Sudan military leader fires 6 ambassadors who criticized coup
CAIRO — Sudan’s strongman fired at least six ambassadors, including the envoys to the U.S., the European Union and France, after they condemned the military’s takeover of the country, a military official said Thursday.
The diplomats pledged their support for the now-deposed government of Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok.
Also fired by Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan late Wednesday were the Sudanese ambassadors to Qatar, China and the U.N. mission in Geneva, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media.
The state-run Sudan TV also reported the dismissals.
The ambassadors were fired two days after Burhan dissolved the transitional government and detained the prime minister, many government officials and political leaders in a coup condemned by the U.S. and the West.
The coup drew calls from the international community to restore the civilian-led transitional government and release those detained after the military takeover.
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday expressed “solidarity” with the Sudanese people and affirmed its readiness “to support efforts to realize Sudan’s democratic transition” and the people’s aspirations “for an inclusive, peaceful, stable, democratic and prosperous future.”
President Joe Biden added that Sudan’s people must be allowed to protest peacefully.
“We believe strongly in Sudan’s economic potential and the promise of its future — if the military and those who oppose change do not hold it back,” Biden said in a statement.
In another development, Burhan fired Adlan Ibrahim, head of the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, according to the official. Adlan’s dismissal came after the resumption of flights in and out of Khartoum’s international airport resumed Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if Ibrahim’s dismissal was linked to the reopening of the airport or whether the decision was made before then.
Syringe shortage looms:
African health officials and the United Nations are warning of a looming shortage of more than 2 billion syringes for mainly lowand middle-income countries around the world as the supply of COVID-19 doses rises, and routine vaccinations could be affected, too.
The U.N. children’s agency said the shortfall would affect up to 2.2 billion auto-disposable syringes that lock automatically to prevent them from being used again. “We are not anticipating a significant supply shortage of the more standard syringes used in high-income countries,” the agency said in a statement. It blamed “significantly higher demand,” supply chain disruptions, national bans on syringe exports and an unpredictable supply of vaccines.
The threatened shortage comes as the flow of COVID19 vaccine doses increases after months of delays to the African continent, the world’s least protected region with less than 6% of its population of 1.3 billion people fully vaccinated.
Taiwan defense: Taiwan’s defense minister said Thursday that the island must defend itself and not depend entirely on others for help
if China were to launch an attack, even as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she had faith the U.S. would defend it.
“The country must rely on itself, and if any friends or other groups can help us, then it’s like I said before, we’re happy to have it, but we cannot completely depend on it,” the minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, told reporters.
Tensions between Taiwan and China have risen to their highest level in decades, with China sending record-breaking numbers of fighter jets toward international airspace close to the island, and stepping up a campaign of military harassment.
N. Korean leader’s weight loss:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has recently lost about 44 pounds, but remains healthy and is trying to boost public loyalty to him in the face of worsening economic problems, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Thursday.
The National Intelligence
Service gave the assessment during a closed-door parliamentary briefing, saying it used artificial intelligence techniques, an analysis of super-resolution video of Kim and other methods to investigate Kim’s condition, said two lawmakers who attended the session.
Kim’s health has been a focus of keen outside attention in recent months because he has appeared noticeably thinner in state media photos and videos. Longtime North Korea observers have said Kim has no apparent health problems and his weight loss is likely the result of his efforts to improve his physique.
Assange prison conditions:
U.S. government promises that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would not face harsh prison conditions if he is extradited to face American justice are not enough to address concerns about his fragile mental health and high risk of suicide, a lawyer defending
him argued Thursday.
Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said during a two-day hearing at Britain’s High Court that the Australian was too mentally ill to be extradited to the United States to face trial on espionage charges.
Washington is seeking to overturn an earlier ruling by a lower British court that refused a U.S. request to extradite Assange over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret American military documents a decade ago. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
On Wednesday, a lawyer for the U.S. government said that American authorities have promised that Assange would not be held before trial in a top-security “Supermax” prison, or subjected to strict isolation conditions. But Fitzgerald argued that the U.S. assurances were all “caveated, vague, or simply ineffective.”
Lucy spacecraft: NASA is debating whether to try to fix a jammed solar panel on its newly launched Lucy spacecraft, en route to explore an unprecedented number of asteroids.
The problem cropped up shortly after the spacecraft’s Oct. 16 liftoff on a 12-year journey. After measuring the electric current this week, NASA reported Wednesday that one of Lucy’s two giant, circular solar panels is only 75% to 95% extended. A lanyard is holding it in place.
Any attempt at reopening the wing — which is 24 feet in diameter — would not occur before mid-November.
The problem has not affected Lucy’s outbound flight, so there’s no rush to figure out the next step, officials said.
The mission’s lead scientist, Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute, said the team is encouraged that the combined power from both solar panels “is keeping the spacecraft healthy and functioning.”