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Khartoum, Sudan Sees Lull In Fighting On First Day Of Eid

Published

1 year ago

April 21, 2023

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Windows are broken on the facade of a commercial building along the main al-Sittin (sixty) road in eastern Khartoum on April 21, 2023 amidst ongoing battles between the forces of two rival Sudanese generals. (Photo by – / AFP)

Street fighting between the forces of two rival generals eased in parts of Sudan’s capital Friday, witnesses reported, after repeated calls for an end-of-Ramadan ceasefire to the nearly week-long conflict.

More than 400 people have been killed and thousands wounded since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and is commonly known as Hemeti.

The army announced Friday it had “agreed to a ceasefire for three days” to “enable citizens to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and allow the flow of humanitarian services”, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called for a day earlier.

Blinken welcomed both the army’s announcement and an earlier one by the RSF, a powerful force formed from members of the Janjaweed militia involved in years of violence in the western Darfur region.

“It is clear, however, that fighting is continuing and there is serious mistrust between the two forces,” Blinken said, urging both sides to “pause the fighting” and “permit full and unimpeded humanitarian access”.

Witnesses in several areas of Khartoum reported a rare lull in the fighting Friday evening, after explosions had rocked the city for the seventh straight day.

Eid is meant to be spent “with sweets and pastries, with happy children, and people greeting relatives”, resident Sami al-Nour told AFP. Instead, there has been “gunfire and the stench of blood all around us”.

Soldiers and paramilitaries fought fierce street battles in densely populated districts of Khartoum, with witnesses reporting blasts near the army headquarters in the city of five million.

On Friday evening, the army accused the RSF of violating the truce, including by “indiscriminately bombing” the airport and presidential palace.

Two previous ceasefires earlier in the week also failed to take hold.

The World Health Organization said 413 people had been killed and 3,551 wounded in the fighting across Sudan, but the death toll is thought to be higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged “immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access”, stressing this was a “legal obligation under international humanitarian law”.

– ‘Nightmare scenario’ –
Analysts have warned the conflict could affect countries across the region, with the UN saying up to 20,000 people have already fled to neighbouring Chad.

For the first time since hostilities began, Burhan appeared on television.

“For Eid this year, our country is bleeding: destruction, desolation and the sound of bullets have taken precedence over joy,” he said in a pre-recorded message.

“We hope that we will come out of this ordeal more united… a single army, a single people… towards a civilian power.”

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said urgent steps were needed to stop a descent into “full-blown civil war”, warning “the nightmare scenario that many feared in Sudan is unfolding”.

The World Food Programme said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people — one-third of the population — need aid.

It has suspended its Sudan operations after three WFP workers were killed on Saturday.

On Friday, the UN migration agency said one of its employees died after his vehicle was caught in crossfire.

Burhan and Daglo’s dispute centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a deal aimed at restoring Sudan’s democratic transition.

“What’s taking place was inevitable,” said Khartoum resident Ibrahim Awad. “A country ruled by two leaders cannot move forward, there can’t be two armies.”

– ‘They don’t care’ –

Civilians are becoming increasingly desperate, with thousands risking the dangerous streets to flee Khartoum.

“This is a mere power struggle,” said Abdul Wahid Othman. “They don’t care about poor citizens who have been left without water, electricity…”.

Plans are being made to evacuate foreign nationals, with the United States, South Korea and Japan deploying forces to nearby countries and the European Union weighing a similar move.

More than two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states are now “out of service”, the doctors’ union said. At least four hospitals in North Kordofan state were shelled.

In El Fasher in Darfur, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the situation was “catastrophic”.

“There are so many patients that they are being treated on the floor,” said MSF project coordinator Cyrus Paye.

The military toppled autocratic president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 following massive protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.

In October 2021, Burhan and Daglo joined forces to oust a civilian government installed after Bashir’s downfall, derailing an internationally backed transition to democracy.

“With neither Burhan nor Hemeti appearing ready to back down, the situation could get much worse,” the ICG think tank said.

“Even if the army eventually does secure the capital, and Hemeti retreats to Darfur, a civil war could well follow, with potentially destabilising impact in neighbouring Chad, the Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan.”

Related Topics:Khartoum rival Sudanese Sudan

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Porn Star Testifies Against Trump At Hush Money Trial

Published

2 days ago

May 8, 2024

Editor

The porn star at the heart of Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial, Stormy Daniels, testified on Tuesday about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with the former president in a hotel penthouse suite.

Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels on the eve of his 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, when the lurid story of marital infidelity could have sunk his campaign.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger announced “The people call Stormy Daniels,” as Trump, who is seeking to recapture the White House in November, sat at the defense table in the Manhattan courtroom flanked by his lawyers, AFP reports.

What followed was detailed testimony about the sexual encounter Daniels said she had with Trump – his pajamas, his boxer shorts, the sexual position, that he did not wear a condom – all while the former president, sitting just feet away, stared on in silence, stony-faced.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, and his defense team sought, unsuccessfully, to have a mistrial declared.

The extraordinary courtroom face-off comes six months before election day when Trump will try to defeat Democratic President Joe Biden.

Daniels walked prosecutors through her difficult childhood in Louisiana, a stint as a stripper and her eventually joining the adult film industry.

The 45-year-old, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe where she was employed as a greeter by X-rated movie company Wicked Entertainment.

Daniels said she was 27 at the time and Trump was “probably older than my father.”

She said a member of Trump’s security detail told her the real estate tycoon wanted to have dinner with her. She was reluctant but agreed after discussing it with her publicist.

When she arrived at the penthouse where Trump was staying he emerged wearing “silk or satin pajamas which I immediately made fun of,” Daniels told the jury.

“I said ‘Does Mr Hefner know you stole his pajamas?’” she said in a reference to the outfit favored by the late Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

Trump changed clothes and they began talking about adult movies.

“He was very interested in a lot of the business stuff,” Daniels said.

Trump, who was married at the time to his current wife, Melania, suggested Daniels be on his hit reality television show, “The Apprentice,” she said.

Daniels said she went to the bathroom at one point and when she emerged Trump was on the bed in boxer shorts and a T-shirt.

“It startled me,” she said. “The intention was pretty clear.”

“I was not threatened verbally or physically,” Daniels said, although there was an “imbalance of power.”

She said they had brief sex on the bed “in missionary position” and Trump did not wear a condom.

“I felt ashamed I didn’t stop it, didn’t say no,” Daniels said.

Daniels said she met with Trump again on several occasions but cut off contact when it became clear she would not appear on “The Apprentice.”

After Trump announced his candidacy for president, Daniels said her publicist suggested she could sell her story and put her in touch with Keith Davidson, a Hollywood lawyer who testified previously at the trial.

“My motivation wasn’t money, it was to get the story out,” Daniels said.

She said she entered into a non-disclosure agreement in October 2016 on the eve of the presidential election negotiated by Davidson and Cohen for which she was paid $130,000.

“I couldn’t tell my story, he couldn’t tell the story,” she said.

After a lunch break, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to declare a mistrial, objecting to some of Daniels’ testimony, particularly her claim that she was threatened in 2011 by a man in a Las Vegas parking garage who allegedly warned her not to talk about Trump.

“It’s extremely prejudicial to insert safety concerns into a trial about business records,” Blanche said.

Merchan denied the motion, saying “I don’t think we have reached a point where a mistrial is in order.”

Trump is under a partial gag order prohibiting him from publicly attacking witnesses, the jury or court staff.

Merchan has already fined him $10,000 for breaching the gag order and warned Trump he may face jail time for future violations.

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Naira Abuse: Trouble Looms As Group Petitions EFCC, Wants Edo APC Candidate Prosecuted

Published

2 days ago

May 8, 2024

Editor

The All Progressives Congress candidate in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, is at risk of being sentenced to six- months imprisonment in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria Act of 2007 as a coalition of civil society organisations under the aegis of the Network of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria accused him of abusing the Nigerian currency, the naira.

The group lodged the complaint with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against Okpebholo in a petition dated May 2, 2024, and addressed to the chairman of the EFCC.

The petition was signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Victor Kalu, and National Secretary, Ali Abacha.

The coalition claimed the senator is guilty of the offence of naira abuse and mutilation, citing the CBN Act of 2007, which declares such actions as punishable offences.

The coalition said it is “disappointment that prominent individuals, including lawmakers, have violated this provision of the CBN Act.”

Meanwhile, they commended the EFCC for its “swift response in arresting and charging individuals who have been caught on viral videos abusing and defacing the Naira at social events such as the cases of Mr Okuneye Idris Olarewaju, popularly known as Bobrisky, and Mr Pascal Okechukwu, also known as Cubana Chief Priest, who have faced legal consequences for their actions.”

While praising the EFCC for its actions, the coalition demanded that all individuals captured in viral videos abusing the Naira should be promptly arrested and brought to justice, as no one is above the law.

They called on the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the “viral video involving Senator Monday Okpebholo, who is seen engaging in Naira abuse and mutilation.”

They added that Okpebholo should be held accountable for his actions as a representative of the people.

They, however, warned that failure to address the viral video involving Okpebholo would result in the coalition taking further actions.

They threatened to mobilise their members, supporters, and democracy advocates for a peaceful protest against the EFCC, citing selective action and bias if the EFCC failed to address the viral video involving Okpebholo.

In his response, the senator refuted the allegation, saying it was false.

Okpebholo, in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, described the allegation as a hatchet job targeted at smearing his image ahead of the September governorship election.

He blamed his detractors and the opposition camp as being the brain behind the campaign of calumny.

While stressing that he has never been arrested by the police for any civil or criminal offence, the lawmaker insisted the man in the video circulating on social media was not him.

He said, “As a private and public person, I have never sprayed or mutilated the naira in my over 50 years on earth. It baffles me why these agents will fabricate fake news to tarnish my image ahead of the election. I therefore called on the IGP to investigate the faces behind the petition and prosecute them accordingly.

“They are scouting for fake news and non-existent things to blackmail me and lie to Edo people. Unfortunately, we know what they are up to. They are smelling the defeat already. Edo people have already decided, and no amount of State-sponsored intimidation will work.

“In Edo State, President Bola Tinubu-led APC administration is working. The federal government is reconstructing federal roads in Edo Central, Edo North, and Edo South. That is why Edo people must take sides with the APC and vote for me as the next governor of Edo State.

“We will bring the Federal Government closer to the Edo people. We have been isolated for too long, and it is time to end that alienation.”
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Mother Throws Disabled 6-year-old Son Into Crocodile Infested River [PHOTOS]

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

A mother has thrown her disabled six-year-old son into a crocodile-infested river where he has reportedly been mauled to death by reptiles.

Savitri Kumar, 26, from Uttara Kannada, a district in Karnataka, India, had a heated argument with the boy’s father, Ravi Kumar, 27, who repeatedly ordered her to “throw the child away,” the Times of India reports.

Police say her husband allegedly questioned her decision to give birth to a child with a disability.

When the parents fought about their son again on Saturday evening, May 4, Savitri was “distressed” and reportedly threw her son into a waste canal that flows into the Kali river, which is infested with crocodiles.

Father of the son

Neighbours who witnessed this called the police, who deployed divers to search for the boy in the water, but to no avail, as it was dark.

They returned on Sunday morning, May 5, and found the child’s body, which showed bite marks all over.

The boy suffered severe injuries and was missing a hand, which a police officer suggested indicated that the boy was mauled to death by one or more crocodiles.

A post mortem has been ordered to determine the six-year-old’s cause of death.