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, Besame and jck. 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 featureon 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.
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US NEWS
HuffPost
Two days later, the hosts of the most popular Sunday morning talk shows in the U.S. had the opportunity to ask their guests ― often a mix of high-profile Republicans and Democrats ― about Carroll’s horrifying claim and whether to hold the president accountable.
But the allegation went largely undiscussed by major TV networks on Sunday morning, clearing the path for yet another sexual assault allegation against the president to slip into the void.
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC ― the networks that make up the “big five” of Sunday morning talk shows ― boasted major political players in their lineups that included Vice President Mike Pence and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
And yet not a single one of them was asked about Carroll’s allegation that, just days earlier, had prompted front-page stories and news alerts from almost all of the major media outlets.
Al Jazeera
US President Donald Trump signed an order on Monday that targets Iran's supreme leader and associates with additional financial sanctions.
The United States president said the action follows a series of aggressions by Iran, including last week's downing of a US unmanned drone.
Tensions between the US and Iran that have grown since May, when Washington ordered all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil.
The targets of the new sanctions include senior military figures in Iran, blocking their access to any financial assets under US jurisdiction. They also work to deny Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his close aides access to money and support.
Trump said the supreme leader and his associates were ultimately responsible for what Trump called "the hostile conduct of the regime".
Reuters
A U.S. congressional committee on Monday demanded documents from the Trump administration relating to its overhaul of the background check process that determines who can handle America’s secret information.
The House of Representatives Oversight Committee sent a letter to Mark Esper, the acting defense secretary, requesting documents and communications by July 8 relating to the ongoing overhaul, which some U.S. officials have said is disorganized and behind schedule.
The committee sent a separate letter demanding similar documents from the head of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is transferring its background check responsibilities to the Pentagon under the Trump administration’s plan. The committee also requested a briefing on the status of the project, which President Donald Trump outlined in an April 24 executive order.
DW News
Germany's oldest political party has decided to adopt a twin-leader model in as part of its attempt to regalvanize the party base. The Social Democrats are tanking in opinion polls and casting around for fresh ideas.
Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), one of the oldest political parties in Europe, decided on Monday to adopt a "double leader" model, with one man and one woman to lead the party.
The SPD is fighting to maintain its relevance for German voters after close to six years as junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government coalition. Those years have seen its vote share in Germany shrink from 25.7% (in the 2013 national election) to 15.8% (this year's European Parliament election). Some opinion polls have the party that once claimed 40% of German voters currently languishing at 12%, neck-and-neck with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and way behind a resurgent Green party at 20%.
A poisoned chalice?
The resignation in early June of party leader Andrea Nahles in the wake of the party's dismal EU election showing has left a vacuum at the top of the SPD that few leading party figures appear willing to fill. Nahles' move apparently took place beneath a cloud of inner-party recrimination. So far, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, and Lower Saxony State Premier Stephan Weil have all declined to sip from the poisoned chalice.
DW News
The Netherlands has been struck by a monumental telecommunications outage, prompting police to hit the streets. Authorities were unsure why it happened, but ruled out a hacking attack.
The Netherlands was struck by a major telecommunications outage on Monday, taking down the emergency services number.
Police were sent out into the streets to be easily accessible, as callers failed to reach the 112 emergency number.
The outage lasted several hours, affecting the network of national carrier Royal KPN NV and other telecommunications companies that use its network. KPN said it was unsure what caused the outage, but said it did not appear to a cyber attack.
Emergency contact numbers "cannot be reached due to a technical malfunction. We are working hard to resolve the malfunction," a government statement said. "If you need immediate medical assistance, go to the hospital yourself."
"We're appealing to everybody who wants to report an emergency and needs help to ... go onto the street. Police officers with walkie-talkies are taking to the streets as much as possible so they can be spoken to," police spokeswoman Suzanne van de Graaf told national broadcaster NOS.
Both fixed line and mobile lines were affected.
DW News
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Monday that Poland had violated EU as well as the independence of its courts when it enacted a controversial reform to its Supreme Court lowering the age of retirement for judges.
The measure had forced 20 of the country's 72 top court judges to leave the bench earlier than planned.
"Poland has infringed EU law," the court wrote in its decision, noting that the measure that came into force last year "undermines the principle of the irremovability of judges, that principle being essential to their independence."
The law was put forward by Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2017, claiming that getting rid of many of the older judges would modernize the court and root out corruption. Critics, however, argued that it was an attempt by the nationalist PiS to get rid of left-leaning judges and replace them with a more conservative group that would be less critical of the government.
The move prompted massive protests across Poland, both against and in support of the government.
Al Jazeera
Hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are protesting against the United States Middle East peace plan, taking to the streets on the eve of a US-sponsored summit in Bahrain where Washington is expected to reveal details of its long-awaited initiative.
Starting on Tuesday, the workshop in Manama will see attendees discussing what the US has described as the financial component of its plan to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The two-day event, which is led by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, is boycotted by the Palestinian leadership.
Palestinian leaders say the gathering circumvents a political settlement based on a two-state solution, describing it as an ill-fated attempt by the US administration and some of its Middle Eastern allies - including Israel and several Arab countries - to "liquidate" the Palestinian cause.
BBC
The suspected ringleader of Saturday's failed coup attempt in Ethiopia's Amhara region has been shot dead, police say.
Brig-Gen Asaminew Tsige was killed as he attempted to escape from his hideout in Amhara's capital, police added.
Ethiopia's army chief Gen Seare Mekonnen was killed while trying to foil the coup, the government said.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has urged Ethiopians to unite against "evil" forces set on dividing the country.
Flags are flying at half-mast after the government declared a day of mourning to mark the deaths of loyalists.
Gen Seare and Amhara governor Ambachew Mekonnen, who was also killed on Saturday, were seen as close allies of the prime minister.
BBC
Boris Johnson has admitted he would need EU co-operation to avoid a hard Irish border or crippling tariffs on trade in the event of no deal.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the favourite to be next prime minister said: "It's not just up to us."
But he said he did "not believe for a moment" the UK would leave without a deal, although he was willing to do so.
Asked about a row he had with his partner, he said it was "simply unfair" to involve "loved ones" in the debate.
Reports of the argument on Friday with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, dominated headlines over the weekend after the police were called to their address in London.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH
The Guardian
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.
Tham is paid the equivalent of $6.50 a day to strip off the non-recyclable elements and sort what remains: translucent plastic in one pile, opaque in another.
A Guardian investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of tons of US plastic are being shipped every year to poorly regulated developing countries around the globe for the dirty, labor-intensive process of recycling. The consequences for public health and the environment are grim.
The Guardian (6/23/2019)
At the end of a week in which the Trump administration rolled back Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, Mike Pence declined repeated invitations to say the human-induced climate crisis is a threat to US national security.
“What I will tell you is that we will always follow the science on that in this administration,” the vice-president said, in answer to CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper’s first posing of the question.
Tapper responded: “The science says it is.”
Pence said: “But what we won’t do, and the Clean Power Plan was all about that, was hamstringing energy in this country, raising the cost of utility rates for working families across this country.”
Tapper interjected: “But is it a threat?”
Pence did not answer the interjection, complaining instead that “other nations like China and India absolutely do nothing or make illusory promises decades down the road”. He also praised US focus on natural gas and “clean coal technology”.
Tapper persevered: “But is what people are calling a climate emergency, is it a threat? Do you think it is a threat, manmade climate emergency is a threat?”
The Guardian
Washington governor Jay Inslee will set his sights on powerful fossil fuel interests on Monday, by introducing a new portion of the presidential campaign he has centered on addressing the climate crisis.
If elected, Inslee says, he will cut billions in fossil fuel subsidies, ban new drilling on public lands and in offshore waters, phase out fracking for natural gas, end the use of coal and ban oil exports.
He also proposes to create a climate pollution fee, institute an environmental justice office within the Department of Justice in order to prosecute polluters, and adopt a “climate test” for new infrastructure projects.
“Even as fossil fuel corporations harm our communities and endanger our future, they continue to benefit from billions in US government subsidies and giveaways,” the plan says. “They are privatizing their rising profits even as they impose massive costs on society.”
Reuters
The U.S.-based research arm of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd - Futurewei Technologies Inc - has moved to separate its operations from its corporate parent since the U.S government in May put Huawei on a trade blacklist, according to two people familiar with the matter
Futurewei has banned Huawei employees from its offices, moved Futurewei employees to a new IT system and forbidden them from using the Huawei name or logo in communications, a Futurewei employee told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Huawei will continue to own Futurewei, the employee said.
Milton Frazier, Futurewei’s general counsel, declined to comment on the separation or the strategy behind it, referring questions to Huawei spokesman Chase Skinner. Skinner did not answer questions about the effort.
C/NET
Bill Gates has conceded that his "greatest mistake ever" was failing to put Microsoft in Android's position as the world's biggest "non-Apple" mobile operating system. The Microsoft co-founder was reflecting on the era when the market was shifting toward mobile, in an interview at venture capital firm Village Global.
"In the software world, particularly for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is. That is, Android is the standard non-Apple phone platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win," he said.
"It really is winner take all. If you're there with half as many apps or 90% as many apps, you're on your way to complete doom. There's room for exactly one non-Apple operating system and what's that worth? $400 billion that would be transferred from company G to company M."
NPR
In northern Georgia, near the Tennessee line, the city of Dalton made its fame as the carpet capital of the world. These days, a more accurate title would be floor covering capital of the world. It has diversified into hardwood, tile, laminate and other materials.
And in a big move last year, Dalton added a new industry to its manufacturing mix: the largest solar panel assembly plant in the Western hemisphere, a $150 million investment.
This is just one sign that in Georgia, solar is booming.
And it's not for the reasons you might expect. Like most states in the Southeast, Georgia doesn't have the kind of state-level mandates that have propelled the growth of renewable energy in other parts of the country. Nor is it because of a groundswell of public concern over climate change or the need to curb greenhouse gases.
Instead, there are powerful market forces at work. The U.S. is the second-largest market for solar in the world, after China. Ever cheaper and better solar technology, available land and lots of sunshine are driving demand for massive, utility-scale solar projects across the American Southeast.
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Washington Post
The International Olympic Committee heard presentations from representatives of the final two countries hoping to be named host of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday and chose to award the Games to Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The decision, which came down to Stockholm-Åre and the northern Italian area, was announced in Lausanne, Switzerland, and drew excited chants of “Italia! Italia!” from the delegation when the result was announced. Italy last hosted the Olympics in Turin in 2006. The Alpine ski resort Cortina hosted the Winter Games in 1956.
The decision between northern Italy and Sweden/northern Sweden reflects a move to split hosting duties among regions and countries rather than confining them to a single city as the costs of staging the Games skyrocket.
The Guardian
The hype around the US at this World Cup finally appears to be waning, even as the Americans beat a resilient Spain side 2-1 on Monday with the help of two penalties. Both spot kicks were scored by Megan Rapinoe to put the Americans through and negate a mistake in the American back line that gifted Spain their goal. The reigning champions now move on to the quarter-finals, where they will face hosts France on Friday in a clash of arguably the two strongest teams left in the tournament.
“We showed a lot of grit and experience in this game,” Rapinoe said. “As we get into knockout rounds, it’s more stressful, there’s more pressure, the games are more intense. It was important for us to stay in it.”
It took just seven minutes for the Americans to open the scoring, and it initially looked like they were on their way to another dominant victory. Spain midfielder Mapi León took Tobin Heath down in the box, and Rapinoe calmly stepped up to slot the penalty home.
The Guardian
Queer people have been afraid since the president was elected,” says Paulx Castello. “He has been demonising us from the start – but this was different. Here we were personally under attack.” The artist, who has a mohican, is now instantly recognisable to most Brazilians. In March, he featured in a sexually explicit video that was tweeted by Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s far-right president. The 40-second clip, filmed at a gay street party during the São Paulo carnival, showed Castello standing on a taxi shelter, exposing his backside and being urinated on.
“I don’t feel comfortable showing it,” Bolsonaro told his 3.5 million followers, “but we have to expose the truth so the population are aware of their priorities. This is what Brazilian carnival street parties have turned into.” The next day, the far-right leader stayed on the offensive, tweeting: “What is a golden shower?”
In their first interview since Bolsonaro’s attack, Castello and Jeffe, the other man in the video, say their actions – which were captured on a mobile phone and posted to Twitter by an anonymous user – were actually part of a three-hour guerrilla performance by a six-person art collective. They take the name Ediy, which means “arse” in Pajubá, Brazilian Portuguese gay slang.