According to an analysis of satellite imagery viewed by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have carried out numerous mass killings against the group since the city’s demise in Sudan.
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur in western Sudan, was under the control of the RSF for more than a year and a half. Late on Monday, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the withdrawal of his forces from their final stronghold in the wider Darfur region. The paramilitary RSF had taken control of the main Sudanese army base in el-Fasher and won there, but the RSF later declared victory.
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According to the HRL report, the fall of El-Fasher resulted from “the carpet-bombing of large sahel sahel by the Sudan Armed Forces, an undetermined number of civilian casualties caused by both sides, and almost 15 months of IPC-5 Famine conditions in areas caused by RSF’s siege of the city.” By reviewing satellite imagery and open-source and remote sensing data from Monday, the HRL made the determination.
According to the HRL, “El-Fasher appears to be participating in a deliberate and systematic process of ethnic cleansing of indigenous non-Arab communities in Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti through forced displacement and summary execution.”
The HRL, aid organizations, and experts have previously warned of mass ferocity and displacement in Darfur, and the RSF has long been accused of attacking non-Arab communities.
According to HRL’s report, images of clusters of objects and ground discoloration were uncovered in images that it believes to be of human nature. The HRL appears to support other reports from aid organizations that reported chaotic scenes on the ground, including arrests, hospital attacks, and killings.
The RSF’s actions “may be in line with war crimes and crimes against humanity (CAH)” and “may lead to genocide,” according to the report.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 12 million have been internally or have been left in Sudan as a result of the RSF and SAF’s conflict, which started on April 15, 2023. More than ten years after South Sudan’s creation, there are also concerns that Sudan could rescind its relationship.
Due to the government shutdown, American air traffic controllers will miss their paychecks, raising concerns that the already understaffed staff will be subject to increased financial strain as they manage thousands of flights every day.
On Tuesday, checks were due.
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Because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was already running out of controllers before the shutdown, flight delays are becoming more frequent across the nation as more controllers report being sick.
The pressure placed on controllers has been continued by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels. According to them, the issues are only likely to get worse as the shutdown drags on.
Some controllers are grappling with paying for the medication needed to keep their children alive, Daniels said, not just about the mortgage payments and groceries they pay.
One controller told his daughter that she couldn’t join the traveling volleyball team because he couldn’t afford the cost during the shutdown, Duffy claimed.
At a press conference held on Tuesday at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Daniels remarked, “Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time.” “And I’m watching the arrival of air traffic controllers.” I understand the narratives. They are concerned about having to pay for their daughter’s medication. I received a message from a controller stating that I’m running out of money. And she dies if she doesn’t receive the medication she needs. That’s the end. ‘”
When there aren’t enough controllers to ensure safety, the FAA limits the number of flights that land and take off in an airport. At airports like New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport and California’s Burbank Airport, delays frequently lasted hours or even hours. However, Los Angeles International Airport had to halt all flights for almost two hours over the weekend.
On Tuesday, controllers are organizing to stand outside at least 17 airports across the country to distribute flyers urging the shutdown to end as soon as possible.
Money worries
During the shutdown, more controllers have called in sick, both because they are frustrated with the situation and because they need extra time to work for a second job rather than to stay at their regular jobs of six days a week. Although Duffy has claimed that controllers who abuse their sick time may be fired, the majority of them have kept coming to work every day.
As controllers focus more on finances, according to air traffic controller Joe Segretto, who works at a regional radar facility that oversees flights flying into and out of New York airports.
Segretto asserted that “the pressure is real.” “These planes are being kept safe by us.” We have trainees who are attempting to learn a new job that is very fast-paced, extremely stressful, and extremely complex, and are now concerned about how to pay their bills.
Duffy claimed that the government’s long-standing shortage of about 3, 000 controllers is also being made more difficult by the shutdown. He claimed that some Oklahoma City air traffic controller students have left the program, and that younger controllers who are still receiving training may decide to leave.
Duffy claimed that the shutdown is preventing me from achieving those objectives.
The UN special rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, has criticized states that were involved in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and demanded a new multilateralism to stop it from occurring again.
On Tuesday, Albanese addressed delegates from the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation’s Cape Town, South Africa, in a remote address, titled “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime” at the UN General Assembly.
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She claimed that Israel had “strangled, starved, and shattered” Gaza when it was left. In her report, which examines the involvement of 63 states in Israel’s actions in both Gaza and the West Bank, is referred to as “decades of moral and political failure” in a colonial world order supported by a global system of complicity.
Too many states have damaged, established, and protected Israel’s militarised apartheid, allowing its settler colonial enterprise to splinter into genocide, the most serious crime against the Palestinian indigenous people, she claimed.
She claimed that a genocide had been prevented by diplomatic protection in international “fora meant to preserve peace,” military ties that ranged from weapons sales to joint trainings that “fed the genocidal machinery,” unconstitutional weapons sales, and trade with organizations like the European Union, which sanctioned Russia over Ukraine but continued to conduct business with Israel.
The 24-page report examines how third countries helped facilitate the “live-streamed atrocity,” focusing on how Israel used its veto seven times at the UN Security Council and managed ceasefire negotiations. It claimed that other Western countries had co-sponsored with abstentions, delays, and watered-down draft resolutions, strengthening “a simplistic rhetoric of “balance””.
Despite mounting mounting evidence of genocide, many states continued to supply Israel with weapons, according to the statement. The US Congress’s approval of a $ 26. 4 billion package for Israeli defense, as well as Israel’s threat to invade Rafah, a rumored “red line” for former US President Joe Biden, was exposed in the report.
The report also attributes responsibility to Germany, which exported arms to Israel during the genocide, with supplies ranging from “french to torpedoes” and to the United Kingdom, which allegedly flew more than 600 surveillance missions over Gaza since the war broke out in October 2023.
The report also highlighted the involvement of Arab and Muslim states in regional geopolitics through US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel while acknowledging the “complexity of regional geopolitics.”
It makes note of Egypt’s mediation during the war that it “maintained” significant security and economic ties with Israel, including energy cooperation, and the Rafah crossing’s closure.
Albanese claimed that the UNGA should have confronted the “perilous precedent” of sanctions the US had placed on her earlier this year because of her criticism of Israel’s actions in Palestine, which had prevented her from visiting New York in person.
These actions constitute an attack on the UN’s sovereignty, independence, integrity, and very core. These sanctions, if ignored, will add yet another nail to the coffin of the multilateral system, she claimed.
The report claimed that the genocide in Gaza “betrayed the trust placed in the foundations of global peace and security” by exposing an unprecedented rift between people and their governments.
The special rapporteur called for a new type of multilateralism during his UNGA speech, calling for “a living framework of rights and dignity for the many, not just a facade.”
Israel’s nearly daily-lethal strikes on Lebanon have been called into question by President Joseph Aoun and American envoy Morgan Ortagus at a meeting in Beirut.
Israel has repeatedly bombarded Lebanon in a flagrant violation of the November 2024 ceasefire, which aimed to end the country’s a year of hostilities that turned into months of full-fledged war with Hezbollah, with impunity. More than 20 people have been killed in Lebanon as a result of Israeli strikes alone in October, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Health.
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Aoun had insisted to Ortagus on the necessity of “activating the work of the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Committee,” especially with regard to halting the ongoing Israeli violations, in a statement released by the presidency on Tuesday.
The implementation of the truce is supervised by a five-member committee made up of France and the United States. Ortagus is scheduled to attend this week’s committee meeting.
Aoun added that “the need exists to allow southerners to return to their homes and repair damaged ones, especially as winter approaches.”
Excavators and bulldozers have been targeted by Israeli strikes in recent weeks. According to Lebanoni officials, these strikes are intended to stop any reconstruction efforts in the south of the conflict. Without providing any proof, Israel claims to be attacking Hezbollah.
The UN human rights office announced on Tuesday that it had verified the Israeli forces’ killing of 111 civilians since the Lebanon ceasefire.
Israeli troops were ordered to leave southern Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire agreement last year, and Hezbollah was ordered to retreat north of the Litani River and destroy any military installations there.
Only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers are authorized to station in the south of the nation, according to the agreement.
An Israeli attack that hit UN peacekeeping personnel in southern Lebanon on Sunday was condemned by France and the UN.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, the attack on UNIFIL troops, which included an Israeli drone dropping a grenade in the vicinity of a patrol and a tank opening fire on peacekeepers close to the border town of Kfar Kila, was “very, very dangerous.”
In contrast to the ceasefire, Israel has been launching nearly daily attacks in southern Lebanon, occupying five positions, and still holding onto the position five times.
The Lebanese government has begun disarming Hezbollah, who have declared they will not lay down arms as the country’s main resistance to Israeli attacks and occupation in the south, under the pressure of the US.
Israel has maintained troops in five strategic border locations despite the truce’s terms.
With the most recent ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Israel’s attacks in the Middle East haven’t stopped.
The American star was even more aware of the potential risks of training courses when she resumed skiing a few weeks after her harrowing crash last year.
In a giant slalom race at the World Cup, Shiffrin suffered severe injuries to her abdominal muscles and a puncture wound to her abdomen. The two-time Olympian knew that competing in training could also be a risky.
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Not more, perhaps.
In a recent interview, Shiffrin said, “When I came back from injury, I was aware of the fencing on the side, a hole in the course, and where the trees were.”
The only way to train is to practice, which is the only way to do it, according to the statement, “We frequently train in conditions where the variables are just too many to control, and you have to decide occasionally: Is this unreasonably dangerous, or is this within a reasonable level of danger that we need to train, we need to practice, and this is how we can do it.”
Similar experiences were shared by French skier Alexis Pinturault.
The 2021 men’s overall World Cup champion said, “We are training in many places where it’s not really safe, yes, that’s 100% sure.”
When World Cup racer Matteo Franzoso died following a crash in preseason training in Chile, the ongoing safety debates in Alpine skiing came into sharp focus in September, less than five months before the Olympics in Milan Cortina, Italy.
The 25-year-old Italian slammed into a wooden fence 6-7 meters (20-23 feet) outside the course after smashing through two layers of safety fencing on a course in La Parva. He succumbed to cranial trauma and subsequent brain swelling two days later.
A talented French skier died after a training crash in April, making Franzoso the third young Italian skier to pass away in less than a year.
Are skiing’s risks life-threatening?
When Shiffrin returned to skiing after suffering an injury, she dealt with persistent post-traumatic stress disorder.
She resumed racing in late February, almost three months after her crash.
You start to overlook some of the risks that are actually life-threatening, according to Shiffrin, “because athletes and coaches and everybody are so used to saying that the sport has an inherent risk.”
I struggled with this because I was so afraid of the risk the entire season. You become paralyzed if you give it too much thought. However, it’s crucial to be able to determine what those risks are and find ways to minimize them as much as possible. It’s inappropriate to say that risk is inherent in the sport and that players should either accept or reject it.
Training courses typically lack the same safety standards as race courses for financial reasons.
Less safety netting is placed along the course to prevent falls when racers crash, and fewer medical staff and equipment, like helicopters for immediate transport to a hospital, are available.
The risk is present every time, according to Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill champion from Italy, who described ski racing as “an extreme sport” and said that because the speed is 80-90km/h [50-56mph] at a high level, it’s like F1 or MotoGP in downhill, super-G, but also giant slalom.
Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria competes in Solden, Austria, in the men’s giant slalom (AP), according to Alessandro Trovati of Austria.
Are teams better off using more nets in preparation for the Winter Olympics?
Courses are safer in races thanks to numerous nets, Goggia claims. However, she did point out that adding more nets won’t solve the training course problems.
Before skiers can descend steeply in the early morning hours when there is overnight snowfall, safety netting should be removed, the slope cleaned of fresh snow, and the netting removed.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the local organisers are clear about how to handle this on a race day, but who is in charge during a preseason training camp?
For Goggia, it would be wrong to criticize only the team coaches because they cannot be held accountable “because a coach only teaches you how to ski.”
She recalls Franzoso’s accident in September, when three teams from Austria, Switzerland, and Italy were practicing there.
Goggia said, “I don’t believe they didn’t realize the danger.” However, there must be a completely different organization if you want to make the training slope the equivalent of the World Cup slope. We can do more, of course. But ultimately, who accomplishes it? Who wants to make a million euros of investments?
Will ski safety issues be resolved with specialized training courses?
The Italian Winter Sports Federation requested that FIS establish dedicated training facilities with safety netting similar to those used for World Cup races in countries like Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand following the tragic Franzoso accident.
FIS President Johan Eliasch stated that the organization was working to “prevent as much as possible horrible accidents happen” just before the World Cup season-opening races in Austria last weekend.
FIS collaborated with local organizers and national federations to improve safety, including setting up a race calendar that allows skiers to rest more, having more medical personnel on the ground, and using more netting to better prepare the course’s snow surface.
When training runs at speed, ensure that the safety standards are the same as they would be on the big race day, Eliasch said.
However, Austria’s women’s team coach Roland Assinger said that might be too ambitious.
Assinger, a former World Cup downhiller, said, “A risk will always remain, but we coaches try to minimize it.”
The world’s safest training program, “Copper Mountain,” is located in Colorado, USA, with countless B nets and A netting from top to bottom. Because it’s financially impossible to invest those millions, South America also has a lot of B nets, but not at the same level.
Prior to Franzoso’s passing, the Austrian federation began shipping additional safety nets to their overseas training camps.
Was it sufficient? It was a first step, Ski Austria’s general secretary Christian Scherer said. However, the national federations must work together.
Scherer argued that ski resorts in the area should be in charge of organizing safer training programs.
Who pays for the Olympic and FIS upgrades to winter sports safety?
That is the inquiry. According to Eliasch, FIS has distributed “nearly 100 million]euros, $117 billion]” to its member federations over the past four years, “so that they have the resources.”
Eliasch added that Austria and Switzerland, two of the world’s leaders, “have so much money” that they could put more money into training course security.
This can be challenging for a smaller [federation]. We do intervene and provide, Eliasch said.
Former world champion in downhill and super-G, Austrian speed specialist Vincent Kriechmayr hoped “that the big federations would cooperate and coordinate a little bit better in areas where all nations train.”
Assinger referred to some locations that FIS believes should support in-season training camps as “certainly a good idea.”
An airplane that crashed on Tuesday while traveling to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kwale, Kenya, is visible in surveillance footage. The aviation disaster involved the pilot and ten tourists traveling together. Unknown is the cause of the collision.
