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Just In: CNN Sues White House for Barring Reporter

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CNN sued Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday, alleging the White House violated journalist Jim Acosta’s rights under the constitution by revoking his press credentials following a heated exchange with the US president.

“The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acosta’s First Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process,” the news network said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “We have asked this court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass be returned to Jim, and will seek permanent relief as part of this process.”

Details soon…

(AFP)

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World

Prince Harry, Wife, Mother-in-Law, Escape Paparazzi Induced ‘Near Catastrophic Car Chase’ in New York

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Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were involved in a chaotic car chase with paparazzi in New York on Tuesday night that could have resulted in a “catastrophic” outcome, their spokesperson has alleged.

The Sussexes were pursued by photographers after leaving the Women of Vision Awards at the city’s Ziegfeld Ballroom in a convoy that also included Doria Ragland, Meghan’s mother. The couple were left shaken by the incident, although ultimately no-one was hurt, their security detail told CNN.

Police said “numerous” photographers made the Sussexes’ transport “challenging,” but that there were no reported collisions, injuries or arrests.

According to couple’s account, the altercation with photographers was prolonged and involved multiple traffic violations. “Last night, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,” the couple’s spokesperson said.

“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.”

A member of the couple’s security team, Chris Sanchez, speaking exclusively to CNN, said the incident was alarming. “I have never seen, experienced anything like this,” he said. “What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles.”

The Sussexes were scared – but were relieved when they returned to the apartment where they were staying, he said. “The public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal,” Sachez told CNN’s Max Foster.

In a statement, the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed the outline Sussexes’ account but described it in less colorful language. The NYPD “assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex” on Tuesday evening and “there were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” said Julian Phillips, Deputy Commissioner for Public Information at the NYPD.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard,” he said.

The couple’s spokesperson said that while “being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety” and urged the media not to publish photographs from the incident. “Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”

According to the account provided by the couple’s team, the incident involved around half a dozen blacked-out vehicles with unidentified people driving recklessly and endangering the convoy and everyone around them.

Culled from CNN

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Africa

UN Warns of ‘Catastrophe’ As Sudan War Rages On

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Fierce fighting between rival generals raged on in Sudan Tuesday despite the latest truce, as warnings multiplied of the potential for a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Bloodshed has gripped Sudan since April 15 when tensions erupted into armed exchanges between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival, Mohamed Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.Hundreds have been killed and thousands wounded as air strikes and artillery exchanges have gripped swathes of greater Khartoum sparking the exodus of thousands of Sudanese to neighbouring countries.

Many more cannot afford the arduous journey to Sudan’s borders, and have been forced to hole up inside the city of five million people with dwindling supplies of food, water and electricity.

“We are hearing some sporadic gunfire, the roaring of a warplane and the anti-aircraft fire at it,” said one resident of south Khartoum.

In a Monday briefing, the top United Nations aid official in Sudan, Abdou Dieng, warned that the situation was turning into “a full-blown catastrophe”.

Kenyan President William Ruto said the conflict had reached “catastrophic levels” with the warring generals declining “to heed the calls by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union and the international community to cease fire.”

In a virtual meeting with senior UN officials, Ruto said it was imperative to find ways to provide humanitarian relief “with or without a ceasefire”.

Burhan and Daglo, who fell out after carrying out a 2021 military coup which derailed Sudan’s transition to elective civilian rule, have flouted multiple ceasefires, the latest a 72-hour extension agreed late on Sunday.

Foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their citizens. Over the past 10 days, thousands of foreigners have been brought to safety by air or sea in operations that are now winding down.

Russia’s armed forces said on Tuesday they were evacuating more than 200 people from Sudan on four military transport planes.

Nearly 500 people arrived in the Saudi port of Jeddah on Monday aboard two vessels, one a US Navy ship, the other Saudi.

– Relief trickles in –

Top UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths arrived in Nairobi on Monday on a mission to find ways to bring relief to the millions of civilians trapped inside Sudan.

“The situation unfolding there (in Sudan) since April 15 is catastrophic,” he said on Twitter.

Sudan’s turmoil has seen hospitals shelled, humanitarian facilities looted and foreign aid groups forced to suspend most of their operations.

At least 528 have been killed and some 4,600 wounded in the violence, according to the health ministry.

The United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was bracing for “the possibility that over 800,000 people may flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries”.

The World Health Organization warned that the fighting was pushing Sudan’s already ailing health sector toward “disaster” with only 16 percent of health facilities in Khartoum still functioning.

The WHO said that it had delivered six containers of medical equipment to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, including supplies for treating trauma injuries and severe acute malnutrition. It had also distributed scarce fuel to hospitals which rely on generators for power.

– Darfur chaos –

Beyond Khartoum, lawlessness has engulfed the West Darfur state capital, El Geneina, where at least 96 people have been reported killed since the start of the fighting, according to UN figures.

More than 330,000 people have been displaced, over 70 percent of them in West and South Darfur states, according to the International Organization for Migration.

“The health system has completely collapsed in Geneina,” the doctors’ union said, adding that looting of clinics and camps for the displaced had forced several agencies to carry out “emergency evacuations” for their teams.

On Friday, Doctors Without Borders said the fighting had forced it to halt “almost all activities in West Darfur”.

The Darfur region is still scarred by a war that erupted in 2003 when then hardline president Omar al-Bashir unleashed the Janjaweed militia, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, against ethnic-minority rebels.

The scorched-earth campaign left at least 300,000 people dead and close to 2.5 million displaced, according to UN figures.

The Janjaweed — which rights groups have accused of atrocities in Darfur —  later evolved into the RSF, which was formally created in 2013.

AFP

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Africa

Violence Erupts in Sudan over Struggle for Power

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The power struggle between two generals in Sudan and its associated violence escalated dramatically on Saturday and Sunday, with at least dozens of civilians and soldiers killed.

It remains unclear who has the upper hand in the power struggle, according to media reports, which said fighting around the Sudanese army’s general command in the capital Khartoum had intensified.

At least 83 people have died and 1,126 others have been injured in heavy fighting in Sudan between the army and the influential paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, the World Health Organisation said on Sunday.

A Sudanese medical organisation said on Sunday that so far at least 56 civilians and dozens of soldiers had been killed.

According to WHO, the hospitals in Khartoum, which is home to around six million people, have been overwhelmed.

Among those killed on Saturday were three employees of the UN World Food Programme, which announced on Sunday that it had stopped its aid mission due to the killings.

Two other WFP employees were injured in the clashes between the army and paramilitaries.

WFP executive director Cindy McCain said the staff had been delivering relief supplies to people in the village of Kabkabiya in North Darfur.

She called for “immediate steps” to ensure the safety of other WFP staff in Sudan.

The events triggered worldwide fears of a potential civil war in the state with about 46 million inhabitants and prompted calls from the international community for an immediate ceasefire.

As the situation escalated, two important regional organisations convened emergency meetings on Sunday. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union consulted on Sunday afternoon on the “worrying” situation in Sudan. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in East Africa also convened an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government.

The IGAD wants to discuss how best to “de-escalate the situation in Sudan and restore calm for the good of the country,” executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said on Twitter.

The clashes follow tension between Sudan’s de facto president and commander-in-chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, the leader of the RSF.

The RSF and the military have effectively held power in the country since the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

In the course of the delayed transition to a civilian government, the RSF were to be integrated into the armed forces, which led to a rift between the allies. RSF leader Daglo accused al-Burhan of clinging to power.

Fighting broke out unexpectedly on Saturday morning in Khartoum.

The RSF claimed Sudanese soldiers had entered their headquarters in the south of the city.

RSF forces attacked the airport in the north of the city and the presidential palace.

The army used fighter planes and tanks.

On Sunday, fighting continued to concentrate on the nearby army headquarters and the state radio building.

Both sides repeatedly reported combat successes that contradicted each other.

The claims of both sides could not be independently confirmed.

Fighting was also reported in other parts of the country such as Darfur and North Kordofan provinces.

Heavy fighting was also reported in the town of Merowe in the north of the country.

As the situation escalates, the UN Security Council called on all parties to the conflict to stop the fighting and start talks to end the crisis.

Humanitarian workers must also be given safe access and UN staff must be protected from attacks; the UN’s most powerful body demanded on Sunday.

The statement stressed the goal of the unity, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the republic of Sudan.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock demanded a ceasefire.

The Punch

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