(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest August 13, 2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-13 Happy Birthday to editor maggiejean. 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 Maui fire: 93 killed as governor warns of 'significant' death toll rise Ninety-three people have been confirmed killed in the Maui fire that razed the historic town of Lahaina, marking the most deadly US fire in a century. The death toll could rise "significantly", Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned on Saturday, as forensic work continues to identify the victims. Hundreds remain unaccounted for while hundreds of others fill shelters across Maui after fleeing the flames. "It's an impossible day," Mr Green said. The fire will "certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced", he said. "We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding." The Guardian Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert The world is likely to face major disruption to food supplies well before temperatures rise by the 1.5C target, the president of the UN’s desertification conference has warned, as the impacts of the climate crisis combine with water scarcity and poor farming practices to threaten global agriculture. Alain-Richard Donwahi, a former Ivory Coast defence minister who led last year’s UN Cop15 summit on desertification, said the effects of drought were taking hold more rapidly than expected. “Climate change is a pandemic that we need to fight quickly. See how fast the degradation of the climate is going – I think it’s going even faster than we predicted,” he said. “Everyone is fixated on 1.5C [above pre-industrial levels], and it’s a very important target. But actually, some very bad things could happen, in terms of soil degradation, water scarcity and desertification, way before 1.5C.” The problems of rising temperatures, heatwaves and more intense droughts and floods, were endangering food security in many regions, The Guardian Russian warship fires warning shots at cargo ship in Black Sea A Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea on Sunday as it made its way northwards, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark UN-brokered grain deal last month. In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said that it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons. On Sunday, Russia said its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection. “To forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons,” the Russian defence ministry said. The Russian military boarded the vessel with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter, the ministry said. “After the inspection group completed its work onboard, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail.” Deutsche Welle China: Xi'an mudslide leaves 21 dead The death toll from a mudslide that hit the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an rose to 21 on Sunday, authorities said. Six people were still missing, according to the Xi'an Emergency Management Bureau. The mudslide destroyed two houses and cut power to 90 homes, the authority said in a statement on the WeChat social network. Emergency authorities said that 980 people with dogs were looking for remaining missing people. State-owned broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) earlier reported that Friday's mudslide left a total of 18 people dead or missing. China has seen particularly heavy rain and severe flooding in this summer. According to China's government, 142 people were killed by flooding and landslides in July. Reuters Taiwan will not back down to threats, Taiwan VP says on US trip TAIPEI, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan will not be afraid nor back down in the face of authoritarian threats, the island's vice president told supporters on a U.S. visit that Beijing has condemned, while reiterating a willingness to talk to China. William Lai, also frontrunner to be Taiwan's next president at January elections, is in the United States on what is officially a transit stop on his way to Paraguay for the inauguration of its new president. Paraguay is one of only 13 countries to maintain formal ties with the Chinese-claimed island. Taiwan and the United States both say the stopovers, including one in San Francisco on the way back, are routine, but China has denounced them and called Lai a separatist "troublemaker". Lai told a supporters lunch in New York on Sunday that "if Taiwan is safe, the world is safe, if the Taiwan Strait is peaceful, then the world is peaceful", according to Taiwan's presidential office. Reuters Jordanian army downs drone from Syria carrying meth - state news agency BEIRUT, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The Jordanian military on Sunday downed a drone carrying crystal meth that was flying into Jordanian territory from neighbouring Syria, the state news agency Petra reported. War-torn Syria has become a hub for a multi-billion-dollar drugs trade, with Jordan a main transit route to the oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as captagon, Western anti-narcotics officials and Washington say. Citing a source within the Jordanian armed forces, the state agency said in a statement the drone was "taken control of and downed". The Jordanian military has previously downed drones from Syria carrying narcotics or weapons but has rarely identified seized drugs as crystal meth. Military and security officials from Jordan and Syria have met to discuss ways to curb the growing smuggling problem. Despite pledges by Damascus, Jordan says it has not seen any real attempt to clamp down on the illicit trade. Al Jazeera N Korea’s Kim orders ‘drastic boost’ in production of missiles, shells (While his people starve) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected key munitions factories, including a tactical missile production plant, and ordered a “drastic” boost in the manufacturing of missiles, rocket-launcher shells and other weapons, according to state media. The inspections, reported on Monday, are the latest in a string of visits by Kim to defence facilities, where he has emphasised the mass production of weapons. It comes as South Korea and the United States prepare for annual military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. It also comes as officials in the US said they believe Russia is seeking North Korean weapons for its war with Ukraine. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim visited factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells on Friday and Saturday. Christian Science Monitor Hollywood strikes an opening chord for unity The union representing screenwriters, and the studios that turn their words into films and television shows, have agreed to restart formal negotiations to end a strike that has stalled the entertainment industry all summer. Those talks were set to begin today. The dispute has already cost California’s economy $3 billion, according to one estimate. But it has also surfaced qualities of thought that may guide Hollywood through a transition that is about profoundly more than labor contracts. The strikes are “not merely about better pay, improved working conditions, and regulations on AI use, but rather, a potent call for the recognition of human dignity and artistic integrity,” wrote Wilbur Greene, an Australian editor and literary agent. They are “a mirror reflecting the broader struggles across creative industries, where financial gains often overshadow the importance of creative integrity and human values.” BBC (Still hope) Perseid meteor shower lights up skies The annual Perseid meteor shower has lit up skies across the world to the delight of those hoping to catch a glimpse of a shooting star. The phenomenon brings up to 100 meteors an hour, as the Earth slams into the debris left behind from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. As the debris hits the Earth's atmosphere it burns up, resulting in the bright flashes known as shooting stars, which can be seen with the naked eye. The natural display happens at a similar time in July and August each year, and this year peaked between Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday. Looking ahead to the chances of spotting a shooting star over the coming days, BBC weather forecaster Billy Payne said many should be able to get a glimpse despite less than perfect conditions. Washington Post Professors have a summer assignment: Prevent ChatGPT chaos in the fall Soon after ChatGPT was released in November, Darren Keast noticed students in his college English composition class turning in essays that read as if they’d been written by machine. Many contained fabricated quotes and cited sources that didn’t exist — telltale signs they were created by the artificial intelligence chatbot. He’s dreading a repeat of that confusion this fall, so he scrambled over summer break to adapt. Absent guidance from university administrators on how to deal with the software, many teachers are taking matters into their own hands, turning to listservs, webinars and professional conferences to fill in gaps in their knowledge — many shelling out their own money to attend conference sessions that are packed to the brim. New York Times The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/13/2187072/-Overnight-News-Digest-August-13-2023 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/