WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troops are carrying out a precarious evacuation of American embassy staffers in the African nation of Sudan, shuttering the U.S. embassy there as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior Biden administration official. U.S. troops safely left Sudanese airspace after airlifting American embassy personnel out of the capital, Khartoum, a second U.S. official confirmed. The White House has said it has no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of American citizens trapped in Sudan. An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. U.S. troops accompanied personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in an overland convoy to Tunisia when they evacuated in 2014.

CAIRO – 23 April 2023: The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ahmed Abou Zeid, stated Sunday, answering a question by a press correspondent on evacuation efforts of expats, that a member of the diplomatic mission in Sudan, working at the embassy in Khartoum, was shot. The spokesperson elaborated that is why caution must be exercised during the evacuation to preserve the lives of expats and members of the diplomatic mission. He added that is especially true to countries having a large community of expats in Sudan, exceeding 10,000, which is the case of Egypt. Ambassador Abou Zeid underscored that the creed and professional charter of Egyptian diplomats mandate that they must be the last to leave the field after they are certain about the safety of evacuees. In that context, he highlighted the examples of safe evacuation carried out by Egyptian embassies in the past years from Libya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

The involvement of Haftar, who runs much of the eastern part of Libya, will raise fears of a long-drawn-out conflict in Sudan fuelled by outside interests. More than 400 people are known to have died in the conflict so far, though the true toll is believed to be much higher. In recent weeks, as conflict between the RSF and Burhan’s forces loomed, Haftar made efforts to support Hemedti, the sources said. One militia commander within the LNA said his force was “ready to support [Hemedti] … but we are still monitoring the unfolding situation in Sudan”. Russia has built close ties with both Haftar and Hemedti, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group, denied the report.

In this photo provided by Maheen S , smoke fills the sky in Khartoum, Sudan, near Doha International Hospital on Friday, April 21, 2023. The Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, typically filled with prayer, celebration and feasting — was a somber one in Sudan, as gunshots rang out across the capital of Khartoum and heavy smoke billowed over the skyline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy violence-torn Sudan, U.S. officials said late Saturday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. Left behind are thousands of Americans remaining in Sudan, with officials saying it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation mission. Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting. An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. When the embassy in Kyiv temporarily closed just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, staffers used commercial transport to leave.

People attend an Eid al-Fitr prayer, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at a public square, in Benghazi, Libya April 21, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-FetoriBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyans are celebrating Islam’s Eid al-Fitr holiday – and ending their month-long Ramadan fast – on different days this year because of bitter political splits that persist despite years of peace efforts. “This is madness and I pray it ends here,” said Ahmed Mesbah, 50, in Tripoli, who has chosen to celebrate Eid on Friday. The country split in 2014 between warring factions in east and west, a rift that remains despite comparative peace since 2020. “The split between east and west on such a happy occasion is hurtful and makes me sad.

Superquiz by Brian Yatman and Lyn MaccallumTARGET TIMECredit:Find words of four letters or more. Every word must include the centre letter and each letter is used once only. No colloquial or foreign words, capitalised nouns, apostrophes or hyphens. No verbs or plural words ending in “s”. Solution list is not exhaustive.

Meanwhile, a video of a lion roaming on the streets of some city has gone viral on social media. The viral video is blurry but some shops visible in the video seem to have signboards in Arabic. India Today found that the viral video is old and from Benghazi in Libya. Our ProbeMany people have commented on these posts and stated that the viral video is old and precedes the recent civil war in Sudan. To sum it up, an outdated video of a lion roaming in streets from Libya is being shared as a recent video from Sudan.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyans are celebrating Islam's Eid al-Fitr holiday - and ending their month-long Ramadan fast - on different days this year because of bitter political splits that persist despite years of peace efforts. Religious authorities in east Libya, aligned with the parliament which is based there, said they had sighted the crescent moon on Thursday, making it the last day of fasting and setting Friday as Eid. "This is madness and I pray it ends here," said Ahmed Mesbah, 50, in Tripoli, who has chosen to celebrate Eid on Friday. The country split in 2014 between warring factions in east and west, a rift that remains despite comparative peace since 2020. "The split between east and west on such a happy occasion is hurtful and makes me sad.

Here are all the countries that have announced Saturday as the first day of the Islamic festival so far:1. AustraliaSaturday, April 22, will be the first day of Eid Al Fitr in Australia. BruneiThe sovereign state of Brunei has announced Saturday as the first day of Eid Al Fitr. OmanOman has announced Saturday, April 22, as the first day of Eid Al Fitr, after it was not possible to see the Shawwal crescent for the year 1444 AH. Earlier, Oman had announced Eid Al Fitr holidays for employees in the government and private sector, from Thursday, April 20 to Monday, April 24, 2023, the Oman Observer reported.

European Union lawmakers on Thursday approved a series of proposals aimed at ending the yearslong standoff over how best to manage migration, a conundrum that has provoked one of the bloc’s biggest political crises. The measures make up the European Parliament’s position for negotiations with the EU member countries and set a clock ticking. The member countries now have a year to finally reform their creaking asylum system before Europe-wide elections are held in May 2024. They’ve demanded support and solidarity from their EU partners. The lawmakers now propose that any EU country hit by the sudden and mass arrival of people should activate a crisis mechanism.

An order of 2,500 bulls which had been placed with a southern-based cattle exporter has been cancelled due to a delay in getting the purchaser’s visa approved, according to a report by Irish farming news website Agriland. An Irish cattle-exporting firm based in Munster had struck a deal with a Libyan customer for a consignment of 2,500 bulls plus a follow-on contract of a further 2,500 bulls, pending the customer travelling to Ireland to pre-select the cattle. Speaking to Agriland, the exporter said: “How are we supposed to operate in this country if the authorities can’t manage to process a visa for an overseas customer who is potentially going to buy €6 million worth of Irish cattle this year?”. “We see government ministers travelling on trade missions across the world and yet the same ministers can’t manage to help Irish cattle exporters get the existing customers into this country to buy cattle. We were just stonewalled by the Irish authorities and now the customer has told us to ‘get lost’ and said they will buy the cattle in a different country.

Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday. However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of he holiday — for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday. Egypt and Jordan said that for them, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday. In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.

A destroyed military vehicle is seen in southern in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The latest attempt at a cease-fire between the rival Sudanese forces faltered as gunfire rattled the capital of Khartoum. Through the night and into Thursday morning, gunfire could be heard almost constantly across Khartoum.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, and other Sunni Muslim countries announced Thursday the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the Ramadan fast will begin on Friday. In some countries with a Shiite Muslim majority, authorities have said the holiday will start on Saturday. The timing of Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Sudan also announced Eid al-Fitr will start on Friday. Saudis are expected to observe a four-day holiday for Eid al-Fitr.