Author: KahawaTungu Reporter

Shop owners in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, are caught between a rock and a hard place over a government directive that they install CCTV cameras outside their businesses to intensify surveillance of Islamist insurgents who have a strong presence in the city.  The businessmen say if they put up the cameras they risk being gunned down by the al-Shabab insurgents, and if they do not, they could be arrested by the police. The BBC has changed the names of the businessmen and homeowners for their own safety. “The CCTV cameras are why you now see me at home,” says former shop-owner…

Canada has promised to implement a set of sweeping new security measures along the country’s US border, including strengthened surveillance and a joint “strike force” to target transnational organised crime.  The pledge follows a threat from President-elect Donald Trump to impose, when he takes office in January, a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs. Economists say such tariffs could strike a blow to Canada’s economy. Announcing details of the plan, Canada’s minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs said the federal government would devote…

President-elect Donald Trump is suing the Des Moines Register newspaper, along with its parent company and its former pollster, for “brazen election interference” over a poll published days before the 2024 presidential election.  The Nov. 2 poll suggested Democratic nominee Kamala Harris would win Iowa, a predominantly Republican state. Trump filed the lawsuit fresh off the victory of having ABC News settle a defamation lawsuit for $15m (£12m), over an anchor falsely saying Trump was found liable for rape last year (he was liable for sexual abuse). Trump’s often hostile approach to the American press goes back to his first…

The scion of a prominent Maryland family who came top of his class at an elite private school before graduating from an Ivy League college, Luigi Mangione seemed to have everything going for him, according to friends. They have been left stunned by the 26-year-old’s arrest for the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot last week in New York City. Mr Mangione will plead not guilty, his lawyer says. According to a law enforcement bulletin seen by US media, Mr Mangione was allegedly motivated by resentment at what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies. He…

A man was arrested for holding for ransom an Indian-Kenyan, in a new con game in town that has seen a number of men part with huge sums of money to recover their liberty. The victim was rescued from a house in Mirema area, Kasarani on Tuesday following a probe by detectives. In their bid to walk pockets full without a sweat or dirt, Frankline Otieno Odhiambo, 28, and his accomplice plotted the kidnapping of the victim by having a damsel lure the victim to her house, police revealed. Once inside for a business yet to be established, the lady…

The Cabinet approved approved the Assumption of Office of President and Transition of Executive Authority Bill, 2024. The proposed law aims to seal gaps and ensure smoother and more unified presidential transitions in Kenya. It consolidates the procedures for the assumption of office and the transfer of executive authority into a single legislative framework. The Bill, now headed to Parliament for consideration, introduces a unified law covering the assumption of office by the President-elect and the transition of executive power. It also imposes stricter penalties for State and public officers who obstruct the transition, proposing fines of up to Sh10…

Detectives deployed to pursue fraudsters in mega gold scams reported across the country arrested and arraigned a US citizen implicated in a scam involving thousands of kilograms of gold that cost the victim over USD1.35 million.  Antonucci Sergio Patrick was Monday December 16 arraigned at Milimani Law Courts charged with Conspiracy to commit a felony and Obtaining money by false pretences, following his arrest yesterday after jetting into the country from Dubai. He pleaded not guilty and was granted a bond of Sh10 million plus one Kenyan surety. The case will be mentioned on January 23, 2025 for pretrial. Establishments…

A senior police officer who is in charge of petty crimes at the Kisumu Central police station was injured during a robbery drama on Sunday morning. The officer who is of the rank of Chief Inspector was on patrol near Rotary Vocational Training Center when he was attacked by two armed men. The men stabbed and injured his left arm in the struggle before robbing him of Sh70,000 he had. Police officers on patrol responded to the scene and helped him to the local clinic where he was attended to. Cases of armed robberies have been on the rise in…

Two people were killed in two separate fire incidents reported in Nairobi, police said. Property of unknown value was destroyed in the incidents. In the first incident, a man was found dead after a fire had swept through about 20 structures in Kongo area, Kahawa West, Nairobi. The man was in his house when the fire broke out on Monday December 16 evening. A fire broke out at the Soweto informal structures burning down about 20 structures. A fire engine that responded there was stoned forcing the driver to turn back and escape. A police car that was also responding…

Two police officers attached to Kaptagat Police Station in Elgeyo Marakwet were arrested after they were linked to a stolen and slaughtered cow. The constables of police are under probe following the discovery of the carcass of the cow on Monday, police said amid claims the trend has been ongoing in the area. A local had reported her cow was missing. This prompted a search before word went round the missing cow had been slaughtered at the local police station. A mob surged outside the station prompting those who had slaughtered it to escape the scene on Monday December 16.…

Senior police commanders at the Central police station in Nairobi were Monday December 16 transferred over the manner in which police handled an anti-femicide protests. The protesters who were generally peaceful were teargassed and chased as at least four were arrested over the same. This elicited reaction from the public and other stakeholders who demanded action on the police. The officers were marked after police authorities condemned how anti-riot police handled the protests on December 10. Central Sub-County Police Commander Doris Kimeli was Monday recalled to police headquarters, Vigilance House in the changes and replaced by Stephen Okal. Okal is…

US President-elect Donald Trump is meeting the CEO of TikTok as the social media giant fights plans to have it banned in the US.  Trump was due to meet Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reports, citing sources familiar with the meeting. A law passed earlier this year means TikTok will be banned unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, before 19 January. The company has made an emergency application to the US Supreme Court to have the ban delayed. The US wants TikTok sold or…

A New York judge has ruled Donald Trump’s hush money conviction is valid, rejecting the president-elect’s argument that it should be dismissed in the wake of a landmark immunity ruling from the US Supreme Court. In July, the country’s top court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official actions” they take while in office. But on Monday, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan – who presided over Trump’s trial this past spring – sided with prosecutors, saying the convictions on 34 felony counts centred on “unofficial conduct”. The decision preserves Trump’s historic conviction which, if upheld, would make…

On Monday morning, at a public event announcing a new $100bn US investment pledge by a Japanese conglomerate, Donald Trump appeared to revel in the breadth of his support. “The first term everybody was fighting me,” he said. “This term everybody wants to be my friend.” It may have been a typically Trumpian overstatement, but the contrast between the way his first presidential term began – and ended – and the current transition to his second term eight years later is dramatic. In just the past few weeks, many of the president-elect’s former critics and adversaries have made overtures and…

Olaf Scholz has lost a historic vote of confidence in the German parliament, paving the way for early national elections following the collapse of his government. The German chancellor had called the vote in order to deliberately lose it, urging the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, to declare its lack of confidence in him so that the first formal step could be made towards triggering new elections. Scholz will now ask the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to dissolve parliament, and to formally call new elections which have to take place within 60 days and have been pencilled in for 23…