23 Congolese military officers handed death sentences for cowardice to boost discipline in army
Overall 24 soldiers stood trial. In addition to those handed death penalties, four received 2-10 year sentences, six were acquitted and one’s case was deferred for further investigation.
Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipeline to Europe ends as Ukraine declines to renew transit agreement
The last remaining EU buyers of Russian gas via Ukraine, such as Slovakia and Austria, have arranged alternative supply. Hungary will keep receiving Russian gas via TurkStream, which runs two pipelines under the Black Sea.
Kenya’s biosafety authority kicks off campaign for GMO maize against backdrop of steep ignorance
NBA Acting Director of Biosafety Research and Compliance Josphat Muchiri confirmed the authority’s readiness for the exercise in the listed counties, adding that the campaign would be expanded to cover all maize-producing regions in Kenya.
US Supreme Court Chief Justice warns of threats to the judiciary’s independence as calls to disregard rulings rise
Chief Justice John Roberts in an annual year-end report on the judiciary released just weeks before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office did not directly address what polling suggests has been a decline in public confidence in the judicial system broadly.
Statistics office says Kenya’s inflation went up in December but remains within targeted margin
The Central Bank of Kenya cut its benchmark lending rate by a larger-than-expected 75 basis points to 11.25 per cent on December 5
US plans WHO exit on account it ‘cannot be reformed, corruption is rampant, compromised relationship with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI alliance
Internist, bioweapons expert and WHO critic Dr Meryl Nass wrote on her Substack that the announcement was “Great news, if reliable!” noting the article cited only “globalist attorney” Gostin and “hapless former Covid czar Ahish Jha.”
Sixth time unlucky: Zimbabwe’s new currency wobbles as illegal night bazaars flourish, conventional stores tumble
Unfettered by expenses such as rising energy costs, taxes and laws that force formal retailers to accept the local currency at artificially low official exchange rates, informal traders, including children, offer better bargains. A box of juice that sells for $3 in a supermarket costs half of that on the streets.
Palestinian detainees freed from Israeli prisons and camps tell of horrendous abuses and psychological harm
Alleged abuses and psychological harm to Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and camps are in renewed focus amid stepped-up efforts in December by international mediators to secure a ceasefire that could see the release of thousands of inmates detained during the Gaza war and before, in return for Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.
On federal death row they feared Biden would set up another Trump killing spree, then he commuted 38 death sentences
Since the re-election of Donald Trump, a rising chorus of activists, lawmakers and members of the legal community had been calling on President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 men on federal death row to life without parole.
US Treasury accuses Chinese hackers of stealing documents in ‘major incident’
Tom Hegel, a threat researcher at cybersecurity company SentinelOne said the reported security incident “fits a well-documented pattern of operations by PRC-linked groups, with a particular focus on abusing trusted third-party services – a method that has become increasingly prominent in recent years,” he said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.”
