Sudan one of world’s ‘worst crises’ in decades: medical charity

Sudan one of world’s ‘worst crises’ in decades: medical charity
War has raged for more than a year. (FILE/AFP)
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Updated 21 June 2024
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Sudan one of world’s ‘worst crises’ in decades: medical charity

Sudan one of world’s ‘worst crises’ in decades: medical charity
  • War has raged for more than a year between the regular military under army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
  • Both sides have been accused of war crimes including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid

Port Sudan, Sudan: The ongoing civil war in Sudan has provoked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in decades, the international chief of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.
War has raged for more than a year between the regular military under army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“Sudan is one of the worst crises the world has seen for decades... yet the humanitarian response is profoundly inadequate,” Christos Christou, international president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said on social media platform X.
“There are extreme levels of suffering across the country, and the needs are growing by the day,” he added.
The conflict, which began in April 2023 has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and displaced more than nine million people, according to the United Nations.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid, despite warnings that millions are on the brink of starvation.
Rights groups and the United States have also accused the paramilitaries of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.


Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sues NBC over new documentary as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sues NBC over new documentary as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges
Updated 9 sec ago
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sues NBC over new documentary as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sues NBC over new documentary as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges
  • The lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court
  • The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the network’s streaming service.
NEW YORK: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is suing NBC Universal over a documentary that he says falsely accuses him of being a serial murderer who had sex with underage girls as he awaits trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court says the documentary, ” Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy,” included statements that NBC Universal either knew were false or published with reckless disregard for the truth in order to defame the founder of Bad Boy Records.
“Indeed, the entire premise of the Documentary assumes that Mr. Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologize him,” the complaint reads. “It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Combs is a ‘monster’ and ‘an embodiment of Lucifer’ with ‘a lot of similarities’ to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Spokespersons for NBC Universal and the entertainment company that produced the documentary, which is also named in the suit, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the network’s streaming service.
“From his childhood to becoming a mogul, this raw look at Sean Combs’ journey through exclusive footage and candid interviews explores his rise, controversies and the man behind the music,” a description of the documentary on Peacock’s website reads.
Combs, who is seeking no less than $100 million in damages, has been in Brooklyn federal prison since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Federal prosecutors say he used his wealth and influence to coerce female victims and male sex workers into drug-fueled, dayslong sexual performances known as “Freak Offs.”
They say Combs used blackmail and violence to intimidate and threaten his victims in a pattern of abuse that goes back to the early 2000s.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is slated to start in May.
Erica Wolff, an attorney for Combs, said NBC and the other entities named in the suit “maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies” in order to “line their own pockets” by driving viewership to the documentary.
“In making and broadcasting these falsehoods, among others, Defendants seek only to capitalize on the public’s appetite for scandal without any regard for the truth and at the expense of Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial,” she said in a statement. “Mr. Combs brings this lawsuit to hold Defendants accountable for the extraordinary damage their reckless statements have caused.”
Combs’ lawsuit says the documentary “falsely, recklessly, and maliciously” accuses him of murdering Kimberly Porter, Christopher Wallace and Dwight Arrington Myers, among other notable names.
Porter, a model who had been Combs’ longtime girlfriend and the mother of some of his children, died in 2008 at the age of 47 from complications from pneumonia.
Wallace, the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in 1997 in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.
Myers, the rapper known as “Heavy D,” died from a pulmonary embolism in 2011 at the age of 44.
“It shamelessly advances conspiracy theories that lack any foundation in reality, repeatedly insinuating that Mr. Combs is a serial killer because it cannot be a ‘coincidence’ that multiple people in Mr. Combs’s orbit have died,” the complaint reads.
Elsewhere, the complaint says the documentary delved into claims Combs had sex with underage girls, citing as evidence a civil complaint that’s been “thoroughly discredited.” Combs’ lawyers say the women referenced in that complaint have since confirmed they were adults at the time.

Dodgeball booth attracts over 600 visitors at Expo Sports for All 

Dodgeball booth attracts over 600 visitors at Expo Sports for All 
Updated 1 min 32 sec ago
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Dodgeball booth attracts over 600 visitors at Expo Sports for All 

Dodgeball booth attracts over 600 visitors at Expo Sports for All 
  • Event was attended by Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Saud, President of the Saudi Dodgeball Federation
  • Booth provided visitors with the opportunity to experience the sport firsthand and attend training sessions

RIYADH: The Saudi Dodgeball Federation’s booth at the Expo Sports for All event, held in Diriyah, captured the attention of participants throughout the three-day exhibition, which recently concluded.

The Saudi Dodgeball Federation set up its booth at the expo to introduce the sport and showcase its recent achievements, particularly in expanding its player base across the Kingdom. The booth also highlighted the federation’s future plans and strategies. The event was attended by Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Saud, President of the Saudi Dodgeball Federation.

The booth provided visitors with the opportunity to experience the sport firsthand and attend training sessions, both male and female, expressed their interest in joining the sport by registering through the federation’s booth via a specialized QR code, allowing them to attend training sessions in various cities across the Kingdom and potentially join as players.

The participation of the Saudi Dodgeball Federation in the Expo Sports for All aligns with its efforts to promote the sport, especially since one of the expo’s main objectives is to introduce new sports and offer visitors of all ages a fun and beneficial athletic experience.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Saudi Dodgeball Federation aims to continue achieving milestones that enhance the sport’s status in Saudi society. The federation also seeks to contribute to the goals of Vision 2030 by promoting a more active society and working towards building strong national teams.


US lawmakers join Trump-Musk government shakeup effort

US lawmakers join Trump-Musk government shakeup effort
Updated 10 min 46 sec ago
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US lawmakers join Trump-Musk government shakeup effort

US lawmakers join Trump-Musk government shakeup effort
WASHINGTON: Republicans vowed Wednesday to tackle the “stunning” US national debt, as lawmakers began work on President Donald Trump’s plan for the most radical downsizing of the federal government in decades.
The House of Representatives Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee will be the legislative arm of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts as Trump’s right-hand man to save $1 trillion by attacking fraud and waste.
Its first hearing — “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud” — featured testimony from a former FBI agent and the head of a welfare fraud watchdog.
“This committee will be laser-focused on bringing full transparency to waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government, and presenting the plans to fix the tremendous problems we expose,” chair Marjorie Taylor Greene said in her opening statement.
The hearing was convened with government workers staging demonstrations against deep staffing cuts ordered by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Critics say the world’s richest man has enormous conflicts of interest as a major government contractor, although Trump — without producing any evidence — claims his “efficiency czar” has uncovered tens of billions of dollars in fraud.
Republicans have largely backed the DOGE agenda, although funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health have been met with mild dissent.
A prominent voice on the party’s hard right with a history of bigoted comments, Greene has been brought from the fringes into the center of Republican politics as Trump’s influence has grown.
“We, as a country, are $36 trillion in debt. That is such a stunning amount of money,” she told the panel.
“It’s absolutely staggering to even comprehend how we as a people, we as a country, found ourselves here.”


Musk, newly emboldened by a Trump executive order giving him a veto over government hiring and firing, told reporters in the White House on Tuesday that DOGE was “maximally transparent.”
And Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, accused district courts “in liberal districts” of abusing their power — although DOGE’s defeats have been delivered by judges nominated by presidents from both parties.
Democrats, initially open to the concept of DOGE, have soured on Musk over his efforts to dismantle federal agencies, which they say are unlawful and shrouded in secrecy.
Melanie Stansbury, the panel’s top Democrat, mocked Republicans for making strident pledges to save money while proposing a budget that would lift the national borrowing limit by $4 trillion.
Trump and Musk are facing multiple legal challenges, however, as they try to lift emergency orders blocking the dismantling of federal agencies, holds on grants and the firing of government watchdogs.
The White House lost an appeal in Boston on Tuesday upholding a decision to block Trump’s freeze in federal grants and loans.
On the same day, Trump fired an inspector general overseeing USAID, after the nonpartisan official filed a report critical of efforts to close the agency.
As with all his firings of inspectors general, the move looks on its face to be illegal as Congress is supposed to be given 30 days’ notice.
Meanwhile the Homeland Security Department fired the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief financial officer and three other employees for approving payments for migrant housing in hotels.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is in charge of a budget of almost $900 billion, told Axios he plans to welcome Musk and “the keen eye of DOGE” to scrutinize its spending “very soon.”

Teachers across Algeria go on strike to protest low salaries and poor conditions

Teachers across Algeria go on strike to protest low salaries and poor conditions
Updated 18 min ago
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Teachers across Algeria go on strike to protest low salaries and poor conditions

Teachers across Algeria go on strike to protest low salaries and poor conditions

ALGIERS: Teachers throughout Algeria went on strike on Wednesday to protest low salaries and deteriorating working conditions, following demonstrations staged by students last month in an unusual outpouring of protest.

Students stood outside shuttered classrooms and roamed aimlessly on Tuesday, when teachers started a two-day strike.

The action by teachers and students comes at a time when public criticism of the government is becoming rarer. Teachers say the strike is significant amid a gradual shrinking of rights, including for women, the press and opposition parties. The right to strike is “a right enshrined in the constitution,” said Hafidha Amiréche, a long-time trade unionist.

Algeria has long taken pride in its free education system and the opportunities it affords students and teachers. Yet despite investing more on education than its neighbors — the country only spends more on its military — the school system has become a target of popular anger toward larger government problems including rising costs, corruption and a lack of jobs for skilled and educated workers like teachers. Teachers say they’re underpaid and educated young people are increasingly trying to emigrate out of the country in search of opportunities, with European visa applications steadily rising.

To address economic malaise, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has raised wages throughout his time in office, including for public sector workers like teachers who saw their salaries go up by 37 percent during his first term.

But teachers’ unions say starting salaries were barely more than the minimum wage or unemployment stipends, and are hoping for more increases.

Last month disillusioned students went on strike, organizing protests both at their schools and on social networks like TikTok to express anger about costly supplemental courses and old-fashioned curriculums they argue aren’t equipping them to maintain stable, well-paying jobs.


White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis’

White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis’
Updated 16 min 56 sec ago
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White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis’

White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis’
  • The focus on the courts has intensified as the other long-standing check on the presidency, the Congress, is Republican-controlled and has largely gone along with Trump’s unilateral actions, including his firing of government watchdogs

WASHINGTON: The White House said Wednesday that court rulings going against the Trump administration are coming from “judicial activists” on the bench whose decisions amount to a “constitutional crisis.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the comments as she pushed back against critics of Republican President Donald Trump’s expansive actions slashing the government workforce and federal spending.
“We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law,” Leavitt said.
Trump’s moves in the first weeks of his second term to overhaul the federal government and fulfill his campaign promises have been met with more than 50 lawsuits, with judges blocking some of his administration’s moves at least temporarily. Top administration officials have responded by attacking the legitimacy of judicial oversight, one of the foundations of America’s democracy which is based on the separation of powers.
The focus on the courts has intensified as the other long-standing check on the presidency, the Congress, is Republican-controlled and has largely gone along with Trump’s unilateral actions, including his firing of government watchdogs.
When asked Wednesday if the White House believes the courts have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions to Trump’s orders, Leavitt said the rulings “have no basis in the law” and “have no grounds.” She said the White House would comply with the courts but believed the administration would “ultimately be vindicated.”
“This is part of a larger, concerted effort by Democrat activists, and nothing more than the continuation of the weaponization of justice against President Trump,” Leavitt said, referring to Trump’s personal legal challenges, including the criminal trial in New York in which he was convicted last year.
Judges have blocked, at least temporarily, his effort to end birthright citizenship, permit access to Treasury Department records by billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and roll out a mass deferred resignation plan for federal workers.
Musk, the world’s richest man who has been given far-reaching powers by Trump to shrink the federal government, has posted on social media that judges who rule against the administration should be impeached.
“A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!” Musk wrote about the judge in the Treasury Department case. Vice President JD Vance said Sunday on X, ” If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
As court cases pile up, questions have arisen about whether Trump, pushing to expand the limits of presidential power, would comply with court rulings.
Trump on Tuesday said he would, but suggested he would consider some kind of response to the judges and called their actions a “violation.”
“It seems hard to believe that a judge could say, ‘We don’t want you to do that.’ So maybe we have to look at the judges because that’s very serious, I think it’s a very serious violation,” Trump said.
Leavitt made clear that Trump’s team will also “seek every legal remedy to ultimately overturn these radical injunctions and ensure President Trump’s policies can be enacted,” she said.