Day: June 4, 2023

Saudi Arabia and the United States on Sunday called on Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary forces to agree on a new cease-fire.

‘The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America are keen to continue talks with the Sudanese negotiating delegations,’ reads a statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

The call came one day after a 5-day cease-fire deal between the two warring rivals expired on Saturday. It also followed the suspension of face-to-face talks between the army and the RSF in the Saudi city of Jeddah to reach a permanent cease-fire.

‘Despite the formal pause in the Jeddah talks and the expiration on June 3 of the five- day cease-fire agreement, the delegations from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces remain in Jeddah and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, as facilitators, continue to engage them daily,’ the statement said.

‘Discussions are focused on facilitating humanitarian assistance and reaching agreement on near-term steps the parties must take before the Jeddah talks resume,’ it added.

The two countries called on Sudan’s conflicting parties ‘to agree to and effectively implement a new ceasefire, with the aim of building to a permanent. cessation of hostilities.’

Saudi Arabia and the United States ‘stand ready to resume formal talks and remind the parties that they must implement their obligations under the May 11 Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan.’

On Thursday, the US announced sanctions targeting Sudan’s warring rivals after the collapse of their cease-fire talks in Saudi Arabia.

At least 863 civilians have been killed and thousands injured since the outbreak of clashes between the army and the RSF since April 15, according to local medics.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than a million people have been internally displaced by the conflict.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2

21 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2

19 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2

24.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi

Source: Anadolu Agency

Nine drones were downed on Sunday in Crimea, said the Russian-appointed head of the region, which was annexed by Russia in 2

14.

‘Over the past night, air defense forces shot down 5 enemy UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles), 4 more were jammed and planted by electronic warfare,’ Sergey Aksyonov said in a statement on Telegram.

Aksyonov said that the fall of one of the drones damaged three private homes and two cars in the city of Dzhankoi.

An unexploded drone was also found on the territory of a private household, he added.

‘As a result of the night attack, there were no victims or injured,’ Aksyonov said.

Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the incident.

In 2

14, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, a move widely viewed as illegal by the international community, including Trkiye and the UN General Assembly.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least 14 people were killed and five others are missing after a landslide in southwestern China on Sunday, local media reported.

The incident took place at 6 a.m. local time (22

GMT) in a forest farm in the Leshan city of Sichuan province, state-run Xinhua News said.

A rescue operation involving over 18

people is underway in search of the missing, authorities said.

Leshan was hit by heavy rain over the two days before the incident, according to local media.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The head of the paramilitary Wagner Group claimed on Sunday that Ukrainian forces hold positions on the southwestern outskirts of the city of Bakhmut, a major hotspot in the Russia-Ukraine war.

‘Yes, unfortunately, there is such information … Today, there is information that there are already observation posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,’ Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio statement on Telegram.

Prigozhin’s comments came in response to a question about remarks by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, who claimed in a statement on Telegram a day earlier that the country’s armed forces control the southwestern outskirts of the fiercely contested city.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in the Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region, which last year Russia claimed to have annexed.

On May 2

, the Russian Defense Ministry and the Wagner paramilitary group claimed their forces took complete control of the city.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied the claims during a press conference after last month’s G-7 summit in Japan.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan extended his condolences on Sunday to the families of the victims of a passenger train derailment in the eastern state of Odisha, India, and to the people and government of India.

“On behalf of myself and the nation, I offer my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the train accident in Odisha, India, and to the people and government of India,” Erdogan said on Twitter.

Wishing a speedy recovery to the injured, he added: “Trkiye stands by India to help heal their wounds.”

A train accident late Friday in the Indian state of Orissa claimed the lives of some 28

people and left hundreds injured.

The accident in the Balasore district of Odisha was followed by a massive rescue operation involving the National Disaster Response Force, military and other agencies, according to officials.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A fire broke out in a refugee shelter in central Germany, resulting in the death of a child and wounding 1

people, according to local media reports on Sunday.

A police statement said the fire broke out around 5 a.m local time (3GMT) in the city of Apolda in the state of Thuringia, with 245 people present at the shelter.

After being rescued by firefighters, the residents of the shelter were transferred to a different refugee reception center in the nearby town of Hermsdorf.

The fire left the building unusable, and an investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the 2

23 Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday with a time of 1 hour 27 minutes 57.94

seconds

The Dutch driver, who also earned the fastest lap bonus, additionally racked up his fifth win in the 2

23 season of the Formula One World Championship.

“It’s a good period, but we have to keep on working and trying to find more performance,” said the 25-year-old.

In round 8, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell won two podiums for Mercedes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Hamilton finished with a difference of 24.

9

seconds, while Russell was 32.389 seconds behind Verstappen.

Round 9 in Formula 1 will be held on June 18 at Canada’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

Driver Standings:

1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands): 17

2. Sergio Perez (Mexico): 117

3. Fernando Alonso (Spain): 99

4. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain): 87

5. George Russell (Great Britain): 65

Constructor Standings:

1. Red Bull: 287

2. Mercedes: 152

3. Aston Martin: 134

4. Ferrari: 1

5. Alpine: 4

Source: Anadolu Agency