai, Indiaand Overland Park, Kan. and swastikas on college campuses.
"When we see all that and more, we must not be silent," Obama said.
Obama spoke at a "Righteous Among the Nations" awards ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 71st anniversary of the liberation of theAuschwitz concentration camp, which honors those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.
From Bloomberg: North Korea May Be Preparing Missile Launch, Kyodo Reports
North Korea may be getting ready to launch a long-range ballistic missile following its fourth nuclear test early this month, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.
Satellite imagery analysis in recent days indicates preparations for a possible launch, Kyodo said, citing an unidentified person in the Japanese government. Both Japan and South Korea declined to confirm the report.
The regime in Pyongyang fired a long-range rocket before each of its previous three nuclear tests, which all resulted in a tightening of international sanctions. In 2012, North Korea put a satellite into orbit via a rocket, which the U.S. and South Korea called a test of ballistic missile technology banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions.
"As a government we are very interested in North Korea’s motives regarding the missile, and we are gathering information and working to analyze it as usual,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said at a regular briefing Thursday. “But I decline to comment on the nature of the details of this specific information."
From The Guardian: McDonald's introduces chocolate-covered french fries to Japan
McDonald’s is attempting to reverse its sagging fortunes in Japan with the launch this week of a new menu item: french fries smothered in chocolate sauce.
While the combination of deep-fried potato and sugary condiment is unlikely to impress dieticians, the fast-food chain’s Japan unit is hoping the arrival of McChoco Potatoes will counteract a slew of bad news about its performance in the world’s third-biggest economy.
While McDonald’s reported a 5.7% rise in US in the last three months of 2015, as well as plans to open another 60 stores in Russia this year, its Japanese sales have been hit by a series of food scandals and supply issues.
In late 2014, the firm was forced to restrict sales of fries after industrial action at US ports affected shipments of thousands of tonnes of the chain’s staple accompaniment to a burger to Japan.
From the Miami Herald: Mizzou professor who called for 'muscle' suspended
The University of Missouri's governor board says it's suspended an assistant professor accused of assault stemming from a campus run-in with student journalists during protests in November.
Pam Henrickson, chair of the University of Missouri system's Board of Curators, said in a statement after a special board meeting Wednesday night that Melissa Click is suspended "pending further investigation."
The board called for its general counsel to conduct an investigation so the board can determine whether additional discipline "is appropriate."
Click had a confrontation with a student photographer and a student videographer on Nov. 9 during protests at the Columbia campus over what some saw as university leadership's indifference to racial issues. Click called for "some muscle" to help remove the videographer from the protest area on the Columbia campus.
Click has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge.
From the San Francisco Chronicle: Teacher: Principal pushed 6 to 10 students out of bus' path
An elementary principal who was fatally struck when a school bus accelerated toward a group of students pushed six to 10 children to safety, a teacher who witnessed the accident estimated Wednesday.
Third-grade teacher Debbie Thie, a longtime friend of Principal Susan Jordan, said she was standing Tuesday on the sidewalk outside Amy Beverland Elementary School in front of a line of buses as students filed out when she saw the vehicle lurch toward the children. Two 10-year-old students were injured, but nobody except Jordan was killed.
"It was as if the bus wouldn't stop," Thie said. "The bus came up on the curb and kept going, across the sidewalk and into the grass. Susan immediately started saving the children. She backed up toward the school trying to beat the bus. She's grabbing kids and scooting them out of the way."
Thie said she lost sight of Jordan and didn't see her get hit. Thie said she thought Jordan pushed six to 10 children out of the way but she couldn't be certain because "it all went so quickly."
From The Atlantic: The Man Who Tried to Kill Math in America
The Common Core math standards have been contentious since they were launched several years ago, with many parents taking to social media to complain about their kids getting incomprehensible homework. Kids are now expected, for example, to explain how multiplication works using the “box” and “lattice” methods. These methods take longer, and are harder to master at first, but have been shown by some research to be more effective than the multiply-and-carry method, particularly for kids who have trouble memorizing things. And while they may be new for this generation of parents, they have been around since at least the 13th century.
The research and philosophy behind the new math standards aren’t new either: They mirror the ideas espoused by the Mathematical Association of America’s National Committee on Mathematical Requirements, which formed in 1916 and put together a plan to reform math education in the United States. Until then, math education consisted of few attempts at helping students reach a deeper understanding. One impetus for reform was that, while the country had become a leader in technological and industrial innovation in the early 20th century, and while more students were taking algebra and geometry than before, many of its schools had yet to be as sophisticated or academically rigorous as those in Europe … That initiative gave way to the increasingly popular progressive education-reform movement, which preached that a deeper understanding of math wasn’t practical for most Americans—that the way it was taught didn’t take into account their interests and thus squashed their will to learn. Less math is more, the thinking went. Because this movement won, instead of raising the numeracy of the general public and ensuring it was better equipped to navigate the increasingly sophisticated technology and global economy, American schools allowed an entire generation of students to fall behind mathematically. Because it usually only takes one generation to erase the gains of the previous one, Baby Boomers, Xers, and older Millennials are still nowhere near as numerate as they should be.
And while many helped make this happen, a lot of the blame lies with one well-meaning, extremely influential educator: William Heard Kilpatrick, Columbia University Teachers College’s “million-dollar professor.”
From the Los Angeles Times: Is the U.S. due for a recession or not? A case can be made either way
For the Federal Reserve, Wednesday's decision to stand pat on interest rates wasn't hard -- not with global financial markets and oil prices in turmoil.
But the Fed, like most everyone else, is finding itself trying to see past an impenetrable fog.
Some economists warn that the U.S. economy could fall into recession in the months ahead. If they’re right, a Fed campaign to keep notching up interest rates to slow the economic engine could tip the country over the cliff.
But wait. A great many other economists -- probably a majority -- say the country is in no immediate danger of sliding into recession. If that’s true, the Fed can safely keep easing back on the throttle and reduce the danger of future inflation.
Who is right, the pessimists or the optimists? A lot is riding on the answer, and not just for investors. An economic downturn this year would be a powerful blow to Democratic hopes of holding onto the presidency in November’s election.
From CNBC: This is why oil glut not going away soon
U.S. oil production continues to defy forecasts that it is on the decline, and with refiners processing as much of the stuff as they can, the glut of oil, gasoline and diesel fuel keeps growing.
That should continue to pressure oil prices, which rallied Wednesday because the large weekly build in supply was not quite as gigantic as feared. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil supplies grew by 8.4 million barrels last week, well below the 11.4 million reported Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute.
The government's lower figure helped trigger a relief rally in crude futures that erased steep losses and pushed the front month futures contract for West Texas Intermediate crude to settle at $32.30. Another factor driving oil higher was reports that possible coordination between Russia and OPEC was discussed by Russian companies. The market continues to speculate that OPEC members may strike a deal on production, but most analysts dismiss that.
"It's a record amount of crude oil in storage. It's a huge build in gasoline, but there was a little strength in distillate demand, thanks to the weather. It's squarely bearish again," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital.
From ZDNet: Samsung Electronics yearly net profit at lowest level in four years
Samsung Electronics has reported a wider-than-expected decline in its earnings for the final quarter of 2015 as its two core businesses face a slowdown amid weakening global demand for consumer electronics.
The company also hinted at a profit decline for the first half of this year.
Samsung's net profit for the October-December period plunged 40 percent from a year earlier to 3.2 trillion won ($2.65 billion).
The result fell short of expectations, even after considering the negative impact from foreign currency exchange rates estimated at 400 billion won. Analysts expected 5.1 trillion won in net income, according to FactSet, a financial data provider.
From E! Online: Michael Jackson Once Told Oprah Winfrey He'd Never Want a White Actor to Play Him
It seems like the late Michael Jackson himself would also be very unhappy with the casting decision for Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon.
Twitter went up in arms after it was revealed that Shakespeare in Love star Joseph Fiennes would be playing the King of Pop in a new half-hour TV comedy about an unconfirmed road trip the singer reportedly took with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
And now, a 1993 interview between MJ and Oprah Winfrey has resurfaced to prove that Jackson would not approve of Fiennes playing him in this project.
From Slate: Closer to the Cure: New Study Sheds Light on HIV Viral Reservoir
While progress toward a vaccine and even a functional cure for HIV has accelerated in recent years, a major obstacle has been the “viral reservoir”—locations and cell types in a body where the virus can persist at very low levels even when treatment has succeeded at making it undetectable in the blood by standard testing. Indeed, while recent research has shown that patients on properly administered antiretroviral drugs are essentially noninfectious—there are so few copies of the virus in their blood and other fluids that they cannot transmit it to others—disruptions to therapy will see the virus quickly rebound from the reservoir. A functional cure for HIV, then, will require a method of eradicating the virus both in the blood and in the cells and tissues that make up this hidden reservoir—and with a new study out from Northwestern University on Wednesday, we’re one step closer to just that.
Published in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature, the study reports that even in undetectable patients, HIV is still replicating in the lymphoid tissues—a part of the immune system that’s spread among structures like the lymph nodes, tonsils, and spleen. Previously, researchers had thought that the reservoir contained “long-lived infected cells in a resting state,” particularly because they were not seeing the drug resistance one would expect to develop if HIV was reproducing in the presence of medication. But these results show that new cells are actually being infected in these “sanctuaries”—at low enough levels to avoid necessarily producing drug resistance—and then moving through the body. When drug therapy stops, these are the cells that reignite viral production.
From Agence France-Presse: Mexico opens landmark debate on marijuana laws
Mexico opened on Tuesday a national debate on prohibitionist marijuana laws, as the government appeared open to legalizing medical cannabis use.
President Enrique Pena Nieto, who personally opposes legalization, decided to hold five public forums after the Supreme Court opened the door to recreational use of marijuana in a country beset by drug cartel violence for a decade.
"This is an issue that has directly or indirectly affected the lives of millions of Mexicans," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said at the start of the first debate, which was broadcast online.
"Such a delicate issue cannot be left to improvisation," he said in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun, where experts were invited to debate the drug's effects on public health and addiction.
Legalization supporters argue that decriminalizing marijuana would strip drug cartels of a major source of revenue and reduce violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Pena Nieto has rejected such arguments, but he indicated that his government would be open to changing the laws, depending on the outcome of the debate.
Osorio Chong strongly hinted that the administration was open to the medical use of marijuana, noting that there is a "majority (of public) opinion" in favor of such uses.
From Billboard: Rihanna Releases 'Anti' Album
Rihanna has released her new album Anti.
The pop star's eighth studio album was released by surprise Wednesday (Jan. 27), following a leak earlier in the day. It is currently available for streaming and purchase exclusively on TIDAL.
As well, the eighth room of Rihanna's "Anti Diary" has now been opened.
Samsung users who had interacted with the "Anti Diary" are receiving codes to download the album free through TIDAL. The offer appears only to work from Samsung mobile devices (not desktop).
From Rolling Stone: Inside David Bowie's Final Years
When the pain hit, David Bowie was singing a song called "Reality." It was just another concert on a tour that had stretched on a little too long, bringing him to a stiflingly hot arena stage in Prague, on a late-June evening in 2004. "Reality," the title track to his album of the previous year, was about facing mortality and putting illusions aside, and at age 57, he had been busy doing just that. He was sober, and had finally quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, working out with a trainer. That night, as usual, he looked agelessly, extraterrestrially great: lean, with longish blond hair spilling onto his unlined forehead, a fluorescent scarf around his neck. But as he stood in the spotlight, yowling lines like "Now my death is more than just a sad song" – a reference to his doomy Ziggy-era renditions of Jacques Brel's "My Death" – he found himself struggling for breath. Bowie clutched at his shoulder and chest, leaving the song's final words unsung.
"He looked over his shoulder at me," recalls bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, "and he was pale, translucent almost. His shirt was drenched. And he was just standing there, not singing. I could see the audience's expressions in the front row change – from joy to kind of looking concerned." A bodyguard rushed onstage and helped Bowie off.
He somehow managed to return for a few more songs that night, before seeing a doctor who misdiagnosed him with a pinched nerve in his shoulder, prescribing muscle relaxants. Bowie pushed through one more shaky show at a German festival two days later, ending with the last version of "Ziggy Stardust" he'd ever sing in concert. He hit every note, made it down the stairs leading off the stage, and promptly collapsed. At a local hospital, doctors realized that he had a blocked artery in his heart, and performed emergency surgery.