South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF

South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday that attacks on medical facilities were rising in South Sudan as "major conflict" caused mass displacement, leaving under-resourced health centres struggling to cope. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 15 May 2025
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South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF

South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF
  • “We are talking about a major conflict that is taking place over multiple fronts,” said MSF’s operations manager Bakri Abubakr
  • Abubakr labelled the subsequent displacement a “major crisis“

NAIROBI: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday that attacks on medical facilities were rising in South Sudan as “major conflict” caused mass displacement, leaving under-resourced health centers struggling to cope.

South Sudan has long grappled with insecurity and political instability, but tensions between President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, have spilt over into clashes between their forces around the country in recent months.

International attention has focused on fighting in Upper Nile State, but MSF warned that clashes were also occurring in the states of Jonglei, Unity, and Western Central Equatorial.

“We are talking about a major conflict that is taking place over multiple fronts and multiple locations,” said MSF’s operations manager Bakri Abubakr.

Abubakr labelled the subsequent displacement a “major crisis” — with roughly 60,000 people displaced in Upper Nile State and 50,000 in Jonglei alone.

MSF teams witnessed entire villages displaced, he said, saying “hospitals, health facilities and community facilities have been abandoned as well from their staff.”

“We are witnessing a collapsing health system in the country,” he said, adding that only half of South Sudan’s medical facilities were operational even before the latest fighting.

Roughly 80 percent of the country’s health care system is funded by international bodies, MSF said, with Juba contributing just 1.3 percent from its budget.

“We see a rise of attacks on health care facilities, medical personnel, civilian population,” said MSF’s Abdalla Hussein, including attacks on White River Nile barges carrying vital supplies and looting of remote outposts.

The UN says eight medical facilities have been struck this year, and MSF believes the figure could be even higher.

MSF’s head of mission Zakariya Mwatia described rising numbers of wounded arriving at Malakal city after weeks sleeping rough and traveling through the bush, their health hanging by a thread — with staff unable to save them.

“We are yet to see the worst,” he added.


Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports

Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports
Updated 7 sec ago
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Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports

Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports
MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that certain forces were trying to wreck Moscow’s ties with Azerbaijan and that they should think hard about what they were doing, the state RIA news agency reported.
The statement came amid rising tensions between the two countries after two Russian state journalists were arrested in Baku and a further around 15 more Russians arrested separately on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime.
The arrests followed Russian police raids against ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Russia suspected of involvement in serious crimes in which two men died.
RIA cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying it regarded its relationship with Baku as extremely important and that it believed the arrest of the Russian journalists was not connected to their work but motivated by other considerations.
The pair have since been charged with fraud and other crimes by a Baku court.

Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says

Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says
Updated 5 min 35 sec ago
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Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says

Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says
  • The closure of Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, on March 21 cost airlines tens of millions of pounds and stranded thousands of passengers

LONDON: The fire that caused a hugely disruptive shutdown at Heathrow airport in March was likely caused by the failure of a component at an electricity substation, Britain’s National Energy System Operator said in a report on the incident on Wednesday.
The closure of Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, on March 21 cost airlines tens of millions of pounds and stranded thousands of passengers. It also raised questions about the resilience of Britain’s infrastructure.
“This review has seen evidence that a catastrophic failure on one of the transformer’s high voltage bushings at National Grid Electricity Transmission’s 275kV substation caused the transformer to catch fire,” the report by the National Energy System Operator said.
“This was most likely caused by moisture entering the bushing, causing an electrical fault.”
National Grid Electricity Transmission’s controls in place were not effective and failed to identify that action had not been taken in relation to an elevated moisture reading in 2018, the report said, adding that the issue went unaddressed.


Dalai Lama says he will have successor after his death

Dalai Lama says he will have successor after his death
Updated 19 min 41 sec ago
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Dalai Lama says he will have successor after his death

Dalai Lama says he will have successor after his death
  • The charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist had previously said the institution of Dalai Lama would continue only if there was popular demand
  • Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name its own successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950

McLeod Ganj, India: The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet confirmed Wednesday that he will have a successor when he dies, reassuring Buddhist followers around the globe that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama will continue.

It is a landmark decision for Tibetans, many of whom had feared a future without a leader, as well as for global supporters who see the Dalai Lama as a symbol of non-violence, compassion and the enduring struggle for

Tibetan cultural identity under Chinese rule.

According to Tibetans, Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama is lauded by his followers for his tireless campaign for greater autonomy for Tibet, a vast high-altitude plateau in China about the size of South Africa.

He and thousands of other Tibetans have lived in exile in India since Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959.

The charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist had previously said the institution of Dalai Lama would continue only if there was popular demand.

He said Wednesday he had received multiple appeals over the past 14 years from Tibetan diaspora in exile, Buddhists from across the Himalayan region, Mongolia and parts of Russia and China, “earnestly requesting that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue.”

“In particular, I have received messages through various channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal,” he said in a video broadcast at the start of a meeting of religious leaders in the Indian Himalayan town where he has lived for decades.

“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he added, according to an official translation.

His advanced age had also sparked concern over the future of Tibetan leadership and the delicate question of his succession.

The announcement was made ahead of his 90th birthday on July 6.

While China condemns him as a rebel and separatist, the internationally recognized Dalai Lama describes himself as a “simple Buddhist monk.”

Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name its own successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950.

But the Dalai Lama said Wednesday that responsibility for identifying the 15th Dalai Lama “will rest exclusively” with the India-based Gaden Phodrang Trust, the office of the Dalai Lama.

“I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he added.

Chemi Lhamo, 30, a Tibetan activist in exile, said she was convinced the continuation of the role of Dalai Lama would serve the cause of a Tibetans.

“There isn’t a doubt that the Dalai Lama institution will also continue to serve the benefit of humanity,” Lhamo said, adding the announcement sent a message to Beijing to “unequivocally reject” any role in identifying the future leader.

The Dalai Lama handed over political authority in 2011 to an exiled government chosen democratically by 130,000 Tibetans globally.

At the same time, he warned that the future of his spiritual post faced an “obvious risk of vested political interests misusing the reincarnation system.”


Son of kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty to drug trafficking in US

Son of kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty to drug trafficking in US
Updated 02 July 2025
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Son of kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty to drug trafficking in US

Son of kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty to drug trafficking in US

NEW YORK: A son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has agreed to plead guilty to drug trafficking in the United States as part of a plea deal, court documents show.
Ovidio Guzman is accused of conspiring to ship cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States, via a faction of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel founded by his father.
Federal court documents dated June 30 and signed by Ovidio Guzman, alias “Raton” , say he wishes to plead guilty to settle the case and to waive trial in Illinois, where he is being held.
According to documents from the Chicago court hearing his case, a plea hearing is scheduled for July 9 before Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman. After that hearing, the judge will sentence him at a date yet to be determined.
US authorities accuse Ovidio and his three brothers of leading Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel designated by the Trump administration as a global “terrorist” organization.
The United States accuses the four of trafficking fentanyl into the United States, where the opioid epidemic is linked to tens of thousands of deaths.
Ovidio Guzman was extradited to the United States in 2023 to face narcotics charges, joining his father, one of the world’s most infamous drug traffickers, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump.
Another son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, was arrested after arriving in the United States last July in a private plane with cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped.
The arrests sparked cartel infighting that has left more than 1,200 people dead and 1,400 missing in Sinaloa state, located in northwestern Mexico.
On Monday, the bodies of 20 people, several of them decapitated, were found on a highway bridge in a part of Mexico where factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel are fighting, authorities said.


Federal judge halts the Trump administration from dismantling the US African Development Foundation

Federal judge halts the Trump administration from dismantling the US African Development Foundation
Updated 02 July 2025
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Federal judge halts the Trump administration from dismantling the US African Development Foundation

Federal judge halts the Trump administration from dismantling the US African Development Foundation
  • Congress created USADF as an independent agency in 1980, and its board members must be confirmed by the US Senate

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling a US federal agency that invests in African small businesses.
US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, DC, ruled that Trump violated federal law when he appointed Pete Marocco the new head of the US African Development Foundation, or USDAF, because Marocco was never confirmed by Congress. As a result, Marocco’s actions — terminating most of the agency’s employees and effectively ending the agency’s grants — are void and must be undone, the judge found.
Congress created USADF as an independent agency in 1980, and its board members must be confirmed by the US Senate. In 2023, Congress allocated $46 million to the agency to invest in small agricultural and energy infrastructure projects and other economic development initiatives in 22 African countries.
On Feb. 19, Trump issued an executive order that said USADF, the US Institute of Peace, the Inter-American Foundation and the Presidio Trust should be scaled back to the minimum presence required by law. Trump also fired the agency’s board members and installed Marocco as the board chair.
Two USDAF staffers and a consulting firm based in Zambia that works closely with USADF sued on May 21, challenging Marocco’s appointment and saying the deep cuts to the agency prevented it from carrying out its congressionally mandated functions.
The staffers and consulting firm asked the judge for a preliminary injunction, saying Marocco’s “slash-and-burn approach” threatened to reduce the agency to rubble before their lawsuit is resolved. They said the Federal Vacancies Reform Act prohibited Marocco’s appointment to USADF, and that the same law requires that any actions done by an unlawfully appointed person must be unwound.
“This is a victory for the rule of law and the communities that rely on USADF’s vital work,” said Joel McElvain, senior legal adviser at Democracy Forward, the organization representing the USDAF staffers and consulting firm in their lawsuit. “We will continue fighting against these power grabs to protect USADF’s ability to fulfill the mission that Congress gave it to perform.”
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro had written in court documents that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act doesn’t apply to USADF, and that the president has the authority to designate acting members of the agency’s board until the Senate confirms his nominees. Any claims about the cuts themselves, Pirro said, must be handled in the Court of Federal Claims, not the federal district court.
The judge found in a separate case that Trump had the legal authority to fire the previous members of the USADF board. Pirro wrote in court documents in that case that the president also has the legal authority to appoint someone to run the USADF, consistent with Trump’s policy goals, until the Senate could confirm his nominees.