WEATHER ALERT
Kenya's High Court rejects move to stop deputy president's impeachment debate
Read full article: Kenya's High Court rejects move to stop deputy president's impeachment debateKenya’s High Court has rejected an application by the deputy president’s lawyers to stop the senate from debating an impeachment motion against him after parliament voted to remove him from office last week.
Kenya’s deputy president defends himself before impeachment
Read full article: Kenya’s deputy president defends himself before impeachmentKenya’s deputy president has defended himself while facing an impeachment motion in which he's accused of supporting anti-government protests in June and of being involved in corruption and other irregularities.
ICC prosecutors halt 13-year Kenya investigation that failed to produce any convictions
Read full article: ICC prosecutors halt 13-year Kenya investigation that failed to produce any convictionsThe International Criminal Court prosecutor’s office is halting its long-running investigation into deadly violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 presidential election.
Kenya's new tax package angers some backers of president who once vowed to reduce cost of living
Read full article: Kenya's new tax package angers some backers of president who once vowed to reduce cost of livingKenyans are preparing for tough times after lawmakers approved tax increases that are even unpopular with supporters of the president who once vowed to reduce the cost of living.
Kenyan opposition leader to sue over alleged attempt on life
Read full article: Kenyan opposition leader to sue over alleged attempt on lifeKenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has denounced the point-blank firing of a tear gas canister at local journalists during his latest anti-government protest as a “primitive act of intolerance.”.
Talks begin on disarmament of rebel groups in eastern Congo
Read full article: Talks begin on disarmament of rebel groups in eastern CongoThe third round of Congo peace talks facilitated by the East Africa regional bloc has begun in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, with a plan to discuss reforms that will facilitate disarmament of rebel groups.
Kenya's president dismisses suggestions of unlimited terms
Read full article: Kenya's president dismisses suggestions of unlimited termsKenyan President William Ruto urged lawmakers not to remove presidential terms limits from the country’s constitution, dismissing comments by a legislator that there should be no such limits on a capable leader.
Ethiopia, Tigray military leaders agree on peace roadmap
Read full article: Ethiopia, Tigray military leaders agree on peace roadmapTop military commanders from Ethiopia and its embattled Tigray region have agreed to allow unhindered humanitarian access to the region and form a joint disarmament committee following last week’s truce.
New round of peace talks between Ethiopia, Tigray envoys
Read full article: New round of peace talks between Ethiopia, Tigray envoysA new round of talks has begun between Ethiopia’s government and Tigray representatives to work out military and other details of last week’s signing of a “permanent” cessation of hostilities in a conflict thought to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Ethiopia, Tigray head invited to peace talks in South Africa
Read full article: Ethiopia, Tigray head invited to peace talks in South AfricaThe leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa this weekend as part of a pan-African effort to end one of the world’s most overlooked wars.
Kenyan lawyer in ICC case linked to new president found dead
Read full article: Kenyan lawyer in ICC case linked to new president found deadPolice say a Kenyan lawyer facing charges at the International Criminal Court of bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses in a past ICC case against Kenya’s recently elected president has been found dead.
Kenya’s new president promises ambitious climate plan
Read full article: Kenya’s new president promises ambitious climate planKenya’s newly elected president William Ruto said that climate change will be key to the government’s agenda and made an ambitious pledge to ramp up clean energy and phase out fossil fuels for electricity by 2030 during his inauguration speech Tuesday.
Ethiopia calls WHO chief's comments on Tigray "unethical"
Read full article: Ethiopia calls WHO chief's comments on Tigray "unethical"Ethiopia’s government is criticizing as “unethical” the statement by the World Health Organization’s director-general that the crisis in the country’s Tigray region is “the worst disaster on Earth” and his assertion that the lack of global attention is due to Tigrayans’ “color of the skin.”.
US senator urges Kenyan president to aid peaceful transition
Read full article: US senator urges Kenyan president to aid peaceful transitionA visiting U.S. senator says he has encouraged Kenya’s outgoing president to participate in a “peaceful transition of power” amid the latest election crisis in East Africa’s most stable democracy.
Kenya's president-elect will 'engage' in any court challenge
Read full article: Kenya's president-elect will 'engage' in any court challengeKenyan president-elect William Ruto says that if there’s a court challenge to the election results, “we will engage in those” as the country awaits a likely petition from losing candidate Raila Odinga.
Kenya's Ruto declared president after last-minute chaos
Read full article: Kenya's Ruto declared president after last-minute chaosAfter last-minute chaos that could foreshadow a court challenge, Kenya’s electoral commission chairman has declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the close presidential election over five-time contender Raila Odinga.
Brief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya's close election
Read full article: Brief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya's close electionKenya’s peaceful presidential election saw a brief disruption when riot police responded to scuffles at the national ballot tallying center amid tensions over the close results.
Anxiety rises over claims in Kenya's close presidential vote
Read full article: Anxiety rises over claims in Kenya's close presidential voteHuman rights groups are warning anxious Kenyans over “rising levels of false or misleading information being shared on social media” as the country awaits the results of a close presidential election.
Kenya's election rips open scars of inequality, corruption
Read full article: Kenya's election rips open scars of inequality, corruptionIn the shadow of a thousand-dollar campaign billboard, one of many across Kenya’s capital, street vendors struggle to make even 200 shillings ($1.68) a day and often pocket none.
EXPLAINER: Why Rwanda and Congo are sliding toward war again
Read full article: EXPLAINER: Why Rwanda and Congo are sliding toward war againThe threat of war with neighboring Congo is simmering under the tidy surface of Rwanda’s capital as the East African nation hosts the British prime minister and other world leaders next week for the Commonwealth summit.
Kenyan lawyer goes on ICC trial in witness tampering case
Read full article: Kenyan lawyer goes on ICC trial in witness tampering caseA Kenyan lawyer has gone on trial at the International Criminal Court charged with bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses so that they would withdraw their statements in a case that ultimately collapsed amid widespread witness interference.
UN chief: World worse now due to COVID, climate, conflict
Read full article: UN chief: World worse now due to COVID, climate, conflictAs he starts his second term as U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres says the world is worse in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere.
Kenyan, South African presidents urge cease-fire in Ethiopia
Read full article: Kenyan, South African presidents urge cease-fire in EthiopiaKenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have called for increased cooperation to bring peace to conflict-ridden regions in Africa, at the start of the Kenyan leader’s two-day state visit to South Africa.
Top US envoy appeals for preservation of democracy in Africa
Read full article: Top US envoy appeals for preservation of democracy in AfricaU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun his first official visit to Africa with an appeal for the preservation of democracy in politically and ethnically fractured societies.
Blinken headed to Africa to address various crises
Read full article: Blinken headed to Africa to address various crisesSecretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Africa next week as the Biden administration intensifies diplomatic efforts to resolve crises in Ethiopia and Sudan and seeks to boost counterterrorism cooperation.
'Pandora Papers' bring renewed calls for tax haven scrutiny
Read full article: 'Pandora Papers' bring renewed calls for tax haven scrutinyCalls are growing for an end to the financial secrecy and shell companies that have allowed many of the world’s richest and most powerful people to hide their wealth from tax collectors.
Leaked records open a 'Pandora' box of financial secrets
Read full article: Leaked records open a 'Pandora' box of financial secretsHundreds of world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers have been hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets for the past quarter-century.
'The future is raising its voice': A dire mood at UN meeting
Read full article: 'The future is raising its voice': A dire mood at UN meetingRacism, climate change and the world’s worsening divisions will take center stage at the U_N_ meeting of world leaders, a day after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was "on the edge of an abyss.”.
World pledges $4B in push to repair COVID's education damage
Read full article: World pledges $4B in push to repair COVID's education damageInternational governments and companies have pledged more than $4 billion to educate 175 million children around the world and prevent a generation’s chances being blighted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Blinken meets Israeli spy chief as Iran talks continue
Read full article: Blinken meets Israeli spy chief as Iran talks continueSecretary of State Antony Blinken and other top Biden administration national security aides have met with the chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency for talks that focused primarily on Iran.
Kenya stops the private importation of COVID-19 vaccines
Read full article: Kenya stops the private importation of COVID-19 vaccinesKenya has ordered an immediate suspension to the private importation of coronavirus vaccines, citing fears that otherwise counterfeit inoculations would get into the country.
Kenya tightens restrictions amid a spike of COVID-19 deaths
Read full article: Kenya tightens restrictions amid a spike of COVID-19 deathsA nurse, left, prepares a shot of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, from a portable cold storage box, center, in Machakos, Kenya, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)NAIROBI – With Kenya's COVID-19 cases and deaths surging, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced tightened restrictions in five of the most affected counties. “A third wave of COVID-19 is at hand in Kenya," said Kenyatta in a nationally televised address. The country's rate of deaths has quadrupled, with the 7-day rolling average of daily deaths surging from 0.01 deaths per 100,000 people on March 11 to 0.04 deaths per 100,000 people on March 25. “I am personally convinced that the cost of not acting now will be far greater," he said Friday as he and his wife received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at State House, his official residence in Nairobi.
Five die in stampede to view body of Tanzania's Magufuli
Read full article: Five die in stampede to view body of Tanzania's MagufuliTanzania's new President Samia Suluhu Hassan, center, arrives to pay her respects as the body of former president John Magufuli lies in state at Uhuru stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Saturday, March 20, 2021. Ten of thousands of Tanzanians came out to view Magufuli's body at Uhuru Stadium in the country's largest city, Dar es Salaam, over the weekend. Suzan Mtua, 30, died with four school-age children from the same family when there was a stampede of people wanting to view the body Sunday, Heri Mtua, a family spokesman, said. “The children had demanded they also attend the funeral of President Magufuli,” he said. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was Magufuli's vice president and succeeded him, was joined by nine African heads of state on Monday for Magufuli's state funeral.
Death of Tanzania's Magufuli draws sorrow but ire from some
Read full article: Death of Tanzania's Magufuli draws sorrow but ire from someA man reads a copy of the Daily Nation morning newspaper reporting the death of neighboring Tanzania's President John Magufuli on a street in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, March 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)NAKURU – News of the death of Tanzania's President John Magufuli drew mixed reactions; sorrow from many but bitterness from a critic who said he suffered during the president's rule which he said shrank the country's democratic space. As tributes come in from other African heads of state, Tanzania's opposition leader has been outspoken in his criticism of Magufuli. “It's poetic justice," opposition leader Tundu Lissu said Thursday of Magufuli's death, alleging that he succumbed to COVID-19. Many Tanzanians, however, mourned Magufuli's death and praised his rule.
Kenyans fear they're on their own as COVID-19 surges again
Read full article: Kenyans fear they're on their own as COVID-19 surges againOther doctors say they cannot afford the treatment they administer to COVID-19 patients, yet many work while dangerously exposed without protection. Some health care workers organize fund drives for colleagues to pay medical bills. And yet last week, Kagwe said the government's health insurer will not assist Kenyans in paying for their admission and treatment and treatment for COVID-19. And he told lawmakers investigating claims that private insurance companies weren't covering the cost of COVID-19 treatment that such coverage wasn't feasible. Ten doctors and 20 other health care workers have died of COVID-19 so far, he said, and their colleagues had raised some $20 million for their bills in intensive care.
UN failures on coronavirus underscore the need for reforms
Read full article: UN failures on coronavirus underscore the need for reformsThe coronavirus that has claimed nearly 1 million lives has underscored the failure of the United Nations to bring countries together to defeat it. We are in fact talking about ourselves, because the U.N. is its member states. Born out of the ashes of World War II with 50 members, the United Nations has since expanded dramatically. “We are in fact talking about ourselves, because the U.N. is its member states. Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez said the U.N. not only needs Security Council reform but new energy to live up to its mandate.
Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change will
Read full article: Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change willIn a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at September 2020's annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)JOHANNESBURG – In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at this week’s annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. Meanwhile, the U.N. global climate summit has been postponed to late 2021. That hasn’t stopped countries, from slowly sinking island nations to parched African ones, from speaking out. World powers cannot shirk their financial commitments to fighting climate change during the pandemic, Remengesau said, even as economies are battered.
The Latest: Venezuela's Guaidó urges nations to decry Maduro
Read full article: The Latest: Venezuela's Guaidó urges nations to decry MaduroMember state flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)TANZANIA – The Latest from the U.N. General Assembly (all times EDT):8:10 p.m. But U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó still put out his own online message during this year’s gathering of world leaders. Guaidó is recognized by nearly 60 nations as Venezuela’s president and has been in a nearly two-year standoff with Maduro. This week at the U.N. gathering of world leaders, African nations again have made it clear it’s time that changed.
Oil companies accused of wanting to dump plastics in Africa
Read full article: Oil companies accused of wanting to dump plastics in AfricaPlastic waste meant for recycling has piled up in dumps in Kenyan cities. Meanwhile, oil companies are under pressure as more countries, notably Kenya, aim to shift away from fossil fuels for their energy needs. They want Kenya to reverse its strict limits on plastics, including 2017 plastic bag ban! Its a NO! tweeted James Wakibia, who pushed hard for Kenya's plastic bag ban. The American Chemistry Council said it did not know whether the Office of the United States Trade Representative had taken its recommendations into consideration.
US-China spats rattle world, prompting calls for unity
Read full article: US-China spats rattle world, prompting calls for unityFrance has avoided echoing Trumps criticism of Beijings handling of the coronavirus, but legislators applauded Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week when he condemned abuses of minority Uighurs in Chinas northwest. That rancor has spread to include Hong Kong, Chinese Muslims, spying accusations and control of the South China Sea. Trump complains about the cost of stationing 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea to protect against North Korean threats. The U.S.-Chinese row has thrown a question to South Korea" about which side to choose, the newspaper Dong-A Ilbo said in an editorial Monday. We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a July 13 statement.
Virus cases up sharply in Africa, India as inequality stings
Read full article: Virus cases up sharply in Africa, India as inequality stingsCovid-19 patients are being treated at the Tshwane District Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday July 10, 2020. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize this week said South Africa could run out of available hospital beds within the month. Inequality concerns are growing as health workers seek better protection while some among the rich are hoarding equipment at home. South Africa now has more than 250,000 confirmed cases, including more than 3,800 deaths. More than 8,000 health workers across Africa have been infected, half of them in South Africa.
Kenyans protest cop who allegedly killed man over sanitizer
Read full article: Kenyans protest cop who allegedly killed man over sanitizerNAIROBI Residents of a small town in western Kenya set fire to a police station and damaged several vehicles after a police officer allegedly killed a man over a dispute about hand sanitizer, according to an official report. It is the second time in two weeks that Kenyans have violently protested alleged police killings. The officer who allegedly killed the trader has been arrested, said the report. The confrontation between police and residents started after police reportedly shot and killed a motorcyle taxi rider for not wearing a face mask. In the last three months 22 people, including a 13-year-old boy, have been killed by police enforcing the new restrictions, allege human rights activists.