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| A child malnutrition center in Sudan. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times |
War has pushed Sudan toward the abyss
My colleague Declan Walsh and the photographer Ivor Prickett spent three weeks in Sudan, where few foreign reporters have had access in the past year. Since conflict erupted there in April 2023, millions of people have been displaced, and a looming famine threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
Khartoum, the capital and one of the largest cities in Africa, has been reduced to a charred battleground. A feud between two generals has dragged Sudan into civil war and turned the city into ground zero for one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
As many as 150,000 people have died since the start of the fighting, according to U.S. estimates. Nine million have been forced from their homes, making Sudan home to the largest displacement crisis on earth, the United Nations says. Another genocide now threatens Darfur, the region that became synonymous with war crimes two decades ago.
The U.N. warns that famine could kill more than 220,000 children in the coming months. If unchecked, it could rival the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s.
On the ground: In a hushed famine ward, starving babies fight for life. Every few days, one of them dies. Artillery shells soar over the Nile, smashing into hospitals and houses. The state TV station was used as a torture chamber.
What’s next: Peace talks led by the U.S. have stalled. The Sudanese state is collapsing, threatening to drag a fragile region down with it. Experts say it is only a matter of time before one of its neighbors — like Chad, Eritrea or South Sudan — gets sucked in.
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| Smoke rose over Gaza after an Israeli airstrike yesterday. Amir Cohen/Reuters |
Israel tried to influence U.S. opinion
Israel organized and paid for a campaign last year that used fake social media accounts and news sites to urge U.S. lawmakers to support the war in Gaza, a Times investigation found. The secretive effort signals how far Israel was willing to go to sway American opinion.
The campaign began in October and remains active on X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans to post pro-Israel comments. Even though the U.S. has long been one of Israel’s staunchest allies, the war in Gaza has been unpopular with many Americans, who have called for President Biden to withdraw support for Israel in the face of mounting civilian deaths.
Details: The campaign didn’t have a widespread impact, Meta and OpenAI said last week. X didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Gaza:
| The C.I.A. director held talks in Qatar, but Israel and Hamas appeared to remain far apart on the latest cease-fire proposal.Israel said it had launched a new operation in central Gaza, where health workers reported that dozens of people had been killed. |
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| As a heat wave hit Pakistan this week, people in Lahore sought relief in a public park’s fountains. Arif Ali/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Global heat will continue to break records, U.N. said
Earth is already experiencing some of its highest temperatures in 100,000 years. Yet the U.N. weather agency announced today that there was a nearly 90 percent chance that the planet would set yet another record for its warmest year by 2028.
The chances are almost as great that, between now and then, the average global temperature will be 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than it was at the dawn of the industrial age — the level that countries set out to avoid under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
| MORE TOP NEWS |
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| Altaf Qadri/Associated Press |
| India: Rahul Gandhi and his party, the Indian National Congress, are set for a comeback after their strong showing in the elections.Space: Two NASA astronauts finally headed to orbit yesterday in Boeing’s Starliner capsule, after two previous launch attempts were called off.New York: The governor shelved a congestion pricing plan in New York City — which would have been the first of its kind in the U.S. — weeks before it was to go into effect.Germany: A municipal candidate for a far-right party was slashed with a box cutter, raising fears about violence before the E.U. elections.Military: U.S. and allied intelligence officials warned former fighter pilots not to train Chinese military personnel after a report that Beijing was trying harder to recruit them as instructors.Russia: President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could reciprocate against Western nations that supply Ukraine with weapons to attack Russian territory.Lebanon: A gunman who opened fire on the U.S. Embassy was shot and captured by the country’s security forces.Amanda Knox: The American former college student was convicted of slander in a case related to the 2007 killing of her housemate in Italy, for which she was exonerated. She will not serve more jail time.Ukraine: Officials ordered rolling power outages after Russian attacks weakened the country’s electrical grid, raising concerns about winter, when energy use increases.France: Three weeks after armed assailants killed two prison guards and freed an inmate, the attackers are still on the run.Europe: Leaders are worried that the continent can’t keep up with the productivity of the U.S. and China.Britain: Collectors are lining up for the first bank notes depicting King Charles III. |
| MORNING READ |
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| Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times |
Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied forces invaded Normandy during World War II. Many of the remaining veterans are making what is likely to be their last visit to the beaches of northern France. They number fewer than 200. Their average age is about 100.
One of those is Bill Becker, 98, who was a top-turret gunner on an American aircraft. “I made it,” he said, with a tired smile.
| SPORTS NEWS |
Assessing the contenders: Italy’s Euro 2024 squad guide.
Novak Djokovic’s knee injury: What his withdrawal means for the French Open.
Contract extension signed: Sergio Pérez signs on with Red Bull Formula 1 until 2026.
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Stephen Hiltner/The New York Times |
Saudi Arabia courts tourists
In the past few years, Saudi Arabia’s royal family has spent lavishly to improve the country’s reputation overseas — and reduce its economic dependence on oil. That has included an $800 billion investment in tourism.
But what is it like to travel through a country that was long off-limits to most Westerners? Can the Saudi government persuade would-be visitors to look past — or reconsider — its longstanding associations with religious extremism, ultraconservatism and human rights abuses?
To see the changes for himself, Stephen Hiltner, a journalist for our Travel section, photographed his monthlong trip across the kingdom. Read about his journey and see his pictures.
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
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| Jenny Huang for The New York Times |
Cook: For a vegetarian shawarma, this dish substitutes spiced lamb with portobello mushrooms.
