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.
BBC
Rockets hit US embassy in Baghdad amid protests
At least three rockets struck the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Sunday.
One rocket hit the embassy cafeteria while two others landed a short distance away, a source told AFP.
At least three people were injured, security sources told Reuters. This would be the first time in years that staff have been hurt in such attacks.
No group has claimed responsibility but the US has blamed Iran-backed military factions in Iraq in the past.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi condemned the attack, stating that the continuation of such acts could "drag Iraq into becoming a battlefield".
The US State Department said: "We call on the Government of Iraq to fulfil its obligations to protect our diplomatic facilities."
Recent attacks have targeted the embassy or Iraqi military bases where American troops are deployed.
BBC
Coronavirus: Death toll rises to 80 as China extends holiday
The number of people killed in China by the coronavirus has risen to 80, with almost 3,000 confirmed ill.
The national new year holiday has been extended by three days to Sunday, in an attempt to contain the outbreak.
Wuhan in Hubei, the source of the outbreak, is in lockdown and several cities have imposed travel bans.
Health commission officials said on Monday the number of deaths in Hubei province had climbed from 56 to 76, with four deaths elsewhere.
The overall number of confirmed cases in China is 2,744. State media say more than 300 are critically ill.
Another 41 cases have been confirmed abroad, including in Thailand, the United States, and Australia. There have been no deaths outside China.
BBC
China coronavirus 'spreads before symptoms show'
A new coronavirus that has spread to more than 2,000 people is infectious in its incubation period - before symptoms show - making it harder to contain, Chinese officials say.
Fifty-six people have died from the virus. Health minister Ma Xiaowei told reporters the ability of the virus to spread appeared to be strengthening.
Several Chinese cities have imposed significant travel restrictions.
Wuhan in Hubei, the source of the outbreak, is in effective lockdown.
In humans, the incubation period - during which a person has the disease, but no symptoms yet - ranges from between one and 14 days, officials believe.
Without symptoms, a person may not know they have the infection, but still be able to spread it.
Reuters
U.S. stock futures fall more than 1 percent as coronavirus fears spread
TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. S&P500 e-mini futures ESc1 fell more than 1% in Asian trade on Monday on mounting worries the new coronavirus outbreak could severely disrupt the Chinese economy, an engine of global growth.
China’s cabinet said it would extend the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Feb. 2 and Hong Kong banned residents of China’s Hubei province, where the new coronavirus outbreak was first reported, from entering the city.
The Guardian
Bombs and blood feuds: the wave of explosions rocking Sweden’s cities (Cross that off my travel list)
The first thing Daniel Georén registered was a cacophony of car alarms. It was 2am, and everyone in the attractive cobbled street where he lives in Malmö, Sweden, had been jolted awake by a giant explosion.
“The blinds shot up because of the pressure, and straightaway there was a small crowd of neighbours outside,” the 40-year-old wine merchant told the Observer a week after the blast.
The damage was still there to see: the door to his backyard had been blown off, his downstairs windows shattered, and his Volvo written off. Where the bomb had been planted in front of the house next door, there was a chunk of wall missing.
You might expect such a powerful explosion to be unusual in a middle-class district in otherwise safe, well-organised Sweden. But this bombing in November was one of three in the city in the space of 24 hours. According to data released this month by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, there were 257 crimes involving explosives in the country last year, a 60% rise on 2018. Gangland shootings are also shockingly high, with 320 reported last year, 41 of them fatal. As recently as Tuesday, there were twin explosions in two apartment buildings in a Stockholm suburb. The last blast in Malmö was on 10 January.
The Jerusalem Post (Completely unbiased source, lol)
Netanyahu says he and Trump will ‘make history’ this week US President Donald Trump’s peace plan will advance Israel’s interests, a confident Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday before boarding a plane to Washington for what he predicted would be a historic meeting with Trump.
“I am going to Washington to face an American president who is bringing forward a plan that I believe will advance our most vital interests,” Netanyahu said. “During the last three years I spoke countless times with Trump – who is a great friend of Israel – and his team,” Netanyahu said. During those conversations he discussed Israel’s vital interests, its security and the issue of justice, Netanyahu said.
He recalled the time he had traveled to the US under very different circumstances, to hold a speech in Congress to argue against former US president Barack Obama’s Iran deal. It was a plan that he felt endangered Israel’s very existence.
The circumstances have now changed when it comes to Israel’s future,Netanyahu said.
NPR
Poll Results Put Andrew Yang Back On The Democratic Debate Stage
A flurry of qualifying polls released Sunday has put tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang back on the Democratic debate stage.
Yang is the seventh candidate to qualify for the Feb. 7 debate in Manchester, N.H., which is just four days ahead of the primary there.
The 45-year-old had missed January's debate in Iowa. Prior to that televised tussle, Yang had decried what he called a lack of qualifying surveys and had asked the Democratic National Committee to commission more polling. It did not.
But Yang hit one of the DNC's debate thresholds in four surveys released just on Sunday. He got 7% and 5% in separate national polls, and 5% in two New Hampshire surveys.
To make the New Hampshire debate, candidates must register at 5% or more in four qualifying national or early-state polls released between Dec. 13, 2019, and Feb. 6; or at least 7% in two early-state polls during that period. And they have to get 225,000 unique donors from at least 20 states.
Deutsche Welle
Germany: Over 500 right-wing extremists suspected in Bundeswehr
Germany's Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) has said it was investigating 550 Bundeswehr soldiers suspected of right-wing extremism, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday.
Numerous cases of extremism in the German military and among other security forces have been brought to light in recent years, as the government struggles to contain right-wing extremist threatsand violence.
An additional 360 cases of suspected right-wing extremism were registered in 2019, Christof Gramm, the head of MAD, told Welt am Sonntag.
He added that suspicions of extremism were confirmed in 14 cases last year, eight of which involved right-wing extremism.
MAD said an additional 40 individuals failed to uphold the values of the German constitution.
"Our goal is to not only remove extremists from the German military but also people who lack loyalty to the constitution," Gramm said.
Deutsche Welle (There’s hope!)
84-year-old woman wins Spain's best new actress prize
Benedicta Sanchez, 84, won Spain's top cinematic prize for best new actress on Saturday, becoming the oldest woman to win the category.
The Goya Awards, the equivalent of Spain's Oscars, took place in the southern Spanish city of Malaga.
Sanchez, who was competing against three younger actresses, reacted to the award's announcement by raising her eyebrows and glancing to the side in an expression of near disbelief.
In her acceptance speech, Sanchez, a Spaniard with no formal acting training, said, "Life hands you surprises, and this is a very big one in my long existence."
Only actors without prior screen experience are eligible to win the best new actress category.
The tweet from the official Goya Awards account showing her speech quickly went viral.
NPR
How Super Sniffer Dogs Are Helping Detect Disease Around The World
As the owner of a yellow lab named Gus, author Maria Goodavage has had many occasions to bathe her pooch when he rolls around in smelly muck at the park.
Nevertheless, her appreciation for his keen sense of smell has inspired her write best-selling books about dogs with special assignments in the military and the U.S. Secret Service.
Her latest, Doctor Dogs: How Our Best Friends Are Becoming Our Best Medicine,highlights a vast array of special medical tasks that dogs can perform — from the laboratory to the bedside, and everywhere else a dog can tag along and sniff.
Canines' incredible olfactory capacity — they can sniff in parts per trillion — primes them to detect disease, and their genius for observing our behavior helps them guide us physically and emotionally.