(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest: 2024...the warmest February on record [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-03-11 C/NET Last year, we experienced both the hottest summer and the hottest year on record, and 2024 isn't showing any chill either. According to a report from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, February 2024 was the warmest February ever recorded, as well as the ninth consecutive month to break its own heat record. Europe saw the brunt of warming in February, with temperatures 3.3 degrees Celsius above the average between 1991-2020. "February joins the long stream of records of the last few months," C3S director Carlo Buontempo said in the report. "It is not really surprising as the continuous warming of the climate system inevitably leads to new temperature extremes. The climate responds to the actual concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere so unless we manage to stabilise those, we will inevitably face new global temperature records and their consequences." 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 Ukraine has summoned the Vatican's envoy after the Pope said the country should "have the courage to raise the white flag" against Russia. Apostolic Nuncio Visvaldas Kulbokas was told Kyiv was "disappointed" by the remarks, the foreign ministry said. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine's position on the battlefield was "stabilising" following recent setbacks. That was despite aid from its allies remaining "significantly limited". The Pope caused anger in Ukraine when a transcript of an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI, which is due to be broadcast next week, was released. BBC Over the weekend, the violence in the capital Port-au-Prince ramped up once again. Heavily armed gangs attacked the National Palace and set part of the Interior Ministry on fire with petrol bombs. It comes after a sustained attack on the international airport, which remains closed to all flights - including one carrying Prime Minister Ariel Henry. He tried to fly back to Haiti from the United States last week, but his plane was refused permission to land. He was then turned away from the neighbouring Dominican Republic too. Mr Henry is now stuck in Puerto Rico, unable to set foot in the nation he ostensibly leads. NPR Scott Elder has a pretty typical morning routine. He wakes up at 7 a.m., drinks coffee and feeds the dogs, Bella (a rat terrier) and Spencer (a Chihuahua). But on Jan. 12, 2022, Elder's routine was interrupted by a concerning phone call. Elder is the superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools in New Mexico, and the call came from his district's IT department, saying they had found some sort of computer virus. He recalls thinking, "Oh, we've got a bug in the system and they found it so they'll just kill it and we'll be done, right?" The bug was in the student records system. So Elder's IT staff shut that network down. But that meant teachers wouldn't have access to basic information about the almost 70,000 students enrolled in New Mexico's largest school district. Educators couldn't take attendance, wouldn't know children's bus routes and were locked out of grading systems. NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Monday announced rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law that excludes Muslims, weeks before the Hindu nationalist leader seeks a third term in office. The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations. The law was approved by Indian Parliament in 2019, but Modi's government had held off with its implementation after deadly protests broke out in capital New Delhi and elsewhere. Scores were killed during days of clashes. Reuters WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden sketched his policy vision for a potential second four-year term on Monday, unveiling a $7.3 trillion election-year budget aimed at convincing skeptical Americans that he can run the economy better than Donald Trump Biden wants to raise taxes by trillions on corporations and high earners, his budget wish-list showed, to help cut the deficit and pay for new programs assisting those who make less cope with high housing and childcare costs. Congress is unlikely to adopt the measures as proposed. Biden's budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which starts this October, includes raising the corporate income tax rate to 28% from 21%, forcing those with wealth of $100 million to pay at least 25% of their income in taxes, and letting the government negotiate to bring more drug costs down. Reuters MOSCOW, March 11 (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers have submitted a draft bill to the State Duma that would rewrite a chapter of history by nullifying the Soviet decision in 1954 to transfer Crimea from Russia to Ukraine. The move appears aimed at establishing a legal basis for Russia to argue that Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which it claims to have annexed from Ukraine in 2014, was never really part of Ukraine to begin with. The draft, submitted by a lawmaker from each of Russia's two houses of parliament, describes the 1954 handover as arbitrary and illegal because no referendum was held and Soviet authorities had no right to transfer territory from one constituent republic to another without consent. Al Jazeera Celebrities, including musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, Poor Things star Mark Ruffalo, and comedian Ramy Youssef, wore red pins at the 96th Academy Awards to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. But what is the symbolism behind the pin? Here is what we know about it. The red pins were distributed by Artists4Ceasefire, a group of celebrities and entertainment industry members who collectively signed a letter late in October asking United States President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire as well as the safe release of captives in Gaza. The pin design shows a red glossy circle with a hand and a black heart. “The pin symbolises collective support for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza,” Artists4Ceasefire said in a press release. Al Jazeera Washington, DC – Prominent progressive organisations in the United States are joining together to push back against the political and electoral influence of the country’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). More than 20 advocacy groups launched on Monday a formal coalition dubbed “Reject AIPAC” to organise against what they called AIPAC’s campaign to​​ silence the “growing dissent in Congress” against Israel’s war on Gaza. “Rejecting AIPAC is a crucial step in putting voters back at the center of our democracy,” the coalition said in a statement. While individual candidates and organisations have previously criticised AIPAC’s involvement in US election campaigns, the coalition marks a collective and focused effort against the pro-Israel group. 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