8 h. ago Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term in election marred by fraud claims

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won his seventh term with 71.65 per cent of votes, according to official results Saturday, in an election marred by an internet shutdown and fraud claims by his youthful challenger, who rejected the outcome and called for peaceful protests. The musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine took 24.72 per cent of the vote, the final results showed. Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has condemned what he described as an unfair electoral process...

Politics

34 h. ago Uganda election: Bobi Wine under house arrest amid violence claims, Museveni nears 5th term

Uganda’s opposition said its leader Bobi Wine was under house arrest on Friday, after an election that also saw a member of parliament accuse security forces of killing 10 people at his home. President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is seeking to extend his 40-year rule of the east African country and has been accused of “brutal repression” of the opposition. Uganda’s Electoral Commission said on Friday that Museveni was on 75.4 per cent to Wine’s 20.7 with close to 60 per cent of votes counted. Final...

Events

37 h. ago Malaysia’s Umno chief denies he ‘sidelined’ Najib to secure his own legal freedom

The president of Malaysia’s Umno has denied abandoning disgraced ex-prime minister Najib Razak to save himself, as fissures emerge in the former ruling party over the mixed legal fortunes of two of its top leaders. Umno grass-roots members have urged President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to quit Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government in protest after the High Court blocked Najib’s bid to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest last month. It also handed the one-time party figurehead a...

Politics

5 d. ago Hong Kong surveyor’s undeclared role prompts rule review after deadly Tai Po fire

Hong Kong will tighten declaration-of-interest rules after discovering that a surveyor arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over a deadly fire had failed to disclose his role at the estate ravaged by the blaze to the Housing Department, for which he worked as a service provider, the Post has learned. The Housing Department’s move to strengthen supervision followed the arrest of 68-year-old Steve Wong Chung-kee in connection with the fatal blaze at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po last...

Events

1 week ago South Koreans puzzled over Busan airport backdrop in US warning to Maduro

A blunt White House social media post following the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has drawn unexpected attention among South Koreans online, where users quickly identified the photo’s background as a South Korean airport and began speculating about whether its use carried a hidden message. The post, uploaded on Saturday to the White House’s official social media accounts, featured a black-and-white image of US President Donald Trump walking up the stairs, stamped with the acronym...

Events

2 w. ago Bolsonaro denied house arrest by Brazil Supreme Court despite health plea

Brazil’s Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro’s request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published on Thursday. Bolsonaro’s lawyers submitted the request on Wednesday, citing a “real risk of a sudden worsening” in health for the far-right ex-leader as the reason to serve his 27-year sentence at home. Bolsonaro, 70, has been hospitalised for more than a week after undergoing surgery for a groin hernia and then a...

Events

2 w. ago Bolsonaro denied house arrest by Brazil's Supreme Court despite health plea

Brazil’s Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro’s request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published on Thursday. Bolsonaro’s lawyers submitted the request on Wednesday, citing a “real risk of a sudden worsening” in health for the far-right ex-leader as the reason to serve his 27-year sentence at home. Bolsonaro, 70, has been hospitalised for more than a week after undergoing surgery for a groin hernia and then a...

Events

3 w. ago Brazil judge puts coup plot convicts under house arrest after ex

A Brazilian judge on Saturday issued house arrest orders for 10 people who have been convicted and sentenced for taking part in a plot to keep former president Jair Bolsonaro in power after he lost the 2022 election. The decision by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes comes just hours after authorities in neighbouring Paraguay arrested a former police commander who also had been convicted in the plot and returned him to Brazil. Silvinei Vasques, the former director of Brazil’s Federal...

Events

3 w. ago Najib’s children lament Malaysian court ruling – ‘we thought he was coming home’

The children of ex-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak have been yearning for their father to leave prison and the family to spend the New Year together. But their hopes were dashed this week after a court ruled against Najib’s application to return home under house arrest. In a five-minute video posted online shortly after the decision on Monday, Najib’s eldest son, Mohd Nizar Najib, said the family had gone to court prepared for both outcomes, but had quietly believed the long fight – based...

Society

3 w. ago Why Malaysian court ruling against Najib is dividing Anwar’s coalition

A court’s decision to keep former Malaysian leader Najib Razak behind bars has reopened fault lines between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition and Umno, the country’s once-dominant ruling party. The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday rejected Najib’s application to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, ruling that a purported addendum to a royal clemency order “had no legal effect because it was never deliberated by the Pardons Board”. The decision meant the...

Events

3 w. ago Malaysian court blocks Najib’s bid for house arrest ahead of key 1MDB verdict

A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed former prime minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, dealing a setback to his attempt to secure early release from jail. Najib, 72, is serving a reduced six-year sentence after receiving partial royal clemency earlier this year in the SRC International case, a former subsidiary linked to the scandal-ridden Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which he was convicted of abuse of power, criminal breach of...

Events