Author: Francis Muli

China will help Africa push its products beyond the continent. The Director-General of African affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wu Peng said the country will use its e-commerce platforms to market African products with an aim of helping sellers get more sales. “This shows once again that the Chinese side never leaves any of its initiatives to ‘visions’ or on paper only but translates them into actions in a planned manner,” said Wu. Wu, a former ambassador to Kenya, referenced Africa’s growing digital infrastructure, saying both China and African countries can exploit technology to maximize the presence…

In the last 24 hours, 511 people have tested positive for Covid-19 from a sample size of 7,955. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 245,337 and the cumulative samples tested to 2,478,820. On a positive note, 273 people have recovered from the disease. 168 people were discharged from various health facilities across the country, while 105 were discharged from the home based care and isolation program. This brings the total number of recoveries to 235,469. Read: Covid-19 Fourth Wave To Peak In Mid July – KEMRI Currently, 1,483 patients are admitted in hospital with Covid-19,  while 3,323…

The parents of suspected killer cop the late Caroline Kangogo have handed over the children to their father, Mr Richard Ng’eno. The parents, Mzee Barnabas and Selinah Korir, have opted to place the 11-year old boy and seven-year-old girl to the estranged husband who comes from Kericho county. Since their mother’s death, the two children have been living under the custody of their grandparents in Nyawa village, Elgeyo Marakwet county. Read: Caroline Kangogo’s Family Declines to Honour Cremation Wishes, To Accord her “Normal” Send Off Mr Ng’eno is currently serving as a senior officer attached to the Maritime Police Unit based in…

Instagram has announced that it is working on ways to discourage users from focusing on physical appearance, after a report from the Wall Street Journal showed that Facebook researchers had found that the app is toxic for teenage girls. According to the Newspaper, Facebook researchers have been conducting studies on the effects of the app to its users for the last three years. The study revealed that Instagram, which was bought by Facebook in 2012 can have damaging mental health and body image effects especially to the millions of young girls on the platform. “We make body image issues worse…

The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) secretary-general Francis Atwoli has condemned the government for hiking fuel prices despite a decline in international prices of crude oil. On Tuesday, September 14, the government removed fuel subsidies that saw pump prices hit a historic high. The subsidies amounted to Ksh7.10 on a litre of petrol, Ksh9.90 on diesel and Ksh11.36 on kerosene. As a result, a litre of super petrol, diesel and kerosene is now retailing at Ksh134.72, Ksh115.60 and Ksh110.82 respectively in Nairobi. “This increase, with over seven shillings for every litre of fuel, comes at a time when, first,…

Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka directed Petroleum Secretary John Munyes and his Energy counterpart Charles Keter to appear before the house on Tuesday, September 21 over hiked fuel prices. This follows the removal of the fuel subsidy on Tuesday, September 14, that saw pump prices hit a historic high. The subsidies amounted to Ksh7.10 on a litre of petrol, Ksh9.90 on diesel and Ksh11.36 on kerosene. “I direct that the committee on Energy immediately issue summonses to the two Cabinet Secretaries and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) to appear on Tuesday. All senators should be invited to sit at…

Facebook has announced the development of a new yellow pages feature that will be built into its messaging app,  WhatsApp. This will allow users to look up contacts of local businesses directly in the app. The new feature will be launched in São Paulo, Brazil and to more locations in the future. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this through his page on the platform. “We’re building a modern-day Yellow Pages into WhatsApp where you can look up and contact local businesses right inside the app. Launching in São Paulo today, and hopefully more places soon.” Read: WhatsApp Starts Rolling Out…

Former Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) boss Davy Koech has been convicted of fraud involving Ksh19.3 million. Koech, who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer Centre for Clinical & Molecular Sciences, has been fined Ksh19.6 million which he can pay in two installments, or serve a six-year jail term in default. Koech was accused of transferring Ksh19.3 million from KEMRI’s bank accounts to his personal accounts when he was MD to finance his children’s education abroad. The funds had been allocated to Center for Disease Control, Kisumu. During his tenure, Koech transferred millions from KEMRI to African Medical Services…

WhatsApp has starred rolling out support for multiple devices to non-beta users. The feature had been rolled out to beta users in July this year after tests by the messaging company. Multi-device usage allows users to connect their WhatsApp account to up to four different devices. For now, only non-phone devices such as laptops are allowed. Once linked using the QR code, WhatsApp is launched separately on the device,  whether the primary device is on or off. The feature also allows users to connect multiple times automatically (without scanning the QR code) and to log out if they no longer…

American contractor Bechtel, which was contracted to construct the Ksh300 billion Nairobi-Mombasa Expressway has rejected a government offer to recover its money from toll fees. In the initial plan, the contractor was to recoup their investment by charging motorists toll fees, until the whole amount was recovered. However, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the contractor has rejected the offer and wants to be paid directly from government coffers. According to a study by Inter-America Development Bank, the initial plan is only viable if at least 5,000 vehicles use the road per day. “This limits the number of roads…

Kenya is set to start producing Covid-19 vaccines locally as from 2022, with an aim of navigating supply hitches that have slowed down the vaccination process. Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that the country had commenced building a filling plant for Covid-19 vaccines. The fill and finish facility will be used to put the vaccines originating from the main manufacturers into syringes or vials, sealing and packaging them before distribution. Read: Kenya Receives 880,460 Doses of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Donated By the US “To improve our vaccine supply security, the government has embarked on the local manufacture of Covid-19…

Social media has boomed in a way that it would have been unfathomable to have ever been able to predict when it was first starting to emerge. The rise of various platforms has allowed for a number of various opportunities to be presented to companies within all business sectors across all industries as individuals continue to use the networks that have been created to keep in contact and up-to-date with current affairs. According to research and data that has been collected recently, it has been found that 4.48 billion people are currently using social media worldwide, which is over half…

Formula 1 is one of the most popular, best-loved and richest sports in the world. The big-name drivers competing in the 2021 season, such as Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Valterri Bottas, are known for their bravery, skill and quick thinking. These men put their lives at risk every time they step into their high-powered Formula 1 vehicles and take on the tightest of corners. Each Grand Prix attracts crowds in the thousands with millions more watching the action live on TV while betting at leading online bookmaker BetUS. The stars of F1 are incredibly well paid and their name…

One of the largest crypto exchanges around the world, Coinbase, which is based in America, has recently announced that it now allows traders from Kenya and Ghana to buy cryptocurrencies on their platform using debit and credit cards. The clients of the company will also be able to cash out using credit and debit cards as well. Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange by volume and user base in America and its recent decision will make crypto trading in these countries even more accessible for local investors. The company recently went public and announced that it was ready to start expanding…

Apple unveiled its latest smartphone series, iPhone 13 during the “California Streaming” virtual event Tuesday night. The iPhone 13 runs on Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip, delivering up to 15.8 trillion operations per second. It comes with a 20 percent notch or smaller display cutout. It also comes with improved battery life, lasting 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12. iPhone 13 comes with a 28 percent brighter display than iPhone 12, and an improved camera system. The rear camera now appears diagonally instead of the vertical alignment common with most phones. Apple says the camera can now capture more…