Category: General

The territorial police in Sironko has registered 6 cases of theft, arson, destruction of property, and house break-ins, in the last two weeks.

The cases have all these been resolved and suspects arrested with the help of police canine that successfully helped to trace, recover and identify criminals behind the acts.

The first case was that of theft of metallic fencing bars of the Sironko District Headquarters. Our K9 Berlin was introduced at the scene of crime, and led us for about 02 kilometers to the home of one Alex and Kirumira Sharif. Exhibits were recovered in the scrap store and the two arrested.

In Napio village, Lulen sub-county, Sironko district, a case of theft of matooke, was reported vide Sd ref 06/10//01/2022 of Bugusege Police Station.

Our K9 Berlin was also introduced at the scene of crime, and led our teams for 02 kilometers to house of one Weteka Musamiro, where exhibits were recovered and the suspect arrested.

Another case was in Bufuba Village Masaba, where theft of onions from the garden of a one Wetebe Jackman was reported Vide Sd ref 04/14/01/2022. Similarly, the K9 Berlin was introduced at the scene of crime and led our officers for 02 kilometers to the home of one Weteka Stephen. Exhibits were recovered from his kitchen and the suspect apprehended.

At Totor village in Kabarwa Sub county, Bukedea district, a case of Arson to the grass-thatched house of one Opolot Wilison was reported. The police K9 led us for about 100 meters to the home of one Ojakol Tom, who upon, arrest confessed to having committed the crime and told our officers that it was his sister that sent him to burn the house of the co-wife to the complainant. He too was arrested.

Meanwhile at Bikajo cell, a case of theft of maize from the garden was reported. Our K9 Berlin was introduced at the scene of crime, led us for about one kilometer to the home of Wabukaka Moses. Exhibits were recovered.

The K9s/ sniffer dogs play an important role in supporting investigations. We therefore call upon the public not to always tamper with scenes of crime to help the dogs get the right scents/ traces that can easily be picked by dogs and get the probable culprits.

Source: Uganda Police Force

The same technology companies that helped drag the U.S. stock market back from the depths of the pandemic recession in 2021 led the market into a sharp plunge on Thursday after Meta Platforms, the company that owns Facebook, revealed that user growth on its marquee product has hit a plateau, and revenue from advertising has fallen off sharply.

Meta was not the only U.S. tech company to suffer on Thursday. Snap Inc., the owner of Snapchat; Pinterest, Twitter, PayPal, Spotify and Amazon all suffered sharp sell-offs during trading.

U.S. tech stocks are facing a variety of major challenges right now, including a possible economic slowdown, changes to privacy rules, increased regulatory pressure and competitive challenges that have pushed users — especially young people — to new platforms such as TikTok.

Every major U.S. stock index was down significantly on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 1.45%, the S&P 500 down 2.44%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 3.74%.

Meta’s Facebook struggles

Although the pain was spread broadly across the tech sector Thursday, it was the travails of Facebook that captured much of the public’s attention. The company’s shares, which were trading at $323 when the markets closed Wednesday, opened on Thursday at $242.48 and never recovered, closing at $237.76.

The 27% decline in the company’s share value translated into a loss of more than $230 billion in market value, an utterly unprecedented one-day loss for a single firm.

The share price began its tumble after the company announced for the first time ever that its total number of monthly users had not risen in the fourth quarter of 2021. Additionally, in its key North American market, Facebook saw monthly users decline slightly.

The stagnant user figures raised concerns about the company’s ability to grow even as more bad news poured in from its advertising business, which generates the overwhelming majority of the company’s profits.

Last year, Apple changed the privacy setting on its iPhones and other devices, requiring apps, including Facebook, to get each user’s explicit permission to track their activity on the internet. Prior to that change, Facebook had made extensive use of tracking software to deliver targeted advertising to its users — something its advertising clients were willing to pay a significant premium for.

Since Apple instituted the change, the majority of users have declined to allow Facebook to track their browsing, greatly diminishing the company’s ability to target advertisements. On Thursday, Meta Chief Financial Officer David Wehner told investors the company expects the changes to cost it $10 billion in advertising revenue in 2022.

Trouble with young users

Facebook has long struggled to attract younger users to its platform, and on Thursday, company officials admitted that the firm is finding it difficult to compete with TikTok, an app created by the Chinese firm ByteDance, which allows users to share brief videos.

In a call with investors, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company’s answer to TikTok, a service called Reels, is still being developed.

“Over time, we think that there is potential for a tremendous amount of overall engagement growth” he said. “We think it’s definitely the right thing to lean into this and push as hard to grow Reels as quickly as possible and not hold on the brakes at all, even though it may create some near-term slower growth than we would have wanted.”

Zuckerberg, who holds 55% of the voting shares of Meta, giving him de facto control of the company, saw his personal wealth fall by an estimated $24 billion as a result of Thursday’s market rout.

Economic headwinds

Over the past year, investors have consistently pushed the share prices of U.S. tech firms higher. Now, though, with the Federal Reserve preparing a series of interest rate increases meant to cool the U.S. economy and slow price inflation, investors appear to be reconsidering the prices they are willing to pay.

Investors typically judge the value of a stock based on its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which is determined by dividing the share price by the fraction of the company’s earnings represented by an individual share of stock.

When a company’s shares trade at a high P/E ratio that is usually because investors expect the underlying business to continue growing. However, that growth can be hampered by a slowdown in the broader economy, something many investors expect to see in the coming m

Political challenges

In addition to concerns about economic headwinds, the tech sector is facing a distinctly unfriendly regulatory environment in the U.S. Lawmakers in both parties have expressed their concern that big technology companies enjoy too much influence over areas like popular culture and political discourse but face too little accountability.

Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram, were subjected to hostile congressional hearings last year, after a whistleblower revealed internal documents that showed the companies understood that their products could be harmful to some users but took little action to address the issue.

During the hearings, high-profile lawmakers, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, called for Facebook to be broken up into multiple, smaller companies.

Source: Voice of America

The Police has also recovered a dead body of a yet to be identified person at the home of home of Tumwine Charles and wife Naome Tumwine in Kabowa.

The discovery comes just a week after another body of Turyasingura Patrick who had been reported missing on the 26th .01.2022, was found in a septic tank on the 29th .01.2022 at the same residence.

The body was found in a rotting state and could not be readily identified.

However, there has been an ongoing inquiry at Katwe Police station into the disappearance of a Male Adult one Akandida Roland from the same home which occurred in December 2020 , and the matter has been under investigations since .

The remains will be conveyed to city mortuary Mulago for Postmortem as we await for DNA testing to confirm the identity of the remains recovered.

The suspects Naome Tumwine and Muhangi Norman who were arrested earlier this week are still in custody at Katwe Police station, while efforts are underway to uprehend Tumwine Charles .

More details will be communicated in due course.

Source: Uganda Police Force

New claims for jobless benefits fell in the United States last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as many employers hung on to the workers they have and searched for more.

The agency said 238,000 unemployed workers filed for compensation, down 23,000 from the revised figure of the week before. The new total was in line with the claim figures from recent weeks as the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, continues to recover from the havoc inflicted on it by the advance of the coronavirus pandemic that swept into the country nearly two years ago.

Analysts now are awaiting the government’s release Friday of January’s employment picture in the U.S., the number of new jobs created last month and the unemployment rate, which was 3.9% in December.

The U.S. economy added a modest 199,000 new jobs in December, and analysts say January’s figure may not be much different, perhaps even smaller, as the number of new omicron variant coronavirus cases surged early in January and then waned, after the employment data was collected at mid-month.

Many employers are looking for more workers, despite about 6.9 million workers remaining unemployed in the U.S.

At the end of November, there were 10.4 million job openings in the U.S., but the skills of available workers often do not match what employers want, or the job openings are not where the unemployed live. In addition, many of the available jobs are low-wage service positions that the jobless are shunning.

But overall, the U.S. economy is surging, advancing by 5.7% in 2021, the fastest full-year gain since 1984, the Commerce Department reported last week.

The sharp growth in the world’s biggest economy showed its resiliency, even as the U.S. struggled to cope last year with two new coronavirus variants that hobbled some industries, caused supply chain issues for consumer goods that at times left store shelves empty, and led to a 7% year-over-year surge in consumer prices that was the highest in four decades.

But for the year, a record 6.4 million jobs were created, and most of the jobs lost at the outset of the pandemic in early 2020 have been recovered.

Some economic analysts say that even if the January jobs number is weak, it may be a temporary setback because the number of new coronavirus cases has been dropping sharply in the U.S. to under 400,000 new cases a day, about half of what it was just weeks ago.

The country’s robust economy pushed Federal Reserve policymakers last week to announce they could boost their benchmark interest rate as early as March after keeping it near 0% since the coronavirus first swept into the United States in March 2020.

The Fed could increase the rate several more times this year, which could have a broad effect on borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.

Source: Voice of America

The IGAD Security Sector Program (IGAD SSP) has today kicked-off a two-days consultation on the third Technical Committee Meeting (TCM) as part of the development for the regional strategy on Countering Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED).

Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are weapon of choice for terrorist organizations worldwide, posing a threat to security forces, civilians, critical infrastructure and local systems of governance. Africa has suffered gravely from the scourge of IED use, with more than 1,200 incidents recorded across the continent between June 2018 and May 2019 alone.

The African Union, Peace Support Operations Division and the Defense and Security Division, has embarked on a strategy development initiative to address the growing IED problem in Africa. A continental strategy will provide clear and cohesive guidance on Regional Economic Communities’ (REC) and Member States’ (MS) roles and responsibilities within their respective unique areas of operations.

The purpose of creating and implementing a strategy is to build enduring and sustainable solutions to a highly evolving problem that has been ineffectively addressed through short-term train and equip efforts, most of which are costly, endless, and marginally effective. Strategic and operational levels of capacity building efforts have been largely neglected. This shortfall has resulted in countless iterations of training thousands of specialists and general-purpose forces. The incorporation of strategy development into capacity building will provide greater transparency for donor nations and accountability for partner nations.

In this context, the IGAD Security Sector Program (IGAD SSP) is conducting a threat assessment in the IGAD region that leads to development of a comprehensive sub-regional C-IED strategy for IGAD and its Member States.

The opening ceremony was officiated by Commander Abebe Muluneh Beyene, Director of IGAD SSP, and welcoming remarks from distinguished guests, namely: Assistant Inspector General of Police and Head of Counter Terrorism Abas Bykagaba, Representing Uganda, H.E. Mohamed Hussein Ahmed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan as Chairperson of IGAD, H.E. Ambassador Engineer Mahboub Maalim, CEO of the Project, Madam Lucy Daxbacher Ondoga, the IGAD Head of Mission in Uganda. In addition, subject matter expertise as part of the project present were Mr. Gregory Robin and Dr. Whitney Grespin.

In his opening remarks, Commander Abebe on behalf of the Executive Secretary of IGAD, H.E. Dr. Workeneh Gebeyehu, welcomed and thanked the high-level delegates from all IGAD Member States. He further appreciated the presence of the guest of honors as well as the Government of Uganda for hosting this important meeting. Commander Abebe, emphasized on the threat of IEDs in the region and the importance of developing a regional response in a form of strategy that will enhance cooperation as well as the capacity of Member States given that the Region is very vulnerable to such threats through the presence of various transnational terrorists.

All the guest of honors thanked IGAD and the Member States for their presence and expressed their warm welcome to this consultation meeting by emphasizing the threat of IEDs and the importance of cooperation and coordination, enhanced capacity building, the need for information sharing mechanisms in order to prevent IED attacks. They further highlighted that the IGAD region as a whole and the Member States like Uganda, Kenya and Somalia are experiencing various types of IED attacks causing serious human and other casualties. All emphasized that meetings like this will help in the efforts made by Member States and IGAD by bringing together high-level practitioners who are responsible in all aspects of countering and preventing IEDs including policy formulations and implementations.

An IED Technical Committee comprising of Focal Points from Member States was established as part of the development of the C-IED regional strategy that will formally endorse the final Road Map for strategy development. The Technical Committee has been scheduled to convene on a quarterly basis to review the progress of work and provide additional guidance to IGAD SSP as required. The first meeting took place on 06 July 2021 in Addis Ababa and the second took place virtually on 01 November 2021 due to COVID19. This third meeting has brought together 25 senior and high-level practitioners from the relevant law enforcement agencies as well as ministry of foreign affairs that have direct role in the prevention and countering of Improvised Explosive Devises (C-IED).

Source: Peace, Prosperity and Regional Integration

The World Health Organization’s European region director says that while COVID-19 cases on the continent continue to rise, he sees a plausible endgame for the pandemic in Europe in coming months.

Speaking during his weekly virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, WHO Europe Region Director Hans Kluge told reporters the region recorded 12 million cases in the past week, the highest weekly case incidence since the start of the pandemic, largely driven by the omicron variant.

But Kluge said, while hospitalizations continue to rise - mainly in countries with lower vaccination rates — they have not risen as fast as the rate of new infection, and admissions to intensive care units have not increased significantly. Meanwhile, deaths from COVID-19 have remained steady.

Kluge said the pandemic is far from over, but, for the first time, he sees what he called an opportunity to take control of transmission of disease because of the presence of three factors: an ample supply of vaccine plus immunity derived from a large number of people having had COVID-19; the favorable change of the seasons as the region moves out of winter; and the now-established lower severity of the omicron variant.

The WHO regional director said those factors present the possibility of “a long period of tranquility” and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission, even with the more virulent omicron variant.

Kluge called it “a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” but only if nations continue vaccinating and boosting, focusing on the most vulnerable populations, and people continue “self-protecting behavior,” such as masking and social distancing, though he added, "with lower governmental oversight to limit unnecessary socio-economic impacts.”

More nations in Europe are scaling back or removing government-imposed COVID-19-related restrictions.

Kluge said officials need to intensify surveillance to detect new variants. He said new strains are inevitable, but he believes it is possible to respond to them without the disruptive measures that were needed early in the pandemic.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. intelligence agencies may have ruled out the idea that a rash of mysterious illnesses plaguing American diplomats and other officials is part of a sustained campaign by one of Washington's adversaries, but they now say that in a small number of cases the only likely explanation is the use of some sort of weapon.

A report released Wednesday by a panel of experts assembled by U.S. intelligence officials finds that the core symptoms in these cases are "distinctly unusual and unreported elsewhere in the medical literature," making it highly unlikely the cause could be natural.

"Pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radiofrequency range, plausibly explains the core characteristics," the report said.

"Sources exist that could generate the required stimulus, are concealable, and have moderate power requirements," the report added. "Using nonstandard … antennas and techniques, the signals could be propagated with low loss through air for tens to hundreds of meters, and with some loss, through most building materials."

The mystery illness was first reported in 2016 among diplomats and other employees at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba.

Since then, hundreds of cases have been reported in Russia, China, Poland, Austria and elsewhere, with symptoms ranging from nausea and dizziness to debilitating headaches and memory problems.

The U.S. government has been engaged in a yearlong effort to find the source of the anomalous health incidents, or AHI, commonly called Havana Syndrome.

An interim report issued last month by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), concluded most of the cases "can be reasonably explained by medical conditions or environmental and technical factors, including previously undiagnosed illnesses."

However, it warned that a smaller number of cases continued to defy explanation and that, in those cases, officials "have not ruled out the involvement of a foreign actor."

Wednesday's report appears to support that conclusion, though officials said the latest effort was not focused on assigning responsibility for the possible attacks.

"There are a small number of the cases we looked at that had no other plausible mechanism," according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the expert panel's work who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Mystery remains

Exactly how the possible attacks were carried out, though, remains a mystery.

"We don't have a specific device," said a second official, who like the first was familiar with the panel's work.

But the official said the idea that some cases of Havana Syndrome are the result of a weapon of some sort is "more than a theory."

"We had accounts of people that had been around RF [radio frequency] energy inadvertently and describe symptoms like that," the official added.

The notion that a directed, pulsed radio frequency mechanism was behind key symptoms of Havana Syndrome — the quick onset of pain or problems with the inner ear, including a loss of balance, dizziness and nausea — was first raised in 2020 the National Academy of Sciences, which called such as source "the most plausible mechanism in explaining" the growing number of cases.

Wednesday's report affirmed that finding, but also left open the possibility that some of the cases could have been caused by a device using ultrasound technology, though it said an ultrasonic device would only be able to produce the right combination of symptoms if deployed in close proximity to the victim.

Making progress

In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns said the effort to determine the cause of Havana Syndrome is making progress.

"We continue to pursue complementary efforts to get to the bottom of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) — and to deliver access to world-class care for those affected," they said in a statement.

"We will stay at it, with continued rigor, for however long it takes," they added. "Nothing is more important than the wellbeing and safety of our colleagues."

Officials familiar with the work on Havana Syndrome said Wednesday "it's frustrating" not being able to get a clear-cut, definitive answer as to what has happened to as many as a couple of dozen of their colleagues and U.S. diplomatic personnel.

But they said that despite the many unknowns, the latest findings do offer hope for those who have been impacted.

"We've learned a lot," one of the officials said. "While we don't have the specific mechanism for each case, what we do know is if you report quickly and promptly get medical care, most people are getting well."

The report also recommended the U.S. create a central database to collect information on future reported cases, develop a set of so-called "bio-markers" to better identify new cases, try to develop technology capable of detecting an attack, and improve communications.

The White House Wednesday welcomed the report's findings.

"The [experts] panel undertook a rigorous, multi-disciplinary study that has identified important findings and recommendations," a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

The findings "will inform intensive research and investigation moving forward as we continue our government-wide effort to get to the bottom of AHI," the spokesperson added.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday named a top official to lead the government's interagency response to Havana Syndrome.

Source: Voice Of America

The police chief of Canada's capital said Wednesday there is likely no policing solution to end a protest against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions that has snarled traffic around Parliament.

He also said there is a "significant element" of the protest's funding and organization coming from the United States.

Thousands of protesters descended on Ottawa over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill. Police estimate the protest involved 8,000-15,000 people Saturday but has since dwindled to several hundred. But trucks were still blocking traffic.

"We are now aware of a significant element from the United States that have been involved in the funding, the organizing and the demonstrating. They have converged on our city and there are plans for more to come," Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said.

Organizers, including one who has espoused white supremacist views, raised millions for the cross-Canada "freedom truck convoy" against vaccine mandates. There was a public GoFundMe page.

The protesting truckers also have received praise from former U.S. President Donald Trump and tweets of support from Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.

Ottawa residents frustrated with the incessant blare of truck horns and traffic gridlock are questioning how police have handled the demonstration.

"There is likely no policing solution to this," Sloly said.

Many Canadians have been angered by some of the crude behavior of the protesters. Some urinated or parked on the National War Memorial. One danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A number carried signs and flags with swastikas.

The most visible contingent of protesters were truck drivers who parked their big rigs on Parliament Hill. Some of them were protesting a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully immunized against the coronavirus. The Canadian Trucking Alliance has estimated that 85% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated.

Meanwhile, officials said there had been some movement toward resolving a protest blockade at the United States border in southern Alberta.

Chad Williamson, a lawyer representing truckers blocking access to the crossing at Coutts, Alberta, said they spoke with police and agreed to open some blocked lanes. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Curtis Peters said there were indications that the lane openings might only be temporary.

Demonstrators began parking their trucks and other vehicles near the crossing Saturday in solidarity with the protest in Ottawa.

The tie-up stranded travelers and cross-border truckers for days. Police tried to peacefully break up the demonstration Tuesday, but demonstrators breached a nearby checkpoint.

Source: Voice Of America