(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest August 6, 2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-06 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. BBC Donald Trump says he will ask the Judge to step aside Donald Trump has said he will ask the judge in his election fraud case to step aside on what he called "very powerful grounds". He claimed that "there is no way I can get a fair trial" unless she does. His call came after the prosecution requested a court order that would limit what he can publicly say about the case. The judge, Tanya Chutkan, was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday morning, describing the case as "the ridiculous freedom of speech, slash fair elections case" and saying that his legal team would immediately be asking for recusal of the judge. He give no details of his grounds for asking her to step down. Judge Chutkan previously ruled against Mr trump's efforts to shield evidence from the House January 6 Committee and has faced frequent attacks from trump allies in recent days. Mr trump had described her and the Department of Justice (DOJ) as "highly partisan and very corrupt". NPR Climate change threatens Germany's fairy tale forests QUEDLINBURG, Germany – Andre Salamon wends his way through coniferous woodlands on a hillside in Germany's central Harz region. Salamon is a forester, out looking for damage. He doesn't have to search for long and points to tiny holes in the bark of a spruce – the work of a beetle that has infested this entire region. "It's now normal to find dying or dead trees on a daily basis," he says, adding that it's a worrying phenomenon not limited to these forests. The dense, green woodlands of Germany that gave rise to the Grimms' fairy tales are turning gray and dying. Forests still cover a third of the country, but according to the latest federal government survey, 79% of all trees nationwide are sick, dying or dead. Salamon shrugs. He says that with most trees weakened by five years of drought, the bark beetles are only finishing off the job. But it hurts all the same. "I won't deny that I'm sad to see a tree die a hundred years too soon," he says. The Guardian US dispatches warships after China and Russia send naval patrol near Alaska The US dispatched four navy warships as well as a reconnaissance airplane after multiple Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska last week. The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet. “It’s a historical first,” Brent Sadler, a retired Navy captain and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Journal. He also said the flotilla’s proximity to Alaska was a “highly provocative” maneuver given Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and political tensions between the US and China over Taiwan. The flotilla has since left. Reuters US scientists repeat fusion ignition breakthrough for 2nd time Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have achieved net energy gain in a fusion reaction for the second time since December, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said on Sunday. Scientists at the California-based lab repeated the fusion ignition breakthrough in an experiment in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on July 30 that produced a higher energy yield than in December, a Lawrence Livermore spokesperson said. Final results are still being analyzed, the spokesperson added. Lawrence Livermore achieved a net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers on Dec. 5, 2022. The scientists focused a laser on a target of fuel to fuse two light atoms into a denser one, releasing the energy. That experiment briefly achieved what's known as fusion ignition by generating 3.15 megajoules of energy output after the laser delivered 2.05 megajoules to the target, the Energy Department said. Reuters Record flooding along Alaska river near Juneau prompts evacuations Aug 6 (Reuters) - Record flooding struck Alaska's capital city on Saturday after a glacial dam outburst, destroying at least one structure and prompting city officials to issue evacuation orders for residents on one street. The National Weather Service (NWS) received reports of large trees collapsing into the Mendenhall River near Juneau on Saturday night as water levels rose, eroding the banks. Glacial outburst flooding happens when trapped water escapes through cracks in thinning ice dams, a phenomenon that has increased around the world as a result of climate change. The water level of Mendenhall Lake reached nearly 15 feet (4.6 m) early Sunday morning, a 3-foot rise over the previous record set in 2016, and 5 feet over "moderate" flood levels, according to the NWS. Deutsche Welle Morocco minibus falls into ravine, killing 24 A minibus overturned at a curve on its way to a local market in Morocco's central province of Azilal on Sunday, plunging into a ravine and killing all 24 passengers on board. The bus was traveling a mountainous route, transporting passengers to a market in the town of Demnate. Moroccan media said the victims included at least two women and a child. Omar Majjane, who works for a local NGO, told the French AFP news agency the minibus did not have a license. He added that this was a common problem affecting residents of the mountain regions, especially in Azilal province. Majjane said those killed all hailed from the village of Ait Tamlil south of Demnate. An investigation was launched into the accident, believed to be among the deadliest in Morocco's recent history. Majjane said an operation to bury the victims had begun. Al Jazeera Good idea; let’s try it here. Pakistan’s Imran Khan jailed: Is it the end of his political career? Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan spent the night at a high-security prisonafter a local court handed him a three-year jail sentence over corruption allegations. The conviction bars Khan from politics for five years, threatening his political future. The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been accused of illegally selling state gifts for profit worth 140 million Pakistani rupees ($497,500). Khan has denied wrongdoings, saying he legally bought the gifts from Toshakhana – a government-owned treasure house. The popular opposition leader, whose arrest in May sparked deadly protests, told Al Jazeera that the authorities are trying to crush his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – the biggest party in the country ahead of the polls. Washington Post Over 11,000 L.A. workers plan to strike, hoping to ‘shut down’ city City of Los Angeles workers are joining the hotel employees, Hollywood actors and TV and movie writers who have walked off their jobs this summer. Thousands of them plan to strike Tuesday, potentially grinding municipal operations to a halt for 24 hours and adding to the flurry of organized labor activity across the city and country. More than 11,000 Los Angeles city employees will participate in the one-day strike, including sanitation workers, Los Angeles International Airport employees and street services, said SEIU Local 721, a union that represents more than 98,000 county and city workers across Southern California. “We’re going to shut down the city of Los Angeles,” said David Green, SEIU Local 721 executive director and president. “The message we’re sending is that our workers are just fed up. They’ve reached a breaking point. And we need these folks in the city to come back to the table for the good of the city.” N Y Times Kamala Harris Takes on a Forceful New Role in the 2024 Campaign [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/6/2185699/-Overnight-News-Digest-August-6-2023 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/