Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

A 26-year-old female university student was found dead in her house in Embu Town. Police said Damaris Kanyua was a student at the local University of Embu. Her body was Tuesday morning discovered in her rented house long after she had died. The cause of her death is yet to be known, police said. The body was found lying on a mattress that was on the floor. She stayed alone in the house. The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and other investigations. In Kangemi, Nairobi, the body of a 54-year-old woman was found in her bed on…

A woman killed her three children before she died by suicide in a tragic incident in Githogoro slums, Runda, Nairobi.  The boys were aged six, four and two. The body of Monica Wandane Ndungu, 35 was first found hanging in her house with a bedsheet tied around her neck. The body was discovered on Tuesday February 11 morning by locals who called police. It was then the bodies of the boys were found in the house. It was then established that the woman strangled the children using a bedsheet before she died by suicide. The bodies lay next to each…

Steve Bannon, a former top White House aide to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty Tuesday in New York in connection with the defrauding of hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters who contributed more than $15 million to a purported effort to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Bannon, 71, was sentenced to three years of conditional discharge after pleading guilty, meaning he will not serve any time in prison. The sentence was part of a plea agreement by Bannon. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge April Newbauer also barred the conservative provocateur from serving in an official capacity or…

Canada will give a “firm and clear” response to the latest trade barriers planned by US President Donald Trump, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump says he will levy a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium products entering the US from 12 March, meaning both sides have a month to negotiate. Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the US. Since returning to office last month, Trump has announced a wide range of these tariffs to try to protect US jobs and industries. Economists say they are likely to raise prices for ordinary Americans. The new…

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.  The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”. Last week, Trump – who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign – said paper straws “don’t work” and “disgustingly” dissolve in the mouths of consumers. In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging. Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying paper straws…

The Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court will on Wednesday, February 12 2025, deliver a judgment in a graft case against former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, alias Babayao. Waititu, Susan Wangari Ndungu (his wife), Luka Mwangi Wahinya (former transport manager), alongside Charles Chege Mbuthia, Beth Wangeci Mburu, Testimony Enterprises Limited, Saika Two Estate Developers Limited, and Bienvenue Delta Hotel, were charged with irregular awarding of Sh588 million road tenders in Kiambu County in February 2018. The Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzyoki, Tuesday issued summons against Waititu after he failed to appear in court and directed that he appear in court physically on Wednesday, February…

President William Ruto chaired a Special Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, where the Cabinet approved the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS). The statement, which will now be forwarded to Parliament, sets a Sh4.2 trillion budget for the 2025/26 financial year. The total expenditure, equivalent to 22.1% of GDP, includes Sh3.09 trillion for recurrent spending, Sh725.1 billion for development, Sh436.7 billion in county transfers, and Sh5 billion for the Contingency Fund. Under the Division of Revenue Bill 2025, the National Government proposes a shareable revenue of Sh2.8 trillion, with Sh405.1 billion allocated to county governments as an equitable…

There was confusion during the resumption of the National Assembly sittings on Tuesday, February 11 as Azimio MPs occupied the majority side in line with the court ruling that stripped the majority status from Kenya Kwanza.  The Azimio MPs arrived in Parliament and occupied the Majority side at 2:30 PM, moments before the afternoon session commenced. National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula commenced the sittings with the business of the day albeit with disruptions from the Azimio side who prevented Kilifi North Member of Parliament Owen Baya from discussing an Auditor General report. This forced Wetangula to listen to issues raised…

Gunmen shot and killed a police officer in an ambush before freeing eight prisoners he and his colleagues were escorting in Marti area, Samburu County. The gang also grabbed and escaped with constable Humphrey Oroba’s gun that had 30 bullets. The deceased officer was among a group of police officers who were on Monday February 10 escorting a group of remandees from Maralal GK Prisons on an official car when they came under attack by gunmen. According to police, the officers from Baragoi Police Station had picked up eight remandees from the prison and were to take them to the…

A 14-year-old girl was found dead after suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in Oldonyosabuk, Matungulu, Machakos County. The body of the girl was found in a closed room where she was alone on Sunday February 9 morning, police said. Besides her bed, according to police, there were burnt beans that had boiled in a jiko overnight. The body did not have any visible injuries when it was picked up and taken to the mortuary. Police said the house was poorly ventilated and concluded she died of poisoning by the carbon monoxide. The body was moved to Machakos General Referral Hospital pending…

The US handed over at least 600 assorted guns to the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti boosting ongoing operations against criminal gangs in the Caribbean nation. The donation made on Monday February 10 also included nine pickups, two trucks, two excavators, two armored loaders and tens of bullets. Officials said this will boost the ongoing operation on the gangs on the ground in general. With the training of Haiti National Police (HNP) by the Kenya police, the donation will help in pushing back the gangs that have terrorized parts of Haiti capital city for years. Chronic instability,…

A consortium of investors led by Elon Musk offered $97.4bn to take over OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. The billionaire’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed he submitted the bid for “all assets” of the tech company to its board on Monday. The offer is the latest twist in a longstanding battle between Musk, the world’s richest man and right hand to US President Donald Trump, and Open AI chief executive Sam Altman over the future of the start-up at the centre of the AI boom. In response to the bid, Altman posted on Musk’s social media platform X: “no thank you…

The US justice department has told prosecutors to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, instructed federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to end the case. He alleged the indictment might affect the upcoming mayoral election and said it had damaged Adams’ ability to address “illegal immigration and violent crime”. Adams was accused of accepting illegal campaign funds and gifts from Turkish businessmen in exchange for his influence as mayor. He pleaded not guilty to five charges of bribery, conspiracy…

The Trump administration has violated a court order by refusing to reverse a freeze of billions in government funds, a judge ruled Monday. The ruling was the latest challenge to sweeping White House plans to cut costs and remake the US government. US District Judge John McConnell Jr previously ruled that the government should continue to fund programmes authorised by Congress. On Monday, he said the White House had defied a preliminary injunction that the judge issued after 23 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to stop the funding freeze. The Trump administration said it would appeal the ruling.…

President Donald Trump pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who served eight years in prison over corruption charges before it was cut short by Trump during his first term. Blagojevich, now 68, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on a wide array of corruption charges, including extortion related to state funds for a children’s hospital, and for trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacated US Senate seat in 2008. The former governor was removed from office in 2009 and began serving his prison sentence in 2012. Before his spectacular downfall, Blagojevich appeared on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality TV…