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.
On Friday nights we take the opportunity to look at the “other” news from around the world. After all, not everything is Trump Trump Trump, no matter what he thinks. Even in the United Kingdom (even in England!) other things are happening. But first, pictures of the week from Roll Call, NBC, The Atlantic, BBC, BBC Africa, and The Guardian (wildlife). Also from Scotland, pictures of the week as published in The Times. FInally, The Independent has “The 15 funniest signs from the massive UK protests against Trump.”
So let us begin with news from the UK, beginning with this from NBC:
Police are investigating whether the nerve agent came from the same batch that poisoned a former Russian spy and his daughter.
by Daniel Arkin
British authorities investigating the poisoning of two people have found a bottle believed to have contained Novichok, a nerve agent that was also used against a former Russian spy and his daughter, the Metropolitan Police said Friday.
Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old woman who was exposed to the poison, died in a hospital on Sunday. Charlie Rowley, her 45-year-old partner, was said to be in critical condition before he regained consciousness. He is in serious condition but is stable, police said Friday.
More from the UK, from The Guardian:
Helpline receives 473 warnings of potential slavery victims in hand car washes, yet successful action remains rare
Annie Kelly
Public reports of suspected forced labour in the British car wash industry are not translating into prosecutions, it has emerged.
Since the UK’s modern slavery helpline was launched nearly two years ago, 473 potential cases in car washes have been reported by the public by phone or online, with 2,170 potential victims identified and 401 individual cases referred to law enforcement agencies. Yet only one case has resulted in arrests.
Darryl Dixon, director of strategy at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, said expectation that referrals will automatically lead to arrests and convictions must be tempered.
From The Express:
LONDON’S rising levels of violence is leaving people too scared to go out in the city, said the wife of the former ambassador beaten to a pulp in broad daylight outside a Tube station.
Catherine, Baroness Meyer of Nine Elms, blasted the outrageous attack and violence that is gripping Britain’s capital city.
She said: "I am angry on behalf of my husband, it's just not right. London is such a beautiful, wonderful city, we can't start worrying about walking in the streets at 3pm."
Her husband, Sir Christopher Meyer, was viciously attacked while taking the Tube to a think tank at 3.30pm at Victoria station on Wednesday, and was left with injures to his hand and face.
Baroness Meyer who said she is planning to raise the issue of violent crime in the House of Lords, highlighted the worsening situation in the capital.
There was a shooting at a Walthamstow train station this evening. London was eventful today.
On the same topic, this from the BBC:
By Danny Shaw
Earlier this year, an article in the Sunday Times sparked debate about rising levels of violent crime with a claim that the numbers of murders in London had surpassed those in New York during one month -- February.
My colleague, Dominic Casciani, analysed the figures and found that the newspaper was correct.
In February, the New York Police Department dealt with 11 homicides (suspected cases of murder, manslaughter and infanticide) while London's Metropolitan Police opened investigations into 15 deaths.
From CBS News:
By David Martin
WASHINGTON -- President Trump said he plans to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin ways to substantially reduce the number of nuclear weapons the U.S. and Russia have stockpiled. But both nations are racing to develop an entirely new kind of weapon.
When Putin showed off what he said was a hypersonic cruise missile, he gave the world a brief glimpse into a secret arms race. It pits the U.S. against Russia and China in a contest to build weapons that can fly 10,000 miles per hour.
Speaking of aerial adventures, here is a story from Insider:
- Air China Flight CA106 lost more than 20,000 feet of altitude within a matter of minutes on Tuesday.
- According to Chinese aviation regulators, the loss of altitude was caused by an emergency descent resulting from insufficient oxygen in the cabin.
- Investigators say the low oxygen levels were caused by one of the pilots who accidentally turned off the plane's air conditioning to hid the fact that he'd been smoking an e-cigarette.
A vaping pilot on board an Air China Boeing 737 is believed to have caused his plane to make an emergency descent in search of breathable air on Tuesday.
The BBC, citing Chinese investigators, reported that the first officer of Air China Flight CA106 accidentally shut off the plane's air conditioning system — causing insufficient oxygen levels in the cabin.
Flight CA106 took off from Hong Kong Tuesday evening at 7:10 pm local time bound for the city of Dalian in northeastern China. Data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.com shows the Air China jet heading northeast at 35,000 feet when it began to descend at around 7:39 pm.
From The Guardian:
Young Lebanese entrepreneurs put coffee centre stage with a nod to the past
Richard Hall in Beirut
In the years before Beirut was struck by civil war, the city was known for its vibrant cafe culture that attracted intellectuals from across the Arab world.
The tables that spilled out on to the pavements of Hamra Street were a hub for academics, students, writers and artists, who would sip thick Arabic coffee and argue into the night.
“It was a magical time,” says Cesar Nammour, 81, who was an art collector in the 1960s and frequented them often. “It was mostly about the companionship. We used to meet there after going to the movies in the evening, to talk and discuss ideas.”
From Reuters:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece and Turkey have agreed to focus efforts on easing tensions in the Aegean, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit.
“I put to the Turkish president this increase in Turkish violations in the Aegean .. And we finally agreed to give emphasis to our efforts to reduce tensions,” Tsipras told a news conference in Brussels.
The two countries, which are members of the military alliance, are at odds over a host of issues ranging from ethnically split Cyprus to sovereignty over airspace and overflights.
From The Guardian:
Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) is about 2,500 years old. But its days will be numbered if it succumbs to kauri dieback
Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin
New Zealand’s oldest and most sacred tree stands 60 metres from death, as a fungal disease known as kauri dieback spreads unabated across the country.
Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) is a giant kauri tree located in the Waipoua forest in the north of the country, and is sacred to the Māori people, who regard it as a living ancestor.
The tree is believed to be around 2,500 years old, and is 13.77m across and more than 50m tall.
Now the news of the arts, as is our tradition on Friday evenings. We begin with The Huffington Post and our former president:
The former president suggested books like “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe.
Former President
Barack Obama has released his annual summer reading recommendations, which highlight a number of African writers and thinkers.
On Friday, Obama said that he would be traveling this week to Africa ― “a continent of wonderful diversity, thriving culture, and remarkable stories” ― for the first time since he left the White House.
“I’ve often drawn inspiration from Africa’s extraordinary literary tradition,” he wrote on Facebook.
From The Guardian:
Pierre Prévost’s seven-metre watercolour depicts city before great fire of 1834
Maev Kennedy
A unique panoramic view of a lost London landscape including the medieval sprawl of the old Palace of Westminster, captured before the great fire of 1834 destroyed the parliament buildings, has been acquired by the Museum of London.
In 1815 the French artist Pierre Prévost must have spent weeks up in the towers of St Margarets capturing an improbably immaculate and sunlit cityscape in an infamously smoky and dirty city. The watercolour is almost seven metres long and was a study for an even more epic version, now lost, which was 30 metres long and exhibited in Paris in 1817. His only other surviving work on this scale, a view of Constantinople, is now in the Louvre
A sad story from The Independent:
She starred as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 classic adaptation at the age of 13
Former child star Denise Nickerson, who starred in 1971 classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is reportedly in critical condition after suffering a stroke.
Nickerson starred opposite Gene Wilder in the Roald Dahl adaptation as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde when she was 13.
Another story about filming, also from The Independent:
With all the principle cast returning
After years of rumours, a Downton Abbey film has finally been confirmed to be happening.
Julian Fellowes – who created the ITV show – has written the screenplay, with Brian Percival (The Book Thief, six episodes of Downton Abbey) serving as director.
Production begins later this summer, the principle cast all returning for the cinematic outing, including Hugh Bonneville and Dame Maggie Smith.
And finally, from PJ Media:
Sarah Hoyt
Sometimes I think the world suffers from a shortage of pop-culture, particularly horror pop-culture, US version.
Take the news today: A Massive, Black Sarcophagus Has Been Unearthed in Egypt, And Nobody Knows Who's Inside.
Is there any conceivable universe in which this doesn’t end with “the world succumbed to the wrath of Amonthep?” (who for some reason one of my sons believes is the divinity whose power created the animated mummy we know as Harry Reid. I keep telling him it was just a pharaoh.)
Or at least invaded by vampires, with Brendan Fraser making a last desperate stand somewhere?