Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, 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
Titanic gold pocket watch sells for £900,000
A gold pocket watch worn by the wealthiest passenger on the Titanic has sold for six times the asking price, fetching £900,000.
The watch belonged to businessman John Jacob Astor and was estimated to sell for £150,000 when it went under the hammer in Wiltshire.
It equalled another Titanic artefact but when taxes and fees are taken into account, the buyer will pay £1.175m. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge described the total cost as a "world record".
The previous highest amount paid for a Titanic artefact was for a violin that also sold for £900,000, but which with taxes and fees at the time took it up to £1.1m.
This means the watch is now the highest amount ever paid for a single item from the doomed liner.
BBC
World Central Kitchen to resume aid in Gaza following fatal airstrike
World Central Kitchen is to resume distributing food in Gaza, nearly a month after seven of its aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike.
The aid organisation said it has 276 trucks with eight million meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing.
"Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding," the charity said on Sunday.
Earlier this month, the charity said a convoy leaving a warehouse was attacked by Israel killing seven and sparking an international outcry.
The Israel Defense Forces admitted "grave mistakes" led to the fatal strike against the workers and dismissed two senior officers over the incident.
In a statement on Sunday, WCK CEO Erin Gore said: "The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire.
"We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible."
The Guardian
Elon Musk makes unannounced visit to China
The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, arrived on an unannounced visit to Beijing on Sunday where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of full self-driving software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Chinese state media reported that he held talks with the country’s premier, Li Qiang, during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be seen as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.
The US electric vehicle maker rolled out full self-driving, or FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, four years ago but has yet to make it available in China, its second-largest market, despite customers urging it to do so. Musk said in response to a query on X this month that Tesla may make FSD available to customers in China “very soon”.
The Guardian
Weather tracker: heavy rainfall causes flooding and death in east Africa
Eastern Africa has experienced heavy rain in recent weeks, with flooding in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. About 100,000 people have been displaced or otherwise affected in each country, with 32 reported deaths in Kenya and 58 in Tanzania, alongside damage to farmland and infrastructure.
There are also fears that large areas of standing water could give rise to outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
The Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has been particularly affected this week. The city usually records about 150mm of rain in April, but has so far had an estimated 200-300mm, with some unofficial weather stations having reported much higher amounts. Flooding spread through the city on Wednesday, with people forced to take refuge on their roofs, where many slept overnight. Meanwhile, in Europe, after a very warm start to April, in the past week temperatures fall well below normal for all but Iberia and the eastern Mediterranean.
Reuters
Russia threatens West with severe response if its assets are touched
April 28 (Reuters) - Russian officials threatened the West on Sunday with a "severe" response in the event that frozen Russian assets are confiscated, promising "endless" legal challenges and tit-for-tat measures.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would never cede territories seized from Ukraine in exchange for the return of frozen assets.
"Our motherland is not for sale," Zakharova wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "An Russian assets must remain untouched because otherwise there will be a severe response to Western thievery. Many in the West have already understood this. Alas, not everyone."
In response to
Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry and blocked about $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West, most of which are in European not American financial institutions.
Al Jazeera
Dubai’s ruler announces construction of world’s largest airport terminal
Dubai has started work on a $35bn airport terminal that is set to have the world’s largest capacity upon completion, the emirate’s ruler has said.
Dubai’s Prime Minister and Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Sunday that the new terminal would be five times the size of the current Dubai International Airport and handle up to 260 million passengers annually. All operations at Dubai International Airport will be transferred to the newer Al Maktoum International Airport over the coming years, Sheikh Mohammed said.
“As we build an entire city around the airport in Dubai South, demand for housing for a million people will follow. It will host the world’s leading companies in the logistics and air transport sectors,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.
“We are building a new project for future generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children and their children in turn. Dubai will be the world’s airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global centre.”
Washington Post
A Ukraine-born congresswoman voted no on aid. Her hometown feels betrayed.
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — In this small city north of Kyiv where Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) grew up, locals once lauded her as one of their own — proud of the studious girl with blonde pigtails who moved to America and became the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress.
But after Spartz voted against a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine last week, that pride for some turned to anger and a sense of betrayal — feelings made more raw because her “no” vote came days after Chernihiv was bombed during morning rush hour, killing 18 people.
“When we read about it, we just didn’t understand — it was like she became a different person,” she said. “It was shocking because this woman got so far in her life and is in a position where she could actually influence and help our one city or our one school in which she was educated.”
Spartz’s “no” vote was the latest twist in her transformation from a pro-Ukraine advocate who toured war wreckage in her hometown to a critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in line with the GOP’s most right-wing camp.
Deutsche Welle
Hydropower: Can it hold up against climate change?
Reliable, cheap and low carbon — since coming into use over a hundred years ago, hydropower has become a vital clean energy source, today providing more electricity than all other renewables combined.
But recent power shortages in Ecuador and Colombia have highlighted its vulnerability in the face of climate change.
A drought fueled by the El Nino weather phenomenon has reduced reservoir water levels in hydropowerplants, which both countries rely on for most of their electricity. This has led Ecuador to declare a state of emergency and institute power cuts. In neighboring Colombia, water has been rationed in the capital and the country has halted electricity exports to Ecuador. "Hydropower is dependent on water so clearly if there is no water at all then hydropower cannot be used, disrupting energy production and stressing energy systems," said Matthew McCartney, expert on sustainable water infrastructure with the International Water Management Institute, based in Sri Lanka.
L A Times
Southern California woman pleads guilty in $150-million counterfeit postage scheme
A San Gabriel Valley woman who was accused of using counterfeit postage on tens of millions of packages pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding the United States Postal Service out of more than $150 million.
Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and one count of using counterfeit postage, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.
Chen, a resident of Walnut, has been in federal custody since she was arrested in May 2023. A co-defendant, 51-year-old Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu — who authorities say is considered a fugitive hiding in China — has been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., three counts of passing and possessing counterfeit obligations of the U.S. and one count of forging and counterfeiting postage stamps.
According to Chen’s plea agreement, she and Hu owned and operated a City of Industry-based package shipping company that offered shipping by U.S. Mail for China-based logistics businesses.
Hu then began to print duplicate and counterfeit NetStamps in an effort to cut the cost of postage, authorities allege.