Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
AFP
The pound touched a fresh five-month peak above $1.30 on Monday on renewed Brexit optimism after Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested another extension to Britain's scheduled departure from the European Union.
Elsewhere, global stocks generally rose on positive sentiment about US-China trade and healthy corporate earnings. But shares in US aviation giant Boeing tumbled as the company's crisis persisted.
At about 1230 GMT, the pound reached the highest level since May at $1.3013. But it pulled back after the speaker of Britain's House of Commons refused to hold another vote on Johnson's Brexit plan on Monday.
"As should come as little surprise to those who follow John Bercow, the speaker of the house has announced that there will be no meaningful Brexit vote today," said David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB online trading firm.
Parliamentary rules prohibit repeat votes on the same measure.
AFP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson brushed aside yet another Brexit setback Monday and sought again to ram through his EU divorce deal in time for next week's deadline.
House of Commons speaker John Bercow shot down Johnson's second attempt Monday to get MPs to sign off on his revised EU withdrawal terms.
Lawmakers decided at their first Saturday session since the 1982 Falklands War to force Johnson to ask Brussels to postpone the October 31 cutoff date by three months.
Bercow called the Conservative leader's bid to get MPs to back his deal on Monday "repetitive and disorderly".
Johnson is desperately trying to secure a break from Brussels that severs many of the island nation's economic relations with Europe after 46 years of EU membership.
His new strategy is to get parliament Tuesday to approve an accompanying package of legislation that needs ratifying for Brexit to take effect.
AFP
Japan's new Emperor Naruhito will formally proclaim his ascension to the throne on Tuesday in a ritual-bound ceremony, but the after-effects of a deadly typhoon will cast a shadow over proceedings.
Naruhito officially assumed his duties as emperor on May 1, a day after his father became the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in 200 years.
But the transition will not be complete until his new role is officially proclaimed, in a series of events expected to be attended by foreign dignitaries from over 180 countries.
The event comes just over a week after Typhoon Hagibis slammed into Japan, killing at least 80 people and leaving a trail of destruction.
With people still searching for missing loved ones and living in shelters, the government has opted to postpone a key part of the ceremony -- an open-top car parade that had been intended to introduce the royal pair to the public.
Deutsche Welle
Germany's proposal for the establishment of an internationally controlled security zone in Syria would be in cooperation with Turkey and Russia, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told DW in an exclusive interview Monday evening.
"This security zone would seek to resume the fight against terror and against the 'Islamic State,' which has currently come to a standstill," she said. "It would also ensure that we stabilize the region so that rebuilding civilian life is once again possible, and so that those who have fled can also return voluntarily.”
The defense minister and leader of Germany's ruling conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) added that longtime chancellor, Angela Merkel, had already been informed of the recommendation, and that she has the backing of defense and foreign policy experts within her own party.
Any recommendation, however, must first be adopted by both the German cabinet and its parliament, the Bundestag.
"But we can't only talk about this," Kramp-Karrenbauer stressed. "Europe cannot simply be an onlooker. We also have to come up with our own recommendations and initiate discussions."
Deutsche Welle
At an interview with DW, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said that if the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) pull back as agreed, there "won't be ... any need for further military action."
Kalin also noted that the main topic during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday will be securing the safe zone to return Syrian refugees. Kalin said Turkey would only send refugees back to Syria who are willing to return, and will not tolerate a YPG presence in northeastern Syria, be it under the US or Russian flag.
DW: The cease-fire — or the cessation of hostilities, or whatever you'd like to call it — is about to end on Tuesday night. There have been quite a few reports that there have been violations of this cease-fire. Is that correct?
Ibrahim Kalin: That is true. We've reached this agreement with the Americans three days ago. The first phase was to be a pause in the operation, and the second one will be halting of the operation when YPG terrorists completely withdraw from the area. Unfortunately as of this morning there have been about 20 violations by YPG. They use snipers, rockets, attacking our soldiers as well as other groups there. We lost one soldier unfortunately in this incident. We are committed and sticking to the agreement. In fact, yesterday we identified the two routes to use and about 86 vehicles and ambulances went in, took these YPG people and left without any incidents. We are hoping that things will remain calm until tomorrow when the deadline is over and they have completely left the area by tomorrow evening. Then we can hold the operation as agreed in the joint declaration and agreement that we have had with the Americans.
The Guardian
Northern Ireland is to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage after an 11th-hour attempt by the region’s assembly to block change collapsed into farce.
Equality campaigners celebrated on Monday as the clock ticked towards midnight when laws extending abortion and marriage rights came into force, ushering in momentous social change as Northern Ireland aligned with the rest of the UK.
Anti-abortion groups led by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) tried to avert liberalisation by recalling the mothballed chamber at Stormont for the first time in almost three years. But discord and walkouts stymied debate and left the assembly deserted.
“The beginning of a new era for Northern Ireland – one in which we’re free from oppressive laws that have policed our bodies and healthcare,” said Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland campaign manager.
“Thank you to everyone who has told their stories to help us reach this milestone,” tweeted Love Equality NI, an umbrella group that campaigned for marriage equality. “A historic moment,” said the advocacy group Stonewall.
The Guardian
Benjamin Netanyahu has informed Israel’s president he has been unable to form a coalition government after talks with his political rival and former army chief Benny Gantz broke down.
In a video statement published on Monday evening – the day of his 70th birthday – Netanyahu said he and his Likud party had worked “incessantly” to forge a “broad national unity government” with Gantz’s Blue and White party, but ultimately failed.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, made the announcement just two days before the deadline to return the mandate to the president, Reuven Rivlin, who in turn intends to task Gantz, the head of the opposition, with the job of putting together a new government.
It would be the first time in over a decade that anyone but Netanyahu would be given the chance to head the Israeli government. But the move does not necessarily end Netanyahu’s political career, nor his chances of leading the country’s next administration.
Once he is formally asked by the president, Gantz will have 28 days to attempt to forge a coalition, or risk another election being called.
The Guardian
A wildfire raced up canyon walls toward multimillion-dollar ocean-view homes on a ridge in Los Angeles, spurring evacuations and a furious firefighting effort.
The blaze broke out around 10.30am in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood and flames churned uphill through large green trees and dry brush.
Helicopters made strategic water drops as the fire burned fences and lawn furniture behind large houses at the top of a bluff.
Some residents evacuated from the hillside community west of downtown Los Angeles, while others stayed behind and used backyard garden hoses to try to protect their homes.
Crews saved at least half a dozen houses, said the city fire spokesman, Brian Humphrey.
“Thankfully, no homes have suffered serious damage,” Humphrey said. No injuries were reported.
Patrick Butler, an assistant fire chief, told reporters it was “an extremely challenging fire for hand crews”, adding, “They’re essentially clawing their way up this hillside with rocks coming down on them.”
One firefighter was taken to the hospital due to heat exhaustion, authorities said.
The Guardian
Ocean acidification can cause the mass extinction of marine life, fossil evidence from 66m years ago has revealed.
A key impact of today’s climate crisis is that seas are again getting more acidic, as they absorb carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists said the latest research is a warning that humanity is risking potential “ecological collapse” in the oceans, which produce half the oxygen we breathe.
The researchers analysed small seashells in sediment laid down shortly after a giant meteorite hit the Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and three-quarters of marine species. Chemical analysis of the shells showed a sharp drop in the pH of the ocean in the century to the millennium after the strike.
Mexicans fight for mighty waterway taken by the US
The Guardian
The Colorado originates in the Rocky mountains and traverses seven US states, watering cities and farmland, before reaching Mexico, where it is supposed to flow onwards to the Sea of Cortez.
Instead, the river is dammed at the US-Mexico border, and on the other side the river channel is empty. Locals are now battling to bring it back to life.
There are few more striking examples of what has come to be known as “environmental injustice” – the inequitable access to clean land, air and water, and disproportionate exposure to hazards and climate disasters. Water in particular has emerged as a flash point as global heating renders vast swaths of the planet ever drier.
Today the Guardian is launching a year-long series, Our Unequal Earth, to investigate environmental inequalities and discrimination in the US and beyond. It will also reveal how the climate crisis is making things worse for activists and scientists on the ground.
he temperature is rising toward 45C (113F) as young brothers Daniel and Dilan Rodríguez skip towards a bridge over the Colorado River in the Mexican border town of San Luis Río Colorado. But there is no water flowing through the channel of one of the world’s mightiest waterways. The pair run down the river bank and cheerfully splash through stagnant puddles dotted about the riverbed.
“We wish we had a river, so we could swim, and jump and sail my cousin’s boat,” said Daniel, 12. “At least we have puddles to make mud balls, that can be fun.”
The Guardian
Facebook on Monday disclosed it had taken down four new foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia, including one targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
The suspected IRA campaign “had the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation that took consistent operational security steps to conceal their identity and location”, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said in a blogpost.
The campaign used 50 Instagram accounts and one Facebook account with about 246,000 followers to publish nearly 75,000 posts, according to Graphika, a social network analysis company that reviewed the campaign for Facebook.
The accounts adopted various political identities, such as pro-Donald Trump, anti-police violence, pro-Bernie Sanders, LGBTQ, feminist, pro-police and pro-Confederate, according to Graphika’s analysis. Most posts were not explicitly related to electoral politics, Graphika said, but were focused on general political commentary for “persona development and branding”.
Reuters
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Four large drug companies could resume talks on Tuesday to try to reach a $48 billion settlement of all opioid litigation against them, after agreeing with two Ohio counties to a $260 million deal to avert the first federal trial over their role in the U.S. opioid epidemic.
Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd agreed to the deal that removed the immediate threat of a trial that was to begin on Monday in Cleveland.
The parties could resume talks as soon as Tuesday aimed at a broader settlement of thousands of opioid lawsuits brought by states and local governments, according to Paul Hanly, an attorney for the towns and counties.
Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared confused at a London court hearing on Monday, struggling to recall his name and age in his first public appearance in months as he sought to fight extradition to the United States.
Assange, 48, who spent seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy before he was dragged out in April, faces 18 counts in the United States including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.
On Monday he appeared clean-shaven, without the long beard he had worn at his last public appearance in May, when he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail.
BBC
Canadians go to the polls on 21 October, four years after Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party swept to power.
But things aren't as clear-cut this time around, with several other parties rising in the polls.
Here's a visual look at some key issues and themes which could shape the outcome on election night.
What's at stake?
The focus of campaigning tends to be on the party leaders and who will be prime minister.
But in reality, under Canada's system of government, it's 338 separate races, with candidates in each of the country's federal ridings (constituencies) from coast to coast to coast.
They are all fighting for their chance to sit in Canada's House of Commons - which loosely resembles its British namesake.
There are two scenarios - a majority and a minority government (or hung parliament). If one party wins 170 seats or more, Canada will have a majority government.
NPR
Scientists have created a new way to edit DNA that appears to make it even easier to precisely and safely re-write genes.
The new technique, called prime editing, is designed to overcome some of the limitations of CRISPR. That technique, often described as a kind of molecular scissors for genes, has been revolutionizing scientific research by letting scientists alter DNA.
"It's proven difficult to use these molecular scissors to make precise DNA changes in most cell types," says David Liu, a biologist at Harvard, MIT and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
Liu heads the lab where the new prime editing technique was created in research led by Andrew Anzalone. The advance is described in the journal Nature, in an article published Monday.
NPR
Local officials and emergency response personnel in Dallas are gauging the extent of damage inflicted by a powerful tornado that touched down in the city on Sunday night. While extensive structural damage was apparent by Monday morning, no fatalities or injuries have been reported.
"Considering the path the storm took — it went across a pretty densely populated part of our city — we should consider ourselves very fortunate we didn't lose any lives; [there were] no fatalities and no serious injuries," Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said at a news conference Monday.