Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Besame, Doctor RJ, Magnifico and annetteboardman. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, planter, JML9999, 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.
Let’s get this one out of the way first. From the Independent:
'There’s not a single thought about it in my head to share with you'
Emma Thompson really isn't getting caught up in royal wedding fever.
While much of the world gears up for this weekend's nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the British Oscar-winner is remaining far more level-headed than most, flying the flag for those who really aren't fussed about, well, watching two people get married.
And pictures of the week (of wildlife) from The Guardian.
There are other things going on in the world. This first article, from the Middle East, comes from The Guardian:
How the death of a talented young Palestinian writer brought to light a sharp rise in suicides. By Sarah Helm
When Mohanned Younis, a 22-year-old student, returned to his home in a relatively prosperous part of Gaza City one night last August, he was in an agitated state. He had been depressed, his mother, Asma, recalled. But she was not too worried when he locked himself in his room.
A talented writer whose short stories, many posted on his Facebook page, had won a wide audience, Mohanned was about to graduate in pharmacy, expecting excellent grades. In his writing, he gave voice to the grief and despair of his generation. Only books gave him some escape. He often shut himself away to read and write, or to work out with his punch bag.
The next morning, Mohanned didn’t stir. When Asma, helped by her brother Assad, broke into his room, they found him dead. He had asphyxiated himself.
From The Express:
MOSQUITOES responsible for spreading potentially deadly viruses like dengue, zika and chikungunya are exploding in population throughout Spain, researchers have warned.
ZIKA WARNING: Boom of tiger mosquitoes in SPAIN sparks deadly virus fears
Over the course of 2017, there has been a surge in the tiger mosquito population in Brits’ holiday hotspot Spain.
According to the Entomological Surveillance Report for 2017, more than 20 new municipalities were confirmed to have a new population of mosquitos last year.
This means that 70 municipalities in Spain are now home to mosquitos which carry the dengue, zika and chikungunya viruses.
From The Guardian:
Prosecutor opens inquiry into death after passengers claim police fired in attempt to stop van full of refugees
Rod Austin
A two-year-old girl has died after an incident involving armed Belgian police and a van carrying refugees near the city of Mons.
Belgian authorities believe the police were not at fault for the girl’s death, Belgian media reported.
“The little girl did not die as a result of police gunfire,” said Frédéric Bariseau, a spokesperson at the Tournai prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case.
From The Toronto Star (originally published in the New York Times):
PARIS—French cheese connoisseurs want everyone who loves the country’s culinary heritage to hear their anguished, almost unimaginable cry: Boycott French Camembert.
Because soon enough, they warn, that creamy, pungent icon of France will give way to a tasteless paste masquerading as the real thing. Beginning in 2021, Camembert made from pasteurized milk, in factories, will be labelled in a way that has only been allowed for artisanal cheese made in the time-honoured, more expensive way — by hand, using raw milk.
From The Independent:
President Macron accused of missing opportunity to protect minors
France has stopped short of setting a legal age of sexual consent following a heated debate in the National Assembly. |
While the lower house of parliament voted on a bill to toughen laws on the rape of children, lawmakers voted against setting at 15 the minimum age at which a minor cannot consent to a sexual relationship with an adult.
As a result, there is still no law establishing a legal age of sexual consent in France.
From The Times of Israel:
As past trauma and current census policy make calculating the number of Hungarian Jews impossible, young leaders engage uncounted Jews like themselves, and welcome them home
By YAAKOV SCHWARTZ BUDAPEST – Peter Berenyi found out he was Jewish when he was 8 years old, over a bowl of matzah ball soup.
“At the time, we were just like kids in any regular Jewish Hungarian family,” Berenyi says. “That is, we had no idea we were Jewish. And then my parents gave us this soup, and my brothers and I asked what it was. They told us it was a Jewish soup, and that they grew up with it as a tradition in their homes.”
Also from Hungary, via the BBC:
By Nick Thorpe
A 12-year-old Hungarian boy has received death threats on social media after he inadvertently killed a meerkat that bit his finger at a zoo.
The boy was visiting the Kecskemet zoo in central Hungary when he reached through a fence and was bitten.
He then shook the meerkat so hard to the ground that he broke its back.
Zara the meerkat was one of the prize attractions at the zoo and the incident, which occurred on 14 May, has been met with anger and condemnation.