The American citizen -- a woman -- and a Ugandan driver were kidnapped at gunpoint at Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwest Uganda, while on a game drive on Tuesday evening, a statement released by the agencies said.
"The kidnappers, using the victim's phone have demanded 500,000 USD," police said, adding "we strongly believe this ransom is the reason behind the kidnap."
Police have dispatched an "elite squad" from the Tourism Police to the park to actively pursue the gunmen and have closed all exit areas on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"We strongly believe the perpetrators and victims could still be trapped within our search area," the police statement added.
The American citizen was abducted alongside four people but the unnamed four were freed while the American and her driver were taken from the park, Ofwondo Opondo, the head of Ugandan Media Centre said in a statement.
"The priority at this point is to locate them, rescue and bring them back to safety," Opondo said.
Uganda recorded a spate of kidnapping incidents last year, which prompted street protests amid claims the government was not doing enough to address the security issues.
Rights groups who led the protests to the country's parliament in Kampala city, said more than 20 people, mostly women, and children, were abducted for ransom last year and called on the police to make these cases a priority.
Ugandan police also established an emergency center at the time where families of victims could report cases in response to the increase in kidnap cases.
Journalist Samson Ntale contributed to this story.
Pilots of the 737 Max jet that crashed in Ethiopia in March initially followed Boeing's standard emergency procedures to try to get control of the plane, but ultimately failed, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Crew members turned off the flight-control system that automatically pushed down the plane's nose after take off, but could not get the plane to climb, the Journal reported, citing people briefed on the investigation's preliminary findings. They ended up turning the control system back on before the plane crashed, killing all 157 people on board.
It's the latest report in the midst of mounting pressure on Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration over their assertions that had pilots simply followed established safety procedures, the crash may have been avoided. The new details of the crash are based on data from the aircraft's black-box recorders.
The pilots turned the electrical power back on, which re-engaged the stall-prevention feature, known as MCAS, and then used electrical switches to try to raise the nose, the people told the Journal.
It's not clear why Ethiopian Flight 302 pilots turned the automated system back on rather than continuing to follow Boeing's standard emergency steps. Government officials and investigators said it's likely that manual controls to raise the nose of the plane didn't work, and pilots tried to re-engage the system to combat the nose-down angle of the jet and failed, the Journal reported.
The same control system was also used in the 737 Max crash in Indonesia in October that resulted in deaths of all 189 people on board.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation launched an investigation yesterday into whistleblower complaints accusing the FAA of improperly training its safety inspectors to review the Boeing jets. The FAA may have been notified about these deficiencies as early as August 2018, the panel said. The Justice Department has also launched a criminal probe.
Ethiopian investigators are expected to release a preliminary report about the crash in the upcoming days. Investigators looking to the Lion Air Flight 610 crash think that similar system malfunctions were involved, including erroneous data from a single sensor that caused the MCAS system to misfire.
Boeing is still preparing software updates for the 737 Max plane's flight-control system. The plane maker initially planned to submit the fixes to the FAA last week, but said it needs more time. The revised software will have two sensors, rather than one, and will give pilots more control over the system, according to Boeing.
The United Kingdom's defence ministry has launched an investigation into a social media video apparently showing British soldiers using a picture of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for target practice.
The ministry said the incident, allegedly filmed at a shooting range in the Afghan capital, Kabul, was "totally unacceptable", according to a report by Sky News.
"We are aware of a video circulating on social media, this behaviour is totally unacceptable and falls well below the high standards the Army expects," an army spokesperson said.
"A full investigation has been launched," he added.
Al Jazeera was not able to verify the authenticity of the footage.
The video has prompted outrage, and many social media users criticised the footage, coming in the wake of the 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by far-right killer Thomas Mair and a foiled 2017 plot to murder Rosie Cooper, another Labour MP.
Video has emerged of soldiers on a shooting range in Kabul firing at a target of Jeremy Corbyn. MOD confirms it as legit: pic.twitter.com/qOr84Aiivj
Corbyn has not been a popular figure for some army circles due to his views on the UK's involvement in the war in Iraq and army practices in Northern Ireland during the Troubles - a violent period when more than 3,500 people were killed in sectarian violence.
A junior government minister has resigned in protest at the Prime Minister's decision to hold talks with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Nigel Adams, minister for Wales and assistant government whip, told Theresa May that her decision to hold talks with the Labour leader was a "grave error."
"At Cabinet yesterday, there was an opportunity to get onto the front foot for once," he wrote to the Prime Minister. "However, by legitimizing and turning to Jeremy Corbyn to assist you at this crucial stage, rather than being bold, is a grave error."
"It is clear that we will now end up in the Customs Union. That is not the Brexit my constituents were promised, and it is contrary to the pledge we made in our manifesto," the Adams said.
The UK is now at risk of "simultaneously failing" the British public on its Brexit vote, he wrote, potentially leading to the "calamity of a Corbyn government."
"It now seems that you and your Cabinet have decided that a deal -- cooked up with a Marxist who has never once in his political life, put British interests first -- is better than no deal."
Theresa May has finally made a decision. And it's not one her hard-Brexit allies will like.
The Prime Minister has recognized what many have been saying for weeks -- that there's no majority for her deal in Parliament.
In offering talks with the opposition Labour Party -- and, crucially, offering to accept the result of any vote in Parliament for an alternative Brexit plan -- May has also recognized that she will never be able to persuade her supposed allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, nor a hard core of Brexiteers in her own Conservative Party.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May giving a statement inside 10 Downing Street in London.
May has picked a side, and in agreeing to a cross-party approach, it's the side of a "soft" Brexit -- one that envisages a closer relationship with the EU than she previously could countenance.
"This is a difficult time for everyone. Passions are running high on all sides of the argument. But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for," May said.
That's a sign that she's about to rub out at least some of her infamous "red lines" which shaped the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU -- out of the Customs Union, which stops the UK signing independent trade deals, and out of the Single Market, which requires the UK to accept unlimited immigration from the EU.
Theresa May is expected to meet Jeremy Corbyn later after she said she wanted to work with the Labour leader to break the Brexit deadlock.
The prime minister hopes the two of them can come up with a modified version of her withdrawal deal with the EU that can secure the backing of MPs.
Mr Corbyn says he wants a customs union and workers' rights to be priorities.
But Tory Brexiteer Boris Johnson has accused Mrs May of "entrusting the final handling of Brexit to Labour".
Jacob Rees-Mogg, another prominent Brexiteer, described the offer as "deeply unsatisfactory" and accused Mrs May of planning to collaborate with "a known Marxist".
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says the latest move means the prime minister is likely to adopt a closer relationship with the EU - a softer Brexit - than she has agreed so far.
European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, who had said he thought a no-deal Brexit was "nearly inevitable", welcomed Mrs May's offer of talks with Mr Corbyn.
"Good that PM Theresa may is looking for a cross-party compromise. Better late than never," he tweeted.
The UK now has until 12 April to propose a plan to the EU - which must be accepted by the bloc - or it will leave without a deal on that date.
Mrs May said she wanted to agree a new plan with Mr Corbyn and put it to a vote in the Commons before 10 April - when the EU will hold an emergency summit on Brexit.
If the two leaders do not agree a single way forward, Mrs May said a number of options would be put to MPs "to determine which course to pursue".
In either event, she said she would ask the EU for a further short extension to the Brexit date to hopefully get an agreement passed by Parliament before 22 May so the UK does not have to take part in European elections.
The final decision on a delay rests with the EU. The BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler said that while Brussels "welcomed" discussions between the PM and Mr Corbyn, its demands had not changed and it was "likely to put strict conditions on any further extension".
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Mr Corbyn said he was "very happy" to meet Mrs May and recognised his own "responsibility" to try to break the deadlock.
Labour has previously said it has six tests for judging any final Brexit deal, including protecting workers' rights, establishing a permanent customs union with the EU and securing the same benefits of being in the single market the UK has currently.
She was for budging. The prime minister has made her priority leaving the EU with a deal, rather than the happy contentment of the Brexiteers in the Tory party.
For so long, Theresa May has been derided by her rivals, inside and outside, for cleaving to the idea that she can get the country and her party through this process intact.
But after her deal was defeated at the hands of Eurosceptics, in the words of one cabinet minister in the room during Tuesday's marathon session, she tried delivering Brexit with Tory votes - Tory Brexiteers said "No".
Now she's going to try to deliver Brexit with Labour votes. In a way, it is as simple as that.
The offer of talks with the Labour leader provoked a backlash among Brexiteers, with Boris Johnson saying Brexit was "becoming soft to the point of disintegration".
Jacob Rees-Mogg added: "To decide you'd rather be supported by a Marxist than by your own party is unwise."
Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party - which helps prop up Mrs May's government but has repeatedly voted against her deal - said: "It remains to be seen if sub-contracting out the future of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn, someone whom the Conservatives have demonised for four years, will end happily."
However, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, himself a leading Brexiteer, said he backed the talks with Labour because he "wanted to ensure that minds are concentrated so that we do leave".
After Mrs May's statement, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, called for patience.
European leaders have been intensifying plans to cope with a possible no-deal, particularly surrounding the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
If passed into law, the bill - presented by Labour MP Yvette Cooper - would require the PM to ask for an extension of Article 50 beyond that deadline.
Normally, the government chooses which bills to present to Parliament, but MPs previously voted to allow backbenchers to take charge of business in the Commons on Wednesday, meaning Ms Cooper can bring hers.
Wednesday 3 April: Theresa May likely to begin talks with Jeremy Corbyn; cross-party group attempts to rule out no-deal in law
Wednesday 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
Friday 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek / EU does not grant further delay
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The White House took a step back on Tuesday from a threat to close the U.S. border with Mexico, even as a redeployment of border officers in recent days has led to a slowdown of legal crossings and commerce at U.S. ports of entry there.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration sees Mexico “stepping up and taking a greater sense of responsibility” for dealing with the immigration flows that U.S. officials say are overwhelming ports of entry along the border.
“They have started to do a significant amount more. We’ve seen them take a larger number of individuals” and hold those who have asylum claims in Mexico while they are being processed in the United States, Sanders told reporters at the White House.
“We’ve also seen them stop more people from coming across the border so that they aren’t even entering into the United States. So those two things are certainly helpful and we’d like to see them continue,” Sanders said.
Trump threatened on Friday to close the border this week unless Mexico took steps to stop immigrants from reaching the United States illegally. Closing the border could disrupt millions of legal border crossings and billions of dollars in trade.
Trump hinted at a softening earlier in a Twitter post on Tuesday. “After many years (decades), Mexico is apprehending large numbers of people at their Southern Border, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador,” he said.
Sanders said the administration was “looking at all options when it comes to closing the different ports of entry, what that looks like and what the impacts would be.”
She told Fox News the administration wanted Mexico to continue working to address the issue so, and added that the administration is doing studies on the impact of closing different ports of entries to give Trump some options.
SLOWER BORDER
Senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said on Tuesday a redeployment of some 750 officers on the border to deal with a surge in migrants - mostly Central American families turning themselves into border agents - had led to a slowing of legal crossings and commerce at ports of entry.
“Wait times in Brownsville (Texas) were around 180 minutes, which were two times the peaks of last year,” said a senior DHS official on a call with reporters. “We ended the day yesterday at Otay Mesa (California) with a back-up of 150 trucks that hadn’t been processed,” the official said. “This is a reality.”
DHS officials said on the call that border facilities have been overwhelmed by families who cannot be deported quickly because they hope to seek asylum in the United States.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent cast his shadow on a plaque marking the boundaries of Mexico and United States, at Paso del Norte international border crossing bridge, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimated that some 100,000 migrants would be apprehended or encountered at the border in March, the highest level in a decade. “The system is on fire,” a DHS official said.
Because of limits on how long children are legally allowed to be held in detention, many of the families are released to await their U.S. immigration court hearings, a process that can take years because of ballooning backlogs.
To try to address the problem, the administration in late January started returning some migrants to Mexico to wait our their U.S. court dates in Mexican border cities. On Monday, DHS said it would dramatically ramp up the pace of that program, even as it is being challenged in court and immigration attorneys have raised concerns about how the process is being implemented.
Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Alistair Bell
