Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

The US has made “direct contact” with the HTS rebels who now control Syria after toppling the Assad regime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. It is the first acknowledgement of direct American contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which the US currently still designates as a terrorist organisation. Blinken was speaking in Jordan after talks with representatives from several Arab countries, Turkey and Europe to discuss the future of Syria. Officials agreed to support a peaceful transition process in the country, with Jordan’s foreign minister saying that regional powers did not want to see it “descend into chaos”. A…

At least seven people died and 20 others were critically injured in two separate tragic road accidents along the Bomet-Narok highway Saturday.  In the first accident, according to police, it involved a Nissan matatu and a secondary school bus, happened Saturday December 14 at 6 pm at Olonin Bridge. In a separate earlier incident, a woman died on Saturday morning while three other individuals sustained minor injuries after a Toyota vehicle they were travelling in collided head-on with a bus at Tegero area on the Narok-Bomet Road. Police said that the 4am accident occurred after the driver of the Toyota…

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) recovered a prime Government plot valued at about Sh30 million which had been illegally and corruptly excised from public land adjacent to State House, Mombasa.  The accused was one Edward Mwangi Irungu, then a District Officer in Mombasa who is said to have colluded with the then Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja. In a judgement delivered on December 11, 2024, Justice Nelly Matheka of the Mombasa Environment and Land Court nullified all the transactions leading to the grabbing of the land and ordered that the property reverts to the Government. The Land Parcel, Mombasa/Block…

South Korean lawmakers on Saturday voted to impeach president Yoon Suk Yeol, one week after he controversially declared martial law.  In dramatic scenes at the national assembly in Seoul, 204 lawmakers voted for an opposition motion to impeach Yoon, while an estimated 200,000 protesters outside demanded he be thrown out of office. Saturday was the second opportunity in a week the assembly’s lawmakers had to begin the process of ousting Yoon, whose approval ratings have plummeted to 11% A dozen members of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party joined opposition lawmakers to pass the threshold of 200 votes — two-thirds of…

A former Love Island contestant says it “took her breath away” to discover that someone removing a condom during sex is classified as rape. Stealthing, as it is known, happens when someone removes a condom during consensual sex without informing the other person. Megan Barton-Hanson says she experienced this up to six times, with a man claiming the condom had split on each occasion, leading to her having an abortion. “I didn’t know it was a crime,” the 30-year-old tells the BBC. “I just thought that’s something between partners that you have to discuss with them.” Megan added that she…

Georgia’s political crisis deepened Friday, as new pro-Europe protests gripped Tbilisi ahead of the nomination of a far-right government loyalist as president. The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections, with its decision last month to delay EU accession talks igniting a fresh wave of mass rallies. More unrest is expected on Saturday when Georgian Dream will appoint far-right former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili as president in a controversial election process. The pro-Western incumbent, President Salome Zurabishvili, has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections,…

US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to end daylight saving time (DST), arguing it is “inconvenient” and “very costly” to Americans. In a post on his platform Truth Social, Trump said DST had “a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t” and that his Republican party would work to end it. DST is the practice of moving the clock ahead by one hour in the spring and back an hour in the autumn to make better use of natural daylight. It is observed in a third of the world’s countries, according to Pew Research Center, including most of Europe.…

Paula Abdul, the Grammy and Emmy award-winning singer and dancer, has settled her sexual assault lawsuit against British television producer Nigel Lythgoe. In the legal action filed one year ago, Ms Abdul, 62, accused Mr Lythgoe of twice sexually assaulting her, the first time allegedly when they worked together on the talent show American Idol. In a statement to the BBC, Ms Abdul said she was relieved for the legal battle to be over. Mr Lythgoe, 75, said in a statement that he was glad “to put this behind me”. The British TV producer has previously denied the allegations, describing…

South Korean lawmakers are set to vote Saturday on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, in a second parliamentary showdown that appeared on a knife edge. A week after a first attempt to remove Yoon for the martial law debacle foundered, the National Assembly will vote Saturday around 4:00 pm (0700 GMT) on whether to impeach the president for “insurrectionary acts undermining the constitutional order”. Two hundred votes are needed for the measure to pass, meaning opposition lawmakers must convince eight parliamentarians from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) to defect. As of noon Friday,…

One person died and another left nursing serious injuries after being run over by a lorry while boarding a ferry at the Likoni Crossing Channel in Mombasa on Friday night. Police said the incident occurred around 7:15 pm. The lorry, which was carrying building blocks, was descending the mainland ramp toward the ferry when the driver lost control of the vehicle and struck two pedestrians. A female pedestrian, whose identity remains unknown, was killed instantly, while a male pedestrian sustained multiple fractures to both legs. The injured man was quickly taken to Likoni Sub-County Hospital for treatment, while the body…

A medical doctor and his lover who were found dead at an apartment in Kisii town were Friday separately buried.  They were buried in their respective homes in Nyamira County. USA based Angela Moraa and Kisii-based doctor Vincent Bosire were found dead a fortnight ago with their hands entwined. Police said they are investigating murder and suicide in the deaths. Moraa was and Bosire were separately buried in Moitunya and Kenyerere villages respectively in Nyamira County. On Friday morning, mourners gathered at Moitunya Primary School for the interment of the U.S.-based woman who was found lifeless in Kisii’s Nyamataro on…

A former OpenAI researcher known for whistleblowing the blockbuster artificial intelligence company facing a swell of lawsuits over its business model died by suicide, authorities confirmed this week. Suchir Balaji, 26, was found dead inside his Buchanan Street apartment on November 26, San Francisco police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Police had been called to the Lower Haight residence at about 1 p.m. that day, after receiving a call asking officers to check on his well-being, a police spokesperson said. The medical examiner’s office determined the manner of death to be suicide and police officials this week said…

President William Ruto Friday asked the Public Service Commission to harmonise the salaries of Kenyan scientists to be at par with their regional colleagues. He said the departure of local scientists to foreign countries due to poor remuneration should not continue. He directed Head of Public Service Felix Koskei to work with the PSC and sort out the pay disparity. “We are not paying our scientists as we should. Many of them are under the public service, and there is a need to relook their terms of service and salaries,” he said. “I will get the Head of Public Service…

The government will modernise the National Police Service at a cost of Sh28 billion over the next two years, President William Ruto has said. Ruto said the government will seek the views of police officers on the their preferred uniform. The ambitious modernisation programme will include new equipment and weapons, digitisation of police operations as well as constructing new housing units for police officers. “I want to commit that I intend to see the process of modernisation to completion in the next two years so that we can have the equipment, vehicles and ammunition necessary to protect our country,” he…

Four suspected gold scammers arrested on Wednesday, December 11 were Friday arraigned at Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.  They were charged with several counts of conspiracy to defraud and forgery. The four are implicated in a USD100,000 scam. In the case investigated by the DCI Operation Support Unit, Susan Wanjeri Kogi, Elvis Muga Ouma, Nazlin Karim Rahimbux and Hubbard Kanyago Ndong’o are accused of conspiring to defraud a Niger businessman the said amount, while purporting to be customs officials based in the capital. Upon arraignment the four pleaded not guilty and were granted Sh500,000 bond with the alternative of a cash…