Sudan’s warring rivals agree to 72-hr. ceasefire

KHARTOUM—A US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals officially came into effect Tuesday after 10 days of urban combat killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to the ceasefire “following intense negotiations”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement shortly before the truce took effect at midnight (2200 GMT Monday).

Previous bids to pause the conflict failed to take hold, but both sides confirmed they had agreed to the three-day halt.

“This ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, healthcare, and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions,” the RSF paramilitary tweeted.

In a statement on Facebook, the SAF said it would also abide by the ceasefire on condition its rivals did so.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned earlier that Sudan was on “the edge of the abyss” and that the violence “could engulf the whole region and beyond”.

The fighting has pitted forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the RSF.

The RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar al-Bashir unleashed in Darfur, leading to war crimes charges against Bashir

Singapore slams Branson over cannabis case

KUALA LUMPUR—The Singapore government criticized British billionaire Richard Branson on Tuesday for saying authorities “may be about to kill an innocent man” over one kilogram of cannabis.

Singaporean Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday after being convicted of conspiracy to traffic 1,017.9 grams (35.9 ounces) of cannabis, twice the minimum amount that merits the death sentence under the city-state’s tough drug laws.

Branson, a member of the Genevabased Global Commission on Drug Policy, urged Singapore on his blog on Monday to halt the execution, saying Tangaraju was “not anywhere near” the drugs at the time of his arrest.

He warned that Singapore might be about to put an innocent man to death.

“This is patently untrue,” Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement, adding that Tangaraju’s guilt had been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Branson showed “disrespect for Singapore’s judges and our criminal justice system with such allegations,” it said. It will be Singapore’s first execution in six months and the 12th since last year.

Cannabis has been decriminalised in many parts of the world, including in neighbouring Thailand. Rights groups have been appealing to Singapore to abolish capital punishment. AFP and others.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the main civilian bloc which the two generals ousted from power in a 2021 coup, said the truce would allow for “dialogue on the modalities of a permanent ceasefire.”

At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies.

Among the latest to die was the assistant administrative attache at Cairo’s embassy in Khartoum, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.

- ‘Corpses litter the streets’ -

The official was killed while heading from home to the embassy to follow up on evacuation procedures, it said.

More than 4,000 people have fled the country in foreign-organized evacuations that began on Saturday.

The United States and European, Middle Eastern, African, and Asian nations launched emergency missions to bring to safety their embassy staff and Sudan-based citizens by road, air and sea.

But millions of Sudanese are unable to flee the country, which has a history of military coups.

They are trying to survive acute shortages of water, food, medicine, and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts. AFP

Anchors away: Carlson out at Fox, Lemon at CNN

NEW YORK—Conservative firebrand Tucker Carlson, host of Fox News’ most popular show, has abruptly left the US network, it was announced Monday, days after the outlet paid a huge settlement to end a defamation case.

Also on Monday, the rival CNN network sacked veteran presenter Don Lemon, who recently made remarks about women and aging that were seen as sexist. Carlson was the best-known name on Fox’s presenting roster, hosting a prime-time evening show that won fierce loyalty among the broadcaster’s right-wing viewers.

A key figure in Republican politics, he often interviewed Donald Trump, and has been widely criticized for spreading disinformation as well as nightly reams of allegedly racist and hate-filled rhetoric.

“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said in a brief statement, giving no reason for his immediate departure.

The 53-year-old Carlson, who joined Fox in 2009, provided no reaction.

Railing against everything from immigration policies to gun controls, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” pilloried liberal trends in modern America, appealing to viewers’ outrage and propelling the show to the heights of cable television.

The news of Lemon’s departure from CNN came a little after midday Eastern time, with CNN providing a statement to Newsweek from Chairman and CEO Chris Licht. No reason was given for the decision in Licht’s note, with the company head stating that Lemon would “forever be part of the CNN family.”

“CNN and Don have parted ways,” Licht’s message read. “Don will forever be part of the CNN family and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on his future endeavors.”

Lemon, in a message shared to Twitter a little after noon, expressed shock over the news, characterizing it as a “termination.” Lemon also expressed frustration over hearing the news from his agent.

“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN,” Lemon wrote. “I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. AFP

Kenya fears more starvation cult victims found as search resumes

MALINDI, Kenya—Fears were growing in Kenya on Tuesday that there could be more victims of a starvation cult as investigators resumed their searches after finding dozens of corpses in mass graves.

Police have spent days scouring the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi after receiving a tip-off about a cult led by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who urged his followers to starve to death to find God.

Police sources told AFP late Monday that the death toll was now 73, with a number of people rescued and taken to hospital.

The grim discovery has sent shockwaves through the country, prompting President William Ruto to pledge a

Sokor leader’s office defends his viral Japan comments

SEOUL—South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol was in hot water Tuesday after comments he made about former colonial power Japan not needing to “kneel down” to improve ties went viral on social media.

Yoon, who is on a six-day state visit to the United States, has made boosting relations with Tokyo a key plank of his administration’s policy as he seeks to increase regional security cooperation in the face of rising threats from North Korea.

Bilateral ties were long strained by lingering issues linked to Tokyo’s brutal 1910 to 1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula—including sexual slav-

Good vibrations: Thai party makes election pledge to legalize sex toys

BANGKOK—A conservative Thai political party is seeking to woo voters ahead of next month’s general election with a pledge to legalise sex toys, pointing to the fiscal—and frisky —benefits.

Despite its reputation for being one of Southeast Asia’s most sexually liberated countries, Buddhist- majority Thailand remains conservative and vibrators, dildos and other intimate devices are illegal. ery and forced labour—even as Washington has repeatedly urged its two key regional allies to boost cooperation.

The royalist Democrat Party has been a major player in Thai politics since the 1940s but it flopped in the 2019 election and is sagging in the polls for the May 14 vote.

“Sex toys are useful because they could lead to a decrease in prostitution as well as divorce due to a mismatch of sexual libido, and sex-related crimes,” party representative Ratchada Thanadirek said in a statement Monday.

She said the government was also missing an opportunity to collect tax on the legal import of erotic stimulators.

Yoon told The Washington Post ahead of his trip that he could not accept the idea that Japan “must kneel because of our history 100 years ago” if ties between the two countries were to be improved.

The comments—including the hashtag #mustkneel—quickly became a top trending topic on Korean language social media and Twitter, and prompted wall-to-wall coverage in mainstream media.

Yoon’s office said Tuesday that the president had meant “he can’t accept the claim that improving relations with Japan is impossible unless they kneel down in a time of great need for security alliance”, a presidential aide told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It is foolish to render the entire history of exchange and cooperating -- dating 1,500 years—meaningless because of an unfortunate history spanning less than 50 years,” the aide said.

Seoul unveiled a plan in March to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labour without Tokyo’s direct involvement, which has enraged some victims. AFP crackdown on “unacceptable” religious movements amid fears that the toll is set to climb higher.

“We believe there are more,” Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome told reporters on Monday.

It is believed some followers of the Good News International Church could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola and at risk of death if not quickly found.

Hussein Khalid, executive director of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police, urged the authorities to send more rescuers to scour the 325-hectare (800-acre) area of woodland for survivors.

“Each day that passes by there is very high possibility that more are dying,” he told AFP. AFP

Colombia expels Venezuela’s top opposition leader

BOGOTÁ—Colombia expelled leading Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido on Monday, hours after he arrived in Bogota for a conference on his crisis-torn country. Neither Guaido, recognized in 2019 by more than 50 countries as Venezuela’s de facto leader, nor Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were invited to attend the event.

The conference, organized by Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, seeks to restart negotiations between Venezuela’s government and the opposition that began in Mexico City in 2021 but reached a deadlock in November.

Venezuela’s opposition, backed by many countries including the United States, did not recognize Maduro’s 2018 re-election in a vote widely dismissed as fraudulent.

The next year, Washington ramped up sanctions against Caracas, which were first imposed in 2015 over the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Last month, a Venezuelan official said free presidential elections in 2024 were dependent on the lifting of sanctions.

Colombia’s foreign ministry said Guaido, who arrived in Bogota in an “irregular manner”, was taken to the capital city’s El Dorado airport for a “departure on a commercial airline to the United States during the night.” AFP

SEOUL, South Korea—Netflix will invest $2.5 billion in South Korean content over the next four years, the streaming giant’s CEO Ted Sarandos announced after meeting with the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Washington.

South Korea has cemented its status as a global cultural powerhouse in recent years, thanks in part to the explosive success of the Oscar-winning film “Parasite” and the hit Netflix series “Squid Game”.

“Netflix is delighted to confirm that we will invest USD 2.5 billion in Korea including the creation of Korean series, films, and unscripted shows over the next four years,” Sarandos said in a statement given to AFP on Tuesday.

“This investment plan is twice the total amount Netflix has invested in the Korean market since we started our service in Korea in 2016.” Sarandos said that Netflix had “great confidence” that South Korea’s creative industry would continue to tell great stories, pointing to the recent success of global hits such as “The Glory” and the reality show “Physical 100”.

“It is incredible that the love towards Korean shows has led to a wider interest in Korea, thanks to the Korean creators’ compelling stories. Their stories are now at the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist,” he added.

Over the last few years, South Korean content has taken the world by storm, with over 60 percent of Netflix viewers watching a show from the East Asian country in 2022, company data showed.

Netflix, which spent more than 1 trillion won ($750 million) developing Korean content from 2015 to 2021, had previously said it would be expanding its South Korean show output, without giving details of spending plans. AFP