Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, planter, JML9999, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Man Oh Man, 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Subbing for maggiejean again tonight.
BBC
Gaza violence: Israel defends actions as 55 Palestinians killed
In the deadliest day of violence in Gaza since the 2014 war, Palestinian officials say Israeli troops have killed 55 people and wounded 2,700.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said his military was acting in self-defence against Gaza's Islamist rulers, Hamas, who he said wanted to destroy Israel.
The Palestinian Authority's leader condemned a "massacre". The UN spoke of "outrageous human rights violations".
The violence came as the US opened a controversial embassy in Jerusalem.
The move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv has incensed Palestinians, who claim eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
They see the US move as backing Israeli control over the whole of the city, which Israel regards as its indivisible capital.
Palestinians were demonstrating on Monday as they have been for six weeks as part of a protest, orchestrated by Hamas, called the "Great March of Return".
However, Monday's protests - and more planned for Tuesday - are the culmination, as they mark the anniversary of Israel's creation in 1948 and what Palestinians term the Nakba or Catastrophe, referring to the hundreds of thousands of their people who subsequently fled their homes or were displaced in the war that followed.
Raw Story
Jared Kushner calls 40 Palestinians killed outside Jerusalem embassy opening ‘part of the problem’
Jared Kushner, an adviser to President Donald Trump, suggested on Monday that dozens of Palestinians who were killed while protesting the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem were “part of the problem” in the Middle East.
While speaking at the dedication for the controversial new embassy, Kushner referred to the protests outside the celebration, where more than 40 Palestinian demonstrators have reportedly been killed.
“President Trump was very clear that his decision [to move the embassy] and today’s celebration do not reflect a departure from our strong commitment to lasting peace,” Kushner told the crowd. “A peace that overcomes the conflicts of the past to give our children a brighter and more boundless future.”
“As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” he added, prompting applause from the audience.
Al Jazeera
Thousands rally in Istanbul in solidarity with Palestinians
Istanbul, Turkey - Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Turkey's largest city to protest against the US' decision to officially relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
At least 6,000 people converged on Monday in central Istanbul to denounce the inauguration ceremony and the killings of at least 55 Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza - in what marked the bloodiest day in the besieged coastal enclave since the 2014 war.
The Israeli military fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at unarmed protesters who had gathered in Gaza along several points near the fence with Israel, wounding more than 2,700 people.
UN rights experts denounced Israel for using a "disproportionate use of force", while Amnesty International called it a "horror" that violated international law.
Reuters
North Korea proposes inter-Korea talks on May 16: South Korea Ministry
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has proposed holding high-level inter-Korea talks on May 16, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Tuesday.
The South Korean government was in talks to finalize details for the meeting, said a ministry official, who declined to be named due to internal policy.
North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear bomb test site for sometime between May 23-25 in order to uphold its pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, the country’s state media reported on Saturday a month ahead of the summit with the United States.
Reuters
Populist cleric Sadr all but wins Iraq election
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a long-time adversary of the United States, has all but won Iraq’s parliamentary election, the electoral commission said, in a surprise turn of fortune for the Shi’ite leader.
In the first election since Islamic State was defeated in the country, Iran-backed Shi’ite militia chief Hadi al-Amiri’s bloc was in second place, while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, once seen as the front-runner, trailed in third.
The preliminary results were based on a count of more than 91 percent of the votes cast in 16 of Iraq’s 18 provinces.
Sadr’s bloc did not run in the remaining two provinces, Kurdish Dohuk and the ethnically-mixed oil province of Kirkuk. The results there, which may be delayed due to tensions between local parties, will not affect Sadr’s standing.
Unlike Abadi, a rare ally of both the United States and Iran, Sadr is an opponent of both countries, which have wielded influence in Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 and thrust the Shi’ite majority into power.
Sadr has led two uprisings against U.S. forces in Iraq and is one of the few Shi’ite leaders to distance himself from Iran.
The Guardian
Investors urge fossil fuel firms to shun Trump's Arctic drilling plans
Investors managing more than $2.5tn have warned oil firms and banks to shun moves by the US president, Donald Trump, to open the Arctic national wildlife refuge (ANWR) to drilling.
Companies extracting oil and gas from the wilderness area in Alaska would face “enormous reputational risk and public backlash”, the investors say in a letter sent on Monday to 100 fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them.
Exploiting the area would also be an “irresponsible business decision”, the group argues, as global action on climate change will reduce oil demand and mean such projects have a high risk of losing money. An accompanying letter from the indigenous Gwich’in people say it would be “deeply unethical” to destroy their homelands.
The 19m-acre refuge is one of wildest places left on Earth and the largest area of publicly owned land in the US. It is home to a huge range of animals, including polar bears, snowy owls and the porcupine caribou on which the Gwich’in rely for food.
In April, the Trump administration began the process of opening the ANWR for oil and gas drilling, the first such move since 1980. Significant oil and gas reserves are thought to lie under the ANWR coastal plain and Prudhoe Bay, a major oil centre, lies close to the refuge’s western boundary. The Gwich’in name for the coastal plain is “Sacred place where life begins”, as it is the breeding ground of the caribou.
Reuters
Supreme Court puts brakes on police searches of rental cars
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday limited the ability of police to search rental cars driven by someone other than the person who signed the rental agreement, shoring up privacy rights behind the wheel.
The nine justices unanimously threw out a lower court ruling that had approved of a search by Pennsylvania police of a Ford Fusion driven by Terrence Byrd, whose girlfriend had rented the car. State troopers told Byrd they could search the car because he was not listed as an authorized driver, and they found heroin and a bulletproof vest in the trunk.
Writing for the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the “mere fact that a driver in lawful possession or control of a rental car is not listed on the rental agreement will not defeat his or her otherwise reasonable expectation of privacy.”
NPR
Charge Dropped In Case of Missouri Governor, But Prosecutors Plan To Refile
The trial of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was halted Monday, the third day of jury selection, but officials said they will refile the felony invasion of privacy case using a special prosecutor.
Greitens has been accused of taking a photo of a partially nude woman without her consent. He has denied taking the photo, although he has acknowledged having an extramarital affair with the woman. She hasn't spoken publicly about the case. Her former husband told a local television station about the allegations in January.
Assistant St. Louis Circuit Attorney Ronald Sullivan announced that he was withdrawing the case Monday and said he wanted to switch to using a special prosecutor because Greitens' lawyers planned to call St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as a witness in a case being conducted by her own subordinates. The defense attorneys have criticized her handling of the case and accused a private investigator she hired of committing perjury.
According to The Associated Press, Greitens told reporters outside the courtroom: "Today the prosecutor has dropped the false charges against me. This is a great victory and it has been a long time coming. ... This experience has been humbling and I have emerged from it a changed man."
L A Times
Initial deployment of Guard troops arrives at the California-Mexico border
The initial deployment of California National Guard troops has arrived at the international border and will soon begin backing up federal law enforcement agents.
Standing before 51 troops during a Monday morning news conference, Gloria Chavez — the new Border Patrol chief in the El Centro sector — said the unarmed Operation Guardian Support soldiers would serve in support roles and won't be asked to arrest any suspected gun runners, drug mules or immigrants crossing the border illegally.
"They'll be assisting from behind the scenes so that our agents are able to get to the front lines and do the border security," she said.
Chavez said that California National Guard headquarters in Sacramento is expected to send an additional 22 airmen and soldiers to her sector before the deployment wraps up at the end of September. The initial wave of troops is undergoing training that will reorient them to operations along the international border.
NPR
Australia's 'Man With The Golden Arm' Retires After Saving 2.4 Million Babies
James Harrison, an Australian man whose blood contains a rare antibody that can create a treatment that saves babies' lives, has donated plasma one last time.
Harrison, 81, is now over the age limit for donors — in fact, he hit the cap months ago.
But the Australian Red Cross Blood Service let him donate one last time on Friday. The service estimates that over the course of his life, he has helped save some 2.4 million babies.
Harrison, known as "the man with a golden arm," has donated blood and plasma regularly for more than six decades, from age 18 to age 81. All told, he donated 1,172 times — 1,162 from his right arm, 10 from his left, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
"I hope it's a record that somebody breaks," Harrison told the Blood Service.
Harrison spoke to NPR in 2015 and explained his long history with blood donation. He had a lung removed when he was 14, in a procedure that required multiple blood transfusions.
So, as soon as he turned 18, he started donating blood and plasma. He kept it up for years.
Then researchers discovered that his plasma had a property that could save infants' lives.
When a woman with Rh-negative blood has an Rh-positive fetus, it's known as Rh incompatibility. Her body can develop an immune reaction that attacks her baby's blood cells, and those antibodies put future children at risk.