Iran has denied a claim by Vice-President JD Vance that it will allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, after the first round of talks between Washington and Tehran to reach a final deal to end the war. Following negotiations in Switzerland, Vance said on Monday that discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be happening “as soon as today”. But Iran’s foreign ministry told state media that Tehran had made “no new commitments” on nuclear inspections. Iran and the US continued to share conflicting remarks on the nuclear issue on Tuesday. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
The US decision to withdraw all of its HIV and Aids funding from South Africa is likely to cost lives, the head of the UN’s HIV agency has warned. “Please do not take money away because you are taking lives away,” UNAids chief Winnie Byanyima told reporters ahead of a UN meeting on the virus, asking Washington to consider a “planned transition”. South Africa does not rely on US-funding for HIV drugs, but the US made a significant contribution to the country’s programmes to prevent the spread of the virus. US officials told the BBC that the funding cut was…
When Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja launched the Dishi na County school feeding program in 2023, few could have predicted just how transformative it would become—not only for the city’s schoolchildren but also for his political future. Three years later, the numbers, polling data, and political dynamics paint a clear picture: this single initiative may be the decisive factor that secures Sakaja a second term. But Dishi na County is only one pillar of a broader strategy that is transforming Nairobi’s informal settlements—and turning slum households into a formidable voting bloc. Dishi na County is not a program for the elite—it…
There have been a number of false dawns when it comes to elections in South Sudan, but the authorities have said the long-delayed first-ever vote will take place in December. The leaders of the world’s youngest country have not been tested at the ballot box since independence in 2011 and President Salva Kiir has been in office for 15 years. According to the original plan, the general election was supposed to have happened in 2015 but a civil war meant that had to be postponed. The 2018 peace deal, which created a unity government with Kiir at its helm and…
British hygiene brand Dettol has apologised for an advert in China that it claims was meant to call out sexism, but has instead backfired. The five-minute long advert for a multipurpose disinfectant, styled like a micro drama, starts out with a man looking for a partner who is “clean” and “not tainted by other men”. A plot twist comes late in the advert when his new girlfriend calls him out for his misogyny and breaks up with him. Dettol is then presented as the solution against “toxic men [who] are just like bacteria”. The advert sparked an uproar on the…
An inquiry has been ordered after at least 15 people died in a fire that broke out in a building in the northern Indian city of Lucknow on Monday. The building housed a pet shop and an animation centre. Witnesses described people jumping from windows and climbing down cables to escape, while rescue teams broke through a wall to save lives. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Authorities said the building lacked emergency exits and people got trapped inside as smoke spread. The tragedy has renewed concerns about fire safety in India’s densely occupied commercial buildings,…
A Nakuru court released 12 suspects arrested in connection with an arson, assault and malicious damage to property incident in Kuresoi North Sub-County, declining a police request to detain them for 21 days to allow investigations. The suspects appeared before the Nakuru Criminal Court on Monday under Miscellaneous Criminal Application following their arrest over the alleged criminal acts that occurred in Umoja area on June 19, 2026. Investigators had sought custodial orders to continue holding the suspects as they completed investigations. However, the court declined the request and instead granted them bond and bail terms. Each accused person was released…
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale was found guilty of contempt of court over his handling of the construction of a controversial US-funded Ebola quarantine facility. Last month, the High Court halted the building of the 50-bed isolation centre at a military base in the town of Nanyuki until a case brought by a rights group could be heard. But on Monday, a judge ruled that Duale had ignored the order and allowed the project to continue. He is to be sentenced on Tuesday. The quarantine facility is intended for US citizens who are suspected to have contracted Ebola in the…
Clive Davis, one of the most influential music executives in the history of rock and pop, has died at the age of 94. A former head of Columbia and Arista Records, he signed and shaped the careers of artists including Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Santana, Janis Joplin, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and many others. He had recently been in hospital with respiratory problems and was recovering at home in Manhattan, New York, when he died, his family said. “To the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence…
WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart has announced that he is leaving his role. Cathcart has overseen Meta’s popular messaging platform for nearly seven years – and scaled its private chat functions to more than three billion users worldwide. He said in posts on social media on Monday that while the platform was in “the strongest position it’s ever been” it also “felt like the right moment to step back”. Cathcart will continue to play a role within Meta’s leadership ranks, with Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech start-up Cred, taking over as head of WhatsApp. Facebook founder and Meta chief executive…
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has explained only one charge of murder was dropped against 13 police officers linked to the suspected killing of two Indian nationals and their Kenyan driver. He said the charges of abduction will remain. “We dropped the murder charges because of an earlier order issued by the court demanding we either go with it or abduction.” “We belief we have a strong case of abduction against the accused persons. We will withdraw the appeal at the court of appeal and proceed with the abduction charges,” he explained. This settled earlier speculations all…
A team of detectives from the DCI Headquarters arrested a suspect linked to a criminal gang responsible for a series of robbery with violence and gang rape incidents reported in Ruai and Kamulu areas. In one incident reported on June 11, 2026, the suspect, alongside accomplices who remain at large, allegedly broke into a residence in Ruai and held the family captive while demanding money and valuables. During the ordeal, members of the household were subjected to physical violence and other traumatic offences. The gang also forced the victims to transfer money through mobile banking before stealing electronic devices and…
The government has launched a new digital birth registration platform that will allow Kenyans to apply for and download birth certificates online, marking a major step in the digitisation of public services. The new e-Birth Notification System, developed by the Department of Civil Registration Services (CRS) under the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, officially took effect in Nairobi on May 1, 2026. The platform replaces the traditional paper-based birth registration process with a fully digital system. Parents now receive birth notifications electronically through SMS and email, enabling them to complete the registration process more conveniently and with fewer visits…
Automation testing only pays off when the grid behind it is fast, scalable, and dependable. The Automation Testing Cloud delivers exactly that. It is one of the products within the platform now called TestMu AI, and LambdaTest Automation Testing Cloud sits right at the heart of that platform’s quality engineering toolkit. From LambdaTest to TestMu AI On January 12, 2026, LambdaTest formally became TestMu AI (formerly LambdaTest), the world’s first full-stack agentic AI quality engineering platform. This was an evolution, not a pivot — same company, same engineers, same infrastructure, with a sharper focus on agentic AI. The name traces…
A family living room rarely stays the same for long. A couple moves into a first apartment. A baby arrives. The coffee table gets pushed aside for play space. A home office appears in the corner. Guests come for weekends. Children grow taller. The family moves again, and the old furniture suddenly feels wrong in a new room. This is the part of furniture buying that people do not always think about. A sofa is often chosen for the home someone has now, but it may need to serve a very different version of that home in three or five…