GREEN MAG

By Sabine Siebold and Mike Stone

BERLIN/WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Germany is considering ordering more U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, two sources told Reuters, a move that would deepen Berlin's reliance ‌on American military technology as its joint next-generation fighter program with France falters.

One source said ‌Berlin was in talks that could lead to the purchase of more than 35 additional jets. A second source did not ​specify the number. Both sources cautioned the outcome was still uncertain.

In 2022, Germany purchased 35 of the aircraft, which are due to begin delivery later this year.

The potential acquisition of more Lockheed Martin stealth fighters, at a cost of more than $80 million each, comes as Germany and France are deadlocked on their Future ‌Combat Air System (FCAS) program.

The 100-billion-euro-project, launched ⁠in 2017 to replace France's Rafales and Eurofighters from 2040, has been stalled by industrial rivalries.

Insiders expect Germany and France to abandon the development of a joint ⁠fighter jet but continue cooperation on drones and the so-called combat cloud, the digital backbone linking manned and unmanned platforms within the FCAS system.

Purchasing more F-35 jets would buy Germany time to figure out a solution for ​the ​development of a sixth-generation fighter jet and finding a ​partner for such a project.

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Germany's Defence Ministry ‌did not immediately comment while a Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to Germany.

A spokesperson for defence contractor Lockheed Martin said the company was focused on building F-35s already ordered by Germany.

Expansion of Germany's F-35 fleet would mark a significant strategic shift toward deeper military integration with the United States and away from European defence autonomy, a priority for fellow European Union member France.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz questioned on Wednesday whether developing ‌a manned sixth-generation jet, as FCAS has sought to do, ​still made sense for his country's air force.

"Will we still ​need a manned fighter jet in 20 ​years' time? Do we still need it, given that we will have to ‌develop it at great expense?" Merz said on ​the Machtwechsel podcast published on ​Wednesday.

The F-35 aircraft will succeed the Tornado jets in their role of carrying U.S. nuclear bombs stored in Germany in the event of a conflict.

The F-35 is the only Western fighter ​jet certified to carry the ‌most modern B61 nuclear bombs.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said last week the fate of ​FCAS would become clear within days.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington and Sabine Siebold ​in Berlin; Editing by Chris Sanders and Cynthia Osterman)

GENEVA (AP) — A "campaign of destruction" in October by Sudanese rebels against non-Arab communities in and neara city in Sudan's western region of Darfurshows "hallmarks of genocide," U.N.-backed human rights experts reported Thursday, a dramatic finding in the country's devastating war.

UN Sudan Genocide

The Rapid Support Forces carried out mass killings and other atrocities inel-Fasherafter an 18-month siege during which they imposed conditions "calculated to bring about the physical destruction" of non-Arab communities, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur communities, the independent fact-finding mission on Sudan reported.

U.N. officials say several thousand civilians were killed in the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, the Sudanese army's only remaining stronghold in the Darfur.Only 40% of the city's 260,000 residents managed to fleethe onslaught alive, thousands of whom were wounded, the officials said. The fate of the rest remains unknown.

Sudanplunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including Darfur.

The devastating warhas killed more than 40,000 people, according to U.N. figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher.

The RSF and their allied Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, overran el-Fasher on Oct. 26 and rampaged through the city. The offensive was marked by widespread atrocities that included mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, torture, and abductions for ransom, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office.

They killed more than 6,000 peoplebetween Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 in the city, the office said. Ahead of the attack, the rebels ran riot in the Abu Shouk displacement camp, just outside of the city, and killed at least 300 people in two days, it said.

The RSF did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. The group's commander, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has previously acknowledged abuses by his fighters, but disputed the scale of atrocities.

At least 3 criteria for genocide were met, team says

An international convention known colloquially as the "Genocide Convention" — adopted in 1948, three years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust — sets out five criteria to assess whether genocide has taken place.

They are: killing members of a group; causing its members serious bodily or mental harm; imposing measures aimed to prevent births in the group; deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the "physical destruction" of the group; and forcibly transferring its children to another group.

The fact-finding team, which doesn't have final say on the matter, said it found at least three of those five were met in the actions of the RSF. Under the convention, a genocide determination could be made even if only one of the five were met.

The RSF acts in el-Fasher included killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction in whole or in part — all core elements of the crime of genocide under international law, according to the fact-finding team.

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The report cited a systematic pattern of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence and destruction and public statements explicitly calling for the elimination of non-Arab communities.

'Not random' excesses of war, chair says

Team chair Mohamed Chande Othman, a former chief justice of Tanzania, said the RSF operation were not "random excesses of war" but pointed to a planned and organized operation that bore the characteristics of genocide.

El-Fasher's residents were "physically exhausted, malnourished, and in part unable to flee, leaving them defenseless against the extreme violence that followed," the team's report said. "Thousands of persons, particularly the Zaghawa, were killed, raped or disappeared during three days of absolute horror."

The fact-finding mission pointed to mass killings, widespread rape, sexual violence, torture and cruel treatment, arbitrary detention, extortion, and enforced disappearances during RSF's takeover of el-Fasher in late October.

The report documented cases of survivors quoting its fighters as saying things like: "Is there anyone Zaghawa among you? If we find Zaghawa, we will kill them all" and "We want to eliminate anything black from Darfur."

The report pointed to "selective targeting" of Zaghawa and Fur women and girls, "while women perceived as Arab were often spared."

A call for accountability

The fact-finding team was created in 2023 by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the U.N.'s leading human rights body, which has 47 member countries drawn from membership in the world body.

The team called for accountability for perpetrators and warned that protection of civilians is needed "more than ever" because the conflict is expanding to other regions in Sudan.

Over the course of the conflict, the warring parties were accused of violating international law. But most of the atrocities were blamed on the RSF: The Biden administration, in one of its last decisions, said it committedgenocidein Darfur.

The RSF has been supported bythe United Arab Emiratesover the course of the war, according to U.N. experts and rights groups. The UAE has denied the allegations.

The RSF grew out of the Janjaweed militias, who became notorious for atrocities in the early 2000s in a ruthless campaign against people identifying as East or Central African in Darfur. That campaign killed some 300,000 people and drove 2.7 million from their homes.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

KARACHI, Pakstan (AP) — Agas explosion ripped through an apartment buildingin Pakistan's largest port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, including women and children, and injuring several others after part of the structure collapsed, police and rescue officials said.

Pakistan Gas Explosion Building

The explosion happened in a residential area of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, local police chief Rizwan Patel said. Rescuers were still removing rubble to search for any survivors trapped under the debris, he added.

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Patel provided no further details but said the search-and-rescue operation was ongoing.

Most houses and apartment buildings in Karachi, like elsewhere in Pakistan, are supplied with natural gas for cooking. However, many households also rely on liquefied petroleum gas cylinders because of low natural gas pressure.

In July, agas explosion following a wedding receptionat a home in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, killed eight people, including the bride and groom. The blast occurred as guests had gathered to celebrate the couple, authorities said.

KOLKATA, India (AP) —Italywon the toss and elected to field against high-flying West Indies in its lastT20 World Cupgame on Thursday.

West Indies Italy T20 WCup Cricket

West Indies has already qualified for theSuper 8swith three consecutive wins in Group C and is in Group 1 with co-host India, Zimbabwe and South Africa. New Zealand, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are in Group 2 of the second round.

Harry Manenti continues to lead Italy, playing its first-ever major ICC global event, after captain Wayne Madsen wasruled out of the tournamentwhen he dislocated his shoulder at the same venue while fielding in the opening group game against Scotland.

Manenti hoped his bowlers would get some swing in the day game and take some early wickets.

"Hope there's a bit in the wicket," Manenti said at the toss. "We take some confidence from the England game and West Indies is another powerful team."

Italy was beaten by Scotland and England in group games but shocked much-fancied Nepal with a resounding 10-wicket win in Mumbai.

West Indies top-order batters have scored aggressively with captain Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford scoring half centuries across the three group games.

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Hope said he didn't mind losing the toss because "it's not in our hands" as West Indies went with an unchanged squad that beat Nepal by nine wickets in the last game.

Later Thursday

Zimbabwe, whichknocked out Australiafrom the tournament, concludes its group stage with a game against Sri Lanka in Colombo later Thursday.

Afghanistan, which made the semifinals in 2024 and lost a thrillingdouble tiebreakeragainst South Africa this past week, will meet Canada in its last Group D match.

West Indies: Brandon King, Shai Hope (captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Matthew Forde, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosain, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie.

Italy: Justin Mosca, Anthony Mosca, Syed Naqvi, Harry Manenti (captain), J.J. Smuts, Ben Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian-Piero Meade, Crishan Kalugamage, Thomas Draca, Ali Hasan.

AP cricket:https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Andrej Stojakovic's 22 points led seven double-figure point scorers for No. 10 Illinois as the Illini pounded short-handed Southern California 101-65 on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Doubt loomed over the availability of Stojakovic going into this week's California road trip for Illinois (22-5, 13-3 Big Ten). The wing, who sustained an ankle injury on Feb. 7 against Michigan State, answered all questions with a 6-of-7 shooting performance from the floor coming off the bench on Wednesday, and a perfect 9-of-9 at the free-throw line.

Stojakovic helped fuel an offensive onslaught that began early, with Illinois running out to a 15-3 lead 5:33 into the contest and never looking back.

The Illini shot 32-of-62 from the floor, including 13-of-29 on 3-point attempts, led by Jake Davis' perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. Davis scored all 12 of his points from long distance.

Davis also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

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Six different Illinois shooters connected on at least one 3-pointer. Ben Humrichous knocked down 3-of-6 from deep on his way to 11 points off the bench, while David Mirkovic and Tomislav Ivisic each made a pair of triples en route to 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Keaton Wagler added 10 points and Kylan Boswell finished with 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists to round out Illinois' collection of double-figure scorers. The balanced attack powered Illinois to its highest scoring output in Big Ten play this season, and helped the Illini maintain sole possession of second place in a tight conference competition.

USC (18-8, 7-8), meanwhile, found itself in a tough spot before opening tip. Season-long leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara was a late scratch from the lineup, and his backcourt mates -- Alijah Arenas and Kam Woods -- shot a combined 4-of-14 from the floor for eight and four points.

Arenas came into Wednesday's contest with three straight games posting at least 24 points.

Ezra Ausar recorded a double-double for the Trojans with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Jacob Cofie added 14 points, but the two combined for almost as many made field goals (11) as the rest of USC's roster combined (12).

--Field Level Media