(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest: West Arctic shelves melt 'unavoidable' [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-23 BBC Increased melting of West Antarctica's ice shelves is "unavoidable" in the coming decades, a new study has warned. These floating tongues of ice extend from the main ice sheet into the ocean, and play a key role in holding back the glaciers behind. But as ice shelves melt, it can mean that the ice behind speeds up, releasing more into the oceans. The study's findings suggest that future sea-level rise may be greater than previously assumed. See also: Meteor Blades for Daily Kos. In a new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change, the title just about says it all—Unavoidable future increase in West Antarctic ice-sheet melting over the twenty-first century. The researchers assessment is that the melting is locked in and chances are “dire” that this will produce colossal sea-level rise. If all the West Atlantic ice sheet completely melted, scientists calculate it would raise global sea levels by 5.3 meters (17.4 feet). The study indicates that, even if the world were to meet its 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) goal for global warming, the melting rate of the floating ice shelves of the Amundsen Sea will be three times what it was in the 20th Century. But there is still huge uncertainty about how fast sea level will rise as a consequence of those floating shelves breaking away from the ice sheet, thus allowing the land-based glaciers to flow into the sea faster. This is an open thread where everyone is welcome, especially night owls and early birds, to share and discuss the happenings of the day. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments. C/NET CVS is pulling some cold and flu medicine from store shelves that contain phenylephrine, a common decongestant which has been found be ineffective at actually decongesting or "unstuffing" your nose. Last month, a committee that advises the US Food and Drug Administration found that -- while it's still safe -- phenylephrine is ineffective when taken orally. The FDA itself hasn't yet issued new rules on the ingredient, which is included in many popular medications like some NyQuil, Mucinex and more name- and store-brand kinds of oral medications. But while phenylephrine is in a lot of medication, many that contain it have other active ingredients. In a statement, CVS said that it's pulling only a "small number" of medications that contain phenylephrine as the onlyactive ingredient (think Sudafed PE). The company said it "will continue offering many other oral cough and cold products to meet consumer needs." NPR The blast that killed hundreds last Tuesday at a hospital in Gaza continues to be a topic of hot debateonline. But experts are increasingly doubtful that the publicly available evidence will be enough to resolve the question of who was behind the incident. “I don't think the question will ever get fully resolved using open source intelligence,” says Andres Gannon, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. The basic facts around what happened are not in dispute. Hundreds of Palestinians were sheltering in the courtyard of Al Ahli Arab Hospital, believing the Christian-run hospital would be a safe haven. Just before 7 p.m. local time, militants began firing a barrage of rockets from a site west of the hospital Barack Obama for Medium It’s been 17 days since Hamas launched its horrific attack against Israel, killing over 1,400 Israeli citizens, including defenseless women, children and the elderly. In the aftermath of such unspeakable brutality, the U.S. government and the American people have shared in the grief of families, prayed for the return of loved ones, and rightly declared solidarity with the Israeli people. As I stated in an earlier post, Israel has a right to defend its citizens against such wanton violence, and I fully support President Biden’s call for the United States to support our long-time ally in going after Hamas, dismantling its military capabilities, and facilitating the safe return of hundreds of hostages to their families. Click on the link for the rest of the statement Deutsche Welle Did dozens of Hamas fighters paraglide into Israel, as a Tik-Tok video purported to show? And did footballer Cristiano Ronaldo really hold up a Palestinian flag after a match, as another video claimed to show? These are just two out of many videos that have been widely shared on social media since the war began between Israel and Hamas. And, as DW's fact-checking team clarified in this analysis, both examples are fake. They are also part of a significant challenge: Distorted facts are spreading as large numbers of users are going online to search for trustworthy information that can help them understand what's happening in the Middle East. "The amount of disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, confusion is as high as I have ever seen in any conflict," Andy Carvin, the managing editor of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, recently told DW. Deutsche Welle The artifacts considered part of Ukraine's historical heritage is worth €60 million ($64 million). "The seized pieces, gold jewelry of great historical and economic value, had been stolen and exported illegally from Ukraine and were going to be sold in Madrid," police said Monday. Police arrested three Spaniards and two Ukrainians, including the "main suspect," an Orthodox Church priest who was attempting to sell the jewelry.The pieces went missing after being put on display at a Kyiv museum between 2009 and 2013. Spanish police launched an investigation in 2021 after a businessman in Madrid purchased a gold belt in a private sale. The Guardian An MP was stopped from boarding a flight to Canada with other members of parliament “because his name was Mohammad”, the Commons heard on Monday. Mohammad Yasin, Labour’s MP for Bedford, was due to fly to Canada with other MPs from the Commons levelling up, housing and communities committee when he was delayed for questioning “for a considerable period” at airports in both countries last week. Clive Betts, the chair of the committee, said the incident was unacceptable because of its “racist and Islamophobic nature”, and that he would write to the Canadian high commissioner in the UK. He added that his colleague was asked if he was carrying a knife or any other weapon and where he was born when he was taken aside by officials from Air Canada. Yasin then underwent similar questioning from officials on his return trip to the UK, MPs were told. The Guardian, US An Alaska Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was reportedly diverted to Portland, Oregon, after an off-duty pilot inside the cockpit attempted to disable the aircraft engines. Alaska Airlines flight number 2059 operated by Horizon Air from Everett, Washington, was diverted on Sunday after reporting a credible security threat, according to a Federal Aviation Administration statement. The FAA told airlines in a notice seen by Reuters that the individual at the center of the case sought to disable the engines on the Embraer 175 regional jet by deploying the fire suppression system. The statement added the crew was able to subdue the man and remove him from the flight deck. “I’ll just give you a heads-up. We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit,” the pilot told FAA air traffic control, according to audio posted by LiveATC. “It doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issue at the back. I think he’s subdued Al Jazeera When Jonathan Ofir heard the West-led chorus of vehement condemnations of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, coupled with a flood of statements supporting the country’s right — in effect — to retaliate, he feared he knew what that meant. “That is, a green light for Israel to carry out a much larger massacre than the one they were revenging,” said the Jewish musician, conductor and writer.More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel in the Hamas attack, prompting the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on the armed Palestinian group. An incessant and brutal bombing campaign by Israel has since killed more than 5,100 people in the Gaza Strip, with large parts of the territory reduced to rubble in just over a fortnight. A Palestinian NGO reported that the Israeli bombing of Gaza had tragically claimed the lives of one Palestinian child every 15 minutes since the start of the conflict. USA Today WASHINGTON — After House Republicans dropped Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as the nominee for House speaker Friday, nine candidates threw their hat in the ring for the top spot. But only two of those lawmakers voted to certify the 2020 election, raising questions among some Republicans about where they'll lend their support in the speaker battle. After former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted earlier this month, House Republicans have refused to coalesce around one candidate and elect a new speaker. Though Jordan went through three rounds of voting on the House floor, he increasingly lost support among Republicans in each vote. The nine candidates running for speaker include House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas., Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., and Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala. Kyiv Independent Russia has currently deployed over 400,000 soldiers in Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov said during a KYIV24 television broadcast on Oct. 23. "There are enough forces for separate operations in certain areas of the front. And the occupier's group in Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories, we remind you, is more than 400 thousand Russian servicemen," Yusov said. Despite what Yusov described as "a considerable number of personnel," the HUR spokesperson said he did not anticipate a Russian winter offensive on the same scale as that of February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. "We are not talking about a repeat of the scenario that happened in February 2022. But in certain areas, yes, the enemy will continue to try to conduct separate offensive operations," he said. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Oct. 23 that Russian forces launched attacks on multiple sectors of the eastern front, including near Avdiivka, Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, and Marinka. New York Times (gift subscription) New data shows, for the first time at this level of detail, how much students’ standardized test scores rise with their parents’ incomes — and how disparities start years before students sit for tests. One-third of the children of the very richest families scored a 1300 or higher on the SAT, while less than 5 percent of middle-class students did, according to the data, from economists at Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard. Relatively few children in the poorest families scored that high; just one in five took the test at all. The researchers matched all students’ SAT and ACT scores for 2011, 2013 and 2015 with their parents’ federal income tax records for the prior six years. Their analysis, which also included admissions and attendance records, found that children from very rich families are overrepresented at elite colleges for many reasons, including that admissions offices give them preference. But the test score data highlights a more fundamental reason: When it comes to the types of achievement colleges assess, the children of the rich are simply better prepared. The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) eeff, 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. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/23/2201200/-Overnight-News-Digest-West-Arctic-shelves-melt-unavoidable?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web 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/