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[ad_1] Comment on this story Comment NAIROBI, Kenya — Twenty-one bodies have been found so far on land owned by a pastor in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. Malindi sub-county police chief John Kemboi said more shallow graves have yet to be dug up on the land belonging to pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested on April 14 over links to cultism. A further four people died after they and others were discovered starving at the Good News International Church. Police have asked a court to allow them to hold Makenzi longer as investigations into the deaths of his followers continue. A tip-off from members of the public led police to raid the pastor’s property in Malindi, where they found 15 emaciated people, including the four who later died. The followers said they were starving on the pastor’s instructions in order to meet Jesus. Police had been told there were dozens of shallow graves spread across Makenzi’s farm and digging started on Friday.

[ad_1] BEIJING — China is facing a tricky year ahead, with economic growth slowing, the population — and more importantly, the workforce — shrinking, markets in turmoil and tensions with the United States remaining high. The American presidential campaign will probably see an increase in anti-Beijing sentiment. How will the ruling Communist Party deal with these challenges? We will get a good handle on policies and approaches when the “Two Sessions” begin in Beijing this week. The meetings will probably last about nine days and will see about 5,000 delegates from around the country descend on the Great Hall of the People — the palatial building on one side of Tiananmen Square — many of them wearing the traditional dress of their people. The event is high on pomp and ceremony, and also on control: Traffic is rerouted and security is dramatically tightened. The political proceedings will be highly choreographed, with most of the decisions having already been made by Communist Part

[ad_1] The US State Department spokesperson Ned Price has said that Pakistan has a right to defend itself from terrorism. The spokesperson while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Tuesday, said that we’re aware of the recent statement by the Pakistani National Security Committee. The Pakistani people have suffered tremendously from terrorist attacks, he said. Price said the US is closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to uphold the very commitment they have made to see to it that Afghan soil is never again used as a launchpad for international terrorist attacks. The US State Department further said seems that the Taliban have been unable or unwilling to fulfill the commitments they made. Price said that the US calls on the Taliban to uphold the very commitment they have made to see to it that Afghan soil is never again used as a launchpad for international terrorist attacks. "These are among the very commitments that the Taliban h

[ad_1] The latest in a string of storms impacting western and northern Europe this winter rapidly intensified into a bomb cyclone as it swarmed Norway this week, strengthening into one of the strongest storms to hit the country in 30 years. Storm Ingunn, named by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, intensified by around 35 millibars over 24 hours as it passed the Faroe Islands, several hundred miles north of Scotland, while racing in the direction of Scandinavia. Already a strong storm before the process, it easily made bomb cyclone status, which requires about 24 millibars of intensification over the course of a day. “Ingunn is one of the strongest storms to hit Norway in 30 years,” wrote Copernicus EU , a wing of the E.U. Space Program, in its wake Thursday. Tens of thousands were left without power in Norway, according to local media. Train, air and road travel has also been disrupted across the region. The longest delays and most flight cancellations over recent days wer

[ad_1] JERUSALEM — The U.N. agency for Palestinian affairs said Friday it was terminating the contracts of several staff members after Israel alleged agency workers had participated in the Hamas attack Oct. 7 that left 1,200 people in Israel dead and triggered the current fighting in Gaza. “Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said in a statement. He said he had ordered an investigation “to establish the truth without delay.” UNRWA did not say how many employees had come under suspicion; the United States put the number at 12. The agency employs around 13,000 people in Gaza, where it provides food assistance, health care and education. The State Department said it was pausing new funding for the agency while it reviewed the allegations and the steps the United Nations was taking to address them. The United States is UNRW

[ad_1] The bodies of 13 Moroccans were recovered after their boat sank off the country’s southern coast while attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, Moroccan media reported. According to international media reports, the 45 passengers on board were attempting to reach the islands’ main city of Las Palmas when their boat hit a rock and sank Friday, “10 minutes after” embarking near the town of Mirleft. Twenty-four people, including a minor, were rescued from the water and the body of one woman was among those recovered. As per Moroccan media, the passengers had used an inflatable boat which was quickly “damaged and the victims found themselves in the middle of the waves.” Located at Africa’s northwestern tip, Morocco is a transit country for many migrants, particularly sub-Saharans, seeking to reach Europe from its Atlantic or Mediterranean coasts. According to a recent report by the Spanish human rights group Caminando Fronteras (Frontline Defenders), more than 11,200

[ad_1] Indiana lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would hold back students who fail the state's crucial reading test, currently administered in the third grade. The bill would also knock the test's first administration back a year, with second graders who pass not being required to take it again. About 7,000 more students would be barred from entering fourth grade for the 2025-26 school year should the bill become law, an estimate anticipates. Indiana lawmakers advanced a bill Tuesday that would hold back thousands more third graders who don't pass the state's literacy test, rejecting opponents' arguments that it could burden schools and emotionally damage children. The Indiana Department of Education says about 18% of third graders did not pass Indiana’s reading test last year. GOP lawmakers argue that schools exempt too many kids who fail it, allowing them to pass through to fourth grade. If the proposal becomes law, second graders would be required

[ad_1] June 10, 2023 at 4:06 a.m. EDT Denys Kryvenko, a wounded soldier, in Lviv, Ukraine last month. (Sasha Maslov for The Washington Post) Comment on this story Comment LVIV, Ukraine — A Buddhist chef was sent to Bakhmut to cook for soldiers on the front line and ended up joining the men in the trenches instead, losing nearly all his hearing when a drone crashed into his chest. A 24-year-old foundry worker turned soldier lost both of his legs and an arm when Russian shelling landed by his feet. A 28-year-old IT worker lasted less than two weeks defending the city before a rocket blasted off the lower part of his left leg. They are among the soldiers who fought in Bakhmut — and are now living with the cost of the war’s bloodiest battle. They arrived in the eastern city — some with limited training — and faced off against a ferocious army of Russian mercenaries and soldiers. They left with life-altering injuries. And in recent weeks, they watched Russian forces declare victory and

[ad_1] Comment on this story Comment Add to your saved stories Save JERUSALEM — The Israeli airstrikes that hit the Jabalya refugee camp on Oct. 31 sent buildings tumbling down on families displaced from across the besieged enclave. More than 110 people were killed, many of them women and children crushed beneath the rubble, doctors said. The Israeli military said the operation achieved its aim. “We were focused on our target,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said Monday, referring to Ibrahim Biari, a high-ranking Hamas commander. “We know that he was killed.” Since the conflict began, nearly 10,000 Palestinians have already been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, as the IDF presses for the destruction of the Hamas militant group that rules the enclave. Although Israeli officials insist that each strike is subject to legal approval, experts say the rules of engagement, which are classified , appear to include a higher threshold for ci

[ad_1] Jerusalem and Gaza CNN  —  At least 10 Palestinians were killed Wednesday during a major Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank that also left more than 100 injured, Palestinian officials said. Israeli authorities said Wednesday’s operation targeted three suspects “planning attacks in the immediate future.” The three were “neutralized,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency said in a joint statement. In the unusual daytime raid, Israeli forces entered Nablus in the West Bank. The Islamic Jihad militant group said two of its commanders were killed in ensuing clashes with Israeli troops. The Lion’s Den militant group also confirmed its members were involved in the fighting, but did not say if any of their members were killed. All three of the suspected P

[ad_1] Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has left for a state visit to France where he will meet President Emmanuel Macron, a statement said on Wednesday. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the annual speech of the Saudi King at the Shura Council in the capital Riyadh on November 20, 2019. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the annual speech of the Saudi King at the Shura Council in the capital Riyadh on  The 37-year-old prince, who is overseeing sweeping social and economic reforms in the oil-rich monarchy, will also take part in the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in Paris next week, the Royal Court statement said. On Monday Prince Mohammed, often known as "MBS", will attend an official Saudi reception for Riyadh's candidacy to host Expo 2030. The trip underlines close French ties with the resource-rich Gulf. In December 2021, Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet Prince Mohammed in Saudi