World Events

WASHINGTON (AP) — Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters, and yellow police tape and officers blocked the agency’s lobby on Monday, after billionaire Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. USAID staffers also said more than 600 additional employees had reported being locked out of the agency’s computer systems overnight. Those still in the system received emails saying that “at the direction of Agency leadership” the headquarters building “will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, Feb. 3.” The agency’s website vanished Saturday without explanation. The fast-moving developments come after thousands of USAID employees already have been laid off and...

Police in Kenya have arrested a man carrying a mutilated corpse in his backpack, which he reportedly said belonged to his 19-year-old wife. Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn. Suspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and "to their shock" found the body parts, said a statement from Kenya's Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). This is far from an isolated case - Kenya has one of the highest rates of femicide, or killings with a gender-related motivation, in Africa. After police officers interrogated Mr Wambua, he told them that the body parts belonged to his wife, Joy Fridah Munani, according to the DCI statement. He appeared "unperturbed" by the o...

1. USA: Trump’s Inauguration Moves Indoors, Cold Feet or Common Sense?In Washington, D.C., President-elect Donald Trump has decided to deliver his inauguration speech inside the Capitol due to the bitter cold. Usually, this ceremony unfolds outdoors with a sprawling crowd, but this time, it's all about keeping the audience and security personnel warm and safe from the freezing January weather. 2. Sierra Leone: Embassy Vehicle Caught in Cocaine Bust DramaSierra Leone is in the spotlight after Guinea authorities intercepted an embassy vehicle carrying seven suitcases of suspected cocaine. Alongside the stash, they found $2,000 (K55,560) in cash. Sierra Leone’s government has recalled their ambassador to Guinea for a full debrief on this bizarre diplomatic incident. 3. USA: TikTok Threa...

Mozambique's new President Daniel Chapo has been sworn in at a low-key ceremony in the capital, Maputo, that was marred by an opposition boycott following heavily disputed elections. In his first presidential address, Chapo, 47, pledged to "devote all my energies" to promoting unity and human rights in a nation scarred by post-election violence. A local civil society group says that more than 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since elections in October. Eight people were killed by police on Wednesday as they protested against the inauguration, Dr Wilker Dias, head of election observer group Plataforma Decide told the BBC. Most of the victims were supporters of defeated presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who had called for a national strike in de...

Yoon Suk Yeol has become South Korea's first sitting president to be arrested after investigators scaled barricades and cut through barbed wire to take him into custody. Yoon, 64, is being investigated on charges of insurrection for a failed martial law order on 3 December that plunged the country into turmoil. He has also been impeached by parliament and suspended - but will only be removed from office if the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment. However, Yoon's dramatic arrest on Wednesday brings to an end a weeks-long standoff between investigators and his presidential security team. Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) failed to arrest him on 3 January after being locked in a six-hour stand-off with his security det...

A Kenyan government minister has alleged that the country's national intelligence agency was behind the abduction of his son last year, as criticism against the rising cases of abductions continues. Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said that it took a call by President William Ruto to have his son released by the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Muturi is the first member of the cabinet to publicly criticise the government's handling of the spate of abductions in Kenya. In a statement to the police crime investigations unit on Tuesday, Muturi gave a detailed account of how his son, Leslie, was abducted on 22 June last year. Mr Ruto and the intelligence agency have not commented on his allegations. At least 80 people, including the minister's son, have been ...