Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has reported significant security improvements in the Rift Valley, crediting recent community and government engagements under the Jukwaa La Usalama initiative.
In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), at the close of the Rift Valley chapter of the programme, which also marked the 28th leg of the nationwide security and service delivery tour, Murkomen stated that the consultations had already spurred operational changes that have boosted the morale and effectiveness of security agencies and National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs).
He cited the Kerio Valley, previously a hotspot for banditry, as having recorded a notable reduction in violent incidents. He also revealed that a nationwide crackdown on second-generation alcohol and illicit drugs was actively underway.
Murkomen said the findings from the forums would be compiled into a policy document aimed at improving service delivery and addressing security concerns.
He stressed that the Jukwaa La Usalama engagements, which will continue in other regions, are a core part of the government’s bottom-up governance strategy, designed to ensure solutions are informed by the needs and voices of local communities.
Kenya’s Narok Senator Ledama Olekina has lauded Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for what he described as “fearless leadership” in advancing the East African political federation and full economic integration agenda.
In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), Olekina commended Museveni’s “dedication and generosity,” calling them a bold example for the region’s leadership. He urged all East African heads of state to unite and defend the bloc against what he termed a “neocolonial agenda” aimed at dividing and exploiting the region.
“Now is the moment for ALL East African leaders to rise, unite, and defend our region… Together, we can ignite a transformative debate that will forge a future of strength, prosperity, and unbreakable unity,” Olekina stated.
The senator’s remarks come amid ongoing discussions within the East African Community (EAC) on deeper political and economic integration, including the long-envisioned political federation that would merge member states into a single sovereign entity.
Olekina stressed that the time for division was over, declaring that East Africa must stand as “one, secure and sovereign” to achieve lasting strength and prosperity.
Supporters of jailed former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gather outside the Malaysian Federal Court where his case is being heard at Putrajaya, Malaysia, August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak won a key legal victory on Wednesday after the Federal Court cleared the way for him to pursue a judicial review that could see him serve the remainder of his 1MDB-linked prison sentence under house arrest.
In a unanimous ruling, the country’s highest tribunal accepted that a royal addendum order, allegedly issued by former King Al-Sultan Abdullah alongside a January 2023 pardon halving Najib’s sentence from 12 to six years, does exist.
However, the court said it could not determine the order’s authenticity and referred the matter to the High Court for a full hearing on August 18.
“We remit the case to the High Court for the hearing of the substantive judicial review proceedings before a new judge,” said Federal Court judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof. The panel noted that the attorney-general’s office had conceded the order’s existence, a point it said had significant impact on Wednesday’s decision.
Najib, jailed since August 2022 over criminal breach of trust and abuse of power for receiving misappropriated funds from a 1MDB unit, argues the addendum grants him the right to serve his term at home. His lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, urged the government to comply, saying, “The minute the king signed the decree, you cannot question his decision.”
The case has gripped Malaysia, with various government bodies, including the pardons board, denying knowledge of the order for months, even after the former king’s palace confirmed it was issued.
The controversy has fueled calls from Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), now part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s governing coalition, for his release from prison confinement.
More than 100 supporters gathered outside the court to cheer Najib, who lost power in 2018 amid public fury over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Investigators in Malaysia and the U.S. say $4.5 billion was stolen from the state fund, with about $1 billion ending up in Najib’s personal accounts.
While some charges against him have been dropped, Najib still faces his biggest 1MDB trial, with closing arguments set for October. He denies all wrongdoing.
Palestinians scramble to collect aid supplies from trucks that entered through Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Israeli air and ground forces pounded eastern Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, Palestinian medics said on Tuesday, as senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya arrived in Cairo to discuss reviving a stalled U.S.-backed ceasefire plan.
The strikes hit homes in Gaza City’s Zeitoun suburb, killing seven, and an apartment building in the city centre, killing four, witnesses said. Additional Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza killed nine people, including a couple and their child in Khan Younis, and four others in a tent camp in Mawasi.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the reports, adding that it takes measures to minimize civilian harm, while claiming its forces had killed dozens of militants in northern Gaza in the past month.
Hamas officials said their meetings with Egyptian mediators, due to start Wednesday, will focus on ending the war, boosting aid deliveries, and alleviating the humanitarian crisis. “Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war,” a Palestinian official told Reuters.
The talks follow the collapse in late July of indirect negotiations in Qatar over a U.S. proposal for a 60-day truce and hostage release deal. Key sticking points remain, including the scale of any Israeli military withdrawal and demands for Hamas to disarm, a condition the group rejects before the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas says it is willing to hand over Gaza governance to a non-partisan committee but not to relinquish its weapons prematurely.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed, with plans to expand Israeli military control over Gaza. Critics, including Israel’s military chief, warn such operations could endanger hostages and Israeli troops, and worsen conditions for the one million Palestinians still in the Gaza City area.
The humanitarian toll continues to climb. Gaza’s health ministry reported that five more people — including two children, died from starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing such deaths to 227 since the war began, including 103 children.
The war, which erupted after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has since claimed more than 61,000 Palestinian lives, according to local health authorities.
Foreign ministers from 24 countries, including Britain, France, Japan, Canada, and Australia, on Tuesday urged Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning that the crisis had reached “unimaginable levels.”
Palestinians scramble to collect aid supplies from trucks that entered through Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Israel denies responsibility for the hunger crisis, accusing Hamas of diverting aid, and says it has introduced daily pauses in fighting and safe corridors for relief convoys.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a meeting on the sidelines of NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 25, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top European leaders will hold a virtual meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, seeking to safeguard Kyiv’s interests ahead of his high-profile summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
The talks, hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 1200 GMT, will include leaders from Germany, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland, the European Union, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The aim is to stress that any peace deal must involve Ukraine directly and respect its sovereignty.
Trump has called the Alaska summit a “listening exercise” but has also said both Ukraine and Russia will need to cede territory to end the war. Russian forces currently control nearly a fifth of Ukraine. European officials fear that unpredictable negotiations could yield an agreement that pressures Kyiv into an unfavorable settlement.
“We are focusing now to ensure that it does not happen, engaging with U.S. partners and staying coordinated and united on the European side,” said a senior Eastern European official.
A Reuters survey of half a dozen senior European diplomats revealed concerns that Trump and Putin could strike a bilateral deal excluding Kyiv and the EU. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not rule it out but reiterated the summit was primarily for Trump to “hear what it will take to get to a deal.”
Following the joint call with Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance will speak separately with European leaders, before a “coalition of the willing” meeting to coordinate support for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
On the battlefield, Russian forces have intensified their eastern offensive, tightening control around Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka. Zelenskyy warned that withdrawing Ukrainian troops from the Donbas, as Russia might demand, would dismantle vital defenses and pave the way for deeper incursions.
Territorial issues, he said, could only be addressed after a ceasefire and with firm security guarantees.
While a recent Gallup poll showed 69% of Ukrainians favor ending the war through negotiations, most reject any peace that involves sweeping concessions to Moscow.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday that Russia has already won the war in Ukraine, breaking ranks with European Union leaders just days before a high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with the “Patriot” YouTube channel, Orban dismissed the conflict as an “open-ended” struggle, instead declaring, “The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war.
The only question is when and under what circumstances will the West, who are behind the Ukrainians, admit that this has happened and what will result from all this.”
The remarks came after Orban became the only EU leader on Monday to withhold support for a joint statement affirming Ukraine’s right to determine its future. His position underscores Hungary’s longstanding opposition to military aid for Kyiv and resistance to Ukraine’s EU membership, which he claims would harm Hungarian farmers and destabilize the bloc’s economy.
Orban, in power since 2010, has maintained close ties with Moscow, securing the bulk of Hungary’s energy from Russia and refusing to supply weapons to Ukraine. He argued that Europe missed its chance to negotiate directly with Putin during the Biden administration and now risks being sidelined as Trump and Putin meet in Alaska on Friday.
“If you are not at the negotiating table, you are on the menu,” Orban said, adding that the EU’s joint declaration made Europe appear “ridiculous and pathetic.” He criticized European leaders for trying to influence U.S.–Russia talks from the outside:
“When two leaders sit down to negotiate with each other, and you’re not invited there, you don’t rush for the phone, you don’t run around, you don’t shout in from the outside.”
The comments highlight deep divisions within the EU as Ukraine battles fresh Russian offensives in the east and prepares to lobby Trump directly in a virtual meeting before the summit.
Police in Kakamega have recovered 159.15 kilograms of bhang valued at approximately KSh 4,774,500 during a patrol operation along the Kakamega Mumias Road.
According to the National Police Service (NPS), the incident occurred on 12 August 2025 when officers on routine patrol intercepted an abandoned black Toyota Fielder. Upon searching the vehicle, they found seven bags of bhang concealed inside.
The vehicle was towed to the Kakamega Police Station, where it is being held as investigations continue to establish the identity of its owner and the source of the drugs.
In a statement, the NPS reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to fighting narcotics and related criminal activities, warning that law enforcement agencies will intensify surveillance and crackdowns on drug trafficking networks across the country.
This seizure marks one of the largest single hauls of illegal drugs in the county in recent months, and police say more arrests are expected as investigations progress.
Service members of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a cannon of a BTR-4 armoured personnel carrier during military exercises at a training ground, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Russian forces pushed deeper into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, intensifying fighting near the coal-mining town of Dobropillia just days before U.S. President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The advance has heightened fears in Kyiv and across Europe that the summit could result in peace terms forcing Ukraine to cede occupied territory.
The incursion, one of the largest this year, is part of Moscow’s campaign to take full control of the Donetsk region. Ukraine’s military said it had deployed reserves to the front lines, describing “difficult combat” against Russian troops.
Despite shortages, Ukrainian forces reported recapturing two villages in the northeastern Sumy region on Monday, where Russia has been pressing a new offensive.
The Trump–Putin meeting on Friday at Elmendorf Air Force Base will be the first U.S.–Russia summit since 2021. The White House has called it a “listening exercise,” with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Trump wants to “size up” Putin face-to-face.
However, Trump’s earlier comments suggesting a “swap of territories” to benefit both countries have alarmed Kyiv and EU leaders, who stress that all contested areas are inside Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and most European leaders insist any settlement must uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law. “Substantive and productive talks about us without us will not work,” Zelenskyy told U.S. media on Tuesday.
He and EU leaders plan to hold a virtual meeting with Trump on Wednesday to press their case before the Alaska summit.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that “Ukraine cannot lose this war,” rejecting any pressure for concessions that “smack of capitulation.” The EU issued a joint statement backing Kyiv’s position, with Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Putin’s closest ally in Europe, the lone holdout, claiming Russia had already won.
Analysts say Russia’s battlefield gains could bolster Putin’s leverage. Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov described the advance as “a gift” ahead of the talks.
Western officials fear Trump, eager to broker a deal and boost U.S.–Russia trade, could be tempted to grant Moscow lasting territorial rewards for its nearly 11-year campaign to seize Ukrainian land.
Europe’s car exporters remain in limbo over U.S. import tariffs despite last month’s trade deal, according to Wallenius Wilhelmsen, one of the world’s largest car-carrier operators.
The U.S. and European Union agreed in late July to set import tariffs on most European goods, including vehicles, at 15%, down from the 27.5% rate imposed earlier this year by President Donald Trump. However, the reduced rate has yet to take effect for cars, as the White House has not issued the required executive order.
Wallenius CEO Lasse Kristoffersen said the lack of clarity is unsettling the industry. “So far we actually do not know exactly what the tariff level will be.
Our customers do not know either, so it is too early to say what they’ll do,” he said, noting that BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo Cars are among those affected.
Kristoffersen explained that earlier this year, carmakers rushed to ship vehicles to the U.S. before the tariff hike took effect, but the trend reversed at the start of the second quarter. “We saw that they held more back in the start of the second quarter, but that volumes increased throughout the quarter,” he said.
Until the new rate is formally implemented, exporters and shipping firms remain braced for potential last-minute policy shifts that could again disrupt transatlantic auto trade flows.
Busia County’s multi-billion-shilling Nasewa County Aggregation and Industrial Park is edging closer to completion, fueling optimism among government officials and residents that the project will transform the region’s agricultural sector and economy.
Launched in August 2023 by Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and Governor Paul Otuoma, the park sits on 843 acres in Matayos Sub-County. It is part of the national plan to establish an industrial and aggregation park in every county.
The project is valued at over KSh 3.25 billion, jointly funded by the national and county governments, each contributing KSh 250 million, with additional financing from a KSh 1 billion Export Processing Zone allocation and a KSh 40 billion African Export-Import Bank industrialization fund.
Phase One of the development features four aggregation warehouses, four cold rooms, an administration block, a powerhouse, a pump house, and a secure perimeter wall. It will process sunflower, sesame, groundnuts, soybean, cotton, rice, and cassava into products such as flour, starch, ethanol, animal feed, and organic fertilizer.
Government leaders have hailed the park as a game-changer. CS Kuria said it will be a “one-stop shop” for processing and marketing agricultural produce, reducing Kenya’s edible oil import bill, estimated at over KSh 100 billion annually, and creating about 5,000 jobs in its first phase, rising to more than 50,000 jobs once fully operational.
Governor Otuoma has called it a cornerstone for linking farmers to global value chains, improving rural incomes, and accelerating Busia’s shift from subsistence farming to agribusiness.
Public sentiment has been largely optimistic, with residents anticipating new employment opportunities and better market access. However, some have voiced concerns about delays and the risk of the project stalling, citing similar county industrial parks elsewhere in Kenya that remain incomplete.
Once operational, the Nasewa park is expected to anchor Busia’s economic revitalization, enhance food security, and position the county as a regional agro-industrial hub. For now, all eyes remain on the final construction push and the county government’s ability to deliver on its ambitious promise.
