The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series dedicated to chronicling the eschaton. Please add news or items of import or interest in the comments.
The Nation
American Democracy Is Now Under Siege by Both Cyber-Espionage and GOP Voter Suppression
It is now clear that Russian interference in the 2016 elections went far beyond hacking Democratic National Committee e-mails; it struck at the heart of America’s democratic process. “As of right now, we have evidence of election-related systems in 21 states that were targeted,” Jeanette Manfra, the chief cyber-security official at the Department of Homeland Security, testified at the Senate hearing… On June 13, Bloomberg reported that “Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states.” […]
“The bigger point here is that what happened in 2016 could easily happen again and go much further,” [University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex] Halderman says. [...]
Halderman says the solutions are obvious: Record all votes on paper, perform routine audits of ballots, and conduct regular threat assessments, as is done in many industries. But the White House and Congress are doing less than nothing…
The truth is that the same Republicans who benefited from Russian hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign e-mails in the 2016 election have been trying for years to suppress Democratic-leaning votes. As civil-rights leader Rev. William Barber notes, “Voter suppression hacked our democracy long before any Russian agents meddled in America’s elections.” Since the 2010 election, 22 states—nearly all of them controlled by Republicans—have passed new laws making it harder to vote, which culminated in the 2016 election being the first in more than 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
The Washington Post
Trump administration plans to certify Iranian compliance with nuclear agreement
The administration has decided for the second time since January to certify Iranian compliance with the nuclear agreement that President Trump has called a “disastrous” deal, according to U.S. and foreign officials.
The decision followed what several officials characterized as heated internal debate that culminated at a principals committee last week in a clash between a number of White House officials and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Tillerson has statutory responsibility for certifying Iran’s compliance to Congress every 90 days, a deadline that falls next Monday. Some White House officials and lawmakers argued that Iran has breached the deal in several significant areas. But Tillerson and Mattis noted that international monitors and U.S. allies have assessed the opposite, and said that any sharp change in U.S. posture should await completion of an ongoing administration review of overall policy toward Iran.
Two national monuments are no longer up for review, Interior says. That leaves 25.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Thursday that two national monuments in Washington and Idaho are no longer being considered for removal or reduction by the Trump administration.
In a statement, Zinke announced that the 195,000-acre Hanford Reach National Monument in south-central Washington and the 460,000-acre Craters of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho “are no longer under review” as part of President Trump’s order in April that more than two dozen monument designations be reconsidered.
Hanford Reach was designated by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Craters of the Moon was established in the mid-1920s but greatly expanded by Clinton in 2000.
Israel and the Palestinians make a water deal with a push from Trump’s envoy
President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, on Thursday announced a water-sharing agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that will provide additional supply to the parched populations in the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.
The deal is part of a larger, previously announced plan to draw salty water from the Red Sea to a huge desalination plant, which will then move fresh water via pipeline to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians. The undrinkable brine will be used to help replenish and restore the Dead Sea, which is slowly disappearing.
Greenblatt’s mediation on the water deal was the first fruit of the Trump team’s effort to see if it can bring Israel and the Palestinians back to peace negotiations. The agreement to provide more water to the Palestinians, at a reduced rate, is also designed to build some trust between the antagonists.
Scroll.in
It was “Malda again”, some alarmists claimed on social media, referring to the communal violence that had broken out in the West Bengal district in January 2016. Others demanded that Bangladeshis be thrown out of India. At the centre of this exaggerated panic was a dispute between a family in Noida’s posh Mahagun Moderne Society gated community and their Muslim domestic worker from West Bengal, which led to a riot-like situation on Wednesday morning that the Uttar Pradesh police was summoned to control.
By the end of the day, two First Information Reports had been filed with the police. The first was against the domestic worker’s employer and unidentified persons in the housing complex. The other was against unidentified members of the crowd that had forced their way into the gated community early on Wednesday morning.
The incident in the housing society in Noida’s Sector 78, approximately 23 km from New Delhi, is the latest manifestation of the intense hostility between privileged Indians and their domestic workers that seems to erupt in India’s cities with frightening regularity. But it was perhaps for the first time that such a dispute had swelled to such proportions, there were accusations that security guards had fired into the air to disperse a crowd angered at the treatment meted out to the domestic worker.
Climate change: India begins work on meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement
The central government has commissioned three research institutions to project a long-term low carbon growth trajectory for India. This is the first step India has taken domestically to achieve its commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The Energy Research Institute, Observer Research Foundation and Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy are tasked with recommending three different future low carbon growth scenarios for the country. The three institutions are expected to come up with their findings in about a year, well before the implementation of the Paris Agreement begins in 2020. Their studies will project economic growth and concomitant greenhouse gas emissions for the period 2030-45.
A long-term low carbon growth strategy essentially requires a developing country to plan the set of actions that ensure future economic growth lowers the rate of growth in greenhouse gas emissions than achieved in the past. In the climate jargon, this is described as “decoupling growth from emissions”.
In Pakistan, rumours that solar power raises temperatures is slowing the switch to renewables
Mohammad Aslam has finally found a way to give his family relief from extended power cuts. In February, he installed a 300-watt solar power generating system on the roof of his house…
Buying solar panels to create power at home might seem an obvious way to bridge the gap. But although the panels have been available since 2014 in Aslam’s town of Larkana, in the southern province of Sindh, the 35-year-old entrepreneur waited two years before finally installing one.
Cost wasn’t the problem. Instead, he said, he was put off by rumours that solar panels would actually make things worse.
Unscrupulous local utility officials, he said, told him that the dark-coloured solar panels, built to absorb the sun’s rays and convert them to electricity, would increase the ambient heat in the buildings they were attached to, pushing the temperature indoors even higher.
ProPublica
Trump Has Secretive Teams to Roll Back Regulations, Led by Hires With Deep Industry Ties
[…] Most government agencies have declined to disclose information about their deregulation teams. But ProPublica and The New York Times identified 71 appointees, including 28 with potential conflicts, through interviews, public records and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Some appointees are reviewing rules their previous employers sought to weaken or kill, and at least two may be positioned to profit if certain regulations are undone.
The appointees include lawyers who have represented businesses in cases against government regulators, staff members of political dark money groups, employees of industry-funded organizations opposed to environmental rules and at least three people who were registered to lobby the agencies they now work for.
At the Education Department alone, two members of the deregulation team were most recently employed by pro-charter advocacy groups or operators, and one appointee was an executive handling regulatory issues at a for-profit college operator.
What Robert Mueller Learned From Enron
It seems safe to assume that nobody read Donald Trump Jr.’s damning emails with a Kremlin-connected lawyer more closely than Robert Mueller…
As he does, the question is whether Mueller will be able to build a case that goes all the way to the top.
That could depend on what lessons he learned from overseeing the task force that investigated one of the biggest fraud cases in American history: the collapse of the energy giant Enron.
Vox
Senate Republicans exempt own health coverage from part of latest proposal
Senate Republicans included a provision that exempts members of Congress and their staff from part of their latest health care plan.
This exemption could have the effect of ensuring that members of Congress have coverage for a wider array of benefits than other Americans who purchase their own coverage.
Top Democrat on Senate Intelligence Committee fears Trump will pardon anyone who colluded
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee doesn't buy the Trump administration’s spin about the Donald Trump Jr. email scandal. He finds it odd that senior Trump aides keep forgetting they spoke to Russian envoys and officials. And he worries the president might pardon anyone convicted of colluding with Moscow.
Those are the main takeaways of my interview Thursday with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, a lawmaker at the center of the growing web of congressional investigations into whether the Trump campaign worked with the Kremlin to help defeat Clinton, as well as into the Trump team’s broader ties to Moscow.
Senate Republicans could push their health bill through without a CBO score
Senate Republicans may not wait for the Congressional Budget Office to measure the effects of a controversial change to their health care bill that would let insurers sell plans too skimpy to pass muster under Obamacare.
Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, reportedly told the Huffington Post's Matt Fuller that Congress might skip the CBO process altogether:
The Guardian
Environmental defenders being killed in record numbers globally, new research reveals
Last year was the most perilous ever for people defending their community’s land, natural resources or wildlife, with new research showing that environmental defenders are being killed at the rate of almost four a week across the world.
Two hundred environmental activists, wildlife rangers and indigenous leaders trying to protect their land were killed in 2016, according to the watchdog group Global Witness – more than double the number killed five years ago.
And the frequency of killings is only increasing as 2017 ticks by, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian, with 98 killings identified in the first five months of this year.
John Knox, UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said: “Human rights are being jettisoned as a culture of impunity is developing.”
AP: US approves oil drilling in Alaska waters, prompting fears for marine life
An Italian multinational oil and gas company has received permission to move ahead with drilling plans in federal waters off Alaska which environmental campaigners say will endanger polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine mammals.
Late on Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced conditional approval of an exploratory drilling plan submitted by a US susbsidiary of the company, Eni…
The Trump administration provided the public only 21 days to review and comment on the exploration plan and only 10 days to comment on scoping for an environmental assessment, Monsell said.
Tobacco companies tighten hold on Washington under Trump
Tobacco companies have moved swiftly to strengthen their grip on Washington politics, ramping up lobbying efforts and securing significant regulatory wins in the first six months of the Trump era.
Day one of Donald Trump’s presidency started with tobacco donations, senior figures have been put in place within the Trump administration who have deep ties to tobacco, and lobbying activity has increased significantly…
Vice-President Mike Pence was already well acquainted with the tobacco lobby. In 2001, Pence argued that “smoking doesn’t kill”. Two months later, Pence met with tobacco lobbyists who steered donations his way.
Brexit bill to cause constitutional clash with Scotland and Wales
Theresa May appeared to be heading for an explosive constitutional clash over Brexit on Thursday, after the Scottish and Welsh governments said they could not support the great repeal bill – the key proposals drawn up to extricate Britain from the EU.
The historic legislation, formally known as the European Union (withdrawal) bill, came under sustained attack after it was published on Thursday, with MPs and human rights campaigners, as well as leaders in Edinburgh and Cardiff, dismissing it as a Westminster power grab.
BBC News
Liu Xiaobo: China criticised over late dissident's treatment
China is facing international criticism for not allowing its most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, to be treated abroad for terminal liver cancer.
The activist, who had been serving an 11-year prison term for "subversion", died in a hospital in China aged 61.
Amid tributes for the late campaigner, the Nobel Committee, which gave him the Peace Prize in 2010, said China bore a "heavy responsibility" for his death.
Beijing is now being urged to free his wife, poet Liu Xia, from house arrest.
US opioid abuse 'linked to jobs market' says Fed boss
Widespread opioid abuse is tied to a fall in the share of Americans working or looking for work, the head of the US central bank said on Thursday.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she is not sure if it is a cause of the decline or a symptom revealing more longstanding economic problems. Technological changes and an aging workforce also contribute, she said.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that prescription drug abuse costs $78.5bn (£61.5bn) annually.
The Globe and Mail
Trudeau says Khadr case could have cost $40-million
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he understands why Canadians are angry about the $10-million payout to Omar Khadr but insisted a court case would have ended up costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
The Liberal government has faced a public backlash against the apology and payment with a public opinion survey showing 71 per cent of Canadians opposed the deal.
“I share those concerns about the money. In fact that’s why we settled,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters at a news conference announcing the appointment of Julie Payette as the country’s next Governor-General. “If we had continued to fight this, not only would we have inevitably lost, but estimates range from $30 to $40-million dollars that it would have ended up costing the government.”
Julie Payette says being governor-general a chance to serve Canada ‘on Earth’
Former astronaut Julie Payette said she is looking forward to again serving her country – albeit this time on Earth – as she gets ready to promote science and knowledge as Canada’s 29th governor-general.
After going on two space-shuttle missions in 1999 and 2009, Ms. Payette plans to use her position to inspire Canadians to embody core values of “tolerance, openness and working together.”
Ars Technica
If FCC gets its way, we’ll lose a lot more than net neutrality
The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission is preparing to overturn the two-year-old decision that invoked the FCC's Title II authority in order to impose net neutrality rules. It's possible the FCC could replace today's net neutrality rules with a weaker version, or it could decide to scrap net neutrality rules altogether.
Either way, what's almost certain is that the FCC will eliminate the Title II classification of Internet service providers. And that would have important effects on consumer protection that go beyond the core net neutrality rules that outlaw blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Without Title II's common carrier regulation, the FCC would have less authority to oversee the practices of Internet providers like Comcast, Charter, AT&T, and Verizon. Customers and websites harmed by ISPs would also have fewer recourses, both in front of the FCC and in courts of law.
NASA finally admits it doesn’t have the funding to land humans on Mars
For the last five years or so, NASA has sold the public on a Journey to Mars, a grand voyage by which the agency will land humans on the red planet during the 2030s. With just budgetary increases for inflation, the agency said, it had the resources for humanity's next great step, to land crews safely on Mars, and to bring them home. The agency's new rocket, the Space Launch System, and spacecraft, Orion, were sold by NASA administrator Charles Bolden as the vehicles that would get the job done…
Now, finally, the agency appears to have bended toward reality. During a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics on Wednesday, NASA's chief of human spaceflight acknowledged that the agency doesn't really have the funding it needs to reach Mars (see video).
Virginia utility agrees to install two offshore wind turbines for study
This week, Virginia utility Dominion announced that it would partner with Danish firm Dong Energy to build two offshore wind turbines as test cases for a commercial-sized installation.
Currently, the US only has one 30MW commercial offshore wind farm off Block Island in Rhode Island…
Other Atlantic states have moved forward with offshore wind projects in recent months. New York entered a deal with Deepwater Wind, the company that built the Block Island installation, in January. That project will consist of a 90MW wind farm 30 miles southeast of Montauk, and it's set to be completed by the end of 2022 if all goes well. Massachusetts has also called for 1,600MW of offshore wind by 2027.
Al Jazeera
UAE minister says demand to shut Al Jazeera dropped
Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries that have imposed a political and economic blockade on Qatar are to drop their demand that the Al Jazeera Media Network be shut down.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar on June 5.
The anti-Doha quartet then issued a 13-point list of demands that included shutting down Al Jazeera Media Network, severing all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and with other groups, including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and ISIL (also known as ISIS), limiting Qatar's ties with Iran and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country.
India rejects China's mediation offer on Kashmir
India has rejected China's offer to mediate and help resolve the Kashmir issue, insisting talks will only take place with Pakistan without the intervention of another nation.
China had said it was willing to play a "constructive role" in improving relations between India and Pakistan, especially after the increased hostility along the Line of Control, a de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir valley between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Moroccan women vow to continue protests
Female activists in Morocco say they will continue to press the government for justice, just days after stiff jail sentences were handed down to activists in the northern region of Al-Hoceima.
Hundreds of women demonstrated in Casablanca on Friday to demand the release of four political prisoners associated with the Hirak movement, who were recently sentenced to 18 months in jail. Scores more remain in "preventive detention", according to government spokesman Mustapha El-Khalfi.
Xinhua
Senior official stresses use of big data, AI in policing
A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official has called on the country's police force to make full use of big data technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Meng Jianzhu, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during a two-day inspection in southwest China's Guizhou Province, which concluded Wednesday.
Guizhou has been a pioneer of the application of big data technology in various sectors including police work.
Chinese leaders call for stronger cooperation with Canada
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Canadian Governor General David Johnston in Beijing on Thursday, urging both countries to expand cooperation in such areas as trade, law enforcement, technology and culture, and launch negotiations on a free trade agreement at an early date. […]
Li said addressing climate change is a shared responsibility of the international community. China will honor its commitments in the Paris Agreement, stick to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and implement the measures to tackle climate change, he added.
"It is our responsibility as the largest developing country and we also need to transform our economic development pattern. China hopes to enhance partnership with Canada in clean energy," the premier said.
Reuters
Giant iceberg breaks off Antarctica
One of the biggest icebergs on record has broken away from Antarctica, scientists said on Wednesday, creating an extra hazard for ships around the continent as it breaks up.
The one trillion ton iceberg, measuring 5,800 square km, calved away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica sometime between July 10 and 12, said scientists at the University of Swansea and the British Antarctic Survey.
The iceberg, which is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Delaware.
Trump administration reduces royalty rates in first U.S. oil, gas lease sale
The Trump administration announced its first offshore oil and gas lease sale on Thursday, offering 76 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico and reduced royalty rates for shallow water leases to encourage drilling at a time of low oil prices…
The Interior Department said it will lower royalty rates for shallow water leases in the August sale to encourage drilling by oil companies, which have faced lower profits during years of sustained low global crude prices.
Energy companies will pay 12.5 percent royalty rates for leases in less than 200 meters (656 feet) of water, instead of a rate of 18.75 percent that had been proposed earlier.
Sessions releases heavily redacted record of foreign contacts
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday released a government form dealing with contacts he has had with foreign nationals, including Russian government officials, but much of it was redacted.
Form SF-86, required for government employees working in national security, indicated Sessions has had no immediate contact with any foreign government or its representatives in the past seven years.
However, Sessions has said he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A large portion of the document was left blank.