World
As Turkey heads to runoff presidential race, domestic issues loom large
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has parlayed his country’s NATO membership and location straddling Europe and the Middle East into international influence, is favored to win reelection in a presidential runoff Sunday, despite a host of domestic issues.
Erdogan, 69, who has amassed greater powers during his 20 years in office, finished a first-round election on May 14 just short of a victory and also retained a majority in parliament. That came despite rampant inflation and the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake that killed over 50,000 people in the country’s south.
His challenger in the runoff is Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the 74-year-old leader of the main opposition social democratic Republican People’s Party and the joint candidate of a six-party alliance, who has promised to undo years of democratic backsliding under Erdogan, to repatriate Syrian refugees and promote rights of women.
Here’s a look at the main domestic issues shaping the election, and where Erdogan and his challenger stand:
ERDOGAN'S ECONOMICS
Contrary to the mainstream economic theory of interest rate increases helping to keep consumer prices in check, Erdogan maintains that high borrowing rates cause inflation. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, under pressure from the president, repeatedly slashed interest rates to boost growth and exports.
Instead, the value of the Turkish lira nosedived, and the rate cuts exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis. Inflation peaked at 85% in October. The official April figure was 44%, although independent groups say they think the actual rate is much higher.
To offset the impacts of inflation and win back votes, Erdogan has engaged in a public spending spree ahead of the elections, increasing the minimum wage and pension payments.
The opposition alliance has promised to restore the central bank's independence and a return to orthodox economic policies, if Kilicdaroglu becomes president.
Erdogan reportedly has asked Mehmet Simsek, his internationally respected former finance minister, to return to the position, a sign that a new government may embrace more orthodox policies, if the Turkish leader wins a third presidential term.
On Thursday, Erdogan described Turkey’s economy, banking system and financial system as “sound.” He also said, however, that Gulf states, which he did not name, had “deposited money” in Turkey, providing temporary "relief."
RECOVERING FROM DISASTER
Turkey is grappling with a difficult recovery from February's 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the deadliest quake in the country's modern history. It destroyed or damaged more than 300,000 buildings. Hundreds of thousands of residents are sheltering in temporary accommodation like tents. Some 658,000 people were left jobless, according to the International Labor Organization.
The World Bank estimates that the earthquake caused $34.2 billion in “direct damages” — an amount equivalent to 4% of Turkey's 2021 gross domestic product. The recovery and reconstruction costs could add up to twice that much, the international financial institution said.
Erdogan’s government, meanwhile, has been accused of setting the stage for the devastation with lax building code enforcement. Some people left homeless or struggling to earn money also found the government's earthquake response to be slow.
Despite the criticism, in the parliamentary election Erdogan’s alliance won 10 out 11 provinces in areas affected by the quake, signaling that the president’s focus on rebuilding during the campaigning has paid off. Erdogan has pledged to construct 319,000 homes within the year and has attended a number of groundbreaking ceremonies, trying to persuade voters that only he can rebuild lives and businesses.
Kilicdaroglu says his government would give houses to quake victims for free instead of the 20-year repayment plan envisaged by Erdogan’s government.
REFUGEES NO LONGER SO WELCOME
Refugees, especially those fleeing civil war in neighboring Syria, were once greeted with open arms in Turkey, but anti-migration sentiment is on the rise amid the economic downturn. A shortage of housing and shelters in the quake-hit provinces has increased calls for Syrian refugees to go home.
The soft-mannered Kilicdaroglu had vowed to repatriate Syrians within two years, saying he would seek European Union funds to build homes, schools, hospitals and roads in Syria and encourage Turkish entrepreneurs to open factories and other businesses there. In a bid to woo nationalist voters in the lead up to the runoff race, Kilicdaroglu hardened his tone, saying he would send refugees packing within a year of being elected. He has since also won the backing of an anti-migrant party.
Under mounting public pressure, Erdogan’s government has begun constructing thousands of brick homes in Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria to encourage voluntary returns. On Thursday, Erdogan announced in a television interview that Qatar was funding a separate housing project that would help resettle up to a million Syrians.
His government is also seeking reconciliation with Syrian President Bashir Assad to ensure their safe return.
Erdogan said Thursday there are some 4 million refugees in Turkey, including around 3.4 million Syrians, but anti-migrant parties say the figure is closer to 13 million.
A MORE DEMOCRATIC TURKEY?
The coalition of six parties has declared a commitment to restore Turkey as a parliamentary democracy and to give citizens greater rights and freedoms should their alliance win the elections.
Erdogan succeeded in getting a presidential system of governance narrowly approved by referendum in 2017 and introduced in 2018. The new system abolished the office of the prime minister and concentrated a vast amount of powers in the hands of the president.
The alliance has outlined plans for a greater separation of powers, including an increased role for parliament and an independent judiciary.
Kilicdaroglu has also promised to do away with a law that makes insulting the president a criminal offense punishable by prison. He has pledged to abide by decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which have called for the release of former pro-Kurdish party co-chair Selahattin Demirtas and philanthropist businessman and human rights activist Osman Kavala from prison.
But lacking a parliamentary majority, Kilicdaroglu would face an uphill battle implementing the democratic reforms even if he is elected.
WILL THE ELECTION AFFECT WOMEN’S AND LGBTQ+ RIGHTS?
Seeking to widen his support from voters, Erdogan has expanded his own political alliance with two nationalist parties to include a small Islamist party and also secured the backing of a radical Kurdish-Islamist party.
The parties newly recruited into Erdogan's camp have Islamic agendas, which have raised fears about the future of women’s rights in Turkey. They want to scrap laws on alimony and domestic violence protection, arguing they encourage women to leave their husbands and threaten traditional family values.
Erdogan already has removed Turkey from a European convention that aims to prevent domestic violence - a nod to religious groups that claimed the treaty encourages divorce and LGBTQ+ rights. Pandering to his pious and conservative supporters, Erdogan and other members of his ruling party have called LGBTQ+ individuals “deviants.”
The Kilicdaroglu-led alliance has vowed to rejoin the European treaty and to uphold the rights of women and minority communities. Kilicdaroglu has also reached out to conservative women, assuring them they will be able to continue wearing Islamic-style headscarves that were once banned in schools and government offices under Turkey’s secular laws.
WHAT ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY?
Under Erdogan, Turkey has, at times, become a difficult NATO ally, often pursuing its own agenda. It has cultivated close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and blocked the alliance's expansion. However, it has also emerged as a key mediator between Russia and Ukraine, helping broker a crucial deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments and alleviate a food crisis.
The opposition alliance has signaled it would pursue a more Western-oriented foreign policy and seek to rebuild ties with the United States, the European Union and NATO allies.
The Kilicdaroglu-led opposition says it would work for Turkey’s reinstatement to the U.S.-led F-35 fighter jet program, from which the country was ousted following the Erdogan government’s purchase of a Russian-made air defense system.
At the same time, a Kilicdaroglu-led government is expected to try to balance Turkey’s economic ties with Russia.
An opposition win also could result in Turkey ending its veto of Sweden’s request to join NATO. Erdogan’s government has blocked Sweden’s accession into the alliance, pressing the country to crackdown on Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey regards as terrorist threats.
Biden says debt deal 'very close' with default deadline now set at June 5
President Joe Biden said a deal to resolve the government's debt ceiling crisis seemed “very close” late Friday, even as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans into another frustrating week.
The later “X-date,” laid out in a letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, set the risk of a devastating default four days beyond an earlier estimate. It came as Americans and the world uneasily watched the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation's leadership.
Yet Biden was upbeat as he left for the Memorial Day weekend at Camp David, declaring, “It's very close, and I'm optimistic.”
With Republicans at the Capitol talking with Biden's team at the White House, the president said: “There’s a negotiation going on. I’m hopeful we’ll know by tonight whether we’re going to be able to have a deal.”
In a blunt warning, Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”
Also read: Biden releases new strategy to tackle rise in antisemitism, says 'hate will not prevail'
Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.
Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy seemed to be narrowing on a two-year budget-slashing deal that would also extend the debt limit into 2025 past the next presidential election. After frustrating rounds of closed-door talks, a compromise had appeared to be nearing on Friday.
Republicans have made some headway in their drive for steep spending cuts that Democrats oppose. However, the sides are particularly divided over McCarthy's demands for tougher work requirements on government food stamp recipients that Democrats say is a nonstarter.
Earlier Friday, McCarthy said his Republican debt negotiators and the White House had hit “crunch” time, straining to wrap up an agreement. He left late Friday night without comment.
Any deal would need to be a political compromise, with support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass the divided Congress. Failure to lift the borrowing limit, now $31 trillion, to pay the nation’s incurred bills, would send shockwaves through the U.S. and global economy.
But many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of Treasury's projections, and they are pressing McCarthy to hold out.
As talks pushed into another late night, one of the negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., called Biden’s comments “a hopeful sign.” But he also cautioned that there’s still “sticky points” impeding a final agreement.
While the contours of the deal have been taking shape to cut spending for 2024 and impose a 1% cap on spending growth for 2025, the two sides remain stuck on various provisions.
A person familiar with the talks said the two sides were “dug in” on whether or not to agree to Republican demands to impose stiffer work requirements on people who receive government food stamps, cash assistance and health care aid.
House Democrats have called such requirements for health care and food aid a nonstarter.
Asked if Republicans would relent on work requirements, Republican negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana fumed, “Hell no, not a chance."
House Republicans displayed risky political bravado in leaving town for the holiday. Lawmakers are tentatively not expected back at work until Tuesday, but now their return date is uncertain.
“The world is watching,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said after meeting Friday with Yellen. “Let’s remember we are now in the 12th hour.”
Weeks of negotiations between Republicans and the White House have failed to produce a deal — in part because the Biden administration resisted negotiating with McCarthy over the debt limit, arguing that the country's full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities.
“We have to spend less than we spent last year. That is the starting point,” said McCarthy.
One idea is to set the topline budget numbers but then add a “snap-back” provision to enforce cuts if Congress is unable during its annual appropriations process to meet the new goals.
On work requirements for aid recipients, the White House is particularly resisting measures that could drive more people into poverty or take their health care, said the person familiar with the talks, who was granted anonymity to describe behind-closed-door discussions.
Over the Republican demand to rescind money for the Internal Revenue Service, it's still an “open issue” whether the sides will compromise by allowing the funding to be pushed into other domestic programs, the person said.
In one potential development, Republicans may be easing their demand to boost defense spending beyond what Biden had proposed in his budget, instead offering to keep it at his proposed levels, according to another person familiar with the talks.
The teams are also eyeing a proposal to boost energy transmission line development from Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., to facilitate the buildout of an interregional power grid.
They are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially been lifted.
Meanwhile, McCarthy is feeling pressure from the House's right flank not to give in to any deal, even if it means blowing past the Treasury deadline.
McCarthy said Donald Trump, the former president who is again running for office, told him, “Make sure you get a good agreement.”
Watchful Democrats, though, are also pressing Biden. The top three House Democratic leaders, led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, spoke late Thursday with the White House.
McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting. The Democratic-held Senate has vowed to move quickly to send the package to Biden’s desk, right before next Thursday's possible deadline.
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings agency placed the United States’ AAA credit on “ratings watch negative,” warning of a possible downgrade.
The White House has continued to argue that deficits can be reduced by ending tax breaks for wealthier households and some corporations, but McCarthy said he told the president as early as their February meeting that raising revenue from tax hikes was off the table.
While Biden has ruled out, for now, invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt limit on his own, Democrats in the House announced they have all signed on to a legislative “discharge” process that would force a debt ceiling vote. But they need five Republicans to break with their party and tip the majority to set the plan forward.
Climate protesters face tear gas at oil major TotalEnergies shareholder meeting in Paris
French police threw a security cordon around a shareholders' meeting in Paris of oil major TotalEnergies on Friday, spraying tear gas and pushing back climate protesters who chanted, "Be gentle, police officers, we're doing this for your kids!"
Shareholders, some escorted into the meeting by police, ran a gauntlet of the peaceful, earnest and mostly young demonstrators, who waved signs attacking the climate record of the French energy giant that has reaped colossal profits from price surges that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Their signs declared, "The last pipeline before the end of the world" and "Listen to the scientists: No more fossil projects."
Protesters sat down in surrounding streets and linked arms to block access to the meeting in a famed Paris concert hall. Police officers carried some protesters to move them out of the way. They sprayed tear gas from canisters to force people back.
It comes after climate protesters tried to rush the stage of the Shell shareholder meeting in London on Tuesday, with security guards dragging and carrying them away.
Dozens of activists also forced the delay of the start of the meeting by chanting "Shut down Shell," while others shouted, held signs and linked arms outside as security tried to remove them.
The tactics come as demonstrators contest the burning of coal, oil, natural gas and biomass blamed for air pollution that researchers say kills 1.2 million people worldwide per year and is driving the climate crisis, causing deadly weather extremes, hunger, heat deaths, migration and environmental destruction.
The United Nations chief has pleaded for an end to new fossil fuel exploration and for rich countries to quit coal, oil and gas by 2040.
Citing the protests, TotalEnergies had told shareholders beforehand that they could vote remotely.
Protesters came hours before the meeting, as dawn was breaking, to try to stop it from going ahead. The standoff with police evolved from there.
"We have no choice but to be here every single time they are here," demonstrator Camille Etienne said.
German government denies Scholz comments spurred raids on climate activists
A German government spokesperson on Friday rejected the notion that comments by Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticizing climate activists might have prompted raids against them this week.
Police on Wednesday searched more than a dozen properties across Germany linked to the group Last Generation, seizing assets as part of a probe into its finances. Prosecutors in Munich said they are investigating whether the group constitutes a criminal organization after its repeated road blockades and other protests drew numerous complaints from the public.
Days before the raids, Scholz said he thought it was " completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street."
Members of Last Generation have hit back, describing the raids as a blow to democracy and accusing Scholz of belittling young people's fears about global warming.
Scholz's spokesperson, Wolfgang Buechner, said he didn't know whether the chancellor had advance knowledge of the raids but that it would be unusual if that were the case.
Asked whether prosecutors in Bavaria could have taken Scholz's comments as a signal to crack down on the group, Buechner strongly rejected the idea.
"It has to be possible for the German chancellor to answer a question about what he thinks of the protests in a plain-spoken way," he said. "I think the chancellor did this in an appropriate way."
Buechner said the German government remains committed to tackling climate change and protesters must abide by the law.
A United Nations spokesperson said Thursday that while governments have a duty to uphold the law, "people also have a fundamental right to demonstrate peacefully to have their voices heard."
"And it is clear that a lot of the progress that we have seen on awareness on climate change and positive movement on climate change is due to the fact that people have been demonstrating peacefully throughout the world," Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York
Environmental activists have said they plan further protests in Germany over the coming days.
Belgium, Iran conduct prisoner swap in Oman, freeing aid worker and diplomat convicted in bomb plot
Belgium and Iran conducted a prisoner exchange Friday in Oman, with officials saying Tehran released a Belgian aid worker in exchange for an Iranian diplomat convicted of attempting to bomb a meeting of exiles in France.
The initial announcement by Oman's Foreign Ministry did not identify the prisoners being swapped.
Later Friday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement that the aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, had been freed. Iranian state television later confirmed that the diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, was freed as well.
Oman's Foreign Ministry said that "those released were transferred from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat today, Friday, in preparation for their return to their countries." It added that "the sultanate of Oman appreciated the high positive spirit that prevailed in the talks in Muscat between the Iranian and Belgian sides, and their keenness to settle this humanitarian issue."
De Croo said Vandecasteele was transferred to Oman on Thursday night. He was received by a team of Belgian diplomats and military officials, then was assessed by doctors.
"Olivier spent 455 days in prison in Tehran. In unbearable conditions. Innocent," De Croo wrote. "Olivier Vandecasteele's return to Belgium is a relief. A relief for his family, friends and colleagues."
Oman has long served as an interlocutor for the West with Iran.
In January, Iran sentenced Vandecasteele to a lengthy prison term and 74 lashes after convicting him of espionage in a closed-door trial. He also was fined $1 million. Vandecasteele was arrested in Iran in February 2022 while packing up his belongings, after working with the Norwegian Refugee Council and Relief International in the Islamic Republic from 2015 to 2021, according to Amnesty International.
His family and the Belgian government strongly denied Iran's claims, made without offering evidence, that he was a spy. To make the swap with the Iran diplomat possible, Belgium had adopted in March a controversial prisoner exchange treaty that was upheld by the country's constitutional court.
In 2021, Belgium convicted Assadi of masterminding a thwarted bomb attack against an exiled Iranian opposition group in France and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors tied Assadi to a couple, stopped by the Belgian police and found with 550 grams (1.21 pounds) of TATP explosives and a detonator in 2018. They had been trying to target a meeting in Villepinte, France, of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an exiled Iranian opposition group known as the MEK.
Among dozens of prominent guests at the rally in Villepinte that day were then-President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; Newt Gingrich, former conservative speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Assadi was arrested a day later in Germany and transferred to Belgium. Belgian intelligence identified him as an officer of Iran's intelligence and security ministry who operated undercover at the Iranian Embassy in Austria. Iran denied Assadi's involvement.
Iran has carried out kidnappings and other plots against dissidents abroad in the past. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian referred to Assadi as "an innocent diplomat" in a tweet after his release on Friday. Iranian state television called the case against him "bogus accusations."
In a statement, the MEK condemned Assadi's release, calling it "a shameful ransom to terrorism and hostage-taking."
"This will embolden the religious fascism ruling Iran to continue its crimes in Iran through repression and regional and international terrorism," the group said.
Iran has detained a number of foreigners and dual nationals over the years, accusing them of espionage or other state security offenses and sentencing them following secretive trials in which rights groups say they have been denied due process.
Critics have repeatedly accused Iran of using such prisoners as bargaining chips with the West.
Iran, facing Western sanctions over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, has faced protests in recent months and economic strain. Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq was already scheduled to visit Tehran this weekend before the announced prisoner swap.
Strong earthquake shakes eastern Japan; no tsunami warning
A strong earthquake shook Tokyo and other areas of eastern Japan on Friday, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The magnitude 6.1 quake was centered off the east coast of Chiba Peninsula at a depth of 44.5 kilometers (28 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Strong shaking was reported in Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures, but the USGS said there was little chance of serious damage or fatalities.
Kyodo News service said no problems were reported at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in Ibaraki.
A strong earthquake hit central Japan on May 5, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20 others.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations. A massive 2011 quake in the country's northeast caused a devastating tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown.
Russia says Ukraine attacks border regions; Moscow’s forces strike Dnipro clinic
Russia's southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine came under attack from Ukrainian artillery fire, mortar shells and drones Friday, authorities said, hours after two drones struck a Russian city in a region next to the annexed Crimea Peninsula.
The Kremlin's forces, meanwhile, struck a clinic in Dnipro, in central Ukraine, killing two people and wounding another 23, including two children, Ukrainian officials said. Also, a Russian S-300 missile hit a dam in the Karlivka district of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province, placing nearby settlements under threat of severe flooding.
The Belgorod town of Graivoron, about seven kilometers (more than four miles) from the Ukrainian border, was under fire for several hours, with four houses, a store, a car, a gas pipeline and a power line damaged, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.
Closer to the border, a recreation center, a shop and an uninhabited house sustained damage in the village of Glotovo. One woman was wounded when the nearby village of Novaya Tavolzhanka was shelled, according to Gladkov.
Earlier this week, the Belgorod region was the target of one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago. Details of the raid were murky. Russia blamed the Ukrainian armed forces, but two Russian groups said they were involved, with the aim of bringing down Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Officials in Russia's southern city of Krasnodar, in the region of the same name bordering Crimea, said that two drones struck there. Witnesses told local media they heard something like the sound of a moped and then two explosions.
The blasts smashed a hole in the roof of a building and blew out windows in an apartment building.
"We just went to bed and then there was such a strong terrible boom," resident Tatiana Safonova said. "We ran outside, there were people running, but nothing else was going on."
She said "there was a specific sound beforehand, like a growling noisy moped driving by."
"There is damage to buildings, but essential infrastructure was not damaged. And most importantly, there were no casualties," Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram.
Krasnodar Mayor Yevgeny Naumov said a residential building and an office building were damaged, but there were no casualties.
Drone attacks against Russian regions on the border with Ukraine have been a regular occurrence since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, with attacks stepping up last month.
Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two consecutive days.
In another apparent incident of Kyiv's forces harassing Russia, Ukraine's defense ministry on Thursday published footage that appeared to show an unmanned drone boat attacking Russia's Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship in the Black Sea.
The video didn't show the drone hitting the ship.
The video followed reports by Russia's Ministry of Defense on Wednesday that Ukraine had launched an "unsuccessful" attack on the Ivan Khurs using three unmanned speedboats, with all three boats attacked and destroyed prior to reaching the ship. Moscow released footage allegedly showing the destruction of one of the uncrewed boats.
At least two civilians were killed and three others wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine over the previous 24 hours, the Ukrainian president's office reported Friday.
What about those who can’t flee fighting in Sudan? Many face danger and despair
Mahmoud almost never leaves his small apartment in east Khartoum. Electricity has been out for most of the past month, so he swelters in the summer heat. When he does venture out to find food, he leaves his mobile phone behind because of looters in the street. Otherwise, he hunkers down in fear, worried that an artillery shell could burst into his home.
Exhausted, confused and unable to escape the conflict-ravaged Sudanese capital, the young research technician tries blocking out the reality of his surroundings.
"I am reading my book collection for a second time," he said. One work helping him get by: "Models of the Mind," a 2021 neuroscience book about how mathematics help explain the workings of the brain.
Since the conflict broke out last month, more than 1.3 million people have fled their homes to escape Sudan's fighting, going elsewhere in the country or across the borders. But Mahmoud and millions of others remain trapped in Khartoum and its sister cities of Bahri and Omdurman, unable to leave the central battleground between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
For them, every day is a struggle to find food, get water and charge their phones when electricity is cut off. All the while, they must avoid the fighters and criminals in the streets who rob and brutalize pedestrians, loot shops and storm into homes to steal whatever of value they can find.
Dollars have become hard to find and dangerous to hold, a target for looters. Amazingly, Bankak, the banking app of the Bank of Khartoum, continues to function most of the time. It has become a lifeline for many, allowing users to transfer money and make payments electronically.
Mahmoud uses the app to pay the one shop owner he visits to stock up on canned goods. During weeks when electricity was out, the shop owner still gave him what he needed and let him pay later. A technology company that Mahmoud worked for before the fighting puts 30,000 Sudanese pounds — around $50 — on his app account every few weeks.
That transfer allows him to keep eating. "If I have money in my bank account and Bankak is operating, everything will be good," he said. Like others who spoke to The Associated Press, Mahmoud asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals.
Since April 15, the Sudanese army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamden Dagalo, have been locked in a violent power struggle that has turned the once sleepy Khartoum into an urban battlefield. More than 800 civilians have been killed, according to the Sudan Doctor's Union.
On Monday a week-long cease-fire began, the conflict's seventh, with fighting easing across parts of the city. But gunbattles and bombardments still continue despite the pledge made by both forces in Saudi Arabia. Residential areas and hospitals have been pounded by army airstrikes, while RSF troops have commandeered homes and turned them into bases.
The more immediate danger is often the armed men and looters in the streets. Waleed, another resident of east Khartoum, said he has had several terrifying encounters. In one case, he saw around 30 RSF fighters, some who looked no older than 15, tormenting a passerby, waving their weapons at him and demanding he lie on the ground, then shouting at him to stand up.
"They were playing with him like a puppet," Waleed said.
Many can't afford to leave. Mahmoud wants to get to Ethiopia, then to Portugal where he been offered a position as a research technician. But he doesn't have the $2,500 he estimates the trip will cost him. Waleed said he can't leave for medical reasons.
Others say they have no choice but to stay and work. One of the many women who sell tea in the streets of Khartoum, Tana Tusafi, a single mother from Ethiopia, says her four children depend on her. "I have no one to provide for me, so I have to work," she said.
The dangers are unpredictable. Mahmoud said that last week RSF fighters in a neighboring building started shooting at his apartment block, believing an army sniper could be there after seeing lights inside. Mahmoud said he had to confront the troops and convince them his block was only filled with civilians.
Another resident, Fatima, said her brother disappeared after having coffee with friends on May 13. That first evening when he didn't come home, "I thought he might have stayed over at his friend's house," Fatima said.
On Monday, Khalid finally returned. For eight days, he had been detained and interrogated by the RSF, Fatima said.
The Missing Person Initiative, an online tracker where people can report missing loved ones, said it has reports of at least 200 people unaccounted for in the capital region. It said it has received multiple reports of individuals being detained by the paramilitary.
Darker still is the growing number of rape and sexual assault allegations. According to Hadhreen, a community-led health and crisis group, there have been at least 10 confirmed rape cases in the capital area. Seven were committed by RSF soldiers, it said, while the three others were by unknown attackers within RSF-held areas.
The reports of sexual violence harken back to the Darfur conflict of the early 2000s, during which the Janjaweed militia was accused of widespread rapes and other atrocities. Many of its fighters were later folded into the RSF. They were again accused of raping dozens of women when they broke up a pro-democracy protest camp in Khartoum in 2019.
In this landscape of fear, those who remain in the city find ways to get by. Some store owners operate out of their homes, hoping to hide from the looters.
Waleed said only one remaining bakery serves his neighborhood and two others. Each customer registers their name beforehand
"If you were lucky and registered your name at 7 o'clock in the morning you might get your bread at 12 noon," Waleed said. He too survives because of Bankak, on money that his family in Saudi Arabia puts into his account.
During the first weeks of May, there was no electricity in his neighborhood, so Waleed relied on a nearby mosque with a generator to charge his phone. But no electricity meant no running water.
"We roamed around with buckets to trying to find people who have electric generators who can activate their water pumps," he said. Last week, the electric company restored power in his area.
Most of the city's hospitals have also shut down, many of them damaged in bombardments or ground fighting. Since May 11 alone, there have been 11 attacks on humanitarian facilities in the capital, the World Health Organization reported. Community action groups, led in part by a grassroots pro-democracy network known as the Resistance Committees, have banded together to help treat Khartoum's sick and deliver medicines.
Hadeel Abdelsayed, a trainee doctor at one community clinic, said patients have died because they did not have enough oxygen. The clinic was eventually evacuated due to intense shelling.
Mahmoud, the researcher, said that if he can somehow secure the funding, he will try to make his escape to Ethiopia. But time is against him.
"My passport will expire in 10 weeks, so I will have to leave before then."
Japan adopts new sanctions on Russia, criticizes its deal to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus
Japan on Friday approved additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine, including freezing the assets of dozens of individuals and groups and banning exports to Russian military-related organizations.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters the Cabinet approval shows Japan is in step with the rest of the Group of Seven countries that agreed during their summit in Hiroshima last week to maintain and strengthen sanctions against Russia.
He said Japan is committed to working with other G7 countries and the broader international community "to improve the situation" for Ukraine.
Read: Russia signs deal to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus
Matsuno also sharply criticized the signing of a deal between Russia and Belarus on Thursday formalizing the deployment of Moscow's tactical nuclear weapons in its ally's territory as a move that "further escalate tensions."
"As the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks, Japan finds Russia's threats of nuclear weapons and their use absolutely impermissible," Matsuno said. "Japan's government demands Russia and Belarus stop actions that further escalate tensions as we continue to watch the development with strong concern."
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Japan's additional sanctions and export restrictions reflect the G7's aim to prevent the evasion of sanctions by third countries and include a ban on exporting materials that would help strengthen Russia's industrial base, Matsuno said.
According to a statement jointly issued by the foreign, trade and finance ministries, 24 individuals and 78 organizations were added to a list of those subject to asset freezes, including those who allegedly helped to divert and evade sanctions.
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Japan also imposed an export ban on 80 Russian military-related organizations, including machinery makers. The provision of construction, engineering and other services for Russia will also be banned.
Japan has been closely cooperating with the G7 to impose sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine amid growing concern about the conflict's impact in Asia, where China has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over self-governed Taiwan.
Rights groups slam severe Taliban restrictions on Afghan women as ‘crime against humanity’
Two top rights groups on Friday slammed the severe restrictions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan as gender-based persecution, which is a crime against humanity.
In a new report, Amnesty International and the International Commission for Jurists, or ICJ, underscored how the Taliban crackdown on Afghan women's rights, coupled with "imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment," could constitute gender persecution under the International Criminal Court.
The report by Amnesty and ICJ, titled, "The Taliban's war on women: The crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan," cited the ICC statute, which lists gender-based persecution as a crime against humanity.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, the Taliban started to enforce restrictions on women and girls soon after their takeover, barring them from public spaces and most jobs, and banning education for girls beyond the sixth grade. The measures harked back to the previous Taliban rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, when they also imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
The harsh edicts prompted an international outcry against the already ostracized Taliban, whose administration has not been officially recognized by the United Nations and the international community.
In the report, Santiago A. Canton, the ICJ secretary general, said the Taliban's actions are of such "magnitude, gravity and of such a systematic nature," that they qualify "as a crime against humanity of gender persecution."
Both organizations called on the International Criminal Court to include this crime in their ongoing investigation into what is happening in Afghanistan and take legal action. They also called on countries "to exercise universal jurisdiction" and hold the Taliban accountable under international law.
The report also accused the Taliban of targeting women and girls who have taken part in peaceful protests by detaining, forcibly disappearing them and subjecting them to torture in custody. The Taliban have also forced them to sign "confessions" or "agreements" not to protest again, the report said.
What is happening in Afghanistan is "a war against women," which amounts to "international crimes" that are "organized, widespread, systematic," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general.
Without elaborating, she called for the international community to dismantle "this system of gender oppression and persecution."
Amnesty also documented cases of women and girls being forcibly married to members of the Taliban, as well as attempts to force them into such marriages. The report said those who refused such marriages were "subjected to abduction, intimidation, threats and torture."
The report cited the case of a 15-year-old girl who was forced to marry a Taliban figure despite her family's objections in the northeastern province of Takhar in August 2021, and that of a 33-year-old female journalist and social activist who was forcibly married to a Taliban commander the following month.
"We simply cannot afford to fail the women and girls of Afghanistan," said Canton of ICJ.
The report said the Taliban have also perpetrated human rights violations have also been against Afghan men.
Several monitoring groups have documented reports of "extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, and torture" of those associated with the former, Western-backed Afghan government that crumbled in the face of the Taliban takeover of the country.
The Taliban have also targeted journalists, the LGBTQ community, rights activists and ethnic minorities, the report said.
Amnesty and ICJ also shared a summary of the report's findings with the Taliban-appointed foreign ministry in Kabul, requesting a response. None was immediately provided, the groups said.