Morgues overflow, hidden graves in Dar es Salaam: Tanzania accused of mass killings

A forensic review, led by CNN, has brought renewed scrutiny to Tanzania’s post-election crisis, indicating a significantly higher casualty count than official reporting suggests.

Geolocated videos, satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts show “morgues overflowing with scores of bodies” and “recently disturbed soil consistent with reports of mass graves” in Kondo Cemetery, north of Dar es Salaam.
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The scale of the violence has jolted Washington. In a rare bipartisan move, US Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen condemned the election as “decided well before 29 October” and that the government’s response resulted in “the death of hundreds and the abduction and imprisonment of many more”.

In contrast, the Trump White House has yet to comment, a silence regional diplomats and analysts say risks signalling indifference at a moment when clear US leadership is urgently needed.

St. Paul passes assault weapon ban, gun rights groups file lawsuit in response

St. Paul passes assault weapon ban, gun rights groups file lawsuit in response
St. Paul became the first city in Minnesota to pass an assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines ban, with gun rights groups filing a lawsuit in response.

“Saint Paul stands ready to act on day one when the state lifts preemption,” said Mayor Melvin Carter. “This ordinance represents a collective effort by local leaders taking a long-overdue step to protect our children, families, and neighbors. Too many have suffered the unimaginable while others debated. It’s time for state leaders to meet us in this moment of urgency and safeguard the future our children deserve.”

The ordinance can’t take effect until state preemption laws are lifted; however, the city highlights five provisions:

-Ban the possession of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and binary triggers within city limits
-Prohibit untraceable “ghost guns” by requiring all firearms to have serial numbers
-Restrict firearms in sensitive public spaces, such as parks, libraries, recreation centers, and city buildings
-Require clear signage in public facilities to inform residents of restrictions and encourage compliance
-Define enforcement authority and penalties — to take effect only if the state repeals or amends preemption law

The ordinance would exempt active-duty law enforcement and military personnel, licensed federal firearms curators and transporting firearms through the city, as long as the guns are unloaded, locked and safely stored.

Sudan’s worsening situation leaves 2 out of every 3 people in need of aid, UN official says

Two out of three people in war-torn Sudan are in dire need of aid, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

The situation is getting “horrific for civilians,” U.N. humanitarian affairs and relief head Tom Fletcher told The Associated Press, as aid groups struggle to deliver much-needed assistance to communities.

“The access we need is far too limited by the conflict,” he said during a phone interview from Darfur.

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Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said on Wednesday that its teams have seen “staggering” malnutrition rates among those who fled el-Fasher and arrived in Tawila.

City Council Member Jamal Osman says he’s OK after being carjacked in south Minneapolis

Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman says he is “safe and unharmed” after he was carjacked Monday evening.

Osman, who last week was reelected to represent Ward 6, said the incident happened near the intersection of East Lake Street and Portland Avenue while he was talking on the phone with his sister.

“Minneapolis Police responded quickly to the incident. I want to thank them — and also Chief [Brian] O’Hara and Mayor [Jacob] Frey — for reaching out and checking in tonight,” Osman wrote in a statement.

Osman said police believe another person and their child were targeted in a separate carjacking earlier in the evening. The suspects in both incidents appeared to be a pair of juveniles.

Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss

President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon applies only to federal crimes, and none of the dozens of Trump allies named in the proclamation were ever charged federally over the bid to subvert the election won by Democrat Joe Biden. It doesn’t impact state charges, though state prosecutions stemming from the 2020 election have hit a dead end or are just limping along.

The move, however, underscores Trump’s continued efforts to promote the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from him even though courts around the country and U.S. officials found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome. It follows the sweeping pardons of the hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, including those convicted of attacking law enforcement.

Among those also pardoned were Sidney Powell, an attorney who promoted baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election, John Eastman, another lawyer who pushed a plan to keep Trump in power, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who championed Trump’s efforts to challenge his election loss. Also named were Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump and were charged in state cases accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Biden’s victory in those states.

Crawling to escape slaughter, people flee Sudan paramilitary group on their hands and knees

Malnourished and dehydrated people are crawling through the desert on their elbows and knees in constant terror of being caught by fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), humanitarian organizations have warned.

The journey from the RSF-controlled city of el-Fasher to the town of Tawila is just 30 miles, but nonetheless perilous as gunmen rove around, robbing people, taking them hostage and in some cases slaughtering them by the dozen, the organizations say.

Under international pressure, the RSF said Thursday that it was willing to engage in a U.S.-brokered humanitarian ceasefire. But the Sudanese military, which it has been fighting since April 2023, has yet to agree to a truce, and the State Department has said it is still working to get both parties to agree to a pause in the fighting amid warnings from the humanitarian organizations that the northeast African nation is returning to its genocidal past.

While talks are ongoing, eyewitness accounts, videos shared to social media and an analysis of satellite imagery that has shown pools of blood visible from space have revealed the scale of the killing in the region and the increasing use of drone strikes by both sides as they seek to gain an advantage on the battlefield.

Teachers working without pay in US military schools during shutdown received debt letters

Teachers in US military schools abroad who have been working without pay during the government shutdown received letters this week telling them they owed money to the government, CNN has learned.

Debt letters outlining that personnel have been “overpaid” by various amounts ranging from several hundred dollars to more than $1,000, according to letters viewed by CNN. The letters, sent by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, told employees they have 70 days from the date of the letter to pay the debts.

On Thursday, the Department of Defense Education Agency (DoDEA) told employees that the letters were sent out in error due to a glitch that will be corrected once the government is funded. But impacted employees told CNN the letters added to the stress of Defense Department civilians who have been deemed essential and have worked without pay since the shutdown began on October 1.

“DoDEA claims it will be corrected at some point after the shutdown ends but gave no indication of when or what the process to correct it will be,” one employee said. “So, in the meantime, DoDEA teachers will continue to not only work for no pay but also be charged a debt for each day we are forced to work without pay.”