Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Civilian casualties in Ukraine caused by bombing rose by 26% in 2025, as Russia intensified attacks on cities and key infrastructure, according to a global conflict monitoring group. Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said 2,248 civilians were reported killed and 12,493 injured by explosive weapons in Ukraine last year, based on English-language media reports. The data also showed a sharp rise in the number of casualties per incident. On average, 4.8 civilians were killed or injured in each strike, a 33% increase on 2024. The deadliest attack occurred in Dnipro on 24 June, when Russian missiles hit a passenger train,…

Hours after remarks by Barack Obama sparked widespread speculation about extraterrestrial life, the former US president issued a clarification saying he has seen no evidence that aliens exist. Speaking on a podcast hosted by Brian Tyler Cohen over the weekend, Obama appeared to suggest that aliens were real during a fast-paced question-and-answer segment. Asked directly, “Are aliens real?”, Obama replied: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.” He added that they were not being hidden at Area 51, dismissing claims of a secret underground facility and saying any such conspiracy would have had to be concealed from the president himself.…

A limited US government shutdown came into force on Saturday after talks between the White House and Democrats in Congress collapsed over proposed new restrictions on federal immigration agents. It is the third shutdown of Donald Trump’s second term. The stoppage affects about 13 per cent of the federal civilian workforce and is confined to agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Those affected include the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for screening airline passengers. The shutdown is not expected to end quickly. Lawmakers have left Washington DC for a 10-day recess, limiting the chances of an immediate…

An artificial intelligence system developed by Anthropic was used by the US military during an operation in Venezuela aimed at abducting President Nicolás Maduro, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The report marks one of the clearest examples yet of the US defence department deploying commercial AI tools in live military operations. According to Venezuela’s defence ministry, the raid involved air strikes across the capital, Caracas, and resulted in the deaths of 83 people. Anthropic’s AI model, Claude, is prohibited under the company’s terms of use from being applied to violent activity, weapons development or surveillance. Anthropic is the…

Former US president Barack Obama has publicly backed demonstrators in Minnesota, praising protests in Minneapolis and St Paul against what he described as the “unprecedented” conduct of federal immigration agents. Speaking during an interview with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen on Saturday, Obama said recent events showed the power of ordinary Americans to push back when core values are threatened. He argued that most Americans do not support the actions carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), adding that meaningful change would ultimately come from public pressure. Obama cited operations in Minneapolis and St Paul, where he said federal…

Japanese authorities have seized a Chinese fishing vessel and arrested its captain in an incident likely to deepen an already fraught diplomatic relationship between Tokyo and Beijing. The boat was intercepted on Thursday about 170 kilometres from the south-western port city of Nagasaki after its skipper ignored repeated orders to stop for an inspection, according to Japanese media reports. A vessel from Japan’s fisheries agency pursued the boat after spotting it inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the coastline. Eleven crew members were on board. It is the first time since 2022 that Japan has…

Britney Spears has sold the rights to her music catalogue, which includes hit songs such as Toxic, …Baby One More Time and Gimme More, according to media reports. The US music publisher Primary Wave is reported to have completed the purchase on 30 December. TMZ said the sale was confirmed in legal documents, while an unnamed source familiar with the deal corroborated the report to the New York Times. The terms of the agreement and the price paid for the catalogue have not been disclosed. In recent years, however, the sale of music rights has proved highly lucrative for major…

Indonesia has said it is preparing to deploy up to 8,000 troops to Gaza as part of a proposed international peacekeeping force under Donald Trump’s Middle East plan. The announcement was made by the Indonesian army chief of staff, General Maruli Simanjuntak, marking the first time a country has given a specific indication of troop numbers for the international stabilisation force envisaged in the plan’s second phase. Israeli public radio reported on Tuesday that a site in southern Gaza, between Rafah and Khan Younis, has been earmarked for a barracks to house the Indonesian contingent. If deployed, Indonesian peacekeepers would…

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been shot dead at the age of 53 by four masked assailants at his home in the western Libyan city of Zintan. For many years, Saif was regarded as his father’s heir apparent and, even after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, remained a potential force in Libya’s fractured and violent politics. He was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court in 2011 and was convicted in absentia by a Libyan court in 2015 over war crimes committed during the uprising against his…

A Malaysia-based street artist has filed a lawsuit against low-cost airline AirAsia and its parent company, Capital A Berhad, accusing them of using his artwork on an aircraft without permission. Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian-born artist who is based in Penang, alleged that AirAsia reproduced his 2012 street mural Children on a Bicycle on one of its planes between October and November 2024. In court documents filed on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur high court, Zacharevic said the airline used the artwork as part of its external corporate branding without his consent, authorisation or any licensing agreement. Children on a Bicycle…