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International news via Reuters:

Explosions and fires rocked Sudan’s main port city and wartime capital Port Sudan on Tuesday, a witness said, part of a days-long drone assault that has torched the country’s biggest fuel depot, damaging the most important gateway for foreign aid. 

A massive column of black smoke billowed from the area around the port, a Reuters video showed, and the witness said blasts had been heard from other areas though it was not clear exactly where else had been hit. 

Sudan’s electricity company said a substation in the city was also hit, causing a complete power outage, part of a systematic assault on infrastructure. 

Port Sudan had enjoyed relative calm since the civil war suddenly erupted in April 2023, becoming the base for the army-aligned government after the Sudanese armed forces lost control of much of the capital Khartoum at the start of the conflict to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. 

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have also sought refuge in the city, where U.N. officials, diplomats and agencies have also set up headquarters, making it the main base for aid operations in what the U.N. has called the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster. 

Port Sudan’s import and storage depots supply fuel across the country and the destruction of its facilities risks a major crisis, throttling aid deliveries by road and hitting electricity production and cooking gas supplies. 

The attacks, which began on Sunday, open a new front in the conflict, targeting the army’s main stronghold in eastern Sudan after it drove the RSF back westwards across much of central Sudan, including Khartoum, in March. 

Military sources have blamed the paramilitary RSF for the attacks on Port Sudan since Sunday, though the group has not yet claimed any responsibility for the strikes. 

On Sunday drones struck a military base in the area near Sudan’s only functioning international airport, and on Monday they targeted the city’s fuel depots. One of the targets was a major hotel near the residence of Sudan’s military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, witnesses said. 

The attacks came after a military source said the army had destroyed an aircraft and weapons depots in the RSF-controlled Nyala airport in Darfur, the main stronghold of the paramilitary group. 

CONDEMNATION 

The attacks have drawn condemnation from neighbouring Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as expressions of concern from the United Nations.

Sudan’s army-aligned government has accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the RSF, accusations that U.N. experts have found credible. The UAE has denied backing the RSF and the International Court of Justice on Monday said it could not rule in a case in which the government accused the UAE of fueling genocide. 

The war, triggered by a dispute over a transition to civilian rule, has displaced over 12 million people and pushed half the population into acute hunger, according to the United Nations.

With the army’s success in pushing the RSF out of most of central Sudan, the paramilitary has shifted tactics from ground incursions to drone attacks targeting power stations and other facilities deep in army-controlled territory.

The army has continued air strikes in the Darfur region, the RSF’s stronghold. The two forces continue to fight ground battles for control of al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state, and elsewhere as the battle lines in the war harden into distinct zones of control.

Writing by Nafisa Eltahir, Yomna Ehab and Angus McDowall; Editing by Aidan Lewis

Poland says its role as a hub for aid to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian sabotage

International news via Reuters:

Poland is facing an unprecedented attempt from Russia to interfere in its presidential election, the digital affairs minister said on Tuesday, as the campaign entered its final stages ahead of the first round of voting on May 18.

Poland says its role as a hub for aid to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation efforts, and Warsaw has been on high alert for interference, especially after Romania cancelled a presidential election in December due to allegations of Russian meddling.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations that it interferes in foreign elections and criticised the decision to cancel the election in Romania.

“During the current presidential elections in Poland, we are facing an unprecedented attempt to interfere in the electoral process from the Russian side,” Krzysztof Gawkowski told a defence conference.

“This is being done… (by) spreading disinformation in combination with hybrid attacks on Polish critical infrastructure in order to paralyse the normal functioning of the state,” he added.

He said that attacks had targeted water and sewage companies, heat and power plants and state administration bodies. The level of Russian activity in terms of cyberattcks in Poland had more than doubled compared to last year, he said.

“Today in Poland, during every minute of my speech, a dozen or so incidents targeting critical infrastructure were recorded,” he said.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Warsaw said in March that there had been a cyberattack on the Polish space agency. In 2024 Poland said the state news agency had likely been hit by a Russian cyberattack.

Warsaw and its allies have also alleged that Moscow is behind acts of arson and sabotage around Europe. Russia dismisses these claims.

Reporting by Karol Badohal, Pawel Florkiewicz, writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by Bernadette Baum

The wealthy city-state facing an image crisis, priding itself on its reputation for clean governance

International news via Reuters:

Pictures of Singaporean ministers and a ruling party lawmaker together at dinners that included a man convicted in a high-profile $2.2 billion money laundering case have caused a stir in the city-state, where there has been increased public scrutiny of the government’s clean image.

The photos shared widely on social media showed Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and lawmaker and former Education Minister Ng Chee Meng at dinners with Cypriot national Su Haijin, who was jailed last year in one of the biggest cases of its kind in Singapore.

It was unclear when the pictures were taken. The press secretaries of both ministers said in a joint statement they were invited to the dinners by a friend and Su “happened to be there”.

Su was one of 10 foreign nationals arrested in relation to the money laundering case in August 2023.

“As ministers, they meet a diverse range of people at various events and gatherings. The ministers do not know Su personally and have had no contact or dealings with him, before or since these occasions,” it said. 

Ng, who won a parliamentary seat in Saturday’s general election after losing in the 2020 contest, said in a statement that as head of the country’s main labour union he attended many events and had no further interactions with Su after learning of the legal proceedings against him.  

The wealthy city-state, an Asian financial hub that has been governed by the People’s Action Party since independence six decades ago, prides itself on its reputation for clean governance.

The party was returned in another landslide in elections on Saturday and, by tradition, its members dress in white during campaigning to symbolise purity and incorruptibility.

The prime minister’s office and the PAP did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the pictures. 

Online forum platform Reddit and social media posts by mainstream news outlets on Tuesday drew many comments from Singaporeans, some questioning how the ministers could have met Su and others calling for the graft agency to investigate whether there was a relationship between him and the officials.

The PAP has faced increased public scrutiny in the past two years, including over former transport minister S. Iswaran who was jailed for improperly receiving $300,000 of gifts and obstructing justice, and the resignations of the house speaker and a lawmaker over an extramarital affair.

Two ministers were also investigated and cleared of wrongdoing over their rental of exclusive state-owned properties, an issue that generated intrigue on social media.  

Reporting by Jun Yuan Yong; Editing by Martin Petty and Kate Mayberry

Jury selection got under way on Monday, with opening statements scheduled for May 12

International news via Reuters:

Sean “Diddy” Combs will argue at his sex trafficking trial beginning next week that women who took part in his elaborate sex parties did so willingly, but his lawyers will face an uphill battle trying to undermine the credibility of accusers who say the hip-hop mogul forced them to participate.

Combs, a onetime billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s, has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts including racketeering and sex trafficking.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office say that for two decades, he used his business empire to lure women into his orbit with promises of romantic relationships or financial support, and then used violence and threats to obligate them to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs” with male sex workers. 

“The defense has quite the uphill battle ahead,” said Heather Cucolo, a New York Law School professor. “There was a clear power dynamic, and that power dynamic is going to be a main focus and a main issue here.”

Lawyers for Combs, 55, have said prosecutors are improperly trying to criminalize a consensual “swingers” lifestyle in which he and his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third person into their relationships. 

Jury selection for his trial got under way on Monday, with opening statements scheduled for May 12. 

To persuade the jury, his lawyers will have to undermine the accounts of at least four women expected to testify that he coerced them into taking part in unwanted sex acts. Combs’ lawyers have signaled they intend to argue the women had financial incentives to falsely accuse Combs of abuse.

Other high-profile criminal defendants in sex abuse trials have deployed similar strategies in a #MeToo era that has encouraged victims to come forward. Many of these defendants, such as R&B singer R. Kelly and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, have been convicted anyway. 

Combs’ defense says it has evidence the accusers are not being candid. Defense lawyer Teny Geragos said at an April 14 court hearing that one accuser, referred to in court papers as Victim-4, had “cherry-picked” material she chose to hand over to prosecutors, leaving out important context. 

At a November 22, 2024, court hearing, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said another woman, referred to in the indictment as Victim-1, had her lawyer ask another one of Combs’ lawyers for $30 million in exchange for not publishing a memoir. When the money did not materialize, she sued Combs in November 2023 and settled the case for an undisclosed amount, Agnifilo said, without naming the accuser.

R&B vocalist Casandra Ventura, Combs’ longtime former girlfriend who performs under the stage name Cassie, accused Combs of sex trafficking in a November 16, 2023, lawsuit. The case swiftly settled and terms were not disclosed. Combs denied the allegations.  

“It’s our defense to these charges that this was a toxic, loving, 11-year relationship,” Agnifilo said at the hearing last November. 

SURVEILLANCE VIDEO 

Combs faces a major obstacle: a hotel surveillance video prosecutors want to show the jury depicting Combs kicking and dragging a woman in a hallway. Prosecutors say the woman had been trying to leave a “Freak Off” at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016. 

Combs’ defense could argue that the video depicted a domestic dispute unrelated to any racketeering conspiracy. Agnifilo has said the woman in the video had taken Combs’ belongings and left the hotel room after discovering he had another girlfriend.

“To the extent that the government says that this is somehow evidence of sex trafficking, it’s evidence of Mr. Combs having more than one girlfriend and getting caught,” Agnifilo said at a September 30, 2024, court hearing. 

Neither prosecutors nor the defense have named the woman in the surveillance video. CNN last year broadcast a video that appeared to show him attacking Cassie in 2016. Combs posted an apology on social media days later.

Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York defense attorney who has tried sex crimes cases, said the indictment lacked details about other specific actions Combs had taken to compel women to take part in the “Freak Offs.” 

“The fact that he had a fight with his girlfriend seems like a thin reed to charge RICO,” Margulis-Ohnuma said, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Prosecutors back up the RICO charge by alleging that employees of Combs’ businesses helped him transport women to the “Freak Offs,” pay the sex workers and cover up the activity.   

Combs’ defense has asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to let them call a forensic video expert as a witness to testify that one version of the hotel surveillance video was distorted to make Combs appear more domineering than he was. 

But Combs’ assertion that the woman in the video was stealing his property is a “thin line of defense,” said Mark Zauderer, a partner at New York law firm Dorf Nelson & Zauderer.

“Even if the alleged victim had done something wrong, it would be, in my opinion, very unlikely that a jury would find excusable the kind of violence that is shown in that video,” Zauderer said.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller