News in brief

By The Associated Press

Aid groups warn of mass death from hunger

in Sudan

CAIRO | Sudan has been torn by war for a year now, torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has been overshadowed by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Strip. But relief workers warn Sudan is hurtling towards a calamity of starvation, with potential mass death in coming months.

Food production and distribution networks have broken down and aid agencies are unable to reach the worst-stricken regions. At the same time, the conflict has brought widespread reports of atrocities including killings, displacement and rape, particularly in the area of the capital and the western region of Darfur.

U.S. judge tosses out lawsuits against Libyan commander

ALEXANDRIA, Va. | A U.S. judge has tossed out a series of civil lawsuits against a Libyan military commander who used to live in Virginia and was accused of killing innocent civilians in that country’s civil war.

At a court hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she had no jurisdiction to preside over a case alleging war crimes committed in Libya, even though the defendant, Khalifa Hifter, has U.S. citizenship and lived for more than 20 years in the northern Virginia suburbs of the nation’s capital as an exile from the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.

The ruling was a significant reversal of fortune for Hifter. In 2022, Brinkema entered a default judgment against Hifter after he refused to sit for scheduled depositions about his role in the fighting that has plagued the country over the last decade.

Oldest living conjoined twins die at 62

READING, Pa. | The oldest living conjoined twins have died in Pennsylvania at age 62. Obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg say Lori and George Schappell died April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

They pursued separate interests during long lives that defied medical expectations.

The twins were born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and had distinct brains but were joined at the skull. They appeared over the years in documentaries and talk shows and in an episode of the FX medical drama “Nip/Tuck.” George came out as transgender in 2007. Lori excelled at bowling, and George was a country singer.

—From AP reports