Five Things to Know, April 24, 2023

1.   U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported. With the last U.S. employee of the embassy out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. Left behind were thousands of private American citizens remaining in the east African country.

2.   Ken Potts, one of the last two remaining survivors of the USS Arizona battleship, which sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102. Howard Kenton Potts died Friday at the home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts' Arizona shipmate and close friend.

3.   Just days after announcing a halt to the embattled Veterans Affairs electronic health records program, department Secretary Denis McDonough will travel to Capitol Hill to talk about the decision and what comes next for veterans support efforts. McDonough is scheduled to testify on the fiscal 2024 budget request and related issues before the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 26. A day earlier, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a separate hearing on the health records modernization effort, which was completely halted on April 21.

4.   Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea said the military fended off a Ukrainian strike on the port of Sevastopol on Monday, while a drone was also reportedly found in a forest near Moscow — attacks that come as Ukraine is believed to be preparing for a major counteroffensive.

5.   Dozens of service members and veterans in Japan and Texas cheered Friday as Jimmy Kimmel made a surprise appearance during a virtual meetup with actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim. The two co-stars fielded questions about their new movie, Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” in the USO-sponsored session when the late-night talk show host made an unannounced visit.