Uganda's opposition leader arrested trying to leave his home

.

View gallery

• 
  .
• 
  .
• 
  .
• 
  .

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Tensions after Uganda's elections, criticized by international observers as being undemocratic, ratcheted up on Monday when police arrested President Yoweri Museveni's main challenger.

Kizza Besigye was arrested as he tried to leave his home where he had been confined under house arrest. Associated Press journalists saw police push him into the back of a blacked-out van and taken away to a police station in a rural area outside the capital.

Besigye had been going to the election commission to get detailed copies of results from presidential election. He has called for an independent audit that includes the international community.

Uchenna Emelonye of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Besigye in the police station and told reporters that Besigye "has not been informed, formally or informally, why he is being detained."
Polly Namaye, a police spokeswoman, said officers arrested Besigye to keep him from "storming the electoral commission with his supporters."
Neutral observers had criticized the government for using security forces against opposition candidates and supporters.

Police attempt to prevent the media from filming as Uganda's main opposition leader Kizza Besigy …

The commission announced Saturday that Museveni won the vote with more than 60 percent of counted ballots, while Besigye got 35 percent.

Those results did not include tallies from at least 1,242 polling stations, election commission spokesman Jotham Taremwa told AP on Monday. That's about 4 percent of all polling stations.

Taremwa said the missing results cannot change the outcome, but Besigye's supporters note they could bring down Museveni's margin of victory. Museveni needed 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff election.

The election commission lacks independence and transparency, the European Union observer mission said.

The 71-year-old Museveni seized power in 1986. He is a key U.S. ally on security matters, especially in Somalia.
Besigye was Museveni personal physician during the 1981 to 1986 bush war between Museveni's rebels and forces loyal to former President Milton Obote. He also served as deputy interior minister in his first Cabinet, and broke with the president in 1999, saying he was no longer a democrat.
___

Associated Press journalists Andrew Njuguna and Ben Curtis in Kampala contributed to this report.

Read More

Police warns Besigye against planned procession
The Uganda Police Force and Forum for Democratic Change's Kizza Besigye together with his supporters are headed for a show down after a procession to the Electoral Commission called by Besigye was declared illegal.
http://www.oneuganda.blogspot.com/…/police-warns-besigye-planned-p…

Read More

Apple Tells Employees Why It Won't Help Hack Shooter's Phone

WASHINGTON (AP) — Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook acknowledged to employees Monday that “it does not feel right” to refuse to help the FBI hack a locked iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino mass shootings. But he said that to do so would threaten data security for millions and “everyone’s civil liberties.”

“We have no tolerance or sympathy for terrorists,” Cook wrote in an early morning email addressed to the Apple “Team.” “When they commit unspeakable acts like the tragic attacks in San Bernardino, we work to help the authorities pursue justice for the victims.”
But he reiterated the company’s position that to hack the San Bernardino gunman’s phone would ultimately risk “security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people.”

Cook’s email came just hours after FBI director James Comey said in an online post that Apple owes it to the San Bernardino victims to cooperate and said the dispute wasn’t about creating legal precedent.

The FBI “can’t look the survivors in the eye, or ourselves in the mirror, if we don’t follow this lead,” Comey said.
The iPhone used by Syed Farook, who along with his wife killed 14 people in the Dec. 2 rampage, was locked. At the government’s request, a Federal magistrate judge has ordered Apple to help the FBI hack into the password-protected phone.

The case has sparked nationwide debate over digital privacy and national security. Apple, in its message to employees, appeared to be sensitive to criticism that the company is simply trying to protect its proprietary business.

“Apple is a uniquely American company,” Cook wrote. “It does not feel right to be on the opposite side of the government in a case centering on the freedoms and liberties that government is meant to protect.” But he said, “this case is about much more than a single phone or a single investigation, so when we received the government’s order we knew we had to speak out.”
Comey, in a statement posted on the Lawfare blog, sought to defend the FBI demand for access to the iPhone as well as counter Apple’s arguments that the request risks threatening the digital privacy of Apple customers all over the world.

“We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it,” Comey wrote in a four-paragraph statement. “We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land.”

Cook’s message to employees had “Thank you for your support,” in the subject line. He told employees that the company believes abiding by the judge’s order would set a dangerous precedent that would essentially create a backdoor to the encrypted iPhone. That would set “a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties,” he said.

View gallery

An iPhone is seen in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. The San Bernardino County-owned iPhone at …

An accompanying question-and-answer posting for customers acknowledges that while it is technically possible for Apple to do what the judge ordered, that it’s “something we believe is too dangerous to do.”

Apple also points to the difficulty of keeping such a “master key” safe once it has been created. The government has said that Apple could keep the specialized technology it would create to help officials hack the phone — bypassing a security time delay and feature that erases all data after 10 consecutive, unsuccessful attempts to guess the unlocking passcode. This would allow the FBI to use technology to rapidly and repeatedly test numbers.

Cook said that if the company’s engineers were to do as ordered, Apple would do its best to protect the technology, but that the company “would be relentlessly attacked by hackers and cybercriminals.”

“The only way to guarantee such a powerful tool isn’t abused and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to never create it,” Apple said. The company has until Friday to formally protest the ruling in court.
The case would not have existed if the county government that owned the iPhone had installed a feature on it that would have allowed the FBI to easily and immediately unlock the phone. San Bernardino County had bought the technology, known as mobile device management from MobileIron Inc., but never installed it on any of the inspectors’ phones, including Farook’s, said county spokesman David Wert said.

There is no countywide policy on the matter and departments make their own decisions, he said.

The service costs $4 per month per phone.

Read More

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe turns 92
The world's oldest leader, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turned 92 on Sunday, with no plans to step down as feuding over his successors threatens to tear his ruling ZANU-PF apart. The veteran leader will mark the day with a public celebration on Saturday.
http://www.oneuganda.blogspot.com/…/zimbabwean-president-robert-mu…

Read More

Court orders Karim Hirji to refund sh10b CHOGM money
City businessman Karim Hirji is to refund government over sh10b after court ruled that he breached the contract to provide conference facilities and accommodation for the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
http://www.oneuganda.blogspot.com/…/court-karim-hirji-refund-sh10b…

Read More

Dubai airport sees 10.7% passenger rise to stay world's busiest
Dubai International remained the world's busiest airport last year with a 10.7 percent rise in passenger numbers, its operator said on Monday. More than 78 million passengers passed through Dubai in 2015, led by an increase in travellers from India, Britain and Saudi Arabia, the state-owned airport said in a statement.
http://www.oneuganda.blogspot.com/…/dubai-airport-107-passenger-ri…

Read More