CAIRO (AP) — Drone strikes killed more than 1,000 civilians in war-torn Sudan in the first five months of 2026, a senior United Nations official said Monday as the unmanned aerial vehicles turn the conflict deadlier for civilians.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said his office has documented a “sharp increase” in drone attacks as well as rape and sexual violence in the Sudan war, now in its fourth year.
He said his office registered the killing of over 1,000 civilians by drone strikes between January and May this year.
“In Sudan, the horrific conflict has expanded and escalated, marked by a sharp increase in the use of drone warfare,” Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The war in the northeastern African country broke out on April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in Sudan.
The war killed at least 59,000 people over the course of three years, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED. The U.S.-based war-tracking group, however, said the actual toll was almost certainly higher, given reporting difficulties.
At least 2,670 people, including combatants and civilians, were killed in 2025, marking a 600% increase in drone-related deaths and an 81% increase in drone attacks compared to 2024, according to ACLED.
The latest drone strike by the paramilitary group last week killed at least 15 people after hitting a cemetery and a gas station in the central city of el-Obeid, health officials said at the time.
Both warring parties have increasingly launched explosive-laden drones that, in multiple cases, targeted civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, dams, schools, markets, and displacement camps. Drone strikes have become the deadliest threat to civilians in a conflict, overshadowed first by wars in Gaza and then in Iran.
The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with about 34 million people — almost two out of every three Sudanese — needing assistance, according to the U.N.
The fighting has wrecked urban areas and has been marked by atrocities, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.
“Rape and sexual violence are rampant,” Türk said.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaks to the media, at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
Fox Corp. has agreed to buy the streaming pioneer Roku in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $22 billion, including debt.
Roku will continue to be run as an open, partner-friendly platform, the companies said Monday, and there appears to be no immediate changes that customers will see. Fox and Roku said that the combined company will become the third-largest player in U.S. television by share of viewing.
Media reports had surfaced on Friday that Roku was looking at its strategic options, including a possible sale. Speculation was rampant as to which companies might be interested in an acquisition. Aside from Fox, names being tossed about as potential buyers included Netflix, Amazon, Comcast and Disney.
The deal will give Fox access to more than 100 million global households, along with the Roku channel and its first-party data. Fox oversees a massive sports, news and entertainment network, as well as Tubi, which it acquired in 2020.
Roku founder Anthony Wood had initially worked within Netflix in the early 2000s as that company attempted to make the seismic shift from renting DVDs, to streaming.
Roku was spun off by Netflix, however, and the company released its first set-top box in 2008.
Wood, who is Roku's chairman and CEO, said his motivation in pursuing the technology was his desire to record and play his favorite show, “Star Trek.”
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement that combining the businesses will bring together Fox's live news and sports content with a streaming platform with large viewership. It will also give Fox more exposure to advertising and streaming subscriptions.
“The combination with FOX is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers,” Wood said in prepared remarks.
Wood will have an ongoing role at the company and will join the Fox board of directors after the transaction closes.
Murdoch said during a conference call that the combined company will be better positioned for the next decade of video than either company would've been alone.
“We are confident this is the right transaction, at the right moment, for all the right reasons,” he said.
Fox will pay $96 in cash and 0.9693 shares of its Class A common stock for each Roku Class A and Class B share outstanding. The transaction is valued at $160 per Roku share.
Existing Fox shareholders are expected to own approximately 73% of the combined company and Roku shareholders will own about 27%, once the deal closes.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval from Fox and Roku shareholders and also regulatory approval.
Fox's stock declined before the market open, while shares of Roku rose slightly.
FILE - A person walks past the Fox News Headquarters in New York on April 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
FILE - This Aug. 13, 2020 file photo shows a logo for Roku on a remote control in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, file)
