While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 23
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Smoke billows in the distance in Khartoum on May 22, 2023, as fighting between two rival generals persists.
PHOTO: AFP
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Air strikes, combat as one-week Sudan truce officially starts
Witnesses in the Sudanese capital reported clashes and air strikes minutes after a one-week humanitarian ceasefire took effect Monday night, with the smell of smoke still lingering after gunfire and explosions rocked Khartoum throughout the day.
The witnesses reported combat in north Khartoum, and air strikes in the east of the capital shortly after 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) when the truce was to take effect.
A series of previous truce announcements were all violated by the warring generals, but the United States and Saudi Arabia – which brokered the deal – had said this one was different because it was “signed by the parties” and will be supported by a “ceasefire monitoring mechanism”.
WHO members approve nearly US$7 billion budget
REUTERS
The World Health Organization on Monday won basic approval for a US$6.83 billion (S$9.19 billion) budget over the next two years, including a 20 per cent hike in mandatory membership fees.
As the UN health agency kicked off its annual decision-making assembly, member states in a key committee approved the budget without objection.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the move as “historic and a big milestone”.
Treasury confirms US default as early as June 1 without debt ceiling hike
REUTERS
The US Treasury Department reiterated Monday it expects to be able to pay the US government’s bills only through June 1 without a debt limit increase, leaving just 10 days for White House negotiators and congressional Republicans to reach a deal.
In her third letter to Congress in three weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was “highly likely” that the agency will be unlikely to meet all US government payment obligations by early June, and as early as June 1, without congressional action to raise the US$31.4 trillion (S$42.24 trillion) debt ceiling, which would trigger the first-ever US default.
“With an additional week of information now available, I am writing to note that we estimate that it is highly likely that Treasury will no longer be able to satisfy all of the government’s obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by early June, and potentially as early as June 1,” she said.
Republican US Senator Tim Scott makes White House bid official
NYT
Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the US Senate, formally kicked off his 2024 presidential campaign on Monday, betting that his optimistic message will sell in a party in which many voters are still firmly behind former US President Donald Trump.
While Scott acknowledged his candidacy in a filing with the federal election regulator on Friday, his speech to supporters in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday marked the formal start of his campaign.
With only 1 per cent of support among registered Republicans according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, Scott faces an uphill battle in his bid to win the Republican nomination to take on Democratic President Joe Biden next year.
Woods withdraws from US Open while recovering from surgery
AFP
Tiger Woods will not compete in next month’s US Open while he recovers from recent surgery, the major tournament’s organisers said on Monday.
The 15-times major winner withdrew from the Masters midway through the tournament due to injury and had fusion surgery on a bone in his ankle last month to address post-traumatic arthritis from a previous talus bone fracture.
Woods did not participate in this month’s PGA Championship, the year’s second major.
