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A senior Ugandan official Wednesday defended the Internet blackout imposed ahead of elections, saying it was necessary to prevent riots and misinformation.The east African country goes to the polls today in a vote widely expected to secure President Yoweri Museveni his seventh term, due to his total control over state and security bodies.The authorities shut off access to the Internet on Tuesday, despite repeated promises not to do so, adding to fears of renewed repression and manipulation on election day.Presidential advisor Hajat Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye defended the move, saying: “Internet creates wars, riots, misinformation.”They had to shut down the Internet because of the misinformation from different stakeholders,” she said.The UN human rights office said the shutdown — as well as a ruling this week to suspend 10 rights NGOs — was “deeply worrying”.Uzeiye told AFP they expected a landmark win of “at least 70 percent” in the election.”We are not ready for him to leave,” she said.She rejected allegations from opposition leader Bobi Wine, analysts and rights groups that he is a military dictator who has violently repressed the opposition during his four-decade rule.”I won’t call it dictatorship,” she said.”What they are trying to portray to the world is the element of dictatorship without giving any version of the why, the who, the where, and the what.” Related Story Source link
India’s army chief yesterday accused Pakistan of flying drones into Kashmir, where the two countries fought a four-day clash last year.“They have been told that this is unacceptable to us, and please put a stop to it,” General Upendra Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi in an annual briefing to the media ahead of Army Day tomorrow. Heads of military operations of both countries spoke to each other earlier yesterday, he said. India’s army reported sighting multiple drones flying over Indian-controlled border villages last week.“These drones, I believe, were defensive drones, which want to come over (our territory) to see if any action is being planned against them,” Dwivedi said. There was no immediate response from Pakistan’s army.“We are fully alert along the Line of Control,” Dwivedi added, referring to the heavily fortified de facto border. Dwivedi said several low-flying drones entered Indian-controlled airspace with their lights switched on – as many as seven on Saturday, and another two or three on Sunday.“It’s possible they wanted to see if there were any gaps, laxity in our defence, any gaps through which they could send terrorists,” he added. In an incident on Friday, a drone from Pakistan was suspected to have dropped two pistols, three ammunition magazines, 16 bullets and one grenade that were recovered following a search, a source said. In the past, there have been reports of civilian drone intrusions from Pakistan into Indian states along the border, with Indian security agencies telling local media that they had shot down drones that were seeking to drop light arms or drugs. Pakistan has dismissed these accusations as baseless and misleading. Source link
Air India is facing a London lawsuit from the estates and relatives of some of the deceased over the June 2025 crash of a passenger jet which killed 260 people.A personal injury lawsuit was filed at the high court by 11 claimants on December 18, according to court records. No further details were immediately available. A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, lost height seconds after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad on June 12 and erupted in a fireball as it hit a medical college hostel. There was one survivor among those on the plane, and the crash also killed 19 people on ground.Air India and lawyers representing the claimants did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Separately, the families of four passengers killed in the crash are suing Boeing in the US, alleging that the accident resulted from allegedly faulty fuel switches. – AFP Source link
A crane at a China-backed high-speed rail project in Thailand collapsed onto a passenger train, causing it toآ derail on Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring 30, local authorities said. One police official said the death toll is expected to rise due to the high number of critical injuries.Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said 195 people were on board the train and authorities were rushing to identify the deceased. The incident happened when the train was passing by a work site where a crane in the location collapsed and hit the passing train. It caused the train to derail and briefly catch fire, causing a number of losses. Emergency responders and disaster response units were rushed to the scene to carry out rescue and relief operations. Amid concerns over the rising number of deaths, Ratchakitprakarn ordered a “thorough and comprehensive investigation†into the cause of the accident. The collapsed crane was part of a high-speed rail project valued at approximately $5.4 billion. Source link
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right) shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their joint news conference after their talk in Nara, western…
A woman looks on as ICE agents block an intersection Tuesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The US Tuesday said it would end a special protected status for Somalis, telling them they must leave the country by mid-March under an escalating crackdown on the community. There is a large Somali community in Minnesota, the midwestern US state at the forefront of raids and searches by immigration officers, one of whom shot and killed a local woman last week, sparking protests. In recent weeks Washington has lashed out at Somali immigrants, alleging large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country with around 80,000 members. The department of homeland security said on X it was “ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the US”. “Our message is clear. Go back to your own country, or we’ll send you back ourselves,” it said. “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) shields certain foreigners from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work. In November 2025, US President Donald Trump wrote on social media: “I am, as president of the US, hereby terminating, effective immediately, the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Programme) for Somalis in Minnesota.” The Republican president Tuesday took to his Truth Social channel to attack Democrats who lead Minneapolis, its twin city of St. Paul, and Minnesota. “Minnesota Democrats love the unrest that anarchists and professional agitators are causing because it gets the spotlight off of the $19bn that was stolen by really bad and deranged people,” Trump wrote. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) meanwhile has kept up its large-scale migrant sweeps across Minnesota, including the city of Detroit Lakes. The Minneapolis police department said its overtime bill between January 8 and January 11 was $2mn. That period marked the height of anti-ICE protests sparked by the dramatic killing, which was filmed and widely shared online. Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot dead in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis last Wednesday. Students have protested against the situation in Minnesota, including in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove, local media reported. The Trump administration in recent months has latched onto news of a large-scale public benefit fraud scandal to carry out immigration raids and harsher policies targeting Minnesota’s Somali community. Related Story Source link
Ai, a “genius” chimpanzee who could recognise more than 100 Chinese characters and the English alphabet, has died aged 49, Japanese researchers said. “Ai, which means love in Japanese, took part in studies on perception, learning and memory that advanced our understanding of primate intelligence,” the Centre for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behaviour at Kyoto University said in a statement. She died on Friday from multiple organ failure and ailments related to old age, the school said. Aside from mastering Chinese characters and the alphabet, Ai could also identify the Arabic numerals from zero to nine and 11 colours, primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa said in 2014.In one study, Ai was presented with a computer screen displaying the Chinese character for pink, along with a pink square and an alternative purple square. The chimpanzee correctly chose the pink square, Matsuzawa said. Source link
Myanmar deliberately targeted the Rohingya minority with “horrific violence” in a bid to destroy the community, Gambia’s justice minister told the International Court of Justice yesterday at the start of a genocide hearing. “It is not about esoteric issues of international law. It is about real people, real stories and a real group of human beings. The Rohingya of Myanmar. They have been targeted for destruction,” Dawda Jallow told ICJ judges. Gambia brought the case accusing Myanmar of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention during a crackdown in 2017.Legal experts are watching closely as it could give clues for how the court will handle similar accusations against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, in a case brought to the ICJ by South Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled violence by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias, escaping to neighbouring Bangladesh and bringing harrowing accounts of mass rape, arson and murder. They were subjected to “the most horrific violence and destruction one could imagine”, said Jallow. Paul Reichler, a lawyer representing Gambia, laid out searing allegations from witnesses, including gang rapes, sexual mutilation, and infants being burned alive. Today, 1.17mn Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.From there, mother-of-two Janifa Begum, 37, said: “I want to see whether the suffering we endured is reflected during the hearing.” “We want justice and peace,” she said. A final decision could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favour of The Gambia would heap more political pressure on Myanmar.“We did not bring this case lightly,” said Jallow. “We brought this case after reviewing credible reports of the most brutal and vicious violations imaginable inflicted upon a vulnerable group that had been dehumanised and persecuted for many years,” added the minister. The Gambia, a country in west Africa, brought the case in 2019 to the ICJ, which rules in disputes between states.Under the Genocide Convention, any country can file a case at the ICJ against any other it believes is in breach of the treaty. Myanmar has always maintained the crackdown by its armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead. Myanmar’s junta spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.In 2020, the ICJ said Myanmar must take “all measures within its power” to halt any acts prohibited in the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. These acts included “killing members of the group” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.The US officially declared that the violence amounted to genocide in 2022, three years after a UN team said Myanmar harboured “genocidal intent” towards the Rohingya. The ICJ hearings wrap up on January 29. “When the court considers… all of the evidence taken together, the only reasonable conclusion to reach is that a genocidal intent permeated and informed Myanmar’s myriad of state-led actions against the Rohingya,” said Philippe Sands, arguing for The Gambia. The ICJ is not the only court looking into possible genocide against the Rohingya – other cases are underway at the International Criminal Court and in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction.Outside the court, Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said: “We have been waiting for justice for many years. “What’s happening to the Rohingya is genocide, intentionally destroying our community. And we want to get justice. And when justice is done, we want to go back to our homeland with all our rights. And we want compensation,” he added. Source link
A firefighter works to extinguish a wildfire in El Coihue, in the Patagonian province of Chubut. – Reuters Forest fires in southern Argentina have scorched more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) this week, authorities said, though rain began falling in parts of Patagonia on Sunday to the relief of residents. The largest blaze, burning since January 5 near the small town of Epuyen in the Andes, has charred some 11,980 hectares, the Chubut provincial fire service said in a statement. Another fire of unspecified size is burning nearby in the Los Alerces National Park. Firefighters are also battling to contain another two fires in Chubut and neighbouring Santa Cruz provinces that have burned some 3,800 hectares, Argentina’s emergency management agency said. On Sunday afternoon, rain fell in some parts of the region, to the relief of residents like Atilla Missura, a 59-year-old who leads horseback tours. “We are very happy; hopefully it will stay this way,” Missura told AFP by telephone from Rincon de Lobos, one of the most affected areas. More than 500 firefighters, rescuers, police officers, and support personnel were combating the blazes, while dozens of local people supported operations on the front lines. The governor of Chubut, Ignacio Torres, said in a radio interview that the situation in the area was “calmer” on Sunday morning but it “remains very critical”.Torres urged people “never again to downplay the implications of climate change” and emphasised that the province is experiencing “the worst drought since 1965”. A volunteer firefighter working near Epuyen was in intensive care due to severe burns, health authorities told local media.Approximately 3,000 tourists have been evacuated from the area in recent days, and at least 10 homes have been destroyed by the fire, Torres said.The region lost 32,000 hectares to wildfires in early 2025. – AFP Source link
Mattel has unveiled an autistic Barbie, the toy giant’s latest offering aimed at allowing a broader range of children “to see themselves” in the iconic plastic doll. The Barbie line, which first introduced dolls with disabilities in 2019, already features Barbies with type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome and blindness, the US company said in a statement late Sunday. Autism is a complex and broad-spectrum neurodevelopmental disorder. It has multiple origins, primarily linked to a combination of predominantly genetic and environmental factors. Mattel said it had developed its “first-ever autistic Barbie doll” with guidance from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a disability rights organisation seeking equal rights and greater visibility for autistic people. The doll is designed “to represent common ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate about the world”, the El Segundo, California-based toymaker said. Unlike traditional Barbie, the new doll has elbow and wrist joints, enabling it to make gestures some autistic people use to process sensory information or express excitement, Mattel said.It was also designed with eyes gazing slightly to the side, “which reflects how some members of the autistic community may avoid direct eye contact”. The dolls come with a sensory stress-relief toy, noise-cancelling headphones, and a tablet, the company said, adding that it has pledged to donate 1,000 of them to US paediatric hospitals specialising in autism care. – AFP Source link