Overnight News Digest: Over there. Over there.

Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man with guest editor Chitown Kev and Magnifico. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke 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 12:00AM Eastern Time (or if it is Friday night and the editor is me, a bit later).

Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.

Tonight’s (or today’s if it is past midnight for you) featured story has been 400 years in the making.  Shakespeare died 400 years ago this day, and the BBC is celebrating:

Celebrations begin for Shakespeare anniversary

A stellar line-up of actors and performers will be marking ​the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death at events across the UK this weekend.

David Tennant will host a BBC Two celebration on Saturday night live from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Performers will include Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Helen Mirren and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The event will be attended by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Other names on the bill include Rory Kinnear, Meera Syal, Joseph Fiennes, David Suchet, Simon Russell Beale, Roger Allam, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Harriet Walter, John Lithgow, Anne-Marie Duff and the cast of Horrible Histories.

There are several links to interesting stories from that story.  

Come below the fold for more news from around the world.

A less cheerful anniversary — just a year ago there was a devastating earthquake in Nepal. Justin Rowlatt, for the BBC:

Nepal earthquake: Return to the valley of tears

A year ago, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 20,000 were injured when an earthquake struck Nepal. Justin Rowlatt was the first journalist to reach the village of Langtang after the quake - now he's been back.

It is easy to understand why Langtang is such a popular destination for trekkers. The valley is breathtakingly beautiful. The crashing river that carved it out snakes through the high Himalayas, a pine forest on either side.

But I was anxious as I flew back in a small helicopter a few days ago. The last time I had been here I had found a community in terrible trauma.

The main town, also called Langtang, had been utterly destroyed. The scale of the devastation was so complete it was hard to work it out when flying over it.

And in the mountains of Nepal, Ross Adkin writes for Reuters, via aol.com:

A year after Nepal quake, some united in grief; others climb again

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - For survivors and relatives of victims of a landslide that struck with the force of half an atom bomb it is a time to grieve. For witnesses to a fatal avalanche at the Mount Everest base camp, it is time to climb again.

A year after the worst earthquake in Nepal's history struck at four minutes to midday on April 25 last year, the Himalayan nation is remembering the 9,000 victims of the 7.8 magnitude quake and a second tremor 17 days later.

Among those returning to Nepal are adventurers like Australian photographer Athena Zelandonii, who is trekking again to attend a ceremony of remembrance on Monday in Langtang village, obliterated by a huge rockfall that took the lives of 285 locals and foreigners.

They will be remembered at the memorial event where, starting at 11:56 a.m., the name of each victim will be read out.

The end of another story comes from the Latin American Herald Tribune:

Argentina Makes Payments to Bond Holdouts, Ending 15-Year Debt Battle BUENOS AIRES – Argentina paid $9.3 billion on Friday to holdout bondholders, including a group of American hedge funds that had successfully sued in U.S. court for full payment on sovereign debt that the country defaulted on in late 2001. “It’s all over. We’re out of default officially and definitively,” a Finance Ministry source told EFE.

One other story from Latin America, this from Steve Johnson, in the Chicago Tribune:

Photos: Animal selfies from the Field Museum

A Field Museum team of 25 scientists trekked to the unexplored reaches of Medio Putumayo-Algodón, Peru and spent 17 days conducting a rapid biological and social inventory of the area. As part of their efforts to document the region's biodiversity, the team set up 14 motion-activated camera traps. This is what they captured.

Let’s take the Field Museum at its word that “animal selfies” are what its research team brought back from the depths of the South American rain forest.

And then let’s credit these extraordinary Amazon River region animals -- ranging from an ocelot and a jaguarundi to a giant anteater and a red brocket deer -- for being pretty good, seemingly, with the selfie stick.

In shot after shot in this remarkable series of photos, viewers get animals in the wild looking right at the camera (which is, of course, actually a camera trap set up by museum scientists).

Of course the biggest news in South America is still the Ecuadorian earthquake.

Martin Pallares writes an Op-Ed in the New York Times:

In Ecuador, Political Aftershocks

Quito, Ecuador — The earthquake that shook Ecuador last Saturday has proved to be the most destructive in nearly seven decades and has caused the worst humanitarian catastrophe here in memory. Official figures record more than 577 dead, but according to the hundreds of volunteers in the disaster zone, there are many more fatalities not yet accounted for. Entire villages have been destroyed, and the photographs circulating on social media resemble scenes from the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The earthquake is historic not only for the magnitude of the destruction and human suffering, but also for giving rise to the most impressive mobilization of civil society in Ecuador I can remember. The country has become one huge relief center, and in almost every neighborhood, in towns large and small, there are collection points for donations of clothing, food and blankets.

And this from Nicholas Casey, also in the New York Times:

Virgin Mary Statue, Intact Among Ecuador’s Quake Ruins, Becomes a Beacon of Hope

MONTECRISTI, Ecuador — The earth shook and the steeple fell, taking most of the bell tower with it. A white facade gave way, leaving the pews open to the street.

But amid the wreckage at the basilica, one object remained untouched: Our Mother of Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin Mary for which the church was named.

Dressed in gold robes and wearing a tiny crown, she is only about three feet tall. But the statue, which landed on these shores from Spain in the 16th century, has long played an outsize role in the history of Montecristi.

Another discussion of earthquakes, from the techly website:

ARE THE JAPANESE AND ECUADOR EARTHQUAKES RELATED?

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Japan last Friday, causing widespread injuries and property damage. Then on Saturday evening, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Ecuador on the other side of the Pacific, collapsing buildings and killing more than 350 people. With two large earthquakes happening only days apart, it might look like they’re connected. But how earthquakes influence each other is rather complex, particularly over long distances.

Moving across the Pacific, back to Asia, this from Aya Takada for Bloomberg:

Japan's Next Generation of Farmers Could Be Robots

As the average age of farmers globally creeps higher and retirement looms, Japan has a solution; robots and driver-less tractors.

The Group-of-Seven agriculture ministers meet in Japan’s northern prefecture of Niigata this weekend for the first time in seven years to discuss how to meet increasing food demand as aging farmers retire without successors. With the average age of Japanese farmers now 67, Agriculture Minister Hiroshi Moriyama will outline his idea of replacing retiring growers with Japanese-developed autonomous tractors and backpack-carried robots.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has warned that left unchecked, aging farmers could threaten the ability to produce the food the world needs. The average age of growers in developed countries is now about 60, according to the United Nations. Japan plans to spend 4 billion yen ($37 million) in the year through March to promote farm automation and help develop 20 different types of robots, including one that separates over-ripe peaches when harvesting.

From Andrew Liszewski, in Gizmondo:

The Most Beautiful Version of Monopoly Yet Celebrates Japanese Arts and Crafts

After licensing the classic board game to a company called USAopoly, there’s now a version of Monopoly for almost every fan base you can imagine. But the latest version of the game, which celebrates Japanese arts and crafts traditions, might be one of the most beautiful yet.

Designed to help commemorate the 300th anniversary of a popular Japanese store called Nakagawa Masamichi, the Monopoly Japanese Traditional Arts & Crafts Edition features a beautifully redesigned board that has players buying up companies that specialize in producing items like Daruma dolls, teapots, or handmade toys.

(and yes, do follow the link because it is indeed as beautiful as he says)

From central Asia comes this story, via eurasianet:

Uzbekistan: Bank Robbers Net Heavy Haul

A quick tip to anybody planning a bank heist in Uzbekistan — make sure your getaway can carry heavy loads.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Uzbek service has reported on a robbery that took place at a Mikrokreditbank branch ub the western Khorezm region in early April that netted its organizers 16 million Uzbek sum. Though that sounds like a lot, it is a mere $2,560 at the black market rate.

The thieves got into the bank around midnight by disconnecting the alarm system and then cracked a safe containing 45 sacks of cash. Officials told RFE/RL that the robbers loaded the sacks onto a Damas minibus.

The story is actually rather disturbing, in addition to slightly comical.  Go take a look.

NPR had an item about an Uzbek athlete:

40-Year-Old Female Gymnast Qualifies For 7th Olympics

Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina became the first female gymnast to qualify for her seventh Olympics.

Further west, the news from Qatar, from Reuters via zeenews (India):

FIFA sets up worker welfare body for 2022 Qatar World Cup

Amnesty International reported on abuses in Qatar`s preparations for the World Cup in a wide-ranging report three weeks ago.

Doha: The head of soccer`s world governing body FIFA urged Qatar to hasten improvements in safety and labour conditions for builders working on sites for the 2022 World Cup and declared:"we will not just sit and wait".

Gianni Infantino, on a two-day visit to Qatar, announced plans for a special working group to monitor the situation and achnowledged there were still "many challenges".

Amnesty International reported on abuses in Qatar`s preparations for the World Cup in a wide-ranging report three weeks ago based on the accounts of 132 workers at the sites.

It found construction workers from Nepal and India had been charged recruitment fees and housed in squalid conditions.

The Israel National News has an article from Agence France Presse:

Italian translation of Talmud becomes a bestseller

First volume of Italian translation of the Talmud sells out in three days.

A first volume released under a groundbreaking project to translate the Talmud into Italian has become an unexpected bestseller, its publisher said on Friday.

A first print run of 2,000 copies sold out in three days and another 3,000 rushed into shops are already all reserved because of what publisher Shulim Vogelmann described as "extraordinary demand given the current state of the book market".

Vogelmann said he thought the 40-euro ($45) first taste of the sacred text was being bought overwhelmingly by non-Jews in a sign of mounting interest in Jewish culture in Italy.

It also reflected a broader curiosity about the contents of "a very old book full of history and mystery," that, thanks to its influence on Western literature and culture, was already "part of the collective imagination," the publisher told AFP.

Another AFP story from Italy, this time in tenplay:

Italy says happy 70th birthday to iconic scooter

Design classic and symbol of the "dolce vita", the Vespa turns 70 this weekend and Italy's most celebrated scooter is buzzing along nicely after tripling sales in the last decade.

It was on a Vespa that Gregory Peck pursued Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday", the 1953 film that helped make the marque synonomous internationally with the Roman capital.

But it was actually in Florence that the wasp-shaped two-wheeler was born, Enrico Piaggio having registered the patent in the Tuscan capital on April 23, 1946.

Seventy years later, more than 18 million models have been sold and Piaggio's objective of reinventing the family aeronautical company has been realised and then some.

A day old but you might have missed this from Gordon Darroch, in The Guardian:

400-year-old dress found in shipwreck sheds light on plot to pawn crown jewels

Dress was lost when part of a royal fleet sank in bad weather crossing from Dover to the Netherlands in 1642

A 400-year-old silk dress discovered in a shipwreck off the Dutch coast has shed new light on a daring top-secret mission to pawn the crown jewels on the eve of the English civil war. The well-preserved garment was found by divers off the Dutch island of Texel two years ago, but its existence had been kept secret while researchers traced its origin. 

The dress, described as one of the most important maritime discoveries ever made in the Netherlands, belonged to Jean Kerr, Countess of Roxburghe and lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, the consort of Charles I. It was lost when part of a royal fleet of 12 ships sank in bad weather while crossing from Dover to Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands in February 1642.

What made the Catholic noblewoman’s role more intriguing was that she had been a spy in the court of James I, Charles’s father, passing on information to the King of Spain.

And a lighter (but slightly disturbing) story from the BBC:

Moldovans despair at 'theft of the century'

This is a story about a high-street robbery, but not the kind you might imagine. It wasn't a bank heist, or a jewellery shop ram-raid. A man in Moldova has been caught on CCTV stealing the street itself, or at least several hefty paving stones.

The crime took place on Ştefan cel Mare, the main street in the country's capital city, Chisinau, under bright street lights and in front of meandering pedestrians. And the brazen manner in which the theft was carried out has set some Moldovans pondering what has happened to their country. Others have found humour in the situation.

Footage of the theft was posted online by Krujca Mednaea, a popular Moldovan YouTube channel and Facebook page, and it quickly went viral. Overlaid with the music from Super Mario Brothers - for comic effect - the man is seen picking up the tiles and loading them into the boot of his car which is parked on the pavement. He does pause for passers by, but otherwise makes little effort to conceal his actions. There appears to be a passenger in the car, watching his friend at work.

Enjoy your weekend, if you are lucky enough to have one.  And may you have a happy Passover!