UGANDA: Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been hospitalised and is unconscious after he collapsed during a courtroom session of his treason trial, according to his supporters, who are urging authorities to set him free after repeated bail denials.

Mr Besigye fell in the dock on Wednesday while conducting his trial without lawyers of his own choosing, after authorities detained his main attorney, Erias Lukwago, and charged him with alleged failure to report acts of treason.

TURKEY: Police detained a former TV actor-turned-mayor today in the latest wave of arrests targeting the opposition.

Erdal Besikcioglu, the mayor of Etimesgut municipality in western Ankara, is being investigated for allegations of irregularities and forgery in municipal tenders, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

AUSTRALIA: Australia’s online safety watchdog today filed legal action against messaging app Telegram, saying the platform failed to remove extremist content including videos of white supremacist mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and the New Zealand city of Christchurch as well as Islamic State group beheadings.

The app faces a fine of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars (£29 million) if convicted for “alleged failure to detect and remove pro-terror material,” said e-safety commissioner Julie Inman Grant.

ITALY: Italy’s highest court has ruled that children born with Italian citizenship do not automatically lose it when a parent later becomes a citizen of another country, a decision expected to bolster citizenship-by-descent claims by descendants of Italian emigrants worldwide.

The ruling, dated Sunday but published Wednesday, was made by the Court of Cassation’s highest-level panel for resolving conflicting legal interpretations.