US sanctions Sudanese military amid escalating war, ‘world’s worst famine’
Since 2023, Sudan has been locked in a conflict, pushing the country into a dire humanitarian crisis. As fighting continues, U.S. officials are holding Sudan’s military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, responsible for much of the devastation, accusing him of using deadly weapons to displace millions and claim countless lives.
The U.S. government condemned the Sudanese Armed Forces for launching airstrikes that have torn apart critical infrastructure, further deepening the crisis.
U.S. intelligence reports also reveal Sudan’s military has deployed chemical weapons against the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful militia operating outside government control.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo emphasized the U.S. would continue to disrupt the flow of weapons into Sudan and hold accountable those responsible for the suffering of civilians.
As the conflict continues, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sudan is currently enduring one of the worst famines in the world. He condemned Sudan’s military leader for using starvation as a weapon, denying food to the population.
“Part of our challenge in any of these situations is to keep working through it, to keep pushing, to keep pressing, to get to that one day of success.” Blinken said. “We have to see the effective provision of humanitarian assistance to people who need it.”
The U.S. has also condemned the actions of the Rapid Support Forces, imposing sanctions on the group just last week. Blinken further criticized both sides in the conflict, calling out the leaders for committing war crimes and stressing neither is fit to lead Sudan toward peace.
In an update released on Thursday, Jan. 16, the United Nations reported before the war, Sudan’s population stood at 46 million. Today, only a third of that population remains in the country, with millions displaced by the violence.
Eight months ago, U.S. authorities estimated at least 150,000 people had died as a result of the war, with 11 million others forced from their homes.
Sudan is seeing the “fastest” and “biggest” humanitarian crisis ever recorded as war rages on across the country. The International Rescue Committee placed the African nation at number one on its emergency watchlist.
Sudan made global history for the second year as the country’s famine grew to unprecedented levels. The agency has urged the public “not to look away from what’s happening.”
The New York-based organization released its 2025 report Wednesday, Dec. 11. The report said the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led to innocent lives lost.
War’s impact on Sudan
Since the war began in April 2023, experts estimated 61,000 people died. Ethiopia and Chad sandwich the war-plagued country and, at times, fuel the combat or act as the mediator. Another 11 million people left their homes to escape the conflict. Many turned to displacement camps where humanitarian groups already declared starvation.
As the war enters its second year, the deadly power struggle has left half of Sudan’s population in need of aid, according to the United Nations.
“Never in modern history have so many people faced starvation and famine as in Sudan today,” experts said.
While the war is concentrated around the country’s capital, armed forces began attacking Sudan’s rural areas. Experts said the battle has directly impacted agriculture and food production, inflating the widespread hunger crisis.
“Two-thirds of Sudan’s population live in rural areas and their livelihood is being devastated by the war. We urge local authorities to facilitate safe engagement in agricultural activities,” the experts said.
Humanitarian crisis in several countries
Instead of creating a lifeline to aid, the report said outside powers have supplied more weapons to their allies and made a resolution out of reach.
According to the IRC, stats showed Sudan is not alone. Dozens of other countries are in an emergency. Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, Afghanistan and Mali are all topping the list.
Ceasefire efforts remained untouched, with both parties increasing strikes in residential areas.
Biden to address UN assembly for last time as president
Joe Biden is set to address the United Nations General Assembly for the final time as U.S. president. And with a heavy focus on Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump is reportedly returning to the town of his first assassination attempt. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.
Biden to address UN assembly for last time as president
The Pentagon announced Monday, Sept. 23, it’s sending additional U.S. troops to the Middle East to supplement the roughly 40,000 already in the region as tensions continue to rise there — especially between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Associated Press has reported Biden administration officials will also be speaking to their counterparts on the sidelines of the U.N. about ways to prevent the fighting there from escalating further.
Zelenskyy is also expected to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump while he’s visiting the U.S.
Trump, Harris focus on crucial swing state Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has long been considered a swing state when it comes to presidential elections and this year, the candidates know the importance of winning there. During a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania Monday, former President Trump told supporters, “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing. It’s very simple.”
His visit was just the latest in a handful of visits to the crucial state in recent weeks as he looks to secure a second presidential term.
Also on Monday, sources close to the Trump campaign told media outlets he will return to Butler, Pennsylvania on Oct. 5. Butler is where a sniper fired and grazed his ear with a bullet, in the first assassination attempt on his life in July.
Since then, the Secret Service put in place tighter security protocols for candidates at rallies.
Vice President Kamala Harris is also pushing to win the Pennsylvania vote. She’ll be there again Wednesday, Sept. 25, for a campaign event in Pittsburgh. She’s also made many stops in the swing state since taking up the Democratic nomination.
In the 2020 election, Pennsylvania went to Joe Biden, a key state in helping him win the presidency. There are 19 votes at stake in the Keystone State.
Israeli strike kills nearly 500 in Lebanon in deadliest day since 2006
Nearly 500 people were killed Monday in Lebanon in the deadliest strike by Israel in nearly two decades. Lebanese authorities said Israeli warplanes struck civilian areas in the southern part of the country.
Earlier in the day, Israel had told civilians to move away from the areas, which it says are commonly used by Hezbollah for military purposes.
This comes after almost a year of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza along Israel’s southern border. Israel is now shifting its focus to the north, where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.
Tuesday morning, Israel’s military said it struck “dozens” of additional targets in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it fired rockets into northern Israel late Monday night.
The fighting has heightened fears of a widening war in the region.
Missouri set to execute man convicted of 1998 murder
An execution of a man found guilty of a 1998 murder is set to proceed Tuesday evening in Missouri, after the state’s supreme court and governor rejected requests to cancel the scheduled lethal injection.
A jury convicted Marcellus Williams of the stabbing death of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former newspaper reporter, inside her suburban St. Louis home. Williams has asserted his innocence.
His lawyers argued the state supreme court should halt the proceedings due to alleged procedural errors in jury selection and alleged mishandling of the murder weapon by the prosecution. The court rejected those arguments.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson also rejected a clemency request to switch the sentence to life in prison. Williams’ lawyers still have an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As of now, though, the execution — which would be the third in the state this year — is set for 6 p.m. CST Tuesday.
Hurricane John makes landfall in Mexico as Category 3 storm
Hurricane John made landfall in Mexico late Monday as a Category 3 storm. It brought 120 miles per hour winds to Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Levi’s teases a potential partnership with Beyoncé
It appears music superstar Beyoncé has a new collaboration coming out. This one would not be with another singer, but with a jeans company.
Levi’s teased what appears to be a partnership with Beyoncé in an Instagram post on Monday. The company shared an image of a woman wearing a cowboy hat and riding a horse with the caption reading “Introducing a new chapter,” seemingly referencing Beyoncé’s latest album “Cowboy Carter,” which features a song called “Levi’s Jeans.” Levi’s also tagged her Instagram account in the post.
You could say denim is having a moment lately, with fashion brands like American Eagle and Abercrombie saying the trend is growing in popularity and revitalizing sales.
United Nations World Food Program officials being investigated in Sudan
The United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) top two officials in Sudan are under investigation over allegations of fraud and deception. The agency announced it is launching a probe on Wednesday, Aug. 28, to determine whether the officials lied to donors about the WFP’s ability to deliver aid to hunger-stricken civilians and more.
The U.N.’s food-arm is struggling to feed millions of people in a country, in which as many as 150,000 people have died since the beginning of the civil war and 10 million people have been displaced.
The WFP officials stand accused of hiding the role of Sudan’s army in blocking aid amid a 16-month war against rival Rapid Support Forces (RFS). The WFP’s deputy country director, Khalid Osman, is among those being investigated. He has reportedly been given a temporary assignment outside of Sudan as a “de facto suspension.”
Sources familiar with the probe said that the second official implicated in these allegations is WFP Area Manager Mohammed Ali. Ali is linked to the disappearance of more than 200,000 liters of fuel from the U.N. organization. It’s unclear if he has been reassigned as a result of the investigation.
The U.S. government’s aid agency, USAID, said the WFP alerted it to “potential incidents of fraud affecting operations in Sudan” on Aug. 20. The U.S. organization is the largest single donor to the agency, supplying nearly half of all contributions on an average year. USAID called the allegations “deeply concerning” and wants a thorough investigation.
Humanitarians and diplomats are worried mismanagement at the center of WFP’s Sudan Office may have contributed to the failure to deliver food to those in need. The investigation comes weeks after international groups warned of famine growing in Sudan’s Darfur region. More than 25 million people in Sudan are reportedly facing crisis levels of hunger or are on the brink of starvation.
2023 deadliest year for aid workers ever, 2024 could be worse: UN
A report from the United Nations on Monday, Aug. 19, found that 2023 was officially the deadliest year for humanitarian aid workers internationally, and officials warn that 2024 could be even worse. Of those aid workers, 280 were reportedly killed across 33 countries last year, which is a 137% increase from 2022.
The most recent data shows that 2024 is on track to be even deadlier for aid workers. The U.N. reported that 172 aid workers have been killed so far this year and half of those deaths occurred in Gaza alone. The agency also said that “extreme levels of violence” in Sudan and South Sudan are also to blame for an increase in aid workers deaths.
In the wake of what the U.N. called “outrageously high” numbers, the organization is calling for greater efforts to protect civilians in conflict zones. U.N. officials said that in these conflict zones that violence against aid workers is normalized and there is a lack of accountability for the deaths. The agency also said that this violence has hurt its aid operations “enormously.”
Since October, the U.N. reported that 280 workers have been killed Gaza alone.
The reverberations of aid worker and civilian deaths have been felt in the United States since the onset of Israel’s war against Hamas.
During the week of Aug. 18, more pro-Palestinian protesters are bringing their voices to the national stage. As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicks off, activists are continuing to demand an end to U.S. assistance to Israel’s war effort in Gaza.
The demonstrations at the DNC in Chicago come as the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 40,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Yevgeny Prigozhin may be dead, but Wednesday, Aug. 23 was a good day for Ukraine. The Ukrainian armed forces took out a major missile installation in Crimea.
Prigozhin’s reported death marked the second occasion in the mercenary’s time on Earth when he reportedly died in a plane crash. The first happened in the Congo in 2019.
This time around, Prigozhin, his second in command Dmitry Utkin, and other Wagner leaders were flying to St. Petersburg from Moscow. Witnesses reported hearing two explosions before the plane fell from the sky.
“Even if he really is dead, this is still only the beginning of the story, because this means there is now an opening in Putin’s inner circle for another person who can be used who can be a little bit of plausible deniability,” Geopolitical expert and Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan said.
In addition to fighting in Ukraine, Prigozhin and his private military company worked extensively in places like the Central African Republic and Sudan. The mercenaries fulfill security contracts for local governments, and Wagner holds the rights to several lucrative mines. Wagner was often employed to carry-out covert missions for the Russian Federation.
A memorial for the allegedly dead war criminal popped up outside the Wagner Group offices. In addition to flowers, mourners brought a sledgehammer, one of the Wagner Group’s favorite tools to mete out discipline.
Plenty of conversations, rumors and conspiracies about whether Putin ordered the death of Prigozhin have popped up since his reported death. In the midst of fighting in Ukraine, Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against Russia’s military leaders in June. Putin said those involved with the treachery would be punished.
Prigozhin’s plane blowing up wasn’t the only explosion to rock Russian morale amid its war with Ukraine Wednesday. A major missile base blew up at around 10:00 am in Russian-occupied Crimea. It’s not clear whether Ukraine used a drone, cruise missile or soldiers on the ground to take out the Cape Tarkhankut missile site.
An S-400 missile battery, a Bastion anti-ship cruise missile battery and a host of radars were all destroyed. Ukraine’s intelligence service added every Russian soldier at the site was killed.
The missile site was vital to Russia’s defense strategy in Crimea, southern Ukraine and the western corridor of the Black Sea. Ukraine has been trying to cut off Crimea and southern Ukraine from the rest of the Russian forces.
Russia anticipated this strategy, setting up the air and naval defenses at the cape. With those assets now a smoldering pile, Ukraine’s ambition to create a Crimean blockade is that much closer to reality.
Less than a day after the missile batteries were destroyed, Ukrainian special forces reportedly carried out a mission in Crimea. Radio Free Europe reported the special operators raised a Ukrainian flag in the territory, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. If Ukraine succeeds in cutting off Crimea from Russia, it could recapture the territory with minimal combat.
After months of secret negotiations, a Russian helicopter pilot successfully defected to Ukraine Wednesday. They Kyiv Post reported the pilot landed his Mi-8 craft, which was carrying parts for Russian fighter jets, at a base in Ukraine.
While the pilot’s defection was planned, the other two crew members aboard were unwilling to surrender. Ukraine’s military intelligence said they were killed.
US doctor is stabbed to death in front of family amid Sudan unrest
A doctor who split his time practicing in Iowa and Sudan has been killed. He was stabbed to death in front of his parents, wife and two children when trying to escape the unrest in Sudan.
49-year-old Bushra Sulieman was fatally stabbed outside of his Sudan residence. The U.S. doctor had been treating those wounded in the fighting in the days leading up to his death.
Dr. Suliema, a professor at the University of Khartoum, was in Sudan to train other doctors. He is a dual national of the U.S. and Sudan and would practice medicine back and forth between Iowa and Africa.
He is the second known American to die in the midst of Sudan’s upheaval.
The doctor is among hundreds of lives lost in Sudan in recent weeks amid fighting between two military commanders in the African nation.
As the U.S. government works to evacuate private Americans, the United Nations is now warning of a massive refugee crisis stemming from the battle over the region.
Hundreds of thousands of people have already been displaced due to the violence. The U.N. says 800,000 more could flee Sudan if the fighting continues. This would put more strain on neighboring countries already taking in hundreds of thousands of people.
International efforts to garner a peace deal between the two sides are growing more urgent as Sudan reaches what the U.N. describes as a “breaking point.”
A top U.N. aid says what was a humanitarian crisis in the region is now a full blown catastrophe.
First Republic becomes 3rd recent major bank failure, feds step in: May 1 rundown
A third major U.S. bank has gone under in less than a two-month span. The federal government is now stepping in. And five people have been killed in a shooting rampage in Texas. Authorities say they have zero leads as a manhunt for the suspect is now on its third day. These stories and more highlight the daily rundown for Monday, May 1, 2023.
JP Morgan Chase to buy First Republic’s assets
First Republic Bank was taken over by the federal government. And in a deal reached today, JP Morgan Chase will now buy most of the failed bank’s assets and assume all of the lender’s deposits. This marks the third major U.S. bank to fail in the last six weeks, following Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank’s collapse.
Deposits belonging to First Republic will continue to be insured by the government. As part of the transaction, First Republic Bank’s 84 offices in eight states will now re-open as Chase bank branches.
According to the Federal Reserve, First Republic was the nation’s 14th largest bank at the beginning of this year.
5 killed in Texas shooting rampage
Five people were killed in a shooting rampage late Friday, April 28, in a small Texas community north of Houston. The gunman is said to have vanished.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from over a dozen agencies continue to search for 38-year-old Francisco Oropesa. He is accused of shooting and killing five people in Cleveland, Texas, including a 9-year-old boy.
Investigators say a neighbor had asked Oropeza to stop shooting in his yard so they could put their baby to sleep. Investigators say Oropesa, who had been drinking, then took an AR-style rifle to the neighbor’s home and opened fire.
Authorities have since found the rifle believed to have been used in the shootings. But they still have zero leads on Oropesa’s whereabouts.
All five victims were from Honduras, according to other family members who survived the shooting. There is an $80,000 reward for information that leads to Oropeza’s capture.
Storms string along East Coast
A fresh round of Spring storms produced several tornadoes along the east coast over the weekend. They created strong enough winds to flip cars in Florida and damaged an estimated 100 homes in Virginia Beach. There were downed trees, downed power lines, reports of gas leaks, and flooding up and down coastal communities battered by the severe storms.
Another system is expected to hover over the Great Lakes in the next few days. That weather system could potentially create more weather hazards in the region in the following days.
1,000 Americans evacuated from Sudan
The U.S. State Department said Sunday, April 30, that it has helped evacuate close to 1,000 Americans from war-torn Sudan where the region’s conflict is now in its third week.
Armed drones were used to escort a convoy of buses carrying hundreds of Americans on a 500-mile journey out of Sudan and to safety. A U.S. Navy ship was stationed at port Sudan to assist in the evacuations as well.
The evacuation of American citizens follows the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Sudan. The country’s top two rival generals continue to create chaos in the region despite a truce agreement. Gunfire still rings in the country’s capital.
Media companies can charge per article on Twitter
Another change is coming to Twitter under Elon Musk. The CEO says, starting this month, media companies can begin charging users to read individual articles they publish on the social media platform. In return, users who don’t want to pay the full monthly subscription, can pay per article when they only want access to some of a news outlet’s content. Musk calls it a “win-win” for media organizations and the public.
Investors sue Adidas over Yeezy partnership
Investors are suing Adidas over its Yeezy shoe deal with rapper Kanye West. Adidas cut ties with Ye in October after the rapper made a series of anti-semitic remarks. The partnership with Ye began in 2013.
In the lawsuit, shareholders allege the company knew about the risks of partnering with the rapper and failed to take precautionary measures.
In February, Adidas said it expects to lose $1.3 billion in sales this year due to the Yeezy deal falling apart. Adidas has disputed the lawsuit’s claims and says they will fight the lawsuit.
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WHO warns of high bio-hazard risk in Sudan after fighters seize pathogen labs
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced there is a “high risk of biological hazard” in Sudan, as fighting between the nation’s military and a rival paramilitary force continues to escalate. The violence has so far left at least 459 people dead and injured about 4,072 more, according to the WHO’s latest figures.
The announcement comes after one of the warring parties seized a laboratory in the Sudanese capital, which held hazardous materials including measles and cholera pathogens. According to a WHO spokesperson, technicians were unable to access the national public health laboratory to secure the materials. It was not disclosed which of the two warring parties had seized the facility.
“There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab,” WHO’s representative in Sudan, Nima Saeed Abid, said. “There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab.”
Power outages throughout Sudan have also reportedly made it impossible to properly maintain materials at the lab, resulting in an “extremely, extremely dangerous” situation that has left other medical services unavailable as well.
“If the violence does not stop, there is a danger that the health system will collapse,” the United Nations Population Fund warned.
Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health has stated that these blackouts, combined with staffing and supply shortages, have rendered 36% of health facilities in the nation’s capital non-functional and another 25% unresponsive. The United Nations health agency has also confirmed 14 attacks on health care facilities during the ongoing conflict, killing eight and injuring two.
Red Cross Regional Director for Africa Patrick Youssef has urged other countries to keep up pressure on Sudan to find a “durable political solution to end the bloodshed,” even after foreigners are evacuated.
US citizens still in Sudan will need to find their own way out
The United States suspended embassy operations in Sudan on Sunday, April 23, and sent troops on three Chinook helicopters to evacuate approximately 70 employees. But an estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens remain in the country and the State Department said they should not expect a government-led evacuation.
“It’s not safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private American citizens at this time,” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said. “We have been very clear about the need to – for American citizens to remain indoors, to stay off the roads, to shelter in place, and to avoid traveling to the U.S. embassy at this time.”
It will be very difficult for Americans to evacuate. The airport is closed and there are military checkpoints on land routes throughout the country. The official U.S. government recommendation is to shelter in place, stay away from windows and go to the lower levels of buildings.
“The State Department recommends U.S. citizens in Sudan carefully consider routes and the risks of travel, because roads may be crowded, exposed to combat operations, or have deteriorated infrastructure due to damage to bridges, roads, and facilities,”a State Department spokesperson told Straight Arrow News.
The spokesperson said the government is working to provide the best available information about security conditions including which routes may be most dangerous. The government is also connecting citizens with other countries to help them find transportation out of the country once they approach Port Sudan.
The State Department has been telling American citizens not to travel to Sudan since August of 2021.
“Do not travel to Sudan due to armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping,” the most recent travel advisory states. “The U.S. government cannot provide routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Sudan, due to the current security situation.”
The State Department also said terrorist attacks could occur at any time, in addition to the loss of internet and cellphone service.
“We have not parsed our words or been ignorant or naïve about the delicate and fragile security situation in Sudan,” Patel said.
U.S. citizens still in Sudan can fill out a crisis intake form with the State Department so they can be informed of options to leave as security conditions permit.
The Wall Street Journal reports there are private security contractors in the country helping people get out for a price. But the Secretary of State Antony Blinken said many U.S. citizens in the country may not want to leave.
“The overwhelming majority of American citizens in Sudan are dual nationals who have made their lives. They have been living there for years for decades, for generations, and many want to continue to do that. But for those who are seeking to leave, we’ll continue to engage directly with them,” Blinken said.
The State Department does not provide numbers of U.S. citizens living in a country partially because the estimates are constantly changing.