The latest Ebola figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo appear to offer some hope after the number of cases was dramatically scaled back. At one point the authorities were talking of more than 1,000 suspected cases and nearly 250 suspected deaths. They are now reporting around 380 confirmed cases in DR Congo, including 60 deaths, plus another 15 confirmed cases and one death in neighbouring Uganda. However, the key difference is that the authorities are now talking about confirmed, rather than suspected, cases as before. So it would be a mistake to assume that the fall in numbers means…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has said that effective public order management and the protection of businesses and critical infrastructure will be key pillars of the planned Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit (NMPU). Speaking during a benchmarking visit to the City of London Police in the United Kingdom, Murkomen said the Kenyan delegation sought to understand how London’s specialized urban police service manages public order while safeguarding commercial districts and strategic installations. “We sought to learn the systems put in place to manage public order and protect businesses and critical installations,” Murkomen said. According to the CS, lessons drawn from London’s…
A British human rights lawyer says the former wife of a nephew of the ruler of Dubai has gone missing. Contact with Zeynab Javadli was lost on Tuesday and the BBC has been told her home in Dubai is locked and empty. Javadli has repeatedly expressed concern for her safety. She’s been embroiled for years in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The BBC has contacted a number of officials in the UAE for comment but has received no response as of yet. Friends of Javadli raised the alarm when their…
John Bolton, a onetime national security advisor to Donald Trump who evolved into one of his most prominent critics, has reached a deal to plead guilty in his federal classified documents case, according to two people familiar with the matter. Federal prosecutors indicted Bolton last year on 18 counts related to improper handling of classified material. Bolton initially pleaded not guilty. He will plead guilty to one count of retention of national defence information and will pay a $2.25m fine, both people said, requesting anonymity to discuss the not-yet-public deal. Bolton is expected to enter his plea at a re-arraignment…
Protests in the centre of Albania’s capital, Tirana, are not exactly unusual. The opposition Democratic Party (PD) stage them so often that they could almost be classified as an offbeat tourist attraction. But this week’s nightly rallies in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office have been different – targeting US President’s Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as the Socialist Party government. The focus of the anger is a proposed tourism project on Albania’s Adriatic coast. Kushner’s Affinity Partners would be one of the investors – and Rama has welcomed his interest with open arms. The same cannot…
US President Donald Trump has hit back at lawmakers who voted to send him a rebuke over the war in Iran, labelling the group “unpatriotic”. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a measure that seeks to halt Trump from taking further military action. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote: “Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing.”…
Government forces and opposition fighters have exchanged heavy gunfire in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, as a row over delays to elections has escalated. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term in office ended on 15 May but was extended by a year. The opposition said this was unconstitutional and called for protests on Thursday. Gunfire was reported in several neighbourhoods of the capital and persisted throughout the night, according to accounts by residents. Police said they were conducting a “large-scale security operation” against “heavily armed militias who launched mortar attacks” in some areas. Somalia last held a one-person, one-vote election in 1969 and…
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of “trying to whip up division” over the murder of Henry Nowak. There were violent protests in Southampton following the release of bodycam footage showing police handcuffing 18-year-old Nowak as he lay dying. His killer Vickrum Digwa had claimed he had been the victim of a racist attack. The footage of Nowak’s final moments has prompted a wave of political reaction, with X-owner Musk criticising the police treatment of the teenager last December on the platform. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also called for calm, having met Nowak’s family on…
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that she would not “fall into the trap” of cracking down on protests days before the country hosts the opening game in the World Cup. On Tuesday, protesting teachers toppled towering statues of football players on Mexico City’s main promenade and threatened protests during the World Cup if the government does not respond to their labor demands. The world’s biggest football extravaganza, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicks off on June 11 at Mexico City’s Azteca stadium. On Monday, police teargassed a group of teachers to keep…
Bolivia’s conservative president said he had moved Wednesday to “strengthen” the army’s role in quelling anti-government protests that have paralyzed cities, caused widespread shortages and threatened to topple his fledgling government. Facing demands to step down, Rodrigo Paz said he had prepared a bill that would empower the military to tackle demonstrations and restore order. The bill “is intended to strengthen the institutions,” he said at the swearing in of a new defense minister, and “to strengthen our armed forces in their actions.” On Wednesday in La Paz, thousands of Bolivians queued for hours to buy chicken, a stark sign…
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon and that he would probably meet with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at some point if things “work out”. “They’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told “Pod Force One” in an interview broadcast on Wednesday, while speaking about Iran. Asked about Khamenei’s involvement in talks with the U.S. on ending hostilities, Trump said, “He’s involved, absolutely. … I think they have a lot of respect for him.” Trump said he was hearing Iran’s leader was not doing too well but was…
A criminal gang abducted seven students in northwestern Nigeria, police said on Wednesday, the latest in a scourge of kidnappings in poorly policed rural areas. Armed gangs, referred to as bandits by security agencies and locals, are blamed for raiding remote villages, looting and razing homes and kidnapping people for ransom, especially in parts of northwestern and central Nigeria. Assailants stormed student housing on Tuesday night on the outskirts of the Kaura Namoda administrative area, where the Federal Polytechnic was located, Zamfara state police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar said. The bandits “kidnapped seven students and took them to an unknown location”,…
Three Royal Navy personnel died in a helicopter crash during a training exercise in Devon. Emergency services were called to Sourton Down, near Okehampton, at about 03:45 BST after a Merlin Mk4 crashed. A Royal Navy spokesperson said the deaths happened during a “helicopter training exercise”, adding “the families of the service personnel have been informed and have requested a period of grace before further details are released”. The Princess of Wales, in her role as Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, said she and William were “holding their families and friends in our hearts”. Head of the navy, General…
A man who had been holding several people hostage overnight inside a California bank has been shot dead in a standoff with the FBI, police said. The suspect was killed in “an officer-involved shooting involving Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel” on Wednesday, the Bakersfield Police Department said.# The fatal shooting ended a tense period after the suspect barricaded himself with several others inside the multistory Chase Bank building on Tuesday in Bakersfield, 110 miles (177km) north of Los Angeles. Police had originally responded to a bomb threat at the scene. Two hostages were released on Tuesday during negotiations. The remaining…
A candidate hoping to run for governor in the US state of Iowa has lost a closely watched primary contest, despite getting the backing of Donald Trump. Randy Feenstra, who was seen by many as a frontrunner, conceded the race on Tuesday, having received a last-minute presidential endorsement ahead of the vote. The three-term Iowa congressman, who was running for his party’s nomination for November’s governor contest, had also been a reliable Trump supporter. But for his part, the winner, farmer and businessman Zach Lahn, campaigned on a decidedly Trumpian platform – with slogans like “Make Iowa Healthy Again” and…