Connect with us

Published

on

A mass grave containing the bodies of 87 people has been found in the Sudanese region of West Darfur, the United Nations has said.

The remains included those of women and children allegedly killed by paramilitary and allied groups from Sudan, the UN added.

They were discovered in a one-metre (three feet) deep pit just outside the city of Geneina in the Sudanese province, the UN Human Rights Office said on Thursday.

The agency said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible, quoting what it called “credible information”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Thousands of people have fled Sudan’s West Darfur state into eastern Chad seeking safety from regional violence fuelled by the war between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Read more:
Wounded refugees stream into Chad from Sudan
Hundreds of children saved from trapped orphanage

The first 37 bodies were buried on 20 June and the other 50 bodies were placed there the following day, the UN said, adding that some belong to the ethnic African Masalit tribe.

Seven women and seven children were among those discovered in the shallow grave.

More on Africa

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies in an open area near the town, the UN said in a statement.

Some of the people had died from untreated injuries during a wave of violence by the RSF and allied militia in the days following the killing of local governor Khamis Abbakar, the office said.

The gruesome discovery comes as leaders from Sudan’s six neighbouring countries meet in Cairo for the most high-profile peace talks since conflict erupted.

Ethnically-motivated bloodshed has escalated in recent weeks as the conflict between rival military factions that began in April intensified, bringing the country to the brink of a full-scale civil war.

More than three million Sudanese have been forced to leave their homes by the escalating conflict, the UN says. AP file pic
Image:
Sudanese refugees gather in Chad. More than three million Sudanese have been forced to leave their homes, the UN says. AP file pic

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Darfur has been at the epicentre of the 12-week conflict, morphing into ethnic violence with RSF troops and allied Arab militias attacking African ethnic groups.

The conflict is between rival factions of the military government of Sudan, the Sudanese army – headed by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan – and the paramilitary group RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

Hundreds of people have been killed and more than three million have been displaced, according to the UN.

Continue Reading

World

At least 60 killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health staff say

Published

on

By

At least 60 killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health staff say

At least 60 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health staff have said.

A dozen people were killed near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, along with eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought.

Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital.

Follow latest: ‘Death to America’ chants in Tehran

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Palestinians gather at the site of a tent camp that was hit by an Israeli strike. Pic: Reuters

The strikes, which began late on Friday and continued into Saturday morning, came as US President Donald Trump said there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week.

“We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.

Palestinians gather at the site of a tent camp that was hit by an Israeli strike.
Pic: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa
Image:
The site of a strike on Gaza City on Friday. Pic: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa

Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza’s ceasefire, Iran and other subjects, an official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The last ceasefire agreed back in mid-January ended in March.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Doctors on the frontline

The war in Gaza was sparked after Hamas launched its attack on Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 people.

Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half of them still believed to be alive.

More than 56,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Read more from Sky News:
Truth about success of US strikes on Iran lies deep underground
Fury of helicopter crash victim’s son over sealed documents

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

The UN has also warned that people in Gaza are “starving”, with Israel allowing a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May after blocking all food for more than two months.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Gaza disinformation campaign is deliberate’

Palestinians have been shot at and killed while on their way to get food at aid sites, according to Gaza’s health officials and witnesses.

Israel’s military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.

Continue Reading

World

Chants of ‘death to America’ at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

Published

on

By

Chants of 'death to America' at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Tehran to mourn top military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.

Iran’s state-run Press TV said the event – dubbed the “funeral procession of the Martyrs of Power” – was held for a total of 60 people, including four women and four children.

Follow live: Iran hits out at Trump’s ‘unacceptable’ remarks

It said at least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among the dead, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard General Hossein Salami and the head of the guard’s ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven on trucks into the Iranian capital’s Azadi Square adorned with their pictures as well as rose petals and flowers, as crowds waved Iranian flags.

Mourners dressed in black. Pic: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters
Image:
Mourners at the funeral procession in Tehran. Pic: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters

Mourners dressed in black, while chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” could be heard.

Attending the funeral were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures, including Ali Shamkhani who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There was no immediate sign of the supreme leader in the state broadcast of the funeral.

A woman holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as she attends the funeral procession in Tehran.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
A woman holds a picture of Iran’s supreme leader. Pic: Reuters

Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

The US launched strikes on three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran, which Donald Trump said left them “obilterated”.

The Iranian government denies having a nuclear weapons programme and the UN nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons programme in the country.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

New details on US attacks on Iran

Over the almost two weeks of fighting, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Truth about success of US airstrikes on Iran lies deep underground
Fury of helicopter crash victim’s son over documents ‘sealed for 100 years’

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side, 13 of whom were children and 49 were women.

Israel’s health ministry said 28 people were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.

Continue Reading

World

Why critics believe Trump’s big win in Supreme Court is ‘terrifying step towards authoritarianism’

Published

on

By

Why critics believe Trump's big win in Supreme Court is 'terrifying step towards authoritarianism'

As the president himself said, this was a “giant” of a decision – a significant moment to end a week of whiplash-inducing news.

The decision by the US Supreme Court is a big win for President Donald Trump.

By a majority of 6-3, the highest court in the land has ruled that federal judges have been overreaching in their authority by blocking or freezing the executive orders issued by the president.

Over the last few months, a series of presidential actions by Trump have been blocked by injunctions issued by federal district judges.

The federal judges, branded “radical leftist lunatics” by the president, have ruled on numerous individual cases, most involving immigration.

They have then applied their rulings as nationwide injunctions – thus blocking the Trump administration’s policies.

Donald Trump addresses a White House news conference. Pic: AP
Image:
Donald Trump addresses a White House news conference. Pic: AP

“It was a grave threat to democracy frankly,” the president said at a hastily arranged news conference in the White House briefing room.

“Instead of merely ruling on the immediate case before them, these judges have attempted to dictate the law for the entire nation,” he said.

In simple terms, this ruling – from a Supreme Court weighted towards conservative judges – frees up the president to push on with his agenda, less opposed by the courts.

“This is such a big day,” the president said.

“It gives power back to people that should have it, including Congress, including the presidency, and it only takes bad power away from judges. It takes bad power, sick power and unfair power.

“And it’s really going to be… a very monumental decision.”

Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington DC
Image:
The Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. File pic: AP

The country’s most senior member of the Democratic Party was to the point with his reaction to the ruling.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called it “an unprecedented and terrifying step toward authoritarianism, a grave danger to our democracy, and a predictable move from this extremist MAGA court”.

In a statement, Schumer wrote: “By weakening the power of district courts to check the presidency, the court is not defending the constitution – it’s defacing it.

“This ruling hands Donald Trump yet another green light in his crusade to unravel the foundations of American democracy.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump’s ‘giant’ Supreme Court win

Federal power in the US is, constitutionally, split equally between the three branches of government – the executive branch (the presidency), the legislative branch (Congress) and the judiciary (the Supreme Court and other federal courts).

They are designed to ensure a separation of power and to ensure that no single branch becomes too powerful.

This ruling was prompted by a case brought over an executive order issued by President Trump on his inauguration day to end birthright citizenship – that constitutional right to be an American citizen if born here.

A federal judge froze the decision, ruling it to be in defiance of the 14th amendment of the constitution.

The Supreme Court has deferred its judgment on this particular case, instead ruling more broadly on the powers of the federal judges.

The court was divided along ideological lines, with conservatives in the majority and liberals in dissent.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

In her dissent, liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote: “​​As I understand the concern, in this clash over the respective powers of two coordinate branches of government, the majority sees a power grab – but not by a presumably lawless executive choosing to act in a manner that flouts the plain text of the constitution.

“Instead, to the majority, the power-hungry actors are… (wait for it)… the district courts.”

Another liberal Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, described the majority ruling by her fellow justices as: “Nothing less than an open invitation for the government to bypass the constitution.”

Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who Trump appointed during his first term, shifting the balance of left-right power in the court, led this particular ruling.

Writing for the majority, she said: “When a court concludes that the executive branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.”

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

The focus now for those who deplore this decision will be to apply ‘class action’ – to file lawsuits on behalf of a large group of people rather than applying a single case to the whole nation.

There is no question though that the president and his team will feel significantly emboldened to push through their policy agenda with fewer blocks and barriers.

Read more from Sky News:
DR Congo and Rwanda sign US-brokered peace deal

‘Life-changing’ drug for teenager who lost mother to genetic condition

The ruling ends a giddy week for the president.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What’s behind the row on Trump’s Iran strikes?

Last Saturday he ordered the US military to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. Within two days he had forced both Israel and Iran to a ceasefire.

By mid-week he was in The Hague for the NATO summit where the alliance members had agreed to his defence spending demands.

At an Oval Office event late on Friday, where he presided over the signing of a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, he also hinted at a possible ceasefire “within a week” in Gaza.

A truly consequential week seems set to be followed by another.

Continue Reading

Trending