rsf fighters deprived us of everything. >> the u.s.department levied sanctions on rsf leader mohammad hamdan, also known as hemedti, plus seven rsf-owned companies based in the united arab emirates. the rsf stems from the government-backed janjaweed militias, a largely-arab force that brutally crushed an uprising of non-arabs in the 2000's, killing hundreds of thousands of people. in 2004, the u.s. declared that war in darfur a genocide. years later, a 2020 peace agreement was quickly undone by a coup and subsequent fighting the following year. and by 2023, a full-blown civil war as the rsf fight the sudanese military for control of the country. the war has accelerated an already-dire humanitarian crisis. millions of sudanese are short on food, water, and electricity, and the medical system is on the verge of collapse. the u.s. envoy for sudan tom perriello says some estimates suggest close to 150,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict. amna: for more, we turn to beth van schaack, u.s. ambassador-at-large for global cr

had committed genocide, and just the rsf militias. your way today that you didn't have back in december of 2023? beth van schaack: this war has been catastrophic on sudanese civilians across darfur and across the entire country. and what we're seeing in darfur in particular now at the hands of the rsf are targeted killings based upon ethnicity, statements in perpetrators' own words saying they want to eradicate particular ethnic groups from the region and entirely. we see sexual violence rampant. we see men and boys being killed, including infant boys. so these are all indicia of genocide. these are the types of things that prosecutors around the world will rely upon in order to infer that perpetrators are acting with genocidal intent. amna: so, to be clear here, you saw statements of intent. you saw the targeting of specific ethnic groups here. and that's over the duration of the war or a particular time period in this war? beth: well, we're able to collect more information about these statements of intent and to see the conflict in

there is still a lot of areas controlled by the rsf.tal. it is significant in terms of the economy of the country. having people return home and try to rebuild. the nobel peace prize winner, malala yousafzai, has urged muslim leaders not to legitimise the taliban government in afghanistan. speaking in the pakistani capital islamabad, the campaigner told a summit on girls education that the taliban didn't see women as human beings. she called on the muslim world to show true leadership on the issue. ms yousafzai was evacuated from pakistan as a fifteen year—old after being shot by the pakistani taliban on her school bus. our pakistan correspondent, azadeh moshiri, was at the conference in islamabad and sent this report. the muslim world league and pakistan's education minister have told us that the taliban government were invited, but they did not attend this summit. when we spoke to the head of the muslim world league about is engaging directly with the taliban government, he said, they speak to everyone and that there was no solid evid

there is still a lot of areas controlled by the rsf.eground. so medani is a gateway to the capital, regaining control of the capital. so people are very happy. it's very significant in terms of the economy of the country and having people return home and try to rebuild. last summer saw the worst unrest in the uk in more than a decade. the disorder followed the southport knife attacks, fuelled by misinformation spread on social media about the suspect. officers from durham police have been speaking to our reporter peter harris about the violence they faced. it wasjust carnage. we had a line of six police officers and myself with hundreds of people standing in front of you, they were shouting abuse with their weapons. at any moment, that could turn. i genuinely got the feeling on that night the people that were doing it did not care if me or my colleagues made it home that night. as police struggled to contain the riots, durham's cops were deployed to shore up neighbouring forces. their first shout was to hartlepool. we turned into the st

we heard there about celebrations on the streets after this victory, and as we mentioned, the rsf hasany abuses as general hemedti said earlier in his recording. and he said that they have not killed anyone, they would only kill people, as he put it, after a trial ruling, but no trials have taken place until after this war ends. but, the celebrations have taken place in various parts of sudan and even outside sudan itself as well, and some have been chanting "wad madani's back", "wad madani is free" and also "0ne army, one country". and this, of course, is inspired by the fact that general dagalo and general burhan, the leader of the army, have been actually power—sharing previously but they fell out, so the two were leading the transitional government that was formed after the removal of long—term president 0mar al—bashir in 2019, but then was an incident in 2022 in march when an army officer shot dead at close quarters one of the protesters and that was a trigger for general dagalo to seize upon and fell out with his boss and this started this civil war. before we go — a reminder of

sudan's troops and rsf militia have been fighting for control of sudan for close to two years.ound half of the entire population of sudan will face acute food deprivation. let's speak to leni kinzli, who is a spokesperson for the world food programme. she isjoining us from port sudan. very good to have you with us. has the world food programme had any luck in getting food aid into wad madani?- aid into wad madani? yes, yesterday _ aid into wad madani? yes, yesterday we _ aid into wad madani? yes, yesterday we got - aid into wad madani? yes, yesterday we got 11 - aid into wad madani? yes, yesterday we got 11 trucks | yesterday we got 11 trucks carrying 260 metric tonnes of assistants into wad madani. less than a week since the situation there became calm enough for us to deliver. nutrition supplements, food packages for 20,000 people, and thatis packages for 20,000 people, and that isjust the packages for 20,000 people, and that is just the start. that shows what we can do that is just the start. that sho

many trips so it became, you know, the people who took over from bashir aligned themselves with the rsfned, and you have two armies in and when that happened, and you have two armie

the wall between the rsf and the sudanese armed forces has killed tens of thousands of people and thewas in a remote area near the border with nepal around 50 miles from mount everest and close to one of the holy cities. and journos are not allowed to enter tibet without chinese government permission. so this report has been sent from beijing. fear has rattled through the foothills of mount everest. the injured are still in shock. crouched in the rubble, they can barely call for help. and the cradle and clean to those who have been saved. the remote mountain homes are no longer shelters. their small brick houses crumbled in the strong and shallow quake. china's response has been swift — more than 1000 rescuers were sent to the region. the first few hours are critical to save lives and by brick, they searched for survivors, going from building to shattered building looking for signs of life. the chinese air force launched an unmanned drone across the himalayan plateau, the quickest way to discover the worst hit areas but the challenge for rescuers is clear this valley has temperatures

the rsf, which has controlled the city for a year, has been accused of widespread human rights abusesplaced. the un says the war has created the world's worst famine. german authorities say an oil tanker that belongs to russia's "shadow fleet" is stuck in the baltic sea. these pictures show german tug boats dragging the tanker to safe waters after it lost power and steering. germany believes russia uses the vessel — which is carrying about a hundred thousand tonnes of oil — to avoid sanctions. about a 100,000 tonnes of oil — to avoid sanctions. before we go — a reminder of our top story — the battle to contain multiple wildfires that have devastated swathes of los angeles. you can see the smoke burning and that line of colouring, the fire retardant that ms. been dumped from the aeroplanes went over the scene, an attempt to keep the fires from spreading, you see the active hotspots, fire pumping along that line, who is still working to get that under control. more coming on that story at the top of the i work right here on bbc news. hello there. this really cold spell of weather is com

but in an angry audio message, the rsf�*s general mohamed hamdan dagalo vowed to continue fighting until april 2023, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 11 million people displaced. six people have died in a suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in the czech republic. eight others were injured in the blast in the northern city of most. it's believed to have been caused by a gas cylinder attached to a portable heater. rescue workers say they evacuated dozens of people the nobel peace prize winner, malala yousafzai, has urged muslim leaders not to legitimise the taliban government in afghanistan. speaking in islamabad, the campaigner told a summit on girls education that the taliban didn't see women as human beings. she called on the muslim world to show true leadership on the issue. ms yousafzai was evacuated from pakistan as a 15 year—old after being shot by the pakistani taliban on her school bus. recognise the taliban regime as perpetrators of gender apartheid. do not legitimise them. do not make compromises. 0ur reporter, azadeh moshiri, is at the conference i

military, on orders of its leaders, have used chemical weapons on at least two occasions against the rsf, the paramilitary rebel group. four senior u.s. officials are quoted on this. if this is confirmed, what does the united states need to do? there's only i can only recall in the iran-iraq war. and, of course, with assad, that chemical weapons were used. >> right. and we know that also, you know, that russian forces in ukraine have also used chemical agents to further inflict injury and, and death on the ukrainian people. nevertheless, i can't confirm this particular report. i just saw it before coming on with you. obviously, we're going to be looking at this very, very closely. as you know, we have already issued sanctions to the parties in sudan for the damage that they have done, the lives that they have taken, the, the famine that they have caused. and we will continue to look at this very, very hard. i mean, if it if it turns out to be true, i mean, we'll certainly explore a range of options to react to it, but it's really critical that we stay at the task of diplomacy, which we h

question about what is happening in sudan, specifically as the biden administration just found that the rsf engaged in a genocide and we need to do everything that we can to stop what's happening there. you referred to some of our golf partners -- gulf partners who have not done what they should have done. one is the uae and i am clear that the united states shouldn't provide military assistance to the uae when the uae is providing military assistance to a group like the rsf committing genocide in sudan. i am expecting a briefing from the biden administration by the end of this week as to whether or not their commitments to president biden to stop doing that have been fulfilled. i want to pick up on a couple of issues we discussed yesterday. senator sullivan and i are the cochairs of the bipartisan foreign service caucus. we passed a number of pieces of legislation through the united states congress, recently the foreign service families act. as you know and we discussed, you know the importance of supporting the men and women in the state department, including the foreign service. i apprec

question about what is happening in sudan, specifically as the biden administration just found that the rsf engaged in a genocide and we need to do everything that we can to stop what's happening there. you referred to some of our golf partners -- gulf partners who have not done what they should have done. one is the uae and i am clear that the united states shouldn't provide military assistance to the uae when the uae is providing military assistance to a group like the rsf committing genocide in sudan. i am expecting a briefing from the biden administration by the end of this week as to whether or not their commitments to president biden to stop doing that have been fulfilled. i want to pick up on a couple of issues we discussed yesterday. senator sullivan and i are the cochairs of the bipartisan foreign service caucus. we passed a number of pieces of legislation through the united states congress, recently the foreign service families act. as you know and we discussed, you know the importance of supporting the men and women in the state department, including the foreign service. i apprec

we have made some progress on that in the last few weeks with the saf and with the rsf to a lesser extent. in terms of war crimes and genocide, we've been making determinations already about atrocities and war crimes. we're looking at the question of genocide and whether we complete that review in the time -- >> trying to be respectful. the time has expired. you did not see it coming, i've heard that over and over. perhaps we were getting different intelligence briefings, but i certainly saw it coming and your own employees in the embassy saw it coming when they sent the dissent cable to you, a cry for help that kabul is falling and the embassy will fall soon. i don't know how you can say that, honestly, sir, with a straight face. the chair recognizes -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your work as leading this committee. but secretary blinken, how many u.s. citizens are still in afghanistan? >> i can't give you an exact number, because we never know for sure. there are several -- >> do you believe they're voluntary? you were going to say there's several thousand. >> new york o,

she explains why the rsf is such a strong force in the country.er president, the are sf was brought to the capital. it was a militia mainly working in darfur. it was brought by the former president to try to stop him being ousted and, unfortunately, when they came they brought many trips so it became, you know, the