Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man with guest editor Chitown Kev and Magnifico. Alumni editors include (but are not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
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 12:00 AM Eastern Time (or if it is Friday night and the editor is me, a bit later).
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
I usually stay away from the big news of the day, but I thought I would include this disturbing rant from The Independent:
Hurricane Matthew: In Haiti the death toll stands at 842 but the US media does not seem to care
Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to natural disasters
Four minutes before 10am on Friday morning, the Reuters news agency provided an update on the death toll in Haiti. At a minimum, the news agency said, 572 people had lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Matthew.
The rest of tonight’s news should not be quite so bleak, but it won't necessarily be cheerful. First up, from the BBC:
Brexit: LSE foreign experts 'should not advise ministers'
The London School of Economics says some of its academics have been barred from advising the Foreign Office on Brexit because they are not British.
The university said the leader of a project had been told only UK passport-holders should be involved in talks on national security and foreign trade.
But the Foreign Office said nothing had changed following Brexit.
It said it would "continue to take advice from the best and brightest minds, regardless of nationality".
Another item from the UK (from The Mirror):
Super-fleas with huge penises set to invade Britain from Europe
The breed, which has a penis which is two-and-a-half times the length of its body, is believed to have reached the UK.
Billions of European super-fleas with massive penises are preparing to invade bedrooms across the country this autumn.
The invasive breed, which has a penis which is two-and-a-half times the length of its body, is believed to have reached UK shores from the continent in past few years.
Their male genitalia is the largest in the world, relative to the size of any bug.
Following last year’s mild winter and perfect breeding conditions this summer the well-endowed insects are soon due to emerge from hibernation en mass.
From Market Watch:
Pound flash crash spooks traders out of European stocks
European stocks closed firmly lower on Friday after a flash crash in the pound during Asian trading hours was perceived as scaring investors out of riskier assets.
The region’s equity markets didn’t get much help from a U.S. jobs report that slightly missed expectations.
And another on a connected topic, this from CNN Money:
Falling pound is crushing retirement dreams of expat Brits
by Cristiana Moisescu and Charles Riley
The pound's dramatic decline is threatening to spoil the golden years of retired Brits living abroad.
Popular retirement communities in Spain and France face an uncertain future. Pensioners have seen their spending power fall sharply since June as the pound slumped 15% against the euro.
Hundreds of thousands of expat retirees rely on U.K. government, company and private pensions to make ends meet. But the monthly payments are made in pounds, and must be converted to euros before being spent.
From Canada (via NPR):
'We Failed You': Female Mounties Receive Apology After Decades Of Harassment
For decades, female officers belonging to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have claimed harassment, discrimination and abuse within the Mounties.
They received a historic apology on Thursday from RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, along with news that the government has set aside a multimillion-dollar compensation package.
"Instead of succeeding and thriving in a supportive and inclusive workplace, many women have suffered careers scarred by gender and sexual discrimination, bullying and harassment," Paulson told reporters.
Another about brave women, from Newsweek:
10 Years on From the Murder of Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, What Has Changed?
Anna Politkovskaya was not the first journalist killed in Russia after the end of USSR. On the day of her assassination in Moscow October 7, 2006, the death list of the Glasnost Defense Foundation consisted of 211 names. It took us, the organizers of the memorial meeting in Moscow central Pushkin Square, 40 minutes to read out all those names, which struck all the attending Russian and International journalists.
Anna Politkovskaya became the first Russian journalist whose death became international news and initiated, after many years, a new interest in Russia and Russian media. Dozens of international conferences, films, books, debates and articles made an iconic image of her courage and dedication to the profession and human rights for hundreds of colleagues and the public in many countries.
And back to Canada for another story about mistakes being made:
RCMP investigating 2 switched-at-birth cases at Norway House hospital
Health Canada also reviewing the cases involving births at northern Manitoba hospital in 1975
The RCMP have launched an investigation into two separate cases of babies being switched at birth at the Norway House Indian Hospital in northern Manitoba 41 years ago.
The police force announced the investigation on Friday into the two cases, which happened at the federally run hospital in 1975.
"The RCMP has an obligation to the families involved and to the public to determine if the incidents at the Norway House Indian Hospital were accidental or criminal in nature," the police force said in a statement.
From The New York Times comes this fascinating, if slightly bizarre story:
Early Book Praising Hitler May Have Been Written by Hitler
In the early fall of 1923, when Adolf Hitler was still mostly known for his frenzied speeches at Munich beer halls, a slim biography was published that lauded him as the savior of the German nation and even compared him to Jesus.
The book, “Adolf Hitler: His Life and His Speeches,” was credited to Baron Adolf Victor von Koerber, a German aristocrat and war hero. Scholars have said that Hitler sought Mr. von Koerber out for the biography because he needed a conservative figure without links to the Nazi Party to help legitimize him as a leader.
However, new research says Hitler penned the work himself. This suggests that Hitler had designs on taking power earlier than many historians have previously thought and manipulated public opinion to get there.
And from UPI.com
Norwegian prime minister caught playing 'Pokemon Go' in parliament
OSLO, Norway, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The prime minister of Norway was caught on camera playing Pokemon Go in parliament -- and the current speaker had previously been caught doing the same thing.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg was captured by a photographer for newspaper Klassekampen playing the popular augmented reality game on her smartphone Tuesday during a debate in the country's parliament, known as the Storting.
A colleague of mine had a bumper sticker on her door that read:
Where are we going? And why am I in this hand basket?
Watching the news tonight I feel very much like that.