Capital News: Spotless cheetah spotted in Kenya by Briton
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – They say a leopard never changes its spots but that doesn’t appear to be the case for its cheetah cousin. For the first time in almost a century a spotless cheetah has been, er, spotted. The mythical-like creature was discovered by a British wildlife photographer who set out to find [...]

Capital News: Protests mount over unspent AIDS billions
N AIROBI, Kenya, April 25 – More than 500 AIDS activists and Persons Living with HIV/AIDS have issued a memorandum to health officials seeking to compel both Kenya and the US government to make available Sh41.5billion of unspent cash from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Singing slogans at the Laico regency on [...]

Capital News: KNH putting up paediatric emergency centre
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – Construction of a paediatric emergency centre at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will begin later this year, according to Chief Executive Officer Richard Lesiyampe. Lesiyampe said on Wednesday that this would be done through government and donor support. Once complete, children at the hospital will be treated from this facility [...]

Capital News: ICC trials, MRC demands focus of MPs’ debate
NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 25 – Debate on the pending trails at the International Crime Court and secessionist demands by the Mombasa Republican Council took centre stage as MPs began debating the president’s State of the Nation address. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka kicked off debate by reaffirming that the government will deal decisively with the outlawed [...]

Capital News: Kiir cuts short China trip amid violence
BEIJING, Apr 25 – South Sudan’s president will cut short his visit to China amid violence between the world’s newest nation and Sudan, officials said on Wednesday, as Beijing announced plans to send a peace envoy. The curtailment of South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s visit to China – long a key ally of Khartoum – [...]

Capital News: 4 judges fired on their day in the dock
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – Kenya’s most senior judge Riaga Omolo is among four judges who have been declared unfit to serve in the Judiciary, following vetting whose outcome was announced on Wednesday. The Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Board has also dismissed Justices Emmanuel O’Kubasu, Samuel Bosire and Joseph Nyamu. Board chairman Sharad Rao [...]

Capital News: LSK rejects police commission nominees
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has urged a parliamentary committee to reject names of three nominees forwarded by President Mwai Kibaki for chairperson of the National Police Service Commission. LSK members Apollo Mboya and Wilfred Nderitu who appeared before the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security on Wednesday [...]

Capital News: Swazi king gets birthday jet amid financial crisis
MBABANE, Apr 25 – Swazi King Mswati III has received a jet for his 44th birthday, despite the tiny country’s crippling financial crisis, the prime minister said on state radio Wednesday. Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini said the king now owns a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet, but insisted the plane was a gift to be [...]

Capital News: Justice Omolo fails vetting test
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – Kenya’s most senior Court of Appeal judge Riaga Omolo has become the first judge to be fired by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board. The board sent the judge packing after they found inconsistencies in judgements he made on political cases that he presided over. “The negative impact of the [...]

Capital News: Zimbabwe tobacco farmers hail support from Chinese firm
HARARE, Apr 25 – Zimbabwe’s contracted tobacco farmers commended Chinese firm, Tianze Tobacco Company, for its continued support of tobacco growing in the southern African country, which led to an increase in production output of the golden leaf this season, state radio reported on Tuesday. Out of the 13 tobacco contracting companies which are operating [...]

Capital News: Chinese VP meets Japanese trade delegation
BEIJING, Apr 25 – Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met with members of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, including Kono Yohei, the group’s head and a former House of Representatives Speaker. Speaking in the Great Hall of the People, Xi commended the association’s contributions in promoting the two countries’ [...]

Capital News: Hu urges restraint between South Sudan, Sudan
BEIJING, Apr 25 – Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged South Sudan and Sudan to maintain calm and restraint and resolve differences through negotiation. Hu made the remarks when holding talks with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Beijing. China has been developing friendly and cooperative relations with South Sudan and Sudan in the [...]

Capital News: Rupert Murdoch inquiry date spells trouble for UK govt
LONDON, Apr 25 – Press tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s son got regular confidential updates from the British government over News Corp.’s bid for full control of pay-TV giant BSkyB, a press ethics inquiry heard Tuesday. A string of emails from the Murdochs’ media empire, read out in a dramatic day of evidence at the Leveson inquiry, [...]

Capital News: Romney lays claim to nomination with 5-state sweep
WASHINGTON, Apr 25 – Mitt Romney effectively claimed the Republican presidential nomination, reveling in a five-state primary sweep and urging voters to help him oust President Barack Obama in November. With wins in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to US media forecasts, Romney essentially kicked off his general election campaign and [...]

Capital News: MPs divided over Kibaki MRC warning
NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 24 – The president’s State of the Nation address in Parliament on Tuesday has drawn mixed reactions among lawmakers. MPs picked out the president’s firm declaration that Kenya will not give in to calls to by MRC secede, the constitution implementation process and bid to set up a local tribunal to try [...]

Capital News: City Hall ISO certified, review in 6 months
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – The City Council of Nairobi (CCN) has been awarded the coveted ISO certification for introducing e-payments, adopting ICT, purging graft and cutting ghost workers. Town Clerk Philip Kisia said the council will have to work harder to ensure its services meet international standards and retain the certificate. “CCN has become [...]

Capital News: Kibaki: I will ensure smooth power hand-over
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – President Mwai Kibaki has reiterated his pledge for a peaceful handover of power after the next General Election. While addressing Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, he said the next president should be a visionary leader with the capacity to pursue development and sustain Vision 2030 whose foundation had been laid. “I [...]

Capital News: Matsanga now fighting for Zimbabweans
NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 24 – Ugandan peace negotiator David Matsanga on Tuesday filed an application in the European Union General court in Brussels, challenging economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe. Matsanga argues that the sanctions imposed following a law enacted in 2001 by the Unites States of America continue to be a serious and blatant violation [...]

Capital News: KWS seals off Hells Gate killer gorges
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has suspended visitors’ access to gorges in Hells Gate National Park during the ongoing rainy season, after the death of seven members of a church group on Sunday night. The seven who were swept away by flash floods were walking in the gorge as part [...]

Capital News: Secession? Not in Kenya, Kibaki warns MRC
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – President Mwai Kibaki has for the first time spoken out strongly against the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) and told the illegal group to forget about secession of the coastal region from Kenya. The Head of State said on Tuesday that this would not happen as Kenya remains a unitary [...]

Capital News: Kalonzo: As most senior, I deserve G7 ticket
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka says he should be the presidential candidate for the G7 Alliance.   Speaking after the Wiper Democratic Movement received its certificate of full registration, Musyoka argued that he was the most senior politician in the alliance.   He insisted that that his Wiper party affiliated to [...]

Capital News: Sudan bombs South, Kiir says rival has ‘declared war’
BENTIU, Apr 24 – South Sudan’s leader accused Sudan of declaring war on Tuesday as Khartoum’s fighter jets bombed border regions in defiance of international calls for restraint. Several people were wounded in a multiple air strikes on the villages in the South’s oil-rich border regions overnight, reaching around 25 kilometres from the frontline between [...]

Capital News: MRC not criminal gang, leaders tell court
MOMBASA, Kenya, Apr 24 – Leaders of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) insist that the group is not an organised criminal organisation but one that is only advocating the rights of coastal people. Lawyer Steven Kithi who is representing the council in a case where they want the government to recognise them as a legal [...]

Capital News: Dual citizenship available in a day at Sh500
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – Kenyans who had lost their citizenship after adopting nationalities of other countries can now apply for dual citizenship, Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang’ has said. Kajwang’ said on Tuesday that the forms were available at his ministry’s headquarters in Nyayo House, as well as at Kenyan embassies abroad. “I saw some [...]

Capital News: Ex-Mungiki chief faces charges after police assaulted
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 24 – Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga was due to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon after the weekend assault of policemen at a church. Njenga had been called to the Kasarani police station to record a statement before he was placed under arrest. Capital FM News learnt that he was to [...]