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.
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Monday withdrew his request to join a lawsuit seeking a court ruling on whether witnesses must testify in the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, saying he would bring his own case, according to a court document.
Mulvaney had earlier sought to participate in a lawsuit filed by Charles Kupperman, a former deputy to ousted national security adviser John Bolton, seeking a court ruling on whether he should comply with a congressional subpoena or honor the Trump administration’s order not to testify.
Mulvaney withdrew the request following a conference call held by the judge assigned to Kupperman’s lawsuit, which was closed to media.
Reuters
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has made an unspecified number of arrests over last week’s massacre of three women and six children of dual U.S-Mexican nationality in the north of the country, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said on Monday.
“There have been arrests, but it’s not up to us to give information,” Durazo told reporters in Mexico City.
The women and children from families of U.S. Mormon origin who settled in Mexico decades ago were killed last Monday on a remote dirt road in the state of Sonora by suspected drug cartel gunmen, sparking outrage and condemnation in the United States.
Durazo said that prosecutors in Sonora, as well as at the federal level, were in charge of the investigation.
Reuters
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Condoleezza Rice, a secretary of state under Republican President George W. Bush, said on Monday reports of an unofficial U.S. policy being carried out in Ukraine were “deeply troubling.”
Rice was critical of President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run but has been more restrained since the Republican took office.
State Department officials have testified in the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry about an “irregular channel” of people involved in Ukraine policy, including Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer. Public hearings begin this week.
The Guardian
Nigel Farage is facing calls from Brexit supporters to stand down further candidates to help Boris Johnson after he made a dramatic public U-turn by agreeing to withdraw his party from all Conservative-held seats.
The Brexit party leader claimed he had changed his mind about fielding candidates in 317 seats held by the Tories after Johnson released a video pledging to take Britain out of the EU by 2020 and to pursue a Canada-style trade deal.
The abrupt nature of Farage’s reversal prompted claims from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National party that he and the prime minister had struck a secret pact in favour of a hard Brexit, which both sides denied. Farage said he had been offered a peerage by the Tories as recently as last Friday but claimed he had turned it down.
Senior Tories are now pressing behind the scenes for the Brexit party leader to make further concessions and stand back in Labour-held target seats, after Farage conceded that the presence of his party in those contests could lead to a hung parliament and a second referendum.
The Guardian
A distinctly two-tone mouse deer that was feared lost to science has been captured on film foraging for food by camera traps set up in a Vietnamese forest.
The pictures of the rabbit-sized animal, also known as the silver-backed chevrotain, are the first to be taken in the wild and come nearly 30 years after the last confirmed sighting.
“We had no idea what to expect, so I was surprised and overjoyed when we checked the camera traps and saw photographs of a chevrotain with silver flanks,” said An Nguyen, a scientist and expedition team leader at Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC).
“Discovering that it is, indeed, still out there is the first step in ensuring we don’t lose it again, and we’re moving quickly now to figure out how best to protect it,” he said.
The Guardian
Donald J. Trump, Jr. ventured on to the University of California’s overwhelmingly liberal Los Angeles campus on Sunday, hoping to prove what he had just argued in his book – that a hate-filled American left was hell-bent on silencing him and anyone else who supported the Trump presidency.
But the appearance backfired when his own supporters, diehard Make America Great Again conservatives, raised their voices most loudly in protest and ended up drowning him out barely 20 minutes into an event scheduled to last two hours.
The audience was angry that Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, would not take questions. The loud shouts of “USA! USA!” that greeted Trump when he first appeared on the stage of a university lecture hall to promote his book Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us quickly morphed into even louder, openly hostile chants of “Q and A! Q and A!”
Al Jazeera
Iran has begun enriching uranium at its underground Fordow site in the latest breach of its deal with major powers, the United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed on Monday, adding that Tehran's enriched uranium stock has continued to grow.
Iran is overstepping the deal's limits on its nuclear activities one after the other in response to the United States's withdrawal from the accord last year and its reimposition of sanctions that have crippled Iran's oil trade. Tehran has said it can quickly undo those breaches if the sanctions are removed.
DW News
Evo Morales will be granted asylum in Mexico after the former Bolivian president made a request to live in the Central American country, a top official confirmed Monday.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters: "Several minutes ago I received a phone call from Evo Morales in which he responded to our offer and verbally and formally requested political asylum in our country."
Read more: Bolivia crisis: 5 things to know
"The Mexican Foreign Ministry, after consulting Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero, made the decision to grant him asylum... for humanitarian reasons."
Morales's "life and physical integrity are at risk in Bolivia," added Ebrard, confirming Mexico had asked the Bolivian Foreign Ministry to give guarantees over his safe passage to the Central American country.
"We will immediately proceed to inform Bolivia's Foreign Ministry that under international law, it should offer safe conduct," he said.
DW News
Hong Kong riot police have fired tear gas at a university campus, a day after two demonstrators were critically injured in some of the worst violence to hit the Chinese-ruled city in more than five months of anti-government protests.
Disruption was felt across Hong Kong on Tuesday as police prepared for further unrest at subway stations. Blocking streets and metro stations has been a common tactic employed by the anti-government demonstrators.
Classes were canceled at universities and schools just a day after students threw petrol bombs on some campuses.
According to authorities, at least 260 people were detained in connection with the unrest on Monday. More than 3,000 citizens have been arrested since the protests began in June.
AFP
Former US president Jimmy Carter was hospitalized on Monday for a procedure to relieve brain pressure after recent falls, The Carter Center said.
The 95-year-old "was admitted to Emory University Hospital this evening for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain, caused by bleeding due to his recent falls," The Carter Center said in a statement, adding that the procedure would take place on Tuesday morning.
"President Carter is resting comfortably, and his wife, Rosalynn, is with him," it said.
He was hospitalized for treatment after suffering a fractured pelvis due to a fall in October.
President from 1977 to 1981, Carter also injured his head in a fall earlier in the month, but turned up the next day to volunteer at a Habitat for Humanity site with a black eye and a bandage covering 14 stitches.
AFP
Thousands of firefighters fanned out across eastern Australia Tuesday as gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland brought "catastrophic" fire conditions.
Dozens of bushfires were already burning out of control as temperatures were expected to climb toward 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds were forecast to top 60 kilometres (40 miles) per hour in parts of New South Wales.
Firefighters warned the threat to a vast region surrounding Sydney was "off the scale" after days of blazes that have killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned that in current conditions, "if a fire starts and takes hold... we are not going to stop it."
"We have already got significant fires burning in the north coast of New South Wales. A number of those fires are exceeding 100,000 hectares alone. You're talking about a 1,000-kilometre fire perimeter."
NPR
Recreational pot is about to become legal in Illinois, but Chicago's Housing Authority says not in our backyard or front yard or anywhere on public housing premises, for that matter.
Housing voucher recipients received a letter from the agency last week, warning them about the ramifications of smoking or possessing pot on federally funded grounds even after it becomes legal on Jan. 1. In a nutshell, those who violate the federal law could face eviction.
"While federal law prohibits marijuana use and possession in federally subsidized housing, the [Chicago Housing Authority] is working to educate and inform residents so they understand all applicable laws related to cannabis and federally-funded housing," spokeswoman Molly Sullivan said in a statement.
The statement continues: "The CHA will work with the City of Chicago as it develops rules and regulations in accordance with existing state and federal laws in order to ensure a safe and responsible implementation of legalized cannabis in Chicago."
NPR
The recent stream of Republicans announcing plans to retire in 2020 means GOP lawmakers may be losing hope that there is a path to retaking the majority in the House of Representatives next November.
So far, 20 House GOP lawmakers have announced they will not run for reelection, and two more have left office already and have prompted special elections. Four Republicans are seeking other offices: Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne and Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall for the Senate, Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte for governor and California Rep. Paul Cook for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in their respective states.
On the Democratic side, eight members have said they will not run. Three are running for another office: Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico has decided to run for the Senate instead of for his House seat, while Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is running for president and has said she won't run for reelection to the House regardless of whether she wins the nomination.
BBC
Canadian-born rock star Neil Young has said his application for US citizenship has been delayed partly because he smokes marijuana.
Young says he passed the citizenship test but was told he had to take another to prove "moral character".
In April, the US government clarified that using marijuana and other drugs was a "bar to establishing good moral character for naturalisation".
Young, who turns 74 this week, has lived in the US since the mid-1960s.
In a post on his website, Young described passing the citizenship test after "a conversation where I was asked many questions" that he "answered truthfully".
"I want to be a dual citizen and vote," he said. "Recently however, I have been told I must do another test, due to my use of marijuana."
xxx