(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest: It's Snoopy's world -- just ask Gen Z [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-12-18 NPR It's Snoopy's world, and Gen Z is just living in it – apparently. The anthropomorphic, imaginative beagle made his Peanuts comic strip debut in October 1950. More than half a century later he's winning over yet another generation of fans, with the TikTok views and sold-out store shelves to prove it. Take, for example, Puffer Jacket Snoopy: a plushie wearing a striped hat and blue coat, just like the one that hand-drawn Snoopy started rocking in 1984. … Menta said the official Snoopy TikTok account saw a 223.8% increase in engagements between the second and third quarter of this year. During that time it gained 198,000 new followers, which she called "the highest growth the account has ever seen." Similarly, Gina Huntsinger, director of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, Calif., told NPR that its Instagram reach has been up over 200% in the last 30 days, with engagement highest among 18- to 24-year-olds. 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. BBC Civilians trapped in a church in Gaza City are living in an "unreal" sense of fear, a relative of one of those confined there has said. Fifi Saba, whose sister is trapped inside the Holy Family Church, said people were scared to move out of fear of being shot. A mother and her daughter were killed inside the church by sniper fire on Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said. Pope Francis condemned the attack. "A mother, Mrs Nahida Khalil Anton, and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, were killed, and others were wounded by the shooters while they were going to the bathroom," he said on Sunday. BBC Japanese steel giant Nippon has announced plans to buy US Steel in a deal worth nearly $15bn (£12bn). The purchase would create one of the world's biggest steel companies outside of China and resolve questions about the future of the storied US firm. It has been looking for a buyer since August, when it rejected a smaller, unsolicited bid from a US rival. The United Steelworkers union called the deal "shortsighted" and said it would work to block the takeover. Created in 1901 by business titans Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan, US Steel at its height was one of the biggest companies in the world, powered by America's growth and industrialisation. NPR Pope Francis has granted his formal approval allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples so long as they do not appear to endorse their marriage, marking the church's most permissive decree yet on the issue of same-sex couples. The declaration, published Monday in a new document titled "Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings," marks a major departure for the Vatican, which only two years ago had said God "cannot bless sin" in a controversial 2021 decision about same-sex couples. Monday's document was approved by Pope Francis. Still, the Vatican stressed that marriage remains exclusively between a man and a woman, and any priests granting a blessing to a same-sex couple must "avoid any form of confusion or scandal" that could suggest otherwise. The Guardian Whether it is a sea of faces at a school reunion or distant family at a wedding, our ability to remember people we met years ago can come in handy. Now it seems our evolutionary cousins have a similar skill. Researchers have found bonobos and chimpanzees can recall peers they spent time with in the past, even if they have been separated for decades. What is more, this recognition appears to be influenced by whether they got on well with each other – or not. “These results represent some of the longest long-term memory ever found in nonhuman animals. It is also one of the very first studies to show that apes’ memories may be shaped by their social relationships,” said Dr Laura Lewis, the first author of the research who is based at the University of California, Berkeley. The Guardian A Utah mother of six who gave parenting advice on a once popular YouTube channel called 8 Passengers has pleaded guilty to charges that she abused and starved two of her children, her attorney said. Franke pleaded guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse and likely faces a prison sentence. The judge presiding over the case tentatively scheduled a sentencing hearing for her on 20 Feburary. Her attorney, LaMar Winward, said the plea agreement to which Franke agreed with prosecutors left sentencing exclusively up to the judge. Winward had previously said the alleged abuse occurred while Franke was influenced by a relationship counselor who led her to “a distorted sense of morality”. Deutsche Welle Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Budapest on Monday, where he received military honors and was warmly greeted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It is Erdogan's second visit in the past four months and marked the 100th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Despite both countries being the last NATO member states to continue blocking Sweden's membership in the transatlantic military alliance, neither leader brought up the subject in public remarks. However, Hungarian President Katalin Novak, accompanying Erdogan on the trip, said the pair did discuss NATO expansion privately. Hoping to add around 50% to bilateral trade volume "We wish to further strengthen our ties in areas such as defense and energy, where we already have fruitful cooperation," said Erdogan. The Turkish leader said the countries would also work together to increase bilateral trade volume from roughly $4 billion (€3.6 billion) annually to $6 billion (€5.5 billion). Deutsche Welle COVID-19 has lost much of its fearsome reputation. Most people in Germany are vaccinated or have otherwise built up a baseline immunity. Still, general practitioners like Lars Rettstadt are busy. "It's typical infection season again. There's a lot of sniffling and coughing," said the doctor in Dortmund, a city in western Germany. "When we open the door on Monday morning, there are 70 people without an appointment: men, women, young and old." By his estimate, 80% of them have viral infections of some kind. Half of those are COVID-19. Only few severe cases Without a mask mandate, most patients don't wear one. Rettstadt's practice offers them for 50 cents. He has set aside an hour just for infection appointments, and patients can also reach him by video. PCR tests are reserved for those in particularly bad shape. "We no longer see severe cases," he said, adding just one patient, aged 94, had to be hospitalized due to COVID-19. Otherwise, symptoms reflect the regular wintry kind that keep people out of work to recover in bed at home. Yet sick days can go for as long as two weeks. Talking Points Memo When Ben Swann delivers a news report, he looks and sounds like any other TV anchor: conventionally attractive, slick hair, clad in an unremarkable but well-tailored suit. But unlike thousands of TV reporters around the country, Swann is a registered Russian agent. While taking millions of dollars to produce branded content for Russian state broadcaster RT over the past year, Swann has sought to build a media platform that aims to serve as a means of broadcasting January 6 conspiracy theories, RFK Jr., Alex Jones, RT’s stable of hosts, and the producers of Plandemic. The network hosts programming from influential faded stars like former CBS reporter Lara Logan and ex-CNN anchor Rick Sanchez. Logan is currently publishing a multi-part docuseries attempting to rewrite the history of January 6, casting it as a “fed-surrection” and featuring gauzy interviews with GatewayPundit founder Jim Hoft to rehash the Ray Epps conspiracy theory. Swann is touting an upcoming series on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — set to come out next year. Al Jazeera Idlib, Syria — Seven civilians were killed and 20 others were injured on Sunday when the military of President Bashar al-Assad bombed the city of Idlib and towns in the countryside near Aleppo. Syria Civil Defence, a volunteer group that offers medical services, as well as rescue and relief assistance to communities in opposition-held areas of the country’s northwest, said they responded to the deaths of five civilians, including a child and a woman pregnant with twins, in the town of Darat Izza. They also assisted an additional five injured people, including two children, after more than 40 artillery shells fell on the area. Al Jazeera Beirut, Lebanon – When Hamas put out a call for recruitment in Lebanon on December 4, several mainstream Lebanese political parties and officials denounced the move, accusing the Palestinian group of violating their country’s national sovereignty, while recalling memories of the bloody civil war. But the recruitment for a parallel armed force might end up serving the interests of Hezbollah, according to analysts, due to the Lebanese group’s military hegemony, particularly in southern Lebanon. Hamas is believed to be recruiting in Lebanon through announcements in the country’s Palestinian refugee camps and the mosques there. “Hezbollah is trying to enlist the support of Sunni groups [like Hamas in Lebanon] in its fight against Israel from southern Lebanon,” Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. But any other actors won’t be able to act independently because “Hezbollah fully controls the border situation.” After Hamas’s attacks in southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 civilians and military personnel, according to Israeli officials, Israel has continuously bombarded Gaza, with only a brief pause in fighting at the end of November. More than 18,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there. NPR Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a controversial immigration bill Monday afternoon, which makes unauthorized border crossings a state crime. When the new state law takes effect in March of 2024, Texas law enforcement officers will have the authority to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Mexican border into the Lone Star State. A first-time conviction carries a sentence of up to six months in jail. For a second-time offender, the penalties are much steeper: up to 20 years in prison. After offenders serve their sentences, a judge would be required to issue an order for police to transport them to a port of entry. They could face a felony charge for refusing to return to Mexico. Reuters CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Several countries have agreed to jointly carry out patrols in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to try to safeguard commercial shipping against attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The Iran-aligned group says the aim of its missile and drone attacks is to support the Palestinians as Israel and Hamas wage war in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, told Al Jazeera that his group will be able to confront any coalition formed by the United States that could deploy to the Red Sea. Austin, who is on a trip to Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's headquarters in the Middle East, said participating countries led by the United States include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. "This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative," Austin said in a statement early on Tuesday. Reuters OSLO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The Reykjanes volcano in southwest Iceland erupted on Monday, spewing lava and smoke into the air, after weeks of intense earthquake activity, the country's Meteorological Office said. Fearing a significant outbreak on the Reykjanes peninsula, authorities last month evacuated the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of the fishing town of Grindavik and closed the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. "Warning: Eruption has started north of Grindavik by Hagafell," the Met Office said on its website. Images and a livestream broadcast by Reuters showed molten rock spewing like fountains from fissures in the ground, their bright-yellow and orange colours set in sharp contrast against the dark night sky. Icelandic police said they had raised their alert level as a result of the outbreak and the country's civil defence warned the public not to approach the area while emergency personnel assessed the situation. USA Today Everything's coming up Oprah. Oprah Winfrey's turning 70 next month, though it seems the A-list author/actress/filmmaker/mogul/pop-culture queen is celebrating early by appearing all over the place: in art galleries, on talk shows, in movie theaters and in magazine cover stories. She's getting more pub these days than Santa. Winfrey's a cultural institution whose resume speaks for itself, from "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to Oprah's Book Club to hundreds of millions donated to charities. And in case anyone's wondering, she's still wearing a whole lot of purple – a "seminal" color in her life, she says, dating back to her Oscar-nominated role in Steven Spielberg's 1985 drama "The Color Purple" – and living up to a poem that Maya Angelou wrote for her on Winfrey's 50th birthday: "To continue to astonish a mean world with my acts of kindness and continue to live in the space of gratitude and move and have my being in all of that which is God." This article is especially worth reading in full. New York Times (subscription not needed) A pro-Palestinian protest at the Cooper Union was one of a string of episodes on colleges across the country that has been amplified by outside forces, with sometimes frightening consequences. In the six-second video clip, pro-Palestinian protesters are heard chanting and banging at the closed doors of the library at the Cooper Union, a top arts, architecture and engineering school in New York City. Inside, a small group of Jewish students looks on nervously. Then the clip ends. It is the briefest snapshot of a frightening moment at a school of less than 1,000 students in Manhattan’s East Village. But within a couple of hours, images of the encounter on Oct. 25 spread globally on social media. The pro-Palestinian protesters had dispersed just a few minutes later and no one was injured or arrested, but the story seemed to grow more dire the further it traveled. Posts that went viral falsely claimed that the library had been barricaded to protect the students inside from an angry mob, and that the police were afraid to get involved. 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. 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