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 Rise above the swamp. 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.
Since 2007 the OND has been 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.
- Some stories for tonight:
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Roe v Wade reaction: Chaos at abortion protest in South Carolina
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Ukraine war: Missiles hit targets across country as G7 rallies over Russia
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Biden announced a $600 billion global infrastructure program to counter China's clout
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22 people found dead in South African nightclub
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‘The man who bought London’: Qatar billionaire behind Prince Charles scandal
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Calls for investigation over deaths in Moroccan-Spanish border crossing
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Is Greece ready for wildfire season?
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G7 leaders discuss price cap on Russian oil over Ukraine invasion
BBC
Roe v Wade reaction: Chaos at abortion protest in South Carolina
Chaotic scenes between protesters and police in Greenville, South Carolina have been captured on video.
Both pro-choice and anti-abortion activists took to the streets after the Supreme Court ruled to remove the constitutional right to an abortion.
During the heated protest, a Taser was drawn by an officer although police say it didn't touch anyone.
Six people, out of the hundreds that attended, were arrested for charges including disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Police said that opposing sides of the demonstration were separated to either side of the road and arrests were made when a "violator" attempted to cross sides and other protesters interfered.
A spokesman said the incident is being reviewed as is "standard protocol" for incidents like this.
BBC
Ukraine war: Missiles hit targets across country as G7 rallies over Russia
Dozens of Russian missiles have struck targets across Ukraine, with the capital Kyiv enduring the heaviest barrage in months.
A Kyiv apartment block was destroyed, killing at least one and wounding six others including a seven-year-old girl.
Ukraine says 14 missiles were fired at the Kyiv region on Sunday, but the strikes extended far beyond the city.
Other areas included the central city of Cherkasy, where one person died, and the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
The strikes came as leaders of the G7 group of the world's richest nations began a three-day summit in Bavaria, southern Germany, with the war in Ukraine top of the agenda. They are expected to promise further military support for Kyiv and impose more sanctions on Moscow.
"We have to stay together," US President Joe Biden told Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz just before the summit at Schloss Elmau.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been counting on it from the beginning, that somehow Nato would, and the G7 would splinter and... but we haven't, and we're not going to.
NPR
Biden announced a $600 billion global infrastructure program to counter China's clout
President Biden announced on Sunday that the U.S. will mobilize $200 billion dollars of investment in global infrastructure projects in the next five years, as part of an effort by the world's leading democratic economies to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. The overall investment, including G7 partners and private capital, aims to hit $600 billion over the next five years.
"This isn't aid or charity," Biden said, flanked by other G7 leaders on the sidelines of the summit in Germany. "It's an investment that will deliver returns for everyone, including the American people and the people of all our nations."
The announcement is an official launch and a rebranding of what had been rolled out last year at the G7 in the UK as "Build Back Better World," a play on Biden's domestic proposal that would have reshaped the U.S. economy but foundered in Congress. The effort is now called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGII.
The Guardian
22 people found dead in South African nightclub
Police forensic teams in South Africa are investigating the deaths of 22 young people at a nightclub and bar in the southern coastal town of East London.
Specialists have yet to establish the cause of the tragedy, which occurred during end of school year celebrations by teenagers. Local residents raised the alarm at around 4am, officials said.
Bheki Cele, the police minister, tried to calm an angry crowd of relatives and residents at the cordoned-off crime site at Enyobeni Tavern in a poor neighbourhood known as Scenery Park.
“At first, we were told that this was a stampede, but by the looks of things, there was no stampede that took place,” Cele said. President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences to families and said he was worried about the circumstances under which young people, potentially under the age of 18 years, were allowed to gather at the tavern. Ramaphosa said in a statement the law must take its course once investigations conclude.
The Guardian
‘The man who bought London’: Qatar billionaire behind Prince Charles scandal
With an estimated personal net worth of over $1.2bn (almost £1bn) according to Forbes, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, is one of the country’s richest men – and has often garnered attention because of his wealth and is currently in the headlines over alleged cash donations to Prince Charles.
Sometimes known as “HBJ” in London’s financial circles, the 62-year-old was named the “man who bought London” after he used his wealth, as well as his influence as the head of Qatar’s multibillion dollar sovereign wealth fund, the Qatari Investment Authority, to expand Qatar’s financial assets in London through a series of valuable assets.
From 2000 until 2013, al-Thani oversaw a series of high-profile investments in corporate Britain that included Harrods, the Shard (which is owned 95% by Qatar), London’s Olympic Village and Park Lane’s InterContinental hotel.
The Guardian
Calls for investigation over deaths in Moroccan-Spanish border crossing
Human rights campaigners in Spain and Morocco have called for investigations to be launched in both countries after a mass attempt to scale the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla left at least 23 people dead.
Spanish officials said about 2,000 Africans made their way to the iron fence at dawn on Friday, with more than 500 managing to slip into a border control area after cutting an opening with shears.
Moroccan officials initially said five people had died in what they described as a “stampede”. Late on Saturday, Moroccan state TV said the death toll had climbed to 23 people.
NGOs on the ground said the number of deaths could be higher. “We’ve confirmed 37 deaths in the Melilla tragedy,” said Helena Maleno Garzón, whose organisation, Walking Borders, is in constant contact with Africans seeking to cross into Spain from Morocco.
Deutsche Welle
Is Greece ready for wildfire season?
Wildfires devastated 75,000 hectares of the forests in Greece last summer. The government has admitted its mistakes, but as temperatures rise is the country any better prepared this year?
Volunteer firefighters in Greece are preparing for a hot summer
"Use your wrist! Now, change the stream!" A concentrated Katerina Kaglia holds a fire hose, focusing its stream of water on a tree trunk. Stavros Salayiannis, operations manager of the Vyronas Volunteer Fire Department, stands by her side giving instructions. Everything has to happen quickly, he tells her, there is no time for missteps.
For now, the two are only practicing how to deal with a number of typical real-world scenarios. But it's already unseasonably hot for June and temperatures have been going up all across Europe. In Greece, people haven't forgotten the devastating wildfires that destroyed 75,000 hectares (185,320 acres) of forest in 2021, or the 2018 fires along the Attica coast that killed 102 in Mati.
Al Jazeera
G7 leaders discuss price cap on Russian oil over Ukraine invasion
Leaders of Group of Seven (G7) nations have discussed plans to cap the price of Russian oil in order to put the squeeze on Moscow, which is benefiting from soaring energy prices, and cut off its means of financing the invasion of Ukraine.
The United States has suggested a price cap decided by consuming countries, a proposal that was discussed on Sunday by the G7 leaders at a summit in the Bavarian Alps.
Western countries rallied around Kyiv when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, but more than four months into the war, that unity is being tested as soaring inflation and energy shortages rebound on their own citizens.
Chided by Ukraine for not going far enough to punish Russia, G7 leaders were having “really constructive” talks on a possible price cap on Russian oil, a German government source was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
“We are on a good path to reach an agreement,” the official said.
A French presidency official said Paris would push for a price cap on oil and gas and was open to discussing the US proposal.