The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series dedicated to chronicling the eschaton. Please recommend and then add news stories of import or interest in the comments.
Tonight’s OND is dedicated to the memory of Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse.
The Obama administration struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services.
The administration also sanctioned four top officers of one of those services, the military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U., which the White House believes ordered the attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations. […]
In a sweeping set of announcements, the United States also released samples of malware and other indicators of Russian cyberactivity, including network addresses of computers commonly used by the Russians to launch attacks. Taken together, the actions amount to the strongest American response ever taken to a state-sponsored cyberattack aimed at the United States.
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Washington Post: 2016’s super warm Arctic winter ‘extremely unlikely’ without climate change, scientists say
The current extent of Arctic ice sea is also far smaller than it was at the same time in 2010, which previously held the record for lowest Arctic sea ice extent in late December, according to records from the National Snow and Ice Data Center that date to 1979.
Clearly this is abnormal. But how abnormal?
The answer is that what has happened this year in the Arctic, and particularly the high Arctic, appears to be not only out of the norm for a stable climate — like the one on Earth before the era of fossil fuels — but also for what you might expect from our supercharged, artificially warmed climate. […]
But perhaps some of the strongest words came from Mark Serreze, who heads the National Snow and Ice Data Center, a top source for information on the state of the Arctic. Serreze said by email that notwithstanding what happened this November and December, what’s going on in the Arctic is well outside of the norm and has been for a while. It’s worth quoting in full, because it captures well what scientists see as a new “normal”:
This is only the most recent remarkable event that we’ve seen in the Arctic over the past decade. Last winter saw another impressive heat wave, when in late December, temperatures at the North Pole almost reached the melting point. The seasonal maximum sea extent of last March was the lowest ever seen. Many people thought that we’d never see as little sea ice in the Arctic as we did in September 2007, then along came 2012 which blew that record out of the water. There have been rain on snow events in winter, resulting in massive die-offs of reindeer. As some point, one has to admit that the string of remarkable events in the Arctic is more than just a string of unrelated coincidences.
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With just weeks until Republicans take control of Congress and the White House, a federal judge has ordered the Obama administration to deliver to his court’s top secret storage site a copy of the so-called Senate Torture Report on the CIA’s Black Site prison program.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth issued the two-page order Wednesday in Washington, in the mostly dormant federal court challenge of the Guantánamo detention of former CIA prisoner Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, 51. The Saudi who was waterboarded and rectally abused while a captive of the spy agency is awaiting trial by military commission as the alleged architect of al-Qaida’s Oct. 12, 2000, USS Cole bombing off Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Lamberth also ordered the government to “preserve and maintain all evidence, documents and information, without limitation, now or ever in the [U.S. government’s] possession, control or custody, relating to the torture, mistreatment, and/or abuse of detainees held in the custody of the Executive Branch” since Sept. 11, 2001.
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Jedidiah Carlson was googling a genetics research paper when he stumbled upon the white nationalist forum Stormfront. Carlson is a graduate student at the University of Michigan, and he is—to be clear—absolutely not a white nationalist. But one link led to another and he ended up reading page after page of Stormfront discussions on the reliability of 23andMe ancestry results and whether Neanderthal interbreeding is the reason for the genetic superiority of whites. Obsession with racial purity is easily channeled, apparently, into an obsession with genetics.
Stormfront has been around since the ’90s, which means it’s been around for the entirety of the genomic revolution. The major milestones in human genetics—sequencing of the first human genome, genetic confirmation that humans came out of Africa, the first mail-in DNA ancestry tests—they’re all there, refracted through the lens of white nationalism. Sure, the commentators sometimes disagreed with scientific findings or mischaracterized them, but they could also be serious about understanding genetics. “The threads would turn into an informal tutoring session and journal club,” observes Carlson. “Some of the posters have a really profound understanding of everyday concepts in population genetics.”
Carlson had stumbled upon Stormfront months ago. As Donald Trump’s election went from unlikely hypothetical to reality, he began tweeting out the disturbing discussions he found—as a call to action for fellow geneticists. “In light of the current political climate,” he says, “I think there’s a much more present danger for our scientific work to become weaponized to enact these ethno-nationalist policies.”
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Barack Obama’s original cabinet was chockablock with historic firsts. The first African American attorney general. The first Nobel laureate upon appointment. The first female homeland security secretary, and the first African American to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Donald Trump’s cabinet, if confirmed, also would advance multiple historic firsts. It would be the first cabinet of multiple billionaires. It would be the first cabinet to give pride of place to climate deniers. It would be the first cabinet whose members want to eliminate their own agencies. And it would raise the bar – a lot – for conspiracy theorists.
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As of next week, Schumer is the de facto leader of the opposition, wielding the best weapon Democrats have to thwart Republican President-elect Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress: The filibuster. But just how much he will use it — and how resolutely he'll stand in Trump's way — remains to be seen. Schumer himself has suggested there's plenty of room for common ground, while also talking tough about Trump.
Adding to that intrigue is Schumer's outspokenness, which was on full display Wednesday evening. Hours after Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivered a controversial speech critical of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Schumer issued a statement. It wasn't surprising that the strongly pro-Israel Schumer would be at least somewhat critical of Kerry's speech, but Schumer really didn't mince words — at all.
“While he may not have intended it, I fear Secretary Kerry, in his speech and action at the U.N., has emboldened extremists on both sides,” Schumer said, citing Palestinian attacks after Israelis withdrew from settlements in Gaza.
So there's the incoming leader of the Democrats, suggesting a Democratic secretary of state and former fellow Democratic senator has “emboldened extremists.” That's very strong language.
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In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, the Austrian foreign minister said "many of countries have no interest in us sending back their citizens."
Severe measures are necessary in order to address the number of failed deportations of rejected asylum seekers or those who have committed a criminal offense, Kurz said.
According to plans from Vienna, countries that refuse to take back their citizens are expected to receive noticeably less development aid from Europe.
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The Kremlin on Friday issued a stark warning to the United States, saying it would respond in kind to the U.S. expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and other sanctions following the Russian hacking of U.S. political parties before the 2016 presidential elections.
“I cannot say now what the response will be, although, as we know, there is no alternative here to the principle of reciprocity,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a statement late Thursday evening reported by the Interfax news service.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would decide the exact response.
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Aleksandr B. Vyarya thought his job was to defend people from cyberattacks until, he says, his government approached him with a request to do the opposite.
Mr. Vyarya, 33, a bearded, bespectacled computer programmer who thwarted hackers, said he was suddenly being asked to join a sweeping overhaul of the Russian military last year. Under a new doctrine, the nation’s generals were redefining war as more than a contest of steel and gunpowder, making cyberwarfare a central tenet in expanding the Kremlin’s interests.
“Sorry, I can’t,” Mr. Vyarya said he told an executive at a Russian military contracting firm who had offered him the hacking job. But Mr. Vyarya was worried about the consequences of his refusal, so he abruptly fled to Finland last year, he and his former employer said. It was a rare example of a Russian who sought asylum in the face of the country’s push to recruit hackers.
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In the last two days, more than 16,000 signatures have been added to an online petition calling for London’s mayor to end an anticipated "fox cull" in the new year. The killing of foxes by professional exterminators is legal in London, but no organized mass extermination has been announced by the authorities.
The petition, titled "For Fox Sake Stop The London Fox Cull!" was organized by animal rights activists affiliated with Britain’s Labour Party. The text of the petition calls on Mayor Sadiq Khan to step in to prevent "hundreds of London foxes" from being killed in the aftermath of the festive season.
London is home to thousands of foxes, which become a considerable nuisance to city residents when mounds of holiday trash tempt the animals out into the open.
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Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a new video to challenge a claim by the Nigerian president and the army that the armed group had been routed from its last stronghold of Sambisa Forest .
Shekau last appeared in a video in September where he disputed a claim by the Nigerian military that he had been wounded in battle.
"We are safe," he says in the 25-minute video, flanked by masked armed fighters, which appeared on Thursday.
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In a year of grim news, the spread of fighting in South Sudan has doubled the number of people facing severe hunger in the past year to 4.6 million, about a third of the population.
The risk of famine and genocide in the coming months is dire, international aid agencies have warned. The number of refugees pouring from South Sudan into Uganda peaked earlier this month at 7,000 a day.
But the United Nations Security Council on Friday failed to pass a U.S.-proposed arms embargo on South Sudan that many see as crucial to preventing escalated fighting and the threat of genocide.
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Egypt's government has approved a deal to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and sent it to parliament for ratification, despite a legal dispute over the plan, according to state television.
The deal, announced in April, caused public uproar and rare protests by Egyptians who said the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir belonged to their country.
The controversy has become a source of tension with Saudi Arabia, which has provided billions of dollars of aid to Egypt but recently halted fuel shipments amid deteriorating relations.
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The Syrian government announced a new cease-fire Thursday, effective from midnight, as part of a broader deal that could tamp down violence across the war-ravaged country ahead of a return to peace talks.
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reestablished control over the northern city of Aleppo earlier this month, forcing beleaguered rebels to flee what was once their largest stronghold and handing the government a victory that appeared to bring the war’s endgame into view.
The Assad government, backed by Russia and Iran, is in its strongest position since the start of the more than five-year war, while rebel groups are mostly boxed into the northwestern province of Idlib and hold no strategically significant urban areas.
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Iraqi forces launched a renewed assault on eastern neighborhoods of Mosul on Thursday, attempting to break a deadlock in the battle to retake it from Islamic State militants.
The biggest military operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the siege of Mosul is progressing more slowly than expected amid fierce resistance by the hardened militants of the extremist Islamic State group. The presence of more than a million civilians is also complicating the effort.
Before the operation for Mosul, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he expected the city to be retaken by the end of the year, but only about a quarter of the city is back under government control. After two months of grinding fighting and heavy casualties, the Iraqi government paused the campaign earlier this month to give its forces a chance to regroup.
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The European Union is ending its police mission in Afghanistan after nearly a decade, but says a group of advisers will return next year to provide additional support to Afghan police whose effectiveness has been hampered by the country’s deteriorating security.
Since 2007, the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan has worked in partnership with the Afghan government to develop a civilian police service.
By enforcing the rule of law and building trust within communities, the police force is seen as vital to bringing stability to the country crippled by years of war. However, growing instability has meant officers have had to increasingly focus on fighting insurgents rather than traditional police work.
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Next month, Donald Trump will inherit the nation’s longest war – the war in Afghanistan. More than 8,000 United States troops remain there, 15 years on, primarily to support Afghan forces in their battle against the Taliban, while the Islamic State, or ISIS, has also gained a foothold. […]
One wild card is Russia. This week Russia hosted talks on Afghanistan’s security with Pakistani and Chinese envoys, the third such meeting and a sign, say analysts, of rising Russian concern over instability and Islamic extremism on the borders of its sphere of influence. […]
“The Russians have been content to see the US tied down in Afghanistan and watch from afar. Now ISIS is making inroads in Afghanistan ... I think Russia is starting to get worried,” says Lisa Curtis, an expert on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asserted that all possible steps will be taken to preserve and strengthen country's integrity and security - be it external or internal threats.
Charing the 27th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council here, Singh said state governments must ensure better inter-State coordination and take up joint operations in common border areas.
"All possible steps will be taken to preserve and strengthen the integrity and safety of our country, be it either from external or internal threats," he said. The Home Minister said in the recent past, the Left Wing Extremism had been assuming serious dimensions in certain
parts of the country.
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China diluted the role of the dollar in a trade-weighted foreign-exchange basket and added a further 11 currencies as officials seek to project an image of stability in the yuan.
The weighting of the dollar will fall to 22.4 percent from 26.4 percent in the basket from Jan. 1, China Foreign Exchange Trade System said in a statement Thursday. Additions include the South Korean won, the South African rand, the United Arab Emirates’ dirham, Saudi Arabia’s riyal, Hungary’s forint, Poland’s zloty and Turkey’s lira.
While the yuan has tumbled to an eight-year low against the greenback, it’s trading near a four-month high against the CFETS RMB Index. Senior Chinese central bank officials have vowed to maintain stability against the basket as capital outflow pressures mount.
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A vast, boxy customs center acts as a busy island of commerce deep in central China. Government officers, in sharply pressed uniforms, race around a maze of wooden pallets piled high with boxes — counting, weighing, scanning and approving shipments. Unmarked trucks stretch for more than a mile awaiting the next load headed for Beijing, New York, London and dozens of other destinations.
The state-of-the-art facility was built several years ago to serve a single global exporter: Apple, now the world’s most valuable company and one of China’s largest retailers.
The well-choreographed customs routine is part of a hidden bounty of perks, tax breaks and subsidies in China that supports the world’s biggest iPhone factory, according to confidential government records reviewed by The New York Times, as well as more than 100 interviews with factory workers, logistics handlers, truck drivers, tax specialists and current and former Apple executives. The package of sweeteners and incentives, worth billions of dollars, is central to the production of the iPhone, Apple’s best-selling and most profitable product.
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Indonesia's police chief has attributed a sharp rise in the number of alleged terrorists handled by his force to the influence of Islamic State and the defeats it is experiencing in the Middle East.
The number of alleged terrorists dealt with by Indonesian police in 2016 was more than double the previous year, as IS encouraged terror cells to carry out attacks beyond Syria.
National police chief Tito Karnavian revealed there had been 170 alleged terrorists processed by police this year, compared to only 82 in 2015.
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Next year will be the most opportune time for North Korea to bolster its nuclear program because of upcoming leadership changes in the United States and South Korea, according to a senior North Korean official who defected recently to the South.
"With South Korea holding presidential elections and the U.S. undergoing an administration transition, the North sees 2017 as the prime time for nuclear development," said Thae Yong-ho, who was North Korea's second highest ranking diplomat in London.
Thae defected to South Korea in August, becoming the most senior North Korean official to defect in almost 20 years.
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The president of Dentsu Inc, Japan's largest advertising agency, will step down over the "death by overwork" of a young employee, a suicide which has prompted official probes and fresh hand-wringing over Japan's overtime culture.
Matsuri Takahashi, a promising graduate of Japan's top university, leapt to her death in December 2015, leaving behind a trail of grievances over relentless days. She clocked 105 hours of overtime in October 2015, before becoming depressed.
Her death, deemed by the government to be "karoshi" or death by overwork, has prompted raids on Dentsu offices, but has also been followed by Japan's first white paper on the issue.
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The elusive night parrot has been surrounded by a shroud of mystery since its rediscovery in 2013 after being unsighted for 75 years. What exactly led to the bird's decline remains the focus of many studies as researchers struggle to rebuild the populations.
Uncontrolled fires, introduced predators and climate change have long been considered the main culprits, but with so few birds to study, concrete conclusions have been hard to reach.
New research has shown that a lack of access to water sources and lack of safety in cooler nesting areas has played part in the decline of the night parrot populations.
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Recently, concerns have grown about the seventh-largest emitter, Brazil, which seems to be seeing some environmental backsliding as it battles a fierce recession and reels from a tumultuous impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff.
In September, environmentalists praised Brazil’s decision to ratify the Paris climate agreement — a significant move for the global climate, given Brazil’s high rank among emitters of greenhouse gases and the fact that it is home to the world’s largest tropical rain forest. But now rising deforestation and proposed environmental policy changes have some experts worried that the nation might not live up to its climate pledges after all.
Recent data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research indicate that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest between August 2015 and July 2016 increased by 29 percent from the previous year. That followed a similar uptick in deforestation between August 2012 and July 2013.
This is big news for a country that, until recently, had been making strides in its efforts to curb deforestation.
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Gen. Gregorio Alvarez, the last leader of Uruguay’s brutal dictatorship of the 1970s and ’80s, died Wednesday at age 91 while serving a sentence for human rights abuses.
The Central Hospital of the Armed Forces in Uruguay’s capital confirmed the death.
Under Alvarez, Uruguay was part of the secret alliance of South American dictatorships known as “Operation Condor,” in which the military leaders cooperated in persecuting and killing one another’s dissidents.
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The Colombian Congress has approved a law offering amnesty to some of those accused of minor crimes in the country's decades-long civil conflict.
President Juan Manuel Santos hailed it as a "the first step towards the consolidation of peace" with the left-wing Farc guerrilla group. The amnesty is part of a revised deal agreed after the original pact with the Farc was rejected in a popular vote. […]
The law will offer freedom from prosecution for some junior members of the Farc, the country's largest rebel group - and for some army soldiers. But in both cases they must only be accused of minor crimes.
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When hunger drew tens of thousands of Venezuelans to the streets in protest last summer, President Nicolas Maduro turned to the military to manage the country's diminished food supply, putting generals in charge of everything from butter to rice.
But instead of fighting hunger, an Associated Press investigation finds the military made a profit from controlling much of the food distribution. That's what grocer Jose Campos found when he ran out of pantry staples this year. In the middle of the night, he would travel to an illegal market run by the military to buy pallets of corn flour — at 100 times the government-set price.
"The military would be watching over whole bags of money," Campos said. "They always had what I needed."
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Across Mexico, farmers still wait for rain that doesn’t come. Severe droughts, punctuated by intense storms and flooding, are huge environmental challenges for Mexico in the coming century. By 2080, agricultural declines are expected to drive 1.4 million to 6.7 million adult Mexicans out of the country. Most of those people will come to the United States.
Hardly the drug lords and criminals of Trumpian myth, most Mexican climate migrants are struggling rural people (not unlike Trump’s own supporters). They depend on predictable weather to grow the crops they eat. When they know the rain isn’t coming, or their home has been destroyed in a flood, or some other climate-fueled event has upended their lives, families face limited options: starve or move.
Right now, the primary factors driving Mexicans to migrate to the United States are better economic prospects or family connections — both of which can be twisted up with climate change. But in Mexico and around the world, climate changes tend to reshuffle populations within borders, too. Droughts and floods, in particular, often trigger shorter-distance moves, largely from rural areas into cities.
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Officers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were out surveying beaches Wednesday in Nova Scotia's Digby and Annapolis counties, hoping to find answers to why thousands of dead sea creatures have been washing ashore.
The distressing amount of sea life and diversity of species found dead on some beaches on Nova Scotia's coast along the Bay of Fundy over the past few weeks has been puzzling.
In late November, thousands of herring began washing up on the shores around St. Marys Bay, not far from Digby.
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