Joël Guerriau, 68, is on trial in Paris after being charged with secretly administering a controlled substance to Sandrine Josso, a member of the French National Assembly. Prosecutors allege he put MDMA, a psychoactive drug, into a glass of champagne he served to Josso during what she believed was a private election‑night celebration.
According to courtroom testimony and media interviews, Josso, 50, began feeling unwell shortly after drinking the champagne. She experienced severe symptoms that prompted her to leave the gathering and seek medical attention at a hospital, where tests confirmed the presence of MDMA in her system. Josso has described the experience as terrifying and has framed it publicly as a case of drug‑facilitated assault.
Guerriau, who has acknowledged that he served a drink containing MDMA, denies any intention to harm Josso. His defense lawyers have argued that the incident was a “handling error,” claiming Guerriau originally mixed the drug for himself while going through a period of depression and accidentally served it to her instead.
The charges against Guerriau include possession and use of drugs as well as the administration of a substance to facilitate sexual assault which under French law can carry sentences of up to 10 years for drug‑related offenses and five years for drug‑facilitated assault. He resigned his Senate seat in October 2025 amid mounting political pressure, though his lawyers have insisted his resignation was unrelated to the trial.
This case has reignited public debate in France about drug‑facilitated sexual violence and consent discussions that were previously brought into sharp focus by the Pélicot trial, a widely covered case in which more than 50 men were convicted of repeatedly raping a woman while she was unconscious after being drugged by her then‑husband.
That trial helped galvanize calls for legal reform and contributed to the adoption in October 2025 of expanded rape laws that define non‑consensual sexual acts more broadly.
The dam is being constructed on 400 hectares spanning Karama and Rukomo sectors and Gatunda Sector in Nyagatare District.
Once completed, the dam will stand 39 metres high and measure 1.16 kilometres in length. Its size will allow it to store a substantial volume of water.
The total construction cost of the dam is estimated at €121.5 million. The facility will have the capacity to store nearly 55 million cubic metres of water, which will be used to supply clean drinking water to residents, provide irrigation water, supply water for livestock, and generate one megawatt of electricity.
Speaking to IGIHE, the Executive Chairperson of the Rwanda Water Resources Board, Eng Richard Nyirishema, said the first phase of construction of the Muvumba Multipurpose Dam is expected to be completed by March 2027, subject to the availability of funding.
This phase will also include the development of water treatment infrastructure, water distribution networks to households, and irrigation systems for planned agricultural areas.
“Overall, the construction of the Muvumba Multipurpose Dam has already created jobs for 1,000 people. Once the construction is completed, the reservoir will be filled with water, and we expect that electricity will be supplied to the population in 2028,” Eng Nyirishema noted.
He further explained that the first phase of irrigation is scheduled to start by the end of 2026, initially covering 3,000 hectares across the sectors of Karama, Tabagwe, Rwempesha, Nyagatare and Rukomo.
According to Eng Nyirishema, the dam will bring significant benefits to residents of Nyagatare District. It will supply 55,000 cubic metres of clean water per day, reducing the long distances residents currently travel to access safe drinking water.
In addition, it will provide irrigation water to approximately 11,000 hectares of farmland, helping to increase agricultural productivity in an area that experiences prolonged dry seasons.
The project will also supply about 700,000 cubic metres of water annually for livestock, which will be delivered directly to grazing areas.
In addition, the dam will generate one megawatt of electricity to support household use and other development activities, while also helping to reduce flooding caused by the Muvumba River, which has previously resulted in damage to surrounding areas.
Eng Nyirishema said construction works are being fast-tracked to ensure timely completion of the project.
He urged residents to continue playing an active role in the implementation of the project by following guidance provided by local authorities, and to protect and make effective use of the dam once it is completed.
Residents who recently spoke to IGIHE welcomed the project, saying they expect the Muvumba Dam to significantly improve access to irrigation water and clean drinking water in the area.
The incidents, including the death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, have thrust Trump’s approach to immigration into the spotlight and make it a central issue as the United States heads into a crucial election year.
On January 24, 2026, Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents during immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
Video footage circulating on social media challenges claims by federal authorities that he posed a threat, showing him acting peacefully before the fatal confrontation.
This was the second reported fatal shooting in Minneapolis this month involving federal immigration officers. Earlier in January, Renée Good, another U.S. citizen, was killed by an ICE agent during a separate operation.
The deaths have sparked widespread outrage, protests, and calls for accountability from community members and political leaders across the country.
In response, a federal judge in Minnesota has issued a temporary order requiring the Department of Homeland Security to preserve all evidence related to the Pretti shooting, and hearings are scheduled to determine further legal actions.
Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have seized the moment to push back against the administration’s tactics. They are threatening to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and calling for major reforms of immigration agencies such as ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some Democratic lawmakers have even framed the situation as evidence of overreach by federal authorities.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are facing pressure to defend Trump’s immigration policies while addressing growing concerns about federal tactics and public safety.
Gun rights and civil liberties advocates including some members of Trump’s own party have expressed unease after the shooting of a legally armed American citizen, questioning the conduct and oversight of immigration enforcement operations.
The controversy arrives at a sensitive time, with Congress approaching a January 30 deadline to fund the government and avoid a partial shutdown.
The political narrative around these events is likely to shape debates over immigration policy, public safety, and executive authority throughout the election cycle.
Constructed jointly by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and Rwanda’s NPD Ltd., the 63-km BBK road has become a lifeline for residents, cutting travel times and unlocking the region’s development potential.
“The project helped us. I can say it is a profit for us,” said Seth Havugimana, a 30-year-old businessman and resident of Gitare Village in Burera, during a recent interview with Xinhua.
Before the road, reaching nearby towns was a daily struggle. “Sometimes we could not reach here at all because of the bad road,” he recalled. What once took four hours to Musanze city now takes about an hour.
“These changes mean everything,” he said. “Business can move and people can go from here to another place easily. We are very happy about this new road.”
For Havugimana and many others, the BBK road has transformed livelihoods. Once limited to a single daily trip to Musanze to buy goods, he can now make more than four trips, cutting costs and increasing his income.
“Before, it was difficult to go outside and bring goods or materials here,” he said. “Now, if someone tells me they need something, I can go and purchase it and bring it back directly.”
The road has also improved access to essential services. Families can reach schools, hospitals, and markets with ease. “If someone in my family is sick, it is easy to take them to the hospital,” Havugimana said. “Students can go to school easily. Before, it was not possible.”
Jing Niu, acting project manager of the BBK project at the CRBC, explained that the company handled the 22-km Kidaho-Butaro section. Construction faced challenges, including steep and rocky terrain, environmental protection near Lake Burera, traffic management, and child safety. To address these, the company worked closely with local authorities and communities to conduct regular safety education and maintain road accessibility.
The BBK road’s impact goes beyond individual lives, extending to the broader rural economy.
Thierry Muneza Kamuhanda, BBK project director, emphasized that careful planning focused on social and economic benefits. “We estimate around five million vehicles per year. Where there is traffic, there is economic activity,” he said.
The project has also created jobs, with about 10 percent of the total investment allocated to labor, directly improving household incomes and local social conditions, he said.
“When a road is built, businesses are created along it,” he said. “Petrol stations, coffee shops, and other services follow. Tourism will also increase, especially since the road runs along Lake Burera.”
Bruce Semana, a local CRBC staff member who joined the project in 2022, highlighted the broader transformation. “This area was once among the poorest. Now, Burera District is one of the fastest-developing districts. Roads make the difference,” he said.
Semana noted that the project brought workers, machinery, and new economic activity to the area, creating opportunities that never existed before. “It’s not only the road itself, but also the people who came with the project,” he said.
He also highlighted the valuable skills he gained through collaboration with the CRBC. “I joined as a young graduate with ideas but no practical skills,” he said. “Everything I know is practically management, public relations, and working in challenging environments, which I learned through the CRBC.”
The Kidaho-Butaro section is now largely open to traffic, with final works underway. The entire BBK project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year, promising to continue reshaping the future of northern Rwanda.
The scenic lodge was developed by Belgian national Philippe Velings, whose late father supported vulnerable Rwandans, especially orphans and widows affected by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, through the organization Les Enfants du Père Martin.
In an interview with IGIHE, Velings explained that his first visit to Rwanda came in 2018, when he accompanied his mother to the graduation ceremony of a student his parents had sponsored. His father had passed away from cancer a few years earlier.
“That trip brought me here,” he said. “I came for the graduation and to support my mother after losing my father.”
During that visit, Velings was struck by Rwanda’s natural beauty and began considering investment opportunities. Initially, he thought about leveraging his technical expertise in drones, but a trip to Boneza shifted his focus entirely.
“I discovered this spot along Lake Kivu in Rutsiro District. I had seen many beautiful places, but Boneza truly moved me. As a child, I loved mountain climbing and often dreamed of ending my days in a house in the Swiss or French Alps,” he recalled.
“Then I saw this land and thought: why not here? Why not build a lodge, a welcoming guesthouse, right on this shore?”
After returning to Belgium, the idea persisted. In 2019, he learned that Rwanda Day would be held in Bonn, Germany, with senior Rwandan leaders, including President Paul Kagame, in attendance.
Encouraged by Rwandan and Burundian friends, who described Rwanda Day as a unique forum for open dialogue between Rwandans, friends of Rwanda, and the country’s leadership, Velings decided to attend. Bonn was only a 90-minute drive from Brussels.
“I went without high expectations, but what I experienced was extraordinary, the cultural performances, the ministers’ presentations, and especially hearing the President speak directly. The openness in answering questions was unlike anything I had seen from leaders elsewhere,” he said.
The event, attended by around 4,000 people, solidified his confidence in Rwanda’s leadership and future.
“That day decided everything,” Velings recalled. “I left energized and told my friends, ‘If there’s a flight tomorrow, I’m on it.’ Two weeks later, I moved to Rwanda permanently. I returned briefly to Belgium to settle affairs, then came back in November 2019. There was no hesitation.”
Now in its seventh year of operation, Umutuzo Lodge offers accommodation, boat excursions to Lake Kivu’s islands, water sports, and cultural experiences including traditional banana beer brewing, beekeeping, handicrafts, and Intore dance performances.
“It’s more than a lodge, it’s a home where guests are welcomed like family. We share meals, stories, and daily life together,” Velings said.
The business has grown steadily, employing a team of 18 local staff and generating income that supports their families and the wider community.
“We’re not wealthy, but we’re contributing to the area’s development in our own way,” he added.
Velings also commended Rwandan institutions, particularly the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), for streamlining tourism investments and fostering a supportive environment.
“This is the kind of leadership I believe in, leaders who listen to citizens and inspire optimism for a better tomorrow,” he said.
Approximately 90 percent of the lodge’s guests come from Europe (primarily Belgium and France) and the United States.
{{Photos and Video: Kasiro Claude, Ganza Kelly Clovis and Isaac Gisubizo}}
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government is considering deploying the army to gang violence hotspots to tackle persistent gang-related crime.
The president’s remarks came amid a surge in gang-related fatal incidents in several parts of the country.
“A call has been made to deploy the army,” Ramaphosa told journalists on Saturday morning outside the African National Congress National Executive Committee Lekgotla, a local term referring a key political or government meeting.
However, he cautioned that soldiers are trained to neutralize threats rather than conduct investigations, so any decision to deploy them requires careful consideration. Ramaphosa stressed the need for a balanced approach in addressing the crisis.
“The gang violence is one of those challenges that we’re facing. That is very prominent in our minds,” Ramaphosa said.
Last weekend, at least 26 people were killed in a spate of gang-related violence in the Cape Flats, Cape Town, Western Cape Province. The violence included a mass shooting in Marikana, Philippi East Township, which left eight people dead.
The region has long been plagued by gang-related violence. Police statistics show 2,104 murders were reported in Cape Flats in the first nine months of 2025.
Between December 29, 2025, and January 11, 2026, the area recorded 58 gang-related murders and 60 attempted murders, according to Ian Cameron, chairperson of parliament’s portfolio committee on police.
In a statement released by its spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, AFC/M23 said the attacks were carried out on Saturday, January 24, 2026, by a coalition of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), Wazalendo militias, and Burundian troops.
The group alleged that the operations involved the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), which it claims were used to target civilians, leading to multiple deaths among innocent residents of Minzenze.
Kanyuka said AFC/M23 was drawing the attention of the international community to what it described as continued violence against civilians and repeated violations of the ceasefire by authorities in Kinshasa.
“The Kinshasa regime continues relentlessly to pursue a policy of indiscriminate violence against civilian populations, destroying their property amid the culpable silence of the international community,” Kanyuka said in the statement.
The attacks came a day after government forces launched ground offensives on Friday, January 23, 2026, in the areas of Rugezi and Mukoko.
Fighting in several areas has intensified since its forces voluntarily withdrew from the city of Uvira. The rebel coalition had called for the deployment of neutral forces to the city, but FARDC and Wazalendo fighters have since taken control of Uvira, while Burundian troops have also been redeployed to eastern DRC.
In a statement on Saturday, Meloni recalled that following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, NATO activated Article 5 for the first and only time in its history in an act of solidarity with the United States.
“Italy responded immediately together with its allies, deploying thousands of military personnel and assuming full responsibility for Regional Command West, one of the most significant operational areas of the entire international mission,” the statement said.
According to Meloni, Italy paid “an unquestionable price,” with 53 soldiers killed and more than 700 injured in combat operations, security missions and training programs for Afghan forces in nearly 20 years.
For this reason, statements that minimize the contribution of NATO countries in Afghanistan are unacceptable, especially when they come from an allied nation, the statement said.
For his part, Store echoed that Trump’s remarks were “disrespectful.”
“The fallen, their survivors and those who served in Afghanistan deserve to be addressed with truth and respect,” Store wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. “The statement made by the U.S. president is disrespectful. I understand that both veterans and relatives react strongly to this.”
Trump told Fox Business on Thursday that the United States had never needed non-U.S. soldiers during the war in Afghanistan, who “stayed a little back, little off the front lines.”
The ceremony also marked a historic milestone for UGHE as it graduated its first cohort of medical doctors, celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The graduation, held at UGHE’s Butaro campus, saw 30 medical doctors and 48 Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MGHD) graduates receive their degrees. The event was presided over by Prime Minister Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva and attended by senior government officials, development partners, faculty, students, and alumni.
UGHE Chancellor Dr. Jim Yong Kim conferred the honorary degree to First Lady Kagame, describing her as “an accomplished leader whose work spans education, health, and social transformation.”
He praised her contributions through initiatives such as the Imbuto Foundation, which champions girls’ education, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as her leadership in the Organization of African First Ladies for Development and the Unity Club promoting national reconciliation.
“Her moral guidance, presence, and advocacy have strengthened UGHE’s growth, credibility, and visibility across Africa and the world,” Dr. Kim said. “It is my distinct honor and privilege to confer upon Her Excellency Mrs. Jeannette Kagame the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, in recognition of her exceptional leadership and distinguished public service.”
Receiving the honour, First Lady Kagame expressed her deep gratitude and reflected on the legacy of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, UGHE’s founding chancellor.
“To be honoured in this way is a gift for which I can only find a few words, yet to be watched from heaven by a dear friend as we celebrate those who have sought to honour his legacy through their own excellence means that I must try. What a milestone,” she said.
She reflected on how, for many years, solutions to health challenges were often perceived as something that had to come from outside the continent. “Today we affirm a different truth,” she said. “Pain, disease, and avoidable death are not our destiny, and neither are we bound to wait for answers to arrive from afar.”
Addressing the graduates directly, the First Lady challenged them to see themselves as agents of transformation.
“Your greatness is a revolution in the making,” she said. “Congratulations for choosing to lay your brick in the resilience of our systems. May your contribution to global health and to the lives you will save and improve bear witness to every worth of late night of study, every moment of doubt, and every final push of determination.”
In his address, Prime Minister Nsengiyumva highlighted the critical role the graduates will play amid mounting pressures on health systems both in Rwanda and globally.
“Emerging diseases, workforce shortages, and financing constraints are no longer abstract challenges,” he said. “Responding effectively requires more than clinical expertise; it demands an understanding of policy, management, data, and implementation, as well as the ability to translate plans into results.”
The Prime Minister further emphasised that UGHE graduates are expected to serve not only as practitioners but also as leaders capable of strengthening institutions, improving service delivery, and supporting sound decision-making across the health sector.
UGHE Chancellor Dr. Kim highlighted the uniqueness of the university’s journey, describing it as the product of an extraordinary partnership between the Government of Rwanda and global partners.
“This could not have happened in the vast majority of countries that I have been in,” he said, underscoring Rwanda’s leadership and long-term vision in building sustainable health systems.
Founded in 2015 with support from Partners In Health (PIH), UGHE inaugurated its permanent Butaro campus in 2019. The university offers six programs in partnership with Harvard University and has graduated 330 master’s degree holders, with 444 students currently enrolled.
Recognised for its growing academic reputation, Times Higher Education in 2024 ranked UGHE fourth among 129 leading universities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
With its graduates and initiatives, UGHE continues to play a critical role in Rwanda’s plans to expand its healthcare workforce and strengthen health systems, a vision strongly supported by First Lady Jeannette Kagame and President Paul Kagame’s administration throughout the university’s journey.
In a statement, the ministry said the Russian army targeted an energy facility supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, a production workshop, and storage and launch sites for long-range drones. It also struck temporary deployment points for Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 159 areas.
The statement also said that Russian air defense systems intercepted two guided bombs, 31 rockets from the U.S.-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, and 68 fixed-wing drones.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is rooted in a deep-seated struggle over sovereignty, security, and national identity that escalated into full-scale war in 2022. At its core, Russia seeks to reassert influence over its neighbor, viewing Ukraine’s aspirations to join Western institutions like NATO and the European Union as an existential threat to its own security and “sphere of influence.”
Conversely, Ukraine views the war as a fight for survival and independence from Russian imperialism, asserting its right to determine its own future as a sovereign nation. These tensions are compounded by historical disputes over the Donbas region and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, as well as a fundamental disagreement over whether Ukraine exists as a distinct culture and state or as an integral part of a “Greater Russia.”
