War pushes Sudan into the abyss
My colleague Declan Walsh and photographer Ivor Prickett Spent three weeks in Sudan. Few foreign journalists have been able to enter the region over the past year. Since the conflict broke out in April 2023, millions of people have been displaced and looming famine threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
Khartoum, Sudan's capital and one of Africa's largest cities, has been reduced to a scorched-earth battlefield as a feud between two generals plunged Sudan into civil war and made the city the site of one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
The United States estimates that 150,000 people have died since the war began. The United Nations says 9 million people have been forced from their homes, making Sudan the world's largest displacement crisis. Another genocide now threatens Darfur, a region that became synonymous with war crimes 20 years ago.
The United Nations has warned that famine could kill more than 220,000 children in the coming months and could rival the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s if it is not controlled.
on the ground: In the silence of famine wards, hungry babies struggled desperately. Every few days, a baby died. Shells flew across the Nile, smashing into hospitals and houses. State television was used as a torture chamber.
What's next: U.S.-led peace talks have stalled. Sudan’s state is crumbling, threatening to drag down a fragile region. Experts say it’s only a matter of time before one of Sudan’s neighbors — such as Chad, Eritrea or South Sudan — is drawn in.
Israel attempts to influence US public opinion
Israel organized and funded a campaign last year. Using fake social media accounts and news sites The covert effort to urge U.S. lawmakers to support the Gaza war shows the lengths Israel is willing to go to sway American opinion, a New York Times investigation has found.
The campaign began in October and is still active on X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts posing as Americans to post pro-Israel comments. While the United States has long been one of Israel's staunchest allies, the Gaza war has been unpopular with many Americans, who have called on President Biden to withdraw support for Israel amid the growing civilian death toll.
detail: Meta and OpenAI said last week that the activity had no widespread impact. X did not respond to a request for comment.
Gaza: CIA chief holds talks in Qatar, but Israel and Hamas appear to remain at loggerheads The parties are deeply divided over the latest ceasefire proposal.
UN says global temperatures will continue to set records
The Earth has experienced its highest temperature in 100,000 years. However, the United Nations meteorological agency announced today that there is a nearly 90% chance that the Earth will 2028 will be the hottest year on record.
Between now and then, the global average temperature is very likely to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above the start of the industrial era — the level that countries are trying to avoid under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
More Hot News
Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Many of the surviving veterans are visiting the beaches of northern France for the last time. There are fewer than 200 of them. Their average age is about 100.
One of them is 98-year-old Bill Becker, a top turret gunner for the USS.”I did ithe said with a tired smile.
Saudi Arabia attracts tourists
In the past few years, the Saudi royal family has spared no expense to improve the country's reputation overseas and reduce its economic dependence on oil, including an $800 billion investment in the tourism industry.
But what is it like to travel in a country that has long been off-limits to most Westerners? Can the Saudi government convince potential visitors to overlook or reconsider the country’s long association with religious extremism, ultraconservatism and human rights abuses?
To see these changes firsthand, our travel correspondent Stephen Hiltner filmed his month-long trip across the UK. Learn about his journey And look at his pictures.
