GOVERNMENTS RACE TO RESCUE DIPLOMATS, CITIZENS FROM SUDAN

A growing list of countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan's capital as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum.

The US and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country.

France, Germany, Italy and Spain are among other nations that also carried out evacuations on Sunday.

A vicious power struggle between the regular army and a powerful paramilitary force has led to violence across the country.

US authorities said they had airlifted fewer than 100 people with three Chinook helicopters on Sunday morning in a "fast and clean" operation.

The UK government managed to airlift British diplomats and their families out of the country in what was described as a "complex and rapid" operation.

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that a plane had arrived in Djibouti carrying French citizens and others on Sunday

A handful of Dutch citizens left Khartoum on the French plane, and the Netherlands hoped to airlift more citizens out on Sunday evening

Germany's army said the first of three planes had left Sudan, bound for Jordan, with 101 people on board

Italy and Spain have evacuated citizens - the Spanish mission included citizens from Argentina, Colombia, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, Venezuela and Sudan

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had evacuated its diplomatic staff

Other countries successfully evacuated people on Saturday. More than 150 people, mostly citizens of Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Pakistan and Canada were evacuated by sea to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah.

TWITTER REINSTATES BLUE TICKS FOR SOME MEDIA HOUSES, CELEBRITIES

Twitter’s blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity, and other high profile accounts Saturday — a move protested by many of the recipients.

Once a free sign of authenticity and fame, blue ticks must now be bought by subscribers for $8 a month.

Non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as Elon Musk implemented a strategy, dubbed “Twitter Blue”, to generate new revenue, announced last year. Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed — less than 5% of the 407,000 profiles affected, according to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social-media platforms.

But on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blueticks, seemingly without action on their part. Musk tweeted Friday that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally. ”

American rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays the blue tick, tweeted: “on my soul i didn’t pay for twitter blue, u will feel my wrath tesla man!”

RUSSIA IRKED AFTER U.S. DENIES VISAS TO JOURNALISTS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday said Moscow “will not forgive” Washington for denying U.S. visas to Russian journalists meant to accompany him on a visit to UN headquarters.

“We will not forgive this,” said Mr. Lavrov, who will chair several UN Security Council meetings in New York. Russia took up the presidency of the UN Security Council in April despite the Ukraine offensive.

Last month, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on claims of espionage. The U.S. journalist, his publication and officials strongly denied the allegations.

CHINESE ENVOY’S COMMENTS MIFF EUROPE AND UKRAINE

China’s Ambassador to France has sparked anger in eastern Europe and Ukraine while drawing a rebuke in Paris after questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries.

Speaking on Friday on the LCI news channel, Ambassador Lu Shaye suggested countries that emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union “don’t have effective status under international law because there is not an international agreement confirming their status as sovereign nations”.

The comments cast doubt not just on Ukraine, which Russia invaded last February, but all former Soviet republics which emerged as independent nations after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, including members of the European Union.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Sunday that the status of post-Soviet countries was “enshrined in international law”, while he also took issue with Mr. Lu’s comments on Crimea which was occupied by Russia in 2014.

Asked during his interview if Crimea was Ukrainian, Mr. Lu replied, “It depends on how you look at the problem. There’s history. Crimea was Russian at the start.”

“It is strange to hear an absurd version of the ‘history of Crimea’ from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand-year history,” Mr. Podolyak said, referring to China.

The Foreign Ministers of Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, all former Soviet republics which joined the EU after Independence, condemned the comments from Mr. Lu, who is part if a new class of outspoken Chinese diplomats.

Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics wrote on Twitter that his views were “completely unacceptable”, while Estonia’s Margus Tsahkna called them “false and a misinterpretation of history.”

Lu Shaye had said that countries which emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union do not have effective status under international law

LABOUR PARTY IN U.K. SUSPENDS ITS PROMINENT MP OVER RACISM REMARK

LONDON: The U.K.’s Opposition Labour Party suspended prominent member Diane Abbott as an MP on Sunday, pending an investigation into comments she made that Jewish people were not subject to racism “all their lives”. Ms. Abbott later tweeted that she wanted to “wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks”.

TOP POLL OFFICIAL IN MYANMAR ASSASSINATED

Bangkok : A top election official in Myanmar was fatally shot in his car in Yangon, the country’s commercial capital, in the latest attack attributed to militants opposed to military rule. Sai Kyaw Thu, deputy director-general of the military-appointed Union Election Commission, was shot multiple times on Saturday, according to the military’s information office, media reports and a statement of responsibility from an urban guerrilla group.

The information office on Sunday said the attack was carried out by the People’s Defense Force, the loosely organised armed wing of the pro-democracy National Unity Government. Sai Kyaw Thu is believed to be the senior official of the Election Commission to be shot since the army seized power on February 1, 2021, from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

U.K. TESTS NEW EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM ON MILLIONS OF PHONES

LONDON: The U.K. conducted its first test of a new emergency alert service on Sunday, with millions of mobile phones emitting a loud alarm and vibrating. The system, modelled on similar schemes in Canada, Japan and the U.S., aims to warn the public if there is a danger to life nearby but generated criticism over “nanny state” intrusion.

AZERBAIJAN SETS UP FIRST CHECKPOINT ON KEY ROUTE TO ARCH-RIVAL ARMENIA

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: Azerbaijan on Sunday set up a checkpoint on the only land link between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, sparking an angry response from its arch-rival Yerevan. The move fuels tensions between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nations that fought two wars over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh.