More than 140 high-profile scientists funded by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) or the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to make the social network's content policies on misinformation and incendiary language stricter amid ongoing anti-racial protests in the US and other countries across the world.

The scientists expressed their concerns in a letter to Zuckerberg, published late on Saturday after Facebook did not remove a post by US President Donald Trump, which was widely considered as inflammatory and having racist origins.

The post, which was censored by Twitter, triggered a widespread backlash, including from Facebook staff, amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.

"We urge you to consider stricter policies on misinformation and incendiary language that harms people or groups of people, especially in our current climate that is grappling with racial injustice," the letter said.

According to the letter, "the spread of deliberate misinformation and divisive language" by Facebook contradicts to the researchers' aim to use the technology for coping with various challenges, like preventing and eradicating disease, improving learning experiences for kids and reforming the criminal justice system.

"Thus, like many, we were disconcerted to see that Facebook has not followed their own policies in regards to President Trump, who has used the Facebook platform to spread both misinformation and incendiary statements," the letter added.

The letter was signed by 143 scientists, including more than 60 professors at leading US research institutions and 68 principal investigators who are direct awardees of CZI or Chan Zuckerberg Biohub funds.

Apart from that, Facebook's employees staged a virtual walkout this week to protest the decision not to remove the post by Trump. In response to growing opposition among employees, Zuckerberg held an emergency meeting and said that

Facebook would review its policies on handling violating or potentially-violating content and develop products to improve racial justice.

The US and a number of other countries have been gripped by mass protests against police brutality since late May after the death George Floyd, an African-American man, in Minneapolis police custody.

Floyd died on May 25 after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned him to the ground with his knee for over eight minutes. Chauvin was charged with second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter while the other three officers involved in the incident were charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

Facebook and Instagram have joined

Twitter in removing a video tribute to the late George Floyd posted by the reelection campaign of US President Donald Trump's ‘Trump Team’ on Friday, citing a copyright complaint.

“We received a copyright complaint from the creator under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have removed the post,” Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said, cited by POLITICO . “Organizations that use original art shared on Instagram are

expected to have the right to do so”.

The copyright complaint over the video was submitted to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by a law firm in Burbank, California, according to POLITICO. The firm said that the video infringed on material from an artist it represents.

“My client is very talented, so I can understand why the President chose to use their work as part of his re-election efforts,” said Sam Koolaq, director of the law firm, cited by the outlet. “Thankfully, the law protects artists from unauthorized usage, even when the unauthorized user is the President”.

In the four-minute video, the president describes Floyd’s death as a “grave tragedy”, while claiming that the “violence and anarchy” seen in the protests triggered by the incident were made by radical “left-wing groups”.

The removal of the video from the Facebook and Instagram social platforms came shortly after a similar action by Twitter. The Trump campaign accused Twitter of “making up the rules as they go along”, complaining that the social media company “has repeatedly failed to explain why their rules seem to only apply to the Trump campaign but not to others”.

YouTube has not removed the video, however, which is narrated by Trump and covers topics including the killing of African-American George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis and protests provoked by the incident across the country.

The recent weeks have seen sharp conflict between Trump and the most popular social media platforms, starting after Twitter flagged one of the president’s tweets regarding mail-in ballots as potentially misleading.

In response, Trump signed an executive order calling for a series of legislative and legal actions to prevent social media platforms from regulating user content, particularity the president's content.

Several days later, Twitter slapped a ‘public interest notice’ on a Trump tweet regarding the ongoing George Floyd protests across the US, saying the president violated rules concerning the glorification of violence.

On Wednesday, Snapchat announced that it had stopped the promotion of Trump’s account on its app's discover page, after concluding that the president’s posts are “inciting racial violence and injustice”

NRA HEROES :Capt. Shaban Kashanku. ( RIP) R0/00020

Shaban was in original cohort that trained in Mozambique in 1976 and was in the FRONASA group that fought Amin in 1979. He was in the 27 armed men that attacked Kabamba on 6 Feb 1981.

He died in the early days of the Bush war

NRA HEROES: GEN CALEB AKANDWANAHO AKA SALIM SALEH R0/00016

The younger brother of President Yoweri Museveni was born two years before Uganda attained independence, in 1960. Saleh went to Kako SS for his secondary education. However, this was cut short after he visited his elder brother Museveni in Tanzania.

"I was 16 years and when I went to Tanzania, I joined other colleagues to train in Mozambique," he says. By 1979, Saleh had already trained as a commando in Mozambique and fought in the war that uprooted dictator Idi Amin Dada in 1979.

Saleh was part of a core group of ‘hardened' fighters trained at Montepuez, like late Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigyema, who was as daring as a devil. Others included Gen. Ivan Koreta, the late Chefe Ali and Ayeli Pipino.

When the war broke out, Saleh stayed in Tanzania as a liaison officer between the Tanzanian and FRONASA forces, but later joined the war effort and commanded a company up to West Nile.

Later, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) was created from among the various fighting forces after the removal of Amin.

"We assembled in Mubende and since I had been a commander with good military and leadership skills, I was appointed army instructor. I did that for three months.

An opportunity for training in Munduli, Tanzania came, but I lost out because only people with O'level and higher qualifications were considered," he recalls. However, he got a chance to train in Jinja as a non-commissioned officer.

Although he is reluctant to talk about his daring escapades, one of his courageous acts in 1980 was rescuing Museveni, who had been arrested by government soldiers at a roadblock as he drove towards Kireka. In her book, My Journey, Janet Museveni narrates: "Saleh, Rwigyema and the others jumped out of the car with their weapons cocked and ready to fire.

They out-numbered the soldiers manning the roadblock." Museveni and his family jumped into the car and sped off.

Saleh was, in February 1981, posted to the 14th Battalion in Moroto and so he was not among the group that attacked Kabamba at the launch of the National Resistance Army bush war. Nevertheless, he joined his colleagues.

One morning, he was arrested and charged with murder in the civilian court in Moroto. For four months he remained on remand until one day, the magistrate freed him, citing no case to answer.

On return to the barracks, a new commander called Tibamuleka told him he had been posted to Moyo.

Instead of going to Moyo where he had been posted, he was picked up by then 2nd Lt. (now Lt. Gen.) Katumba Wamala and driven to a ‘safe house' in Mbuya where combatants going to the bush used to converge. The group then journeyed through Buwambo to a link point near Matugga.

This was in July 1981, five months after the start of the war. "It was like a reunion since I found many of my former comrades there," he says.

Saleh soon became one of the toasts of the revolution, leading fighters into many successful battles of the guerrilla war. He was appointed commander of the Mobile Force and specifically the decoy that was an element of the Mobile Force. In February 1983, he almost met his Waterloo at Bukalabi.

Saleh recalls, contrary to some reports, that the attack on UNLA soldiers in Bukalabi near Semuto was forced on the chairman (Museveni) by his commanders and was not well-planned. At the time, the NRA had secured a big swath of territory. The attack on Bukalabi was pushed for territorial gain.

"We commanders did not think that we could lose territory and yet the Museveni's view was that we should have withdrawn," he says.

Apparently, the last intelligence before the attack was wrong and Saleh's unit entered the first enemy defenses without realising it. Saleh rallied his men to fight on, until he realised that many had been shot, some dead. Pondering his next move, he was shot three times in the arms

He ordered the rest of the fighters to withdraw from battle. By that time, he had taken several bullets: his jacket had 18 bullet holes.

Saleh recalls: "That was bad. It was painful because it was the first time we left our dead in the battle field."

To war survivors in Luweero, Saleh's survival in Bukalabi was out of the ordinary. "He used his hands to stop the bullets. One of his hands produced a spear-like symbol whenever he opened it towards the UNLA soldiers," one resident said. Others claimed that Saleh turned into a cat and escaped.

He might have lost that battle, but to the adoring NRA supporters, he remained a hero. "True, my jacket had 18 bullet holes. Only three or four got into my body. It was God's plan, He wanted me alive," he says today.

But Saleh had a reputation as a super human being because of his almost suicidal antics on the battle field. Some described him as a man possessed in battle; that he had a ‘big insect' in his head that scratched him to carry out suicidal missions.

Some claim that during battle, he could disappear only to be seen standing on an anthill or even up on a tree, smoking away as he monitored the progress.

"His adage was ‘death before dishonour'," says retired Capt. Godfrey Kangave, who was part of Saleh's mobile unit.

In February 1984, Saleh led another big assault on Masindi barracks where he grabbed over 700 assorted weapons and months later. During an attack on Kabamba, his unit seized an assortment of over 600 weapons

Saleh was sometimes mischievous. In the third NRA attack on Kabamba barracks, for example, he engaged a UNLA soldier guarding the armoury in cheeky talk — including a promise of promotion to the rank of major if he stopped his resistance!

"He walked with and carried this feeling and picture of invincibility, which with time, he transferred to his fighters. In many battles like at Kembogo, he made us feel invincible against better armed government soldiers," Kangave said.

On his part, Saleh says: "In all battles, I was just lucky, with very good training, very good commanders in charge and very good fighters."

The Kembogo battle turned out to be the last nail in the coffin of the UNLA; a culmination of several weeks of a cat-and-mouse game between the NRA' s Mobile Brigade and the UNLA's Special Brigade. Saleh humiliated the UNLA force commanded by John Ogole.

"Ogole believed that if you finally defeated Saleh's mobile brigade, then the NRA would be no more," recounted Maj. Gen. Pecos Kuteesa, who commanded the 1st battalion of the mobile brigade. However, Saleh triumphed.

Saleh was again in charge when NRA battled UNLA soldiers in Masaka, brazenly driving into the town ahead of his fighters who were following him on foot. Normally, the commander comes in last, but that was not for Saleh.

For the final prize — the capture of Kampala — Saleh says: "I was privileged to have drawn the plan for the attack on Kampala and it was fully accepted by the CHC."

When the war ended, Saleh later served as army commander & retired, although he often has periodic recalls in the army. In the 1990s, he initiated the failed peace talks with the LRA and was part of the team that revived dialogue with the rebels in mid-2000

During retirement, he also went back to school and completed his A' level. In 2003, he was in the pioneer class at the prestigious Uganda Senior Command and Staff College, Kimaka(See this)

What did president Tshisekede write about the killing of the UN experts

Somali minister of transport and aviation says that lovak aviation flights will resume this coming week

The Ministry of Transport and Aviation said Thursday it had reached an agreement with aviation companies to resume local flights next week.

Transport Minister Mohamed Omar said in a meeting with representatives from airlines local flights will resume next week but did not specify the date.

The Minister noted all passengers will be screened before entering the airport and after to ensure adherence to health standards in containing the deadly COVID-19 disease.

Somalia grounded local and international flights in mid-April and reaffirmed a similar order later in the month to curb the import and spread of COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Somalia has since risen to over 2000 with close to 80 deaths.

Are You in this list???Police transfers

Facebook to label ads by foreign state-backed news organisations on the platform but suprisingly has left out those from USA

The social media giant, which has long sought to quell fears about foreign interference in US elections, has also decided to label ads by foreign state-backed news organisations on the platform – while it consistently refuses to fact-check potentially misleading domestic advertising.

Facebook has introduced a picky new policy warning users that some, but not all, media outlets are sponsored by their governments.

The pages of these outlets now have a label saying “(country name) state-controlled media”.

Such disclaimers have already been put on Russia’s Sputnik and RT, China’s Xinhua and People’s Daily, Iran’s Press TV, as well as some media from North Korea, the Philippines, Morocco, Tunisia, and Thailand.

Facebook’s cybersecurity policy chief Nathaniel Gleicher announced on Thursday that the platform will start labelling ads from these publishers later in the summer.

Facebook said it targeted the outlets based on recommendations from dozens of unnamed media experts. According to Gleicher, in assessing whether an outlet warrants a label Facebook took into account financial control, ownership structure, governance and accountability mechanisms, independence and diversity of sources, and editorial control exerted by a government.

“We also consider country-specific factors, including press freedom and we consult open-source research conducted by academics and leading experts,” Gleicher said.

The company has made an exception for Western organisations like the US government-funded Voice of America and RFE/RL, or the BBC, whose board is largely appointed by the Queen. Gleicher explained that Facebook concluded these publishers enjoy editorial independence.

“A US company long in bed with the US establishment, telling the entire rest of the world what it can and cannot say, is the definition of a technological dictatorship and censorship,” a spokeswoman for Russia Today said in a statement.

“Labelling foreign editorially independent news outlets as anything but is, on top of fostering prejudice and xenophobia, a prime example of the very ‘fake news’ that Facebook is supposedly trying to combat.”

Facebook’s latest attempt to enforce transparency comes amid a series of controversial moves by the company. Facebook previously refused, unlike Google, to

fact-check political ads that contain potentially misleading claims. This week, it came under strong criticism (and prompted protests and resignations within the company) after deciding to not moderate a post by Donald Trump about George Floyd protests that has been labelled as "glorifying violence" on Twitter.