Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) 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 sometimes a little bit later if the diarist is me. I have a terrible habit of cutting things close.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Photos of the week this week come from the US Air Force, Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Yahoo Canada, National Geographic (your shot), BBC, and BBC Africa.
We begin with an item by CBS News, about Russia:
By Graham Kates
As Russian President Vladimir Putin and a convoy of construction vehicles rolled across one of the most controversial new bridges in the world on May 15, 2018, something funky began happening on ships anchored nearby in the Kerch Strait.
The ships' GPS systems suddenly began to indicate they were actually 65 kilometers away, on land, in the middle of an airport.
And in our continuing saga… (from Slate):
Elliot Hannon
Today in Brexit is a daily feature that will attempt to keep track of the chaotic mess playing out in the U.K. If you’re just tuning in, here’s a brief explainer on what you’ve been missing.
Welcome to Brexit purgatory, which on Friday started to look like it might last even longer than previously thought possible. With the U.K. set to depart the EU in exactly one week and no agreement in Parliament on what the relationship between the two should look like after the breakup, Prime Minister Theresa May formally requested from Brussels another extension to the Brexit deadline, proposing a new drop dead date of June 30.
And one more on this topic from Slate:
While politicians in London squabble, the people of Northern Ireland worry that their tenuous state of peace could be shattered.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland—A graffiti-covered steel and concrete wall runs between the Falls Road and Shankill Road in west Belfast, separating two communities, one Catholic, one Protestant.
If every one of these “peace walls” in Northern Ireland were arranged in a line, they’d stretch 20 miles, explains tour guide Eamonn McGuckin, who has spent the past 25 years driving tourists back-and-forth between these two communities, trying to explain in an hour how the 30-year civil war known as the Troubles shaped the Northern Ireland he lives in today.
And another from Britain, this from The Hill:
British police are prepared to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange if he is ousted from his sanctuary at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Officers with London's metropolitan police department were stationed outside the embassy Friday morning following messages from WikiLeaks claiming that Assange would be moved out of the facility within hours or days, The Associated Press reported.
From Al Jazeera:
Children born to Belgian settler and Congolese mother in the 1940s and 50s were forcefully taken from their African homes.
Belgium has apologised for some of the abuses committed during its colonial rule in Africa.
From Deutsche Welle:
The French president has named a commission to investigate France's role in the 1994 killings. More than 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were murdered in a genocidal campaign by militias loyal to the government.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday announced the creation of a commission tasked with investigating France's role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
The presidency tapped several historians and researchers for the commission, saying they "will be tasked with consulting all France's archives relating to the genocide … in order to analyze the role and engagement of France during that period."
And from The Guardian:
Lawyers say economically stricken country’s purchase of horsehair wigs made in London evokes spirit of colonialism
Nyasha Chingono
Lawyers in Zimbabwe have hit out at a government decision to spend thousands of pounds on wigs made in England for local judges, saying the tradition evokes a colonial past that should not exist in modern Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s judicial services commission has placed an order for 64 wigs from Stanley Ley Legal Outfitters in London, at a cost of £118,400.
And from The South African:
What an incredible achievement.
Qobo Ningiza will graduate on 12 April. This achievement is not only a celebration for Ningiza and his family, it also provides hope to South Africans in similar situations.
Who is Qobo Ningiza?
Ningiza was born and raised in Ntseshe Location in the Eastern Cape. He has five siblings and is the only member of his family who is deaf.
The school Ningiza attended lacked basic resources, further disadvantaging his ability to receive a quality education. Learners were forced to share textbooks and the school’s infrastructure was severely lacking. Due to a shortage of qualified instructors, subjects in high school could not be chosen but were rather prescribed, according to the availability of teachers.
From Reuters:
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fallen behind his main challenger in opinion polls ahead of next week’s Israeli election but still has an easier path to form a government that would keep him in power for a record fifth term.
Netanyahu, who has dominated Israeli politics for a generation, is fighting for his political survival against former top general Benny Gantz, a political novice.
From Sky and Telescope:
A recent anti-satellite missile test by India added hundreds of pieces of debris to an already cluttered low-Earth orbit.
Last week, India conducted a successful test of its new Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile system. This makes India the fourth nation to possess — and test — anti-satellite capability, behind the U.S., Russia and China.
“India has made an unprecedented achievement today,” said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in statement shortly after the successful test. “India registered its name as a space power.”
And our last news story, this from NPR:
South Korea is using its military to contain a large forest fire that spread quickly after igniting in Gangwon Province, along the country's east coast. Strong winds moved the blaze from city to city, prompting President Moon Jae-in to declare a national emergency.
It's being called the worst wildfire to hit South Korea in years, forcing thousands to evacuate and ravaging rural towns. Fire officials are reporting two deaths, according to the Associated Press.
And now we take a look at happenings in the art world, as usual for a Friday night. The stories begin with this from The Guardian:
Fast-fashion giant Bestseller set to build skyscraper headquarters in Brande, a 7,000-person rural town
Richard Orange in Malmo
Until a local company announced plans to send a 320-metre skyscraper soaring over the surrounding countryside, most people in Denmark had only the haziest idea where Brande, a town of 7,000 people in rural Jutland, even was.
The Bestseller Tower, designed by star architectural studio Dorte Mandrup, will not only be the tallest building in Denmark, but the tallest in western Europe, besting the Shard in London by a crucial 10.4 metres.
And from the BBC:
By Alice Cuddy
The Dutch rail infrastructure operator has defended its controversial "fashion line" featuring replicas of torn clothing worn by those killed and injured in railway accidents.
ProRail launched "Victim Fashion" to encourage young people to be safer around railway lines.
The campaign has faced backlash, with the Dutch infrastructure secretary saying it went too far.
Also from the BBC:
Dan Robbins, the inventor of the paint-by-numbers kits, has died aged 93.
His kits inspired generations of budding artists to pick up a paintbrush and create multi-coloured wonders. Here, BBC News website readers share their artwork and stories about how the method helped them.
Marilyn Bruce-Mitford, London, UK
I was only 10 when I did them, so they aren't exactly brilliant, but they are 64 years old and vintage.
On the reverse of 'Coach and Horses' is a handwritten note from me to my aunt which reads; "Dear Aunty Bett, if you don't want one of these two pictures, (especially this one) will you send it back please, as Martyn wants one (especially this one). Tons of love and x's. From Marilyn. P.S. Happy New Year."
From the Rolling Stone:
From guitars owned by Elvis, Clapton and Hendrix to St. Vincent’s guitar and Gaga’s piano, “Play It Loud” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art traces the instrumental lineage of rock and roll
David Browne
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to an overwhelming collection of historical art objects, including a mummy mask from 60 A.D., Greek bronzes from the 8th century B.C. and the original “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting. Starting April 8th, it will also welcome a different type of antiques — from the guitar Chuck Berry used to record “Johnny B. Goode” to the knives Keith Emerson would stab into his Hammond organ during the crazier Emerson, Lake & Palmer days.
In these days of GarageBand and samplers, it’s easy to forget that nearly all pop music, especially rock & roll, was once banged out on instruments made of wood or metal. The primitive quality of the music was matched by the construction of the instruments, an idea rammed home repeatedly in “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll,” which collects both iconic and lesser-known guitars, percussion instruments, keyboards, amplifiers and even posters from the last roughly 60 years of rock.
From Kansas City’s NPR station, KCUR:
Google says Kansas City will be the first city in the United States to have its own place on the search engine's Arts & Culture platform.
"So all in one place, you're going to see over 2,000 artworks and artifacts, over 40 online stories, all telling the history of Kansas City and its art scene today," said project manager Jamie Burchfield. "And you can see that content through online exhibits, through virtual reality tours, through ultra-high resolution photographs of artwork."
From KTVA (which bills itself as the voice of Alaska):
The owner of an Anchorage store is giving back to his community by offering hope to Alaska Natives and other artisans with personal struggles.
Leon Kinneeveauk, who is Inupiaq from Kotzebue, bought Arctic Treasures Art Gallery last June. It’s a business that sells handcrafted art from all over Alaska.
The new owner says he is focusing on the future and using this store to help Alaskan Natives and other artisans get off the streets.