TOP NEWS

These are the key developments from day 1,420 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, January 14:

Fighting

• A Russian missile and drone attack on a postal company terminal in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed four people and wounded six, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that a Russian long-range drone also struck a medical facility for children, causing a fire.
• Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Energy Mykola Kolisnyk said that continued Russian shelling on Tuesday caused an “even greater shortage” of electricity in Kyiv and that “almost 500 high-rise buildings are still without heat”.
• The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said Russian forces had launched a “massive strike against energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces”, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
• The ministry also reported that Russian forces shot down 207 Ukrainian drones and 11 guided missiles in a 24-hour period, according to TASS.

• TASS also said that some supermarkets were closed in Kyiv due to the power outages. However, Kolisnyk said these reports were false.
• Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said Ukrainian Navy forces struck a Russian drone factory in Taganrog, in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire and “a series of loud explosions”.
• Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar wrote on Telegram that a woman’s body was found in a building after it was shelled by Ukrainian forces in Taganrog.
• A Ukrainian drone attack killed a man in Shebekino city in Russia’s Belgorod region, the regional civil task force reported on Telegram.
• Another Ukrainian drone attack killed a 45-year-old woman in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the Russian-installed regional government reported on Telegram.
• Ukraine’s DeepState military blog said that Russian forces advanced near Lozova in Kharkiv and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhia region.

Black Sea attacks

• Drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by US oil giant Chevron, the companies involved said, as they sailed towards a terminal on the Russian coast.
• “All crew are safe, and the vessel remains stable. It is proceeding to a safe port, and we are coordinating with the ship operator and relevant authorities,” Chevron said of the damaged chartered tanker.
• Reuters reported that both ships were en route to Russia’s Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka terminal, a loading point for about 80 percent of Kazakh oil destined for international markets, as well as some Russian crude oil, according to multiple unnamed sources.
• Кazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy had said earlier on Tuesday that it reduced oil shipments through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) marine terminal in December because of drone attacks and adverse Black Sea weather conditions.

Politics and Diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s first vice prime minister, for the post of defence minister, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak wrote on Telegram.
• Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday voted against naming outgoing Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal as energy minister after Zelenskyy proposed him for the position.

Regional Security

• Germany indicted two Ukrainians linked to an alleged plot, on behalf of Russian spy services, to detonate packages while they were being transported across Europe, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
• Russia said it had summoned Poland’s ambassador to protest over the detention of a Russian archaeologist and demand that he be immediately released instead of extradited to Ukraine.

Colvin’s arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement in the US.

Claudette Colvin, who helped to ignite the modern civil rights movement in the US after refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus, has died aged 86.

Colvin was 15 when she was arrested on a bus in Montgomery, nine months before Rosa Parks gained international fame for also refusing to give up her seat.

Colvin died of natural causes in Texas, according to a statement from her legacy foundation on Tuesday.

Colvin was detained on March 2, 1955, after a bus driver called the police to complain that two Black girls were sitting near two white women in violation of segregation laws. Colvin refused to move when asked, leading to her arrest.

“I remained seated because the lady could have sat in the seat opposite me,” Colvin told reporters in Paris in April 2023.

“She refused because… a white person wasn’t supposed to sit close to a negro,” Colvin said.

“People ask me why I refused to move, and I say history had me glued to the seat,” she added.

Colvin was briefly imprisoned for disturbing public order. The following year, she became one of four Black female plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit challenging segregated bus seating in Montgomery.

The case was successful, impacting public transportation throughout the US, including trains, aeroplanes and taxis.

Colvin’s arrest occurred at a time of growing frustration over how Black people were being treated on Montgomery’s bus system. The arrest of Parks in December 1955 triggered the start of the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The boycott propelled the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr into the national limelight and is considered the start of the modern civil rights movement.

“She leaves behind a legacy of courage that helped change the course of American history,” the Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation said in a statement.

‘Too often overlooked’

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said Colvin’s action “helped lay the legal and moral foundation for the movement that would change America”.

Colvin’s role in helping to trigger the modern civil rights movement is often overshadowed by the actions of Parks, and Reed said her bravery “was too often overlooked”.

“Claudette Colvin’s life reminds us that movements are built not only by those whose names are most familiar, but by those whose courage comes early, quietly, and at great personal cost,” Reed added.

While Colvin’s arrest helped to bring an end to racial segregation in the US, there are concerns from civil rights groups that President Donald Trump is looking to roll back policies on social progress.

On Tuesday, the largest civil rights group in the US said that Trump was being deceptive in his claims that civil rights hurt white people.

In an interview from last week published by The New York Times, Trump said he believed civil rights-era protections resulted in white people being treated unfairly.

The comments came after Trump was asked whether protections that began in the 1960s with the passage of the Civil Rights Act resulted in discrimination against white men, according to the newspaper.

“It accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people – people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job,” Trump was quoted as saying.

“It was a reverse discrimination,” he said.

In response, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Trump was “lying through his teeth”.

“Trump does this all the time. He deliberately invents a false reality to lay the groundwork for policies that further benefit the top one percent by privatising government services and stripping resources away from underserved communities,” said Johnson.

The decision is expected to affect about 1,100 people and is likely to face legal challenges.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump will end temporary deportation protections and work permits for some Somali nationals in the US, authorities say.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Tuesday that the Trump administration was ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which shields migrants from deportation to countries where it is deemed unsafe to return and grants temporary work authorisation, for Somalis living in the US.

“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” Noem said in a statement. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”

The decision, which is expected to affect about 1,100 people, is likely to face legal challenges.

The Somali community has become a frequent target of the Trump administration. The US president has called Somalis “garbage” and depicted them as criminals.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has lashed out at Somalis in the US, alleging large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the country, with about 80,000 members.

Trump has threatened to strip any naturalised Somali or foreign-born person of their US citizenship if they were convicted of fraud, as he continued his attacks on the Somali community.

“We’re going to revoke the citizenship of any naturalised immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens,” Trump said on Tuesday.

The administration has additionally cut off Minnesota’s access to federal childcare assistance and surged immigration enforcement agents to the state, home to a sizeable Somali population, prompting widespread anger and condemnation from local and state officials over aggressive immigration raids.

Heavily-armed agents have broken car windows and detained people, used frequent force against protesters, and asked residents for proof of citizenship, drawing concerns from civil liberties groups.

Tensions rose further after a federal immigration agent last week shot and killed Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three, who had been acting as a legal monitor of federal immigration activity in Minneapolis.

Uganda holds elections on Thursday, with President Yoweri Museveni hoping to extend his four decades in power.

Supporters of his main opponent, musician Bobi Wine, allege harassment and intimidation.

So, what’s at stake for one of the world’s youngest populations?

Presenter:

Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Robert Kabushenga – host of The Bad Natives podcast

Alex Vines – Africa programme director at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Joseph Ochieno – commentator on African affairs

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Actor Timothy Busfield surrendered himself to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday after a warrant was issued last week accusing him of sexually abusing two children.

Busfield said he is fighting the charges that accuse him of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and child abuse.

Before turning himself in on Tuesday, Busfield told his attorneys in Albuquerque that he will “confront these lies” and that he “did not do anything to those little boys,” according to a video obtained by TMZ.

The charges arise from two boys who were cast members of The Cleaning Lady television show that aired on Fox when Busfield was its director and a cast member. Episodes were filmed in New Mexico beginning in 2022.

Attorney Larry Stein is Busfield’s non-criminal attorney and told TMZ that the accusations are false and were made by the mother of two boys who were fired ahead of the show’s final season.

Stein said the mother allegedly told another cast member that she would get revenge against Busfield for cutting her sons from the final season’s cast.

The Warner Bros. studio commissioned an independent investigation by a law firm into the matter and concluded the allegations lacked any evidence.

The law firm interviewed about a dozen people close to the matter before concluding that there was no evidence to support the claims, TMZ reported.

The children accuse Busfield of inappropriately touching them while on the film set.

Busfield surrendered himself after learning a warrant had been issued for his arrest. U.S. Marshals and local police were seeking his whereabouts to initiate an arrest.

Stein said Busfield won’t be allowed to post bail, and his wife, actress Melissa Gilbert, said she won’t comment on the matter.

“Her focus is on supporting and caring for their very large family as they navigate this moment,” Gilbert’s spokesperson Ame Van Iden told NBC News.

“Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time,” Van Iden said.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury and State Departments designated branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations on Tuesday.

The press release by the Department of the Treasury alleges that chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan support terrorism by supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas.

“The Muslim Brotherhood has a longstanding record of perpetrating acts of terror and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “This administration will deploy the full scope of its authorities to disrupt, dismantle and defeat terrorist networks wherever they operate in order to keep America safe.”

The move follows President Donald Trump‘s direction, laid out in an executive order signed in November. Trump directed the Treasury and State Department to evaluate whether any chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. It renounced the use of violence in the 1970s, though the treasury said its branches promote and support terrorism.

Hamas was founded as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. It has since become an independent organization.

The Office of Foreign Asset is directed to block all property and property interests related to the sanctioned Muslim Brotherhood branches. This includes property that is at least 50% owned by a person associated with the organization.

At least six people were killed after heavy rain flooded tents and collapsed homes sheltering displaced families in Gaza. Footage shows the storm’s aftermath, including crumpled tents lying in muddy water and a collapsed wall.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrived for the first day of her appeal against a five-year ban from public office, saying she was hopeful the decision would be overturned. The outcome will determine if she can run for president in 2027. Last year she was found guilty of embezzling millions in EU funding.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Bolivia’s government and major labor and farm groups reached an agreement to end weeks of protests and road blockades that paralyzed the country, easing a standoff triggered by a disputed economic decree.

The administration of President Rodrigo Paz signed the accord with the Central Obrera Boliviana, known as the COB, the country’s largest labor federation, along with peasant unions and other social groups.

The agreement calls for repealing the decree and creating a commission to draft a new measure that would keep fuel subsidies and review other provisions challenged by protesters.

Six cabinet ministers signed the document alongside representatives of the social organizations. Talks took place over the weekend in El Alto, a city neighboring La Paz that was among the areas hardest hit by road closures, according to Bolivian news outlet Erbol.

Protests began in early January after the government issued a decree declaring an economic emergency and moving to eliminate state fuel subsidies. The measure led to gasoline and diesel price hikes of up to 160%, driving up transportation costs and the price of basic goods.

The core of the agreement is the full repeal of Supreme Decree 5503, which sparked public anger for its economic changes, including the end of fuel subsidies.

The draft framework for a new decree also includes plans to reschedule bank loans, improve social benefit payments and reorganize wage policy, according to the signed text.

In the days before the deal, Bolivia experienced one of its most severe traffic disruptions in years.

The Bolivian Road Administration reported at least 52 blockade points on key highways, especially in the La Paz region. Thousands of passengers and truck drivers were stranded and supplies of food and fuel began to tighten.

The protests, led by the COB and peasant federations, intensified after the government insisted on keeping the decree despite widespread opposition. Union leaders called on “all Bolivian people” to mobilize for its repeal, warning the measure would bring “hunger” to future generations.

While the agreement reopened most roads, some isolated protests continued, particularly in parts of Cochabamba, where groups maintained blockades, arguing their demands have not been fully addressed. Unions said they will remain on alert until the new decree is formally issued, according to Visión 360.

Paz initially defended ending the subsidy in a post on X, saying, “For each day without the subsidy, we saved $10 million, which means public works and jobs. For each day of blockades, we lost $20 million in public works, jobs and production.”

Analysts said the government now faces the challenge of balancing economic goals with social demands.

Claudia Edith Serrano. a specialist in Latin American studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a professor at the Faculty of Higher Studies Aragon, told Reporte Indigo that any renewed attempt to fully remove subsidies could reignite protests, urging the administration to proceed cautiously and prioritize dialogue with grassroots groups.

The Syrian army has declared a rural area east of Aleppo a “closed military zone” amid fears of renewed clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. A military source said the SDF destroyed three bridges connecting areas it controls with government-controlled areas. Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi has the latest from Aleppo.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — The consumer price index showed inflation rising less than expected in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The bureau reports that seasonally adjusted consumer prices grew by about 0.2% for the month, and about 2.6% for the 12 months ending in December. Both figures fall about 0.1% short of what was expected.

The biggest contributor to rising prices was the index for shelter, rising about 0.4%. The food index was 0.7% and energy’s index was 0.3% in December.

Tuesday’s CPI tracked several categories that were absent in October and November reports, including food, some energy items, shelter and other items like vehicles and medical care commodities. Federal reports were impacted by the 43-day government shutdown that began on Oct. 1.

The rate for all items increased by 2.7% for the year ending in December. This figure matched the Dow Jones estimate.

In total, prices remain elevated but the latest CPI indicates inflation has cooled some. The Federal Reserve is targeting an annual 2% rate of inflation before it brings interest rates down.

Last month, the Fed cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. It is the lowest its interest rates have been since November 2022.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Adelaide Writers’ Week, a premier literary event in Australia, was canceled after most of the writers dropped out in protest of the festival’s decision to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.

Last week, the Adelaide Festival board announced that Randa Abdel-Fattah, a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, was disinvited “given her past statements.”

“Whilst we do not suggest in any way that Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah’s or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, given her past statements we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi,” the Jan. 8 statement said.

On Dec. 14, two men shot and killed 15 people at Bondi Beach in Sydney during a Hanukkah celebration. One of the shooters was killed on the scene. The surviving shooter was arrested and charged. Since then, Australia has been cracking down on anti-Semitism and hate speech.

Following Abdel-Fattah’s ousting, 180 writers and four board members quit the festival, which was scheduled for Feb. 27-March 15. Writers’ Week is part of the broader Adelaide Festival. The three remaining board members, the chair and Writers’ Week director Louise Adler resigned. Adler announced her resignation in Guardian Australia. “I cannot be party to silencing writers,” The Guardian reported she wrote.

Some prominent writers who dropped out were American Pulitzer-prize winning author Percival Everett, British novelist Zadie Smith, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian authors Helen Garner and Trent Dalton.

The Jewish Council of Australia also condemned the cancellation of Abdel-Fattah’s appearance. In a message on Instagram on Jan. 9, it said the council condemned the decision “and the board’s cynical and deplorable reference to the Dec. 14 Bondi massacre. The fact that yet another institution has caved to a relentless campaign waged against Dr. Abdel-Fatah and supporters of Palestinians should be deeply concerning to all who value a plural and open society.”

After growing backlash, the board released a statement apologizing for the distress the decision caused.

“As a Board we took this action out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event. Instead, this decision has created more division, and for that we express our sincere apologies,” it said.

“We recognize and deeply regret the distress this decision has caused to our audience, artists and writers, donors, corporate partners, the government and our own staff and people. We also apologize to Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented and reiterate this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history.

“We acknowledge and are committed to rebuilding trust with our artistic community and audience to enable open and respectful discussions at future Adelaide Writers’ Week events.”

Abdel-Fattah, a fellow in the sociology department at Sydney’s Macquarie University with expertise in Islamophobia, said on X that she rejects the apology.

“It is clear that the board’s regret extends to how the message of my cancellation was conveyed, not the decision itself,” she wrote.

“Once again the board, citing the ‘national discourse’ for an action that specifically targets me, a Palestinian Australian Muslim woman, is explicitly articulating that I cannot be part of the national discourse, which is insulting and racist in the extreme.

“The board again reiterates the link to a terror attack I had nothing to do with, nor did any Palestinian. The Bondi shooting does not mean I or anyone else has to stop advocating for an end to the illegal occupation and systematic extermination of my people — this is an obscene and absurd demand.”

Adler said the cancellation of the event was inevitable.

“It was untenable,” she said. “There were 165 sessions and as of yesterday at about 4 p.m., only 12 events had a full complement of writers left. Seventy percent of all the writers had withdrawn. You can’t stitch that back together. All those Australian writers, the internationals, people like Zadie Smith, M. Gessen, Jonathan Coe — all of that hard work, gone.

“I am so sorry that this masterclass in poor governance has landed us in this position,” she added.

Three consecutive seasons of drought have left people in Northern Kenya facing an emergency. Communities in Mandera County rely on fertile land for their livestock to survive. Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa went to meet some of them.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — The BBC said Tuesday that it will attempt to have U.S. President Donald Trump‘s lawsuit seeking $10 billion over a misleading documentary on the Jan. 6 riots tossed from a court in Florida.

Trump is suing for $5 billion in damages for alleged defamation plus $5 billion for an alleged state trade law violation, but the motion the British public broadcaster is set to file will argue the court has no jurisdiction over the BBC, is an “improper venue” and that Trump had “failed to state a claim [for defamation],” according to court papers.

The corporation asked for all pre-trial proceedings, including discovery, to be halted pending a ruling on the motion.

The BBC previously apologized and issued a retraction over edits to a speech Trump gave to supporters before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, which made it appear, wrongly, as if he was “making a direct call to violent action,” but which the corporation insists was an unintentional error of judgment.

The legal standard for defamation is deliberate or reckless publishing of a falsehood causing reputational harm, but the BBC insists it is not liable because Trump suffered no actual damage, pointing to his decisive victory in the 2024 election, including in Florida.

The BBC will argue there was no “actual malice” in its Oct. 28, 2024, broadcasting of the Panorama program, which it says aired in the United Kingdom only and was not available to view in the United States via the corporation’s Britbox streaming service, as alleged in Trump’s suit.

The program, titled Trump: A Second Chance, broadcast on Oct. 28, 2024, spliced together excerpts lifted from different parts of Trump’s speech that made them appear contiguous: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

What he actually said was, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” and it wasn’t until 50 minutes later in the speech that Trump made the comments about fighting.

The BBC will argue that the rest of the documentary gave a fair and balanced account of Trump’s 2024 race, including giving his supporters ample time to air their views, and that the speech in question comprised just 15 seconds of a 60-minute-long program.

The BBC declined to comment.

“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” said a spokesman.

The error went unnoticed for a year until The Telegraph ran an exclusive on a leaked BBC memo in which a former ethics adviser raised a red flag over the speech part of the documentary.

The revelations triggered the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness on Nov. 9.

Trump filed his lawsuit five weeks later on Dec. 15.

US immigration agents have clashed with protesters in Minneapolis days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer. Meanwhile, Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration to block a planned surge of immigration agents, calling the deployment unlawful.

Kampala, Uganda – When Bobi Wine, a singer-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, launched his campaign to become Uganda’s next president in October, he appeared in tailored suits, greeting crowds with a familiar smile.

The mood, at least at first, felt cautiously hopeful.

But by December, that image had disappeared.

As campaigning comes to an end on Tuesday, Bobi Wine, who is the main opposition candidate looking to unseat long-serving President Yoweri Museveni, now only appears in public wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet.

For many Ugandans, his change in attire – and the state violence that led to it – are symbols of a foregone political outcome: An incumbent victory likely to be rejected by his competitors.

Since he was cleared to run in the election in September, Bobi Wine’s campaign convoy has frequently been met with tear gas, roadblocks and arrests of supporters. Campaign events are regularly disrupted, with people abruptly dispersing and roads sealed off.

While the violence has not reached the deadly levels of the 2021 election, when more than 50 people were killed and hundreds of Bobi Wine supporters were detained following spontaneous protests in the capital, Kampala, the campaign environment has become increasingly militarised – defined by calculated repression, intimidation and a steadily shrinking space for Bobi Wine to sell his manifesto, analysts have observed.

Bobi Wine, 43, is contesting for a second time in Thursday’s election after he finished as the runner-up in the 2021 polls.

Museveni won that last disputed vote during which Bobi Wine alleged fraud and urged citizens to reject the result. The 81-year-old incumbent has ruled the country for nearly four decades after capturing power following a rebel war, and is seeking a seventh term in office.

Five other candidates are also in this year’s race, in which 21.6 million registered voters are expected to cast their votes.

A climate of fear

Even before campaigning officially began, Bobi Wine’s team expected violence.

Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba – who serves as Uganda’s army chief – had publicly threatened Bobi Wine in the months leading to the campaign season, including remarks about beheading him.

Kainerugaba also claimed responsibility for the abduction and torture of Bobi Wine’s bodyguard, Edward Ssebuufu, who remains in detention.

Opposition officials say that while the worst of Kainerugaba’s threats have not materialised, the state, fearing the big audience Bobi Wine was attracting, decided to unleash violence on him during the election campaign.

“In terms of violence, we saw that the first month [October] was a bit not so violent, but after that it became violent and chaotic,” David Lewis Rubonyoya, secretary-general of National Unity Platform (NUP), the party Bobi Wine leads, told Al Jazeera.

During a campaign stop in Gulu, northern Uganda, in December, Bobi Wine was attacked by security forces and plainclothes individuals armed with sticks. He and several of his aides were beaten, and campaign equipment was vandalised. One person later died following the incident. In a separate incident in Mbarara, western Uganda, in November, police arrested 43 Bobi Wine supporters after a confrontation over campaign routes. They remain in detention.

During the 2021 election period, the protests and deadly police crackdown were prompted by Bobi Wine’s arrest for allegedly flaunting COVID-19 guidelines. This year, although the violence has so far been muted, opposition figures and analysts insist the repression is no less severe – only more controlled.

Michael Mutyaba, a Ugandan political analyst and a doctoral researcher at SOAS University of London, says the difference lies in strategy.

“In 2021 and before, security agencies were in panic mode. There was state violence that was less calculated. The violence now looks more calculated and expanded,” he told Al Jazeera. He pointed to arrests of random people, like a Catholic priest charged with money laundering, as examples. The government also arrested Sarah Birete, a prominent human rights activist and critic, who will only be released after the election.

Voter and candidate ‘bribery’

Bobi Wine, too, has faced increased onslaught from the state, with candidates sponsored by his party to stand in parliamentary elections coming under particular strain. Many of the targeted candidates standing in the parliamentary polls, also being held on Thursday, have withdrawn their candidacies, publicly denounced Bobi Wine, and joined the governing party.

Most of these defections, managed by parliament’s deputy speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, have occurred daily but mainly outside the central region, which is considered Bobi Wine’s stronghold. Bobi Wine has claimed that these candidates were bribed, while the state maintains that they joined the governing party freely and without conditions.

Yusuf Serunkuma, a political analyst based at Kampala’s Makerere University, said he is not surprised by the “regime’s” tactics.

“This is part of transactional politics,” he told Al Jazeera. But he added that if the opposition had the capacity to buy candidates from the governing party, they too would be doing it daily.

Another method the state has used to eliminate candidates sponsored by Bobi Wine’s party has been through disqualification by the Electoral Commission, which has argued that some candidates failed to meet nomination requirements. Jude Byamukama, a Ugandan constitutional lawyer, says the cancellations have been “ridiculous”, as critics say they are tactics deployed to halt the opposition.

“They [Electoral Commission] were trying to create unopposed candidates in several constituencies without a lawful basis,” Byamukama told Al Jazeera. He added that after disqualification, the commission then made it difficult for candidates to appeal to the courts by failing to serve them the decisions on time.

Months before the election season, Museveni also launched a softer offensive, particularly targeting informal sector players in Bobi Wine’s strongholds in central Uganda. There, the president has distributed millions of dollars in cash to groups such as motorcycle riders, taxi drivers, salon operators and street vendors. Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a retired historian from Makerere University, describes this as “electoral corruption” meant to influence voters, while Serunkuma said “vote buying” is normal in Ugandan politics, but this time, it’s been more organised.

Fears the worst is yet to come

As election day approaches on Thursday, Bobi Wine has warned that the state plans to arrest him and abduct key organisers who would play a role in monitoring polling stations.

He has issued advice to supporters: Disable phone location services, avoid predictable routes, limit time spent in one place, and flee if followed by unfamiliar vehicles or motorcycles – like the Toyota Hiace commonly associated with state abductions.

“I am aware of a plot by the desperate regime to have me arrested before polling day,” he recently said on social media.

Another flashpoint looms over election day itself: Whether voters should remain near polling stations after voting to “protect the vote”, as Bobi Wine has urged.

Ugandan law allows voters to remain at least 20 metres (66ft) away from polling stations, but the Electoral Commission and security agencies have advised people to leave immediately after voting.

The Electoral Commission has framed the issue as one of discipline rather than legality, warning that crowds could provoke disorder.

Ugandans want peace

Despite the tense atmosphere among political players, Ugandans say they want peace – regardless of political affiliation.

Wanyama Isaac, a casual construction worker in Kampala and a Bobi Wine supporter, says elections should not descend into violence.

“Violence helps no one. It is the responsibility of both sides to remain calm,” he said.

Mashabe Alex, a boda boda rider who supports Museveni, agrees.

“Violence destroys businesses and lives, as we saw in 2021.”

He says the opposition should not threaten Museveni supporters like himself.

An uncertain endgame

Bobi Wine’s camp has not disclosed its post-election strategy. But Museveni has been warning his competitor’s supporters not to dare confront security agencies.

“I have heard Bobi Wine say that soldiers and police are few while rioters are many. I advise you not to believe him. Every soldier and police officer has a gun with 120 bullets,” Museveni warned in December.

The military already has soldiers in infantry mobility vehicles in Kampala, an opposition stronghold.

Rubongoya of the NUP argues that the Electoral Commission cannot declare an opposition candidate a winner in Uganda without pressure from the public.

“If Ugandans vote in large numbers and peacefully demand their victory, the Electoral Commission will be pushed to announce the right candidate,” he said.

“Our ideology is people power. If people are determined, intimidation and money will not stop them,” he added.

However, Rubongoya acknowledged that memories of the 2020–2021 election violence still haunt many Ugandans. He warned that any attempt to protest could be met with lethal force.

Serunkuma argues that the opposition signed up for an electoral process that was rigged from the start, and that they know they can never win, suggesting that their target may not be unseating Museveni himself.

Rather, he says parties like that of Bobi Wine want to “consolidate themselves under Museveni” by, for instance, retaining positions they hold in parliament.

Mutyaba predicts that after the election results are announced, Bobi Wine will likely be placed under house arrest – a tactic the state has used repeatedly since 2011. His party will issue statements dismissing the election results, and that will likely be the end.

“It is impossible to organise protests under the current conditions,” Mutyaba said. “The dynamics are not in their favour. The only hope is that, at some point during Museveni’s next term, an incident could trigger an uprising. But that will not happen next week.”

North Korea on Tuesday denounced a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Russia’s recent air strike on Ukraine, defending Moscow’s action as a just exercise of the right to self-defense.

Kim Song, North Korea’s permanent representative to the U.N. issued a statement condemning the UNSC meeting Monday (New York time) after Russia launched a barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine last week.

“It is just an extension of the customary practice of the Western cavilers who used to groundlessly slander the just exercise of the right to self-defense of a sovereign state,” read the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The North’s envoy denounced Ukraine’s military action against Russia as a “terrorist act” as Moscow earlier warned of a response against Ukraine following Kyiv’s drone attacks in early January.

“The terrorist act targeting the absolute sovereignty of a country can never be justified, and retaliation of justice can never be demonized by any assertion,” Kim said.

North Korea has sent thousands of troops and weapons to support Russia’s war with Ukraine amid deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

US media reports say tariffs will be cut to 15 percent in exchange for TSMC investment.

Taiwan and the United States have reached a “general consensus” on a trade pact that would reduce US tariffs on Taiwanese exports, officials in Taipei have said.

Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said on Tuesday that the outlines of a deal had been reached following months of negotiations with US officials.

“The goal of the US-Taiwan tariff negotiations has always been to seek reciprocal tariff reductions without stacking tariffs, and to obtain preferential treatment under Section 232,” the office said in a statement, according to the AFP news agency.

The trade office did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

US President Donald Trump announced a 32 percent “reciprocal tariff” on Taiwanese exports in April, before lowering the rate to 20 percent in August pending further negotiations.

Countries have made pledges to boost investments in the US in exchange for tariff relief since Trump launched his trade war last year.

Japan and South Korea last year agreed to invest $550bn and $350bn, respectively, to see their tariff rates cut from 25 to 15 percent.

Taiwan’s trade office did not provide details on the deal, but Bloomberg and The New York Times reported that the self-governing island’s tariff rate would be lowered to 15 percent.

As part of the deal, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) would agree to build at least four more production facilities in the US state of Arizona, according to Bloomberg and The New York Times, which cited unnamed officials.

TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker and supplier to companies such as Nvidia and Apple, said in March that it planned to spend $100bn on new fabrication and packing plants in the US, bringing its total investment in the country to $165bn.

Due to its strategic importance, the chipmaker has been under pressure from Washington since 2020 to expand production outside Taiwan.

The US fears that a blockade of Taiwan by China, which claims the island as its territory, could cut off access to TSMC’s chips.

While TSMC has agreed to build new production facilities in the US, Japan, and Germany, it continues to make its most advanced chips in Taiwan.

Prosecutors accused sailor Jinchao Wei of selling information about US Navy ships to Chinese intelligence operatives.

A former United States Navy sailor has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison after being convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinchao Wei, 25, to 200 months in prison.

In August, a jury convicted Wei of six crimes, including espionage, based on accusations he was paid more than $12,000 for selling information, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Wei, an engineer for the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, was one of two California-based sailors charged on August 3, 2023, with providing sensitive military information to China. The other, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.

For years, US officials have expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, and prosecutors have pursued criminal cases against Beijing intelligence operatives who have allegedly stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

Wei was recruited via social media in 2022 by an intelligence officer who portrayed himself as a naval enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, prosecutors said.

Evidence presented in court showed Wei told a friend that the person was “extremely suspicious” and that it was “quite obviously” espionage.

Wei disregarded the friend’s advice to delete the contact and instead moved conversations with the intelligence officer to a different encrypted messaging app he believed to be more secure, prosecutors said.

Over the course of 18 months, Wei sent the officer photos and videos of the Essex, advised him of the location of various naval ships and told him about the Essex’s defensive weapons, prosecutors said.

Wei sold the intelligence officer 60 technical and operating manuals, including those for weapons control, aircraft and deck elevators. The manuals contained export control warnings and detailed the operations of multiple systems on board the Essex and similar ships.

He was a petty officer second class, which is an enlisted sailor’s rank.

The navy’s website says the Essex is equipped to transport and support a Marine Corps landing force of more than 2,000 personnel during an air and amphibious assault.

In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Wei apologised and said he should not have shared anything with the person whom he had considered a friend. Wei said “introversion and loneliness” clouded his judgement.

Record-breaking wicketkeeper-batter to quit the game after the ODI and Test series against India in March.

Alyssa Healy, a mainstay of Australia’s dominant women’s cricket ‍team for 15 ‍years and its current captain, has announced that she will retire from the game after the upcoming multi-format series against India.

“It’s with mixed emotions that the upcoming India series will ‍be my last for Australia,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was part of two one-day international (ODI) World Cup triumphs and six successful T20 World ⁠Cup campaigns before taking over as skipper after the retirement of Meg Lanning in ​late 2023.

“I’m still passionate about playing for Australia, but I’ve somewhat lost that competitive edge that’s kept me driven since the start, ‍so the time ⁠feels right to call it a day,” the modern women’s cricket great said.

“I’ll genuinely miss my teammates, singing the team song and walking out to open the batting for Australia.”

Healy made her Australia debut in 2010 and scored 3,563 runs with seven centuries in ODIs and 3,054 with a single hundred in Twenty20s for her country, as well as making 275 dismissals behind the stumps.

She holds the record for most dismissals (126) in women’s T20 international cricket.

As a mark of ​her status in Australia, Healy was never defined by her ‌relationship with her uncle, Australia wicketkeeping great Ian, nor her husband, paceman Mitchell Starc.

Healy had already announced her retirement from T20 internationals and will play her last ‌matches for Australia in three ODIs and a single Test against India in February and March.

Women’s cricket has come on in leaps and bounds during Healy’s career, but despite having missed only two Tests for Australia since her debut in January 2011, her final match will be only her 11th in the longest format of the game.

Taking over as full-time Australian captain in 2023 from Meg Lanning, Healy famously led the side to a historic 16-0 whitewash of England.

‘Helped drive women’s cricket’

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the tributes after her announcement.

“Alyssa Healy is a true legend of Australian cricket. As ‌a batter, keeper and captain she has been one of the brightest stars in a golden era,” he said in ‌a statement.

“Yet Alyssa’s impact and example off the field ⁠has been every bit as important. She has helped drive and grow women’s cricket and inspired a new generation along the way.”

She is regarded as arguably one of the most destructive batters and finest wicketkeepers in world cricket.

“Alyssa is one of the all-time greats of the game and has made an immeasurable contribution both on and off the field over her 15-year career,” said Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg.

“On behalf of Australian cricket, I’d like to thank Alyssa and congratulate her on an incredible career that has inspired so many and changed the game for the better.”

Tributes also poured in from cricket fans and experts on social media.

“[Healy] will go down as an all-time great and one of the most important ambassadors in women’s cricket,” wrote sports journalist Annesha Ghosh.

Healy had a brief stint as a commentator and analyst during the recent men’s Ashes series. Her analysis and insight into the game became an instant hit with fans, who praised her expertise and articulate manner of speaking on the game.

Some fans went on to rate her as the best commentator of the series, ahead of men’s cricket greats and highly experienced commentators.

Jan. 13 (UPI) — Republican Rep. Randy Fine introduced legislation Monday authorizing President Donald Trump to take measures necessary to acquire Greenland, amid renewed White House rhetoric about taking the autonomous Danish island.

The Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act, which is anything but assured of passage through the House, would give Trump the power to take the island, including through annexation, and require a report to be submitted to Congress detailing necessary changes to federal law to admit Greenland as the 51st state.

“Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture protecting the United States,” Fine, of Florida, said in a statement.

“America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security.”

President Donald Trump has talked of the importance of Greenland to U.S. national security since his first term, but he has increased rhetoric about acquiring the island since returning to the White House last year.

Following the U.S. military abduction of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this month, and amid heightened geopolitical concerns, the Trump administration has increased its rhetoric about acquiring Greenland.

Trump said Sunday that the United States must control the territory, which is an autonomous island of Denmark, a NATO ally.

“One way or another, we’re going to have Greenland,” he said, adding that “if we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will. And I’m not letting that happen.”

The threat to Greenland’s sovereignty has drawn staunch criticism from Democrats, Denmark and other European and NATO allies.

The U.S. Pituffik Space Force Base is located on Greenland, and Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark’s ambassador the United States, has said that since 1951, the United States has had the option to establish additional military bases and increase its military presence on the island.

Sorensen said he met with Fine on Monday and made clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Together, [Greenland] & [Denmark] are ready to deepen our security cooperation w. [the United States] to strengthen our collective defense within @NATO,” Sorensen said on X.

Jan. 12 (UPI) — A Venezuelan employee of the New York City Council has been detained by federal immigration officials, Council Speaker Julie Menin said Monday night, amid growing anger over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The unidentified data analyst was detained while attending a routine court appearance in Bethpage, Long Island, making him the first city council employee to be detained by the Trump administration, she said.

“This man chose to work for the council on behalf of the public, on behalf of New Yorkers, and despite every indication that he was doing everything the right way, he still found himself a victim of egregious government overreach,” she said during a Monday night press conference.

The employee, who is legally able to work in the United States until October, used his single phone call to contact the City Council Human Resources department seeking help, Menin said, demanding his release.

Menin added that the employee has been moved to a detention center that she cannot get in touch with.

“I’m an elected official running a body and I cannot contact a federal facility? What kind of accountability or transparency is that?” she said.

“That is not how our government works and that is not how our legal system is meant to work.”

Menin said she has spoken with the Department of Homeland Security to express her “extreme frustration” and demand information about why the employee was detained. The DHS confirmed to her that the employee was detained during the routine court appearance but provided no basis for his detention, she said.

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., reiterated that there is no indication that there is anything about the employee that warranted his arrest other than that he is an immigrant from Venezuela.

Venezuela and migrants from the South American nation have been a focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, the United States abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation. He has been indicted in the United States on narcoterrorism and other drug-related charges.

Goldman told reporters that following the detention of Maduro, the DHS is reconsidering whether or not they can even deport Venezuelans back to their native country.

“Instead of finding ‘the worst of the worst,’ instead of finding people who should be deported if they’ve committed felonies, ICE is going after New York City public employees,” he said.

The DHS often states that it is targeting “the worst of the worst” with its immigration law enforcement operations.

In refuting this DHS assertion, Goldman said that instead, federal agents are targeting their neighbors, community members and New York City public employees.

“They are going after the easiest prey they can find,” he said.

In a statement, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “outraged” by the employee’s detention.

“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city and our values,” he said.

“I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”