A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) official warns Sudanese families who have been forced to flee the war-torn Darfur region are dealing with a dangerous measles outbreak that is quickly spreading.
The group has been “overwhelmed” by measles cases arriving each day at the Nyala Teaching Hospital in South Darfur, where MSF provides paediatric and maternal healthcare, according to Dr. Ali Almohammed, an MSF emergency health manager, according to Al Jazeera on Monday.
list of 4 itemsend of list
Almohammed said in an interview from Amsterdam, “We have 25 beds]in] isolation for measles, but the number of cases is rising daily.”
“MSF has a really limited capacity to meet the needs of the people in Darfur. We can’t cover everything. Yes, we are attempting to provide the best medical care, but our resources are also constrained, he said.
In recent weeks, violence between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has risen precipitously in the western region of Darfur and neighboring areas.
After the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the state’s capital, in late October after an 18-month siege, more than 100, 000 people have fled their homes.
UN and other humanitarian organizations have stressed that trapped civilians lack medicines, food, and other essential supplies and have recently received a warning from the UN that Darfur has become “the epicentre of human suffering in the world.”
Since September, more than 1,300 new measles cases have been reported in Darfur, according to MSF.
Measles, a highly contagious virus, causes high fevers, coughing, and rashes.
According to a fact sheet from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is particularly dangerous for children under the age of five because it can lead to serious health issues.
MSF reported this week that while nearly 179, 000 Sudanese children had been vaccinated against the disease over the course of the past six months, only a small number of the 5 million people who are at risk.
Due to the ongoing conflict, the organization claimed that it is unable to operate in most of North Darfur, including El-Fasher, or East Darfur.
Almohammed also cautioned that Darfur is currently experiencing a “drop in the ocean” of vaccines, including those that are necessary for other preventable diseases like diphtheria and whooping cough.
MSF claims that there have been “significant administrative and bureaucratic hurdles” as well as ongoing violence in the shipping of vaccines.
The organization’s statement read, “We urge authorities to immediately remove all bureaucratic and administrative obstacles to the transport of vaccines throughout Darfur.”
“Unicef needs to coordinate efforts to increase the transport and delivery of vaccines, syringes, and the necessary supplies at the same time.
Meanwhile, Sudanese healthcare facilities have experienced worsening conditions for both civilians and medical personnel.
Out of 73 health workers who had been detained by the paramilitary group, nine were released from detention on Saturday, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
The network called for the release of all detained medical personnel and civilians without exception despite recognizing the action as a “positive” step.
Since the start of the conflict in mid-April 2023, according to the World Health Organization, attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan have resulted in 1, 858 fatalities and 490 injuries.
In recent months, Nyala has detained at least 70 health workers and roughly 5, 000 civilians, it added.
Tommy Fury gave fans a glimpse of his incredible home after convincing Molly-Mae to move in full time. Businesswoman Molly revealed she is unsure what to do with her other £4million mansion after heading to Cheshire – and hinted she could keep both after admitting it could be too emotional selling her beloved property.
Tommy is just happy they’re living together, and uploaded a video showing fans his gym and incredible swimming pool. Molly, 26, and the boxer, 25, purchased the seven-bedroom home in the summer of 2024 and have spent many months restoring the pad.
They’ve brought it to life and Tommy, who has recently started a YouTube channel, gave us a little look around. Showing himself working out on the weights while looking after their toddler Bambi, he then took us further inside and is clearly proud of what they’ve achieved.
Before heading to the sauna, he said, “Bambi is having a swimming lesson in the pool room.” Every day and night, I participate in my final day. I’ve been using the infrared sauna for about six months. Every night, I spend 20 minutes there, which really helps me fall asleep. Then, immediately following, I jump into the pool.
Fans have also been welcomed inside their newly renovated home by Molly. She described a “make-do” dressing room in a recent vlog as “I want to make it exactly how I want it.”
“Everything we’ve done so far has really added value and been worthwhile.” We are actually developing it, improving it, and making it even more amazing. My dressing room is still a construction site.
“The plan was it for be done by Christmas, but it’s been pushed back to January. We have delays upon delays with everything we have wanted to do to the house. Dressing room is next, then Bambi’s room, then second lounge and the guest room. At some point I want to do the kitchen and all the bathrooms.”
Since the couple were the victims of a terrifying robbery in 2021, Molly has been reluctant to share details of her family home on social media, but she gave fans a rare glimpse into the incredible mansion in a recent post on social media.
But Molly still doesn’t know what to do with her Manchester place. She said last month: “What am I going to do with this house, I don’t want to rent it out but I don’t want to sell it. I’m just feeling a little bit emotional because it is an end of an era.
“This house is everything to me, I just need to figure it out and in a dream world my mum would move up from down south and live here but she can’t move here because her husband works down south in a good job and he’s not ready to give that up.”
After leaving the Love Island villa as runners-up in 2019, Molly-Mae and Tommy didn’t waste any time, moving in to a three-bedroom Manchester apartment together just one month after the show finished.
In 2022, they moved into their current Cheshire mansion, following a three-year search for their” dream home”. The six-bedroom property boasts a home gym and dressing room, as well as 5, 000 sq ft of land. They then rocked the showbiz world by splitting, before getting back together months later.
Molly-Mae documented their life at home on her @mollymaison account on Instagram, sharing sneak peeks into their renovations. One early project was the downstairs bathroom, which the couple transformed by ripping off the “loud, tropical themed wallpaper” and adding black marble and matte gold fixtures.
Elsewhere in the house, even Bambi’s nursery has an en-suite bathroom. Molly-Mae previously wrote:” The Nursery… I only nearly two months passed until I finally managed to take some photos of Bambi’s bedroom, which feels like a small slice of heaven.
Bambi isn’t the only one with a stylish wardrobe, with Molly-Mae frequently sharing videos and photos from her dressing room and walk-in wardrobe, which were the first renovations to be finished. For all of her belongings, shoes, and handbags, there are floor-to-ceiling cupboards in the room.
Chris Rea was married to his wife Joan for 57 years Joan after meeting at the age of just 16. The singer has died at the age of 74, it has been announced today. He was best known for being behind the iconic Christmas song Driving Home For Christmas. Throughout his successful music career, Chris has been backed by his supportive wife.
It has even been said in the past that Joan was even one of the minds behind the famous festive tune. Chris revealed that he was being driven back up north by his childhood sweetheart after a recording session in December 1978 when inspiration hit for the song.
READ MORE: Barry Manilow reveals he is battling cancer and is undergoing lung surgeryREAD MORE: Inside Chris Rea’s 30-year health battle from organ removal to cancer diagnosis
The star explained that it had started snowing outside and they had got stuck near Nottingham as they waited for the roads to be cleared. Chris said he found himself looking out of the window at other drivers who he noted looked miserable. This is when the iconic line “driving home for Christmas” was invented.
Despite his moment of genius, Chris explained that the song had been created out of desperation as he had little money left and thought his music career was coming to an end.
Joan had agreed to take her partner to London as he was set to be dropped by his manager and his recording contract had ended. This meant the company wouldn’t pay for a train ticket for him.
Chris was claiming benefits at the time and was also on a driving ban. Joan and Chris had just £220 left between them and they decided to drive for six hours to get back to Middlesbrough which meant they got home at 3am.
When they opened the door, a letter was on the doormat from a US performing rights organisation. His song Fool (If You Think It’s Over) had charted in the US and he’d been sent a cheque for £15,000.
The pair couldn’t believe their luck and decided to use the funds to purchase a house. Chris had written down the lyrics for Driving Home For Christmas, but it was a few years later when he was playing around with his new Roland keyboard and came up with a melody.
It was put as a B-side on his 1986 single Hello Friend but listeners loved the other song and he decided to re-record it. It was announced today that Chris died in hospital following a short illness.
A spokesperson for his family said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris. He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.”
The musician has recorded 25 studio albums and two of those topped the UK Albums Chart which were The Road to Hell in 1989 and its successor, Auberge, in 1991.
At Turning Point USA’s annual conference, prominent conservative figures in the country clashed, exposing the root causes of the conflict between US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base and the ruling Republican Party.
Republican leaders, media figures, and conservative activists all gathered for a four-day conference in Phoenix, Arizona, which revealed deep ideological disagreements within the conservative movement.
list of 3 itemsend of list
Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson, media figures, criticized one another on the stage while discussing the issues of free speech, bigotry, and other related topics.
What is Turning Point USA (TPUSA), and what can we learn from the first AmericaFest conference since Charlie Kirk, the group’s founder, passed away in September?
Charlie Kirk, who was killed in Utah in September during an event, founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative nonprofit organization with a US base. Erika Kirk succeeded Kirk in becoming the CEO of TPUSA after his death.
The group, which supports free-market principles and limited government, has more than 850 chapters spread across college campuses nationwide.
Political speeches, networking, and cultural programming are included in the AmericaFest conference, which has been held annually since 2021, in an effort to pique young conservative activists’ interest.
A mix of Republican elected officials, well-known conservative media figures, and celebrities attended the event.
Among the most well-known voices were:
Ben Shapiro, who delivered the first speech following CEO Kirk, slammed several conservative figures, most notably Carlson and Megyn Kelly. For amplifying so-called conspiratorial and extremist figures in the broader conservative movement, Shapiro, a vocal supporter of Israel, called others “grifters” and “charlatans.”
Carlson’s choice to host Nick Fuentes, a far-right figure, was “an act of moral imbecility,” according to Shapiro. Fuentes has been accused of anti-Semitism.
Carlson, on the other hand, directly addressed the audience, mocking Shapiro’s criticism and framing attempts to divide different voices.
He claimed that he “laughed” at the attempts to censor dissidents, which he described as “trying to censor” — which highlighted a contentious ideological conflict within the Republican-aligned media sphere.
Shapiro also attacked conservative media analyst Candace Owens, who has criticized Israel’s occupation of Gaza and called it a genocide. She has urged Washington to halt its military support for Israel.
Owens (who was not present at the event) “has been vomiting all kinds of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years,” according to the Daily Wire cofounder.
He claimed that Kelly, a former Fox News host, was “guilty of cowardice” because she refrained from criticizing Owens for making false accusations about a plot to involve the US and Israeli governments in Charlie Kirk’s death.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former US president and the son of Indian immigrants, also criticized bigotry and hate on the right, claiming that anyone who normalizes hatred for any particular race or religion “does not have a place as a leader” in the conservative movement.
Journalist Carlson also criticized bigotry targeting Muslims in his speech. Because they are Muslims, what you are watching right now is attacking millions of Americans? It’s repulsive.
I’m a Christian, too. I don’t practice Islam. I’m never going to say that because I’m aware that making a secret jihadi claim is difficult. I’m not”, he added.
In his speech on Sunday, JD Vance, the US Vice President, refused to take sides in the debate around bigotry, saying the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America”.
During the convention’s closing speech, Vance said, “I didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or de-platform.”
We don’t care whether you’re white or black, rich or poor, young or old, urban or rural, content or uninteresting, or some combination thereof.
Israel was brought up repeatedly at the conference.
Steve Bannon claimed that Shapiro, a Jew, and others who vehemently support Israel were “the “Israel First” crowd.”
Israel requires independence, and it requires its own self-determination. Go for it if Israel wants to conquer Syria, but don’t force the USA to fight in an endless conflict, he said.
Some on the right have questioned whether Trump’s “America First” philosophy conflicts with the Republican Party’s historically unwavering support for Israel.
Carlson also harshly criticized a certain Christian minister for denying that his government’s genocidal war against Gaza was justified.
Do we murder a man’s children if he commits a crime? Whether it’s in Gaza City or Minneapolis, I’m not interested. No, Carlson remarked to the audience, “We don’t.” He continued, “God is not on any country’s side… [God] doesn’t have a nationality.”
The idea of determining an American’s ancestry or heritage is also questioned by Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio.
At the conference, he said, “The notion that a “heritage American” is more American than another American is fundamentally un-American.
If you believe in the US Constitution, the right to freedom of speech, the freedom of expression, colorblind meritocracy, the American dream, and if you are a citizen who swears allegiance to our country, Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman, said in an opinion piece for The New York Times on December 17 that you are an American.
Ramaswamy’s position on the US appears to differ from Vice President Vance’s, who expressed his opposition to citizenship in a speech from July because he felt compelled to support the principles of the Declaration of Independence, such as the one in the United States.
America is more than just a concept, he says. It is a group of individuals with a historical and future in common. In summary, it is a nation, he had said.
Vance praised the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which were intended to give communities that have historically faced challenges equal opportunities, during his speech at the conference on Sunday.
A court in Ecuador has sentenced 11 soldiers to 34 years in prison for their role in abusing and disappearing four children from the city of Guayaquil as part of a country-wide crackdown on crime.
The sentencing on Monday capped a yearlong investigation into the missing children, who had been last seen on December 8, 2024, walking towards a sports field near their neighbourhood.
list of 3 itemsend of list
The charred bodies of Steven Medina, Nehemias Arboleda, and brothers Ismael and Josue Arroyo were found weeks later, on December 31, in a rural swampy area.
The court also sentenced five soldiers who collaborated with the prosecution in the case to two and a half years behind bars.
The military had maintained that the boys, ages 11 to 15, were criminals who had been detained and were alive when they were released.
Several soldiers told prosecutors the boys had been beaten, subject to mock executions, and forced to strip before being abandoned naked in the remote and dangerous rural area of Taura.
The soldiers were acquitted of killing the boys.
“The patrol abandoned the minors in that area, knowing it was dangerous, desolate, and abandoned,” Judge Jovanny Suarez said in the ruling on Monday.
The defence maintained that prosecutors did not prevent conclusive evidence.
It also maintained that the soldiers were sent on patrol without prior training and that they had left the minors alive.
The case triggered outrage nationwide and condemnation of President Daniel Noboa’s so-called “Phoenix Plan”.
Under the scheme, Noboa deployed the military within the country to respond to the country’s spiralling gang violence.
In September, Amnesty International said the approach has led to an increase in enforced disappearances while failing to bring down crime rates.
“Enforced disappearances are multiplying in Ecuador while the government insists on a militarised strategy that not only has not reduced crimes, but has increased human rights violations,” Ana Piquer, the group’s Americas director, said at the time.
The organisation’s report noted that 43 people have been reported missing by the armed forces since Noboa took office in 2023.