What happened
The State Department yesterday declared that the Sudanese paramilitary army the Rapid Support Forces has committed genocide in its bloody civl war against Sudan's military. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against RSF chief Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (pictured above), commonly called Hemedti, and seven RSF-linked companies in the United Arab Emirates, the rebels' main foreign backer.

Who said what
"The RSF and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The genocide designation was a "sharp departure from U.S. policy that has treated both sides as equally culpable for one of the world's most brutal conflicts," which "erupted" in 2023, The Washington Post said. This was only the seventh time the U.S. has declared a genocide, including in Sudan's Darfur region. That 2004 genocide was blamed on an RSF precursor, the Janjaweed.

What next?
America's genocide designation will likely "spark greater scrutiny of the RSF affiliates and foreign suppliers," The Wall Street Journal said. The finding "does not oblige the U.S. to take action," The New York Times said, but paired with the sanctions it will restrict Hemedti's "ability to travel, use the international financial system or present himself as a champion of democratic ambitions, as he has often done."

What happened
Three wildfires that started yesterday in Los Angeles County were spreading rapidly, whipped along by strong Santa Ana winds over dry vegetation. About 30,000 people were under evacuation orders and 300,000 households without power. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said more than 1,400 firefighters and first responders were working overnight to save lives and fight the wildfires, all of which were 0% contained.

Who said what
The largest of the conflagrations, the Palisades Fire, was "burning through five football fields a minute," CNN said. The rush to escape from the coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades caused a traffic jam on Palisades Drive that "prevented emergency vehicles from getting through," The Associated Press said, and bulldozers were "brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side."

Police ordered drivers to leave their cars and run because the "fire was literally right on top of them," Officer Tim Estevez told The Washington Post. "People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming," Palisades Park resident Kelsey Trainer told AP.

What next?
The situation "will get significantly worse before it gets better," UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said at a briefing yesterday. The strongest winds were expected to last through this morning, but "the vegetation will become progressively drier the longer the wind event goes on," and "some of the driest vegetation will actually come at the end," so "there's going to be a very long period of high fire risk."