Six In The Morning Sunday 30 April 2023

 

Sudan crisis: Air strikes and fighting in Khartoum as truce collapses

Air strikes have intensified in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, despite a truce aimed at allowing civilians to flee.

The army said it was attacking the city to flush out its paramilitary rivals, the Rapid Response Forces (RSF).

The latest truce was due to end at midnight on Sunday. The RSF said it had been extended for another three days.

Millions remain trapped in the capital, where food is running short. The first major aid flight, laden with medical supplies, has arrived in the country.

Tunisian cemeteries fill up as hundreds of dead refugees wash up on coast

Hospitals, morgues and burial grounds under pressure, with more than 300 bodies found this year in just one region

Lorenzo Tondo and Marta Bellingreri in Sfax, Tunisia

Sun 30 Apr 2023 12.44 BST

Authorities in Tunisia are considering building new cemeteries, as the country runs out of space to bury the dozens of refugees washing up every day on its shores.

The first three months of 2023 were the deadliest for people attempting to cross the central Mediterranean since 2017, according to the UN, with an increasing number of boats carrying asylum seekers wrecked at sea.

Horror ScenarioGermany Prepares for Possible Re-Election of Donald Trump

Berlin is preparing for the possibility that Donald Trump could beat Joe Biden in the next election. That outcome would likely be a disaster for Ukraine, NATO and the looming climate crisis. Diplomats have begun establishing contacts with the former president's camp to avoid being blindsided as they were in 2016.

By Markus Becker, Markus Feldenkirchen, Marina Kormbaki, Veit Medick, Ralf Neukirch, Christian Reiermann, Jonas Schaible und Gerald Traufetter

It seemed like the 45th United States president, whose ancestors came from Germany, had an obsession with the country , but not a positive one. It often seemed as though he regarded Germany as America's greatest enemy, even as he got along splendidly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and others of his ilk. At least those ties were better than his relationship with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The Germans are bad, very bad," Trump declared in May 2017 at a meeting with European Union leaders in Brussels, where one of the issues under discussion was Germany's trade surplus. "See the millions of cars they are selling in the U.S. Terrible. We will stop this," he said.

Philippines: After decades of terror, peace returns to island of Jolo

For a long time, the island of Jolo, one of the southernmost points of the Philippines archipelago, was off limits. It was the stronghold of one of the most violent terrorist movements in the world, Abu Sayyaf. In 2000, a group of 20 tourists were kidnapped in Malaysia and taken to Jolo. Journalists who covered the kidnapping were then also captured. Negotiations for their release took several months. Today, after 30 years of fighting with the Philippine army, Abu Sayyaf is almost defeated and the island has begun to find peace. FRANCE 24’s Constantin Simon, Alexis Bregere, Sherbien Dacalanio and Aruna Popuri report.

Created in the 1990s, Abu Sayyaf carried out numerous atrocities – assassinations, kidnappings, piracy and extortions – with the aim of creating an Islamist state in the south of the Philippines. The group's favourite method of execution was beheading with a sword. 

Paraguay votes for a president, with Taiwan ties on ballot

Paraguay has maintained ties with Taiwan for over seven decades, one of a very select few countries still to do so at the expense of dealing with China. In a slowing economy, the opposition candidate criticized this.

Paraguayans are voting to elect a new leader on Sunday.

This presidential election could be the biggest challenge for the ruling conservative Colorado Party which has held on to power for over seven decades.

Among other issues, the polling is set to test the country's nearly 70-year-long ties with Taiwan as candidates offer to re-examine relations.

Nearly 5 million people are choosing between Colorado Party candidate Santiago Pena, an economist, and Efrain Alegre, a veteran opposition lawyer. 

Russia vows retaliation after Poland seizes embassy school

From CNN's Xiaofei Xu and Darya Tarasova

Russia's foreign ministry warned it will retaliate after Polish authorities seized a Russian embassy school Saturday, marking a new chapter in diplomatic tensions that have intensified during the war in Ukraine.

Polish police and staff from the Warsaw city hall entered the campus Saturday morning, asking employees to leave the premises, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Moscow described the action as “controversial, illegal and provocative," in a statement.

A Polish foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters that while Russia had a right to protest the seizure, the government was acting within the law.