(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest June 27, 2024 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-27 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. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments. BBC Musk's SpaceX hired to destroy ISS space station Nasa has selected Elon Musk's SpaceX company to bring down the International Space Station at the end of its life. The California-based company will build a vehicle capable of pushing the 430-tonne orbiting platform into the Pacific Ocean early in the next decade. A contract for the work, valued at up to $843m (£668m), was announced on Wednesday. The first elements of the space station were launched in 1998, with continuous crewed operations beginning in 2000. Engineers say the laboratory remains structurally sound, but plans need to be put in place now for its eventual disposal. Without assistance, it would eventually fall back to Earth on its own, however this poses a significant risk to populations on the ground. Neither Nasa nor SpaceX have released details of the design for the de-orbiting "tug boat", but it will require considerable thrust to safely guide the station into the atmosphere in the right place and at the right time. As young Iranians lose hope, a reformist runs for president A snap election called after a deadly helicopter crash. A candidate promising a different approach both at home and abroad. And suddenly there’s an element of suspense and unpredictability in Iran, as voters go to the polls to choose a new president. Elections in the Islamic Republic are tightly-controlled affairs - the candidates are all vetted by an influential committee of clerics before they can stand. And recently voter apathy has been widespread. But this time there is a wild card: a reformist former heart surgeon and health minister, Massoud Pezeshkian, who has declared “immoral” the actions of Iran’s morality police, who enforce strict dress codes on women. The rules on wearing the hijab are now being regularly flouted by women and Mr Pezeshkian, 69, has said: “If wearing certain clothes is a sin, the behaviour towards women and girls is 100 times a greater sin. Nowhere in religion is there any permission to confront someone because of their clothing.” The most recent opinion polls showed Mr Pezeshkian ahead of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who is currently speaker of parliament, and Saeed Jalili, a hardline former nuclear negotiator. The Guardian US imposes fresh sanctions on Iran over apparent nuclear escalations The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced fresh sanctions against Iran’s petroleum sector in response to what he described as an expansion of the country’s nuclear programme which has provoked renewed fears that it is preparing to build an atomic bomb. The embargoes – on three unnamed entities involved in the transport of Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products – were announced amid a chorus of warnings of a renewed conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, the powerful Shia group that dominates Lebanon. In a statement on Thursday, Blinken said Iran had expanded its uranium enrichment programme in the past month “in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose”. Under the new sanctions, 11 vessels associated with the three embargoed organisations would be designated as “blocked property”. “Iran’s actions to increase its enrichment capacity are all the more concerning in light of Iran’s continued failure to cooperate with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and statements by Iranian officials suggesting potential changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine,” Blinken said. The Guardian Wind-driven wildfire spreads near popular Oregon vacation spot A wildfire near a popular vacation destination in Oregon’s high desert has been spreading rapidly since erupting on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of families out of heir homes and businesses. The fire exploded near the popular vacation destination of Bend in central Oregon, an area known for its microbreweries, hiking, river rafting and skiing on nearby Mount Bachelor. The wind-driven Darlene 3 wildfire was just outside city limits of La Pine, about 30 miles (48km) south of Bend and grew to nearly nearly 4,000 acres (1,618 hectares) by Thursday morning. Firefighters were able to build a defense around the fire and fire managers, and were able to keep the fire at 30% contained. But strong, dry winds continued to worry firefighting crews. Reuters Climate change boosted deadly Saudi haj heat by 2.5 C, scientists say LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - The heatwave in Saudi Arabia blamed for the deaths of 1,300 people on the haj pilgrimage this month was made worse by climate change, a team of European scientists said on Friday. Temperatures along the route from June 16 to 18 reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) at times and exceeded 51.8 C at Mecca's Great Mosque. The heat would have been approximately 2.5 C (4.5 F) cooler without the influence of human-caused climate change, according to a weather attribution analysis , opens new tab by ClimaMeter The scientists used satellite observations from the last four decades to compare weather patterns from 1979 to 2001 and 2001 to 2023. Although dangerous temperatures have long been recorded in the desert region, they said natural variability did not explain the extent of this month's heatwave and that climate change had made it more intense. Reuters Number of days over 35 C surges in world's scorching capitals June 28 (Reuters) - The number of days reaching a sizzling 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) in 20 of the world's largest capitals - from Delhi to Jakarta to Buenos Aires - has risen 52% over the past three decades, a think tank analysis found on Friday. More than 300 million people live in the world's 20 most populous capital cities, where they are uniquely vulnerable to rising temperatures fueled by climate change, as asphalt and buildings absorb and retain heat. Capital cities including Delhi, Dhaka and Manila already this year have been plagued by dangerous heatwaves - leading to a spate of heat-related deaths and school closures Delhi alone documented its longest and most severe heatwave in 74 years, registering 39 consecutive days with maximum temperatures at or above 40 C (104 F) from May 14 to June 21, according to weather station data. Deutsche Welle Sudan hunger spreads to capital and former breadbasket A United Nations report on Thursday said some 8.5 million people were facing extreme food shortage in Sudan after 14 months of conflict. The document said hunger has now spread to the capital, Khartoum, and Jazira province, which was once dubbed Sudan's breadbasket. The findings come from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, which includes more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies. It found that 755,000 people face the worst level of starvation, known as Phase 5 by the IPC, in the coming months in 10 provinces, which also include Darfur, Kordofan, and the Blue Nile province. "The conflict has not only triggered mass displacement and disruption of supply routes, market systems and agricultural production, it has also severely limited access to essential humanitarian assistance, exacerbating an already dire situation," the report said. Another 8.5 million people are classified in the second-highest starvation level, Phase 4. The northeastern African country was thrown into chaos in April last year after tensions between the country's military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), flared up. Al Jazeera US charges 193 people in $2.7bn healthcare fraud crackdown Nearly 200 people have been charged in a sweeping nationwide crackdown on healthcare fraud schemes with false claims topping $2.7bn, the United States Department of Justice has said. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday charges against doctors, nurse practitioners and others across the US accused of a variety of scams, including a $900m scheme in Arizona targeting dying patients. “It does not matter if you are a trafficker in a drug cartel or a corporate executive or medical professional employed by a healthcare company. If you profit from the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, you will be held accountable,” Garland said in a statement. In the Arizona case, prosecutors have accused two owners of wound care companies of accepting more than $330m in kickbacks as part of a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for amniotic wound grafts, which are dressings to help heal wounds. Nurse practitioners were pressured to apply the wound grafts to elderly patients who did not need them, including people in hospice care, the Justice Department said. Some patients died the day they received the grafts or within days, court papers say. 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