Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Poland plans to complete a new network of anti-drone defences along its eastern borders within two years, following repeated incursions by suspected Russian drones into its airspace earlier this year. The deputy defence minister, Cezary Tomczyk, said the first elements of the system could be operational within six months, with full completion expected within 24 months. Speaking in Warsaw, Tomczyk said the new defences would be integrated into an older protective line built around a decade ago. The system will consist of several layers, including machine guns, cannons, missiles and electronic drone-jamming technology. Some elements, he noted, would only be…

Guinea goes to the polls on Sunday for its first presidential election since the 2021 military coup that brought Colonel Mamady Doumbouya to power. In September 2021, Doumbouya, then a little-known army colonel, appeared on national television to announce that soldiers had overthrown President Alpha Condé, ending more than a decade of civilian rule. “The will of the strongest has always supplanted the law,” he said at the time, claiming the coup was necessary to restore the will of the people. Soon after seizing power, Doumbouya promised a 36-month transition to civilian rule. He rejected pressure from the Economic Community…

Somaliland already hosts a United Arab Emirates military base in Berbera, which includes a port and an airstrip.

A third of Kyiv has been left without heating after a major Russian drone and missile attack cut power supplies across the Ukrainian capital, exposing hundreds of thousands of residents to freezing conditions. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia launched nearly 500 drones and about 40 missiles overnight, including ballistic missiles. He said energy facilities and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv were the primary targets. The bombardment lasted about 10 hours, killing one person and injuring at least 24 others, according to Ukrainian officials. The strikes came ahead of a scheduled call on Saturday between Zelenskyy and several European leaders, as…

A leading US transplant surgeon has said gene-edited pig kidneys could one day prove superior to human donor organs, as the first clinical trial involving living patients gets under way. Dr Robert Montgomery, director of the Transplant Institute at NYU Langone, said the first transplant in the trial had already been carried out, with another expected in January. Six patients are initially set to receive pig kidneys that have been gene-edited in 10 places to reduce the risk of rejection. If approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the trial will later be expanded to include a further…

A US judge has blocked American authorities from detaining or deporting a British anti-disinformation campaigner Imran Ahmed targeted by the Trump administration over efforts to counter hate speech and misinformation. Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is one of five European nationals accused by US officials of pressuring technology companies to censor American viewpoints. On Thursday, Ahmed filed a legal complaint against senior Trump allies, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi. He said any attempt to arrest or remove him from the US would be unconstitutional. Court documents…

Japan’s cabinet has approved a record defence budget amid rising tensions with China, as Beijing accused Tokyo this week of “fuelling a space arms race”. The draft budget for the next financial year, approved on Friday, exceeds ¥9tn (£46bn), marking a 9.4% increase on the current year’s spending, which ends in April. It represents the fourth year of Japan’s five-year plan to double defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product. The budget prioritises strengthening counterstrike capabilities and coastal defences, including the deployment of surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned systems. Japan plans to spend ¥100bn on large-scale unmanned air, surface and…

A powerful rain and wind storm driven by an atmospheric river from the Pacific has been blamed for a third death in southern California, as flooding, road closures and debris flows disrupt large parts of the region. A flood watch was extended through Thursday for most of southern California, after more than 11 inches of rain fell in parts of Los Angeles county by Wednesday night. Evacuation warnings were issued for several mountain communities in San Bernardino county. The US Weather Prediction Center warned of a “moderate risk of excessive rainfall” across the region. Forecasters said numerous flash floods were…

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that stretched on for almost a month and was overshadowed by allegations of fraud and criticism of US interference. Asfura, a rightwing politician and former mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, won 40.27% of the vote. His closest rival, the centre-right candidate Salvador Nasralla, secured 39.53%, leaving a margin of about 28,000 votes. The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the result before completing a full review of tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” process launched last week to examine votes flagged as…

The US justice department said on Wednesday that it has uncovered more than a million additional documents linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case, warning that reviewing them for release could take several more weeks. In a post on X, the department said federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI had handed over the records in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, existing laws and court orders. The department said lawyers were working “around the clock” to review the material and apply legally required redactions to protect victims. It said the documents would be released as soon as possible, but…