Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke, JML9999, Chitown Kev 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 12:00AM Eastern Time.
BBC
Native American chief Joe Medicine Crow dies aged 102
The historian, World War Two veteran and chief of Montana's Crow tribe Joe Medicine Crow has died aged 102.
His grandfather was a scout for US military commander George Custer, who lost his life in the Battle of Little Big Horn fighting Native Americans.
Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief in his tribe through stealing horses and other exploits during World War Two.
He later worked as his tribe's historian, lecturing into his nineties.
"When you spoke with Joe Medicine Crow, it was impossible not to be inspired," Montana senator Jon Tester tweeted.
Medicine Crow was raised on the Crow Reservation in the state of Montana where he spent much of his life.
He was the first of his tribe to get a master's degree in 1939, later helping catalogue his people's history through oral testimony.
BBC
Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.
Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.
The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
The documents show links to 72 current or former heads of state in the data, including dictators accused of looting their own countries.
Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), said the documents covered the day-to-day business at Mossack Fonseca over the past 40 years.
"I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents," he said.
Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to 'money laundering'
A suspected money laundering ring involving close associates of Vladimir Putin has been uncovered in a leak of confidential documents.
The billion-dollar operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Evidence seen by BBC Panorama reveals for the first time how the bank operates.
Documents show how money has been channelled through offshore companies.
They suggest Sonnette Overseas, International Media Overseas, Sunbarn and Sandalwood Continental have profited from fake share transactions, bogus consulting deals, uncommercial loans and the purchase of under-priced assets.
The documents show that International Media Overseas and Sonnette Overseas were officially owned by one of the Russian president's closest friends.
BBC
Syrian Alawites distance themselves from Assad
In a deeply unusual move, leaders of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect in Syria have released a document, obtained by the BBC, that distances themselves from his regime and outlines what kind of future they wish for the country after five years of civil war.
The community and religious leaders say they hope to "shine a light" on the Alawites after a long period of secrecy, at what they call "an important moment" in their history.
In the eight-page document, termed a "declaration of identity reform", the Alawites say they represent a third model "of and within Islam".
Those behind the text say Alawites are not members of a branch of Shia Islam - as they have been described in the past by Shia clerics - and that they are committed to "the fight against sectarian strife".
BBC
Huge Adani mine lease angers Australia reef advocates
The Queensland state government has approved three leases that will allow Indian company Adani to build an enormous coal mine in Australia.
But the decision to grant the leases to the Carmichael mine has dismayed environmentalists who say it poses a risk to the Great Barrier Reef.
The project is expected to cost as much as A$21.7b ($16.6b; £11.7b)
The Adani project also faces legal challenges from environmental and traditional owner groups.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is challenging federal approvals for the mine in the federal court in a case that will be heard in May.
"It is grossly irresponsible of the [Queensland] government to issue the paperwork for the Carmichael coal mine, which will create millions of tonnes of climate pollution for many decades to come, when we can see the Great Barrier Reef is already being savaged by climate change," the ACF's CEO Kelly O'Shanassy said in a statement.
Al Jazeera
Syrian army captures ISIL-held town in Homs
Syrian forces, backed by Russian air strikes, fought the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group out of the town of al-Qaryatain after gradually surrounding it over the past few days, state media said.
Surrounded by hills, al-Qaryatain is 100km west of the ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces recaptured from ISIL last Sunday.
Al-Qaryatain had been held by ISIL since late August. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been trying to retake al-Qaryatain and other pockets of ISIL control to reduce the group's ability to project military power into the heavily populated western region of Syria, where Damascus and other main cities are located.
State news agency, SANA, said the army and its allies "fully restored security and stability to al-Qaryatain after killing the last remaining groups of Daesh terrorists" in the town, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.
The Guardian
Thousands protest in Warsaw against proposed abortion ban
Thousands of people have attended a pro-choice rally outside parliament in Warsaw after the leader of Poland’s ruling party backed a call from Catholic bishops for a full ban on pregnancy terminations.
Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Official statistics show only a few hundred abortions are performed every year, but pro-choice campaigners say underground abortions are common.
The debate around reproductive rights in Poland has been building up for months. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which came to power in October, plans to tighten regulations to bring them into line with the Catholic church’s teachings, infuriating liberals and women’s rights activists.
Chanting “keep your hands off the uterus” and “my body, my business,” the protesters waved wire coat-hangers, a crude pregnancy termination tool widely seen as a grim symbol of underground abortions.
The Guardian
North Korea announces blocks on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
North Korea has officially announced it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a bid to further control access to outside information.
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications announcement was published this week at the country’s main mobile service provider, Koryolink, and other places serving internet users in Pyongyang.
Very few North Koreans have internet access and if they do are limited to a sealed-off, government-sanctioned intranet.
The new restrictions will make it more difficult for visitors or the small community of foreign residents in North Korea to post real-time informationabout the country to the outside world, and will further limit the ability of North Koreans with internet access to view information about their country posted elsewhere.
The government announcement named YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Voice of America and South Korean media sites as specific examples of what it is blocking “for a certain period of time.”
Raw Story
Tesla Model 3 electric sedan orders topped $10 billion in first 36 hours
Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 in the first 36 hours — a fast start for the company’s first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that the Model 3, which is slated to go into production in late 2017, will sell at an average price of $42,000, including the price of options and additional features, which would give the initial flurry of orders an estimated retail value of $10.6 billion.
That intense interest, fanned in part by a steady stream of tweets by Musk, could help boost Tesla’s stock price, which closed Friday at $237.59, up 3.4 percent. The stock has soared more than 60 percent since hitting a 12-month low in February.
N Y Times
Lost in Nicaragua, a Chinese Tycoon’s Canal Project
BRITO, Nicaragua — A Spanish explorer conducted the first survey to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans here in the 16th century. Napoleon III of France dreamed about it. The railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt briefly had rights to do it. Nicaragua’s history is littered with dozens of failed canal schemes.
But when a Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, officially broke ground in a field outside this sleepy Pacific Coast village about a year ago, many Nicaraguans believed that this time, finally, they would get their canal.
And not a small one, either. Three times as long and twice as deep as the Panama Canal, it would slice 170 miles across the southern part of the country — bulldozing through fragile ecosystems, virgin forests and scenes of incredible beauty. It would allow for the passage of the world’s largest ships, vessels the length of skyscrapers that are too big for the Panama Canal.
Yet 16 months later, Mr. Wang’s project — it would be the largest movement of earth in the planet’s history — is shrouded in mystery and producing angry protests here. President Daniel Ortega has not talked about the canal in public for months. And there are no visible signs of progress. Cows graze in the field where Mr. Wang officially began the project.
C/Net
Woman allegedly persuades neighbor to shoot down legal drone
Now that drones have to be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, everything's going to be fine, isn't it?
Ordinary people will look up to the sky and mutter, "Ah, yes. There flies a registered drone."
Or perhaps they'll still look up, fear that the drone is spying and shoot the darned thing down.
This is what allegedly occurred in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Wednesday.
"What we've been able to gather: The drone is registered with the FAA and was being used to survey a home for a construction project," Mark Opgrande, a spokesman for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, told me.
He said a woman saw the drone and "thought some kids might be using it to spy on the neighbors." Kids, they're natural spies these days. Gadgets have made them that way.
The woman allegedly alerted another neighbor, who pulled out his gun and shot the drone down. There had been some issues with teens flying drones in the neighborhood in the past, Opgrande told me.
