Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kenyan author who reckoned with colonial legacy, dies at 87
Angered by the play's criticism of inequalities in Kenyan society, the authorities sent three truckloads of police to raze the theatre, Thiong'o later said.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
UN food agency appeals for $46 million to help 2 million Haitians facing severe hunger
A woman combs the hair of another at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (Image credit: AP) The UN food agency is appealing for $46 million for the next six months to help about 2 million Haitians in dire need of food, including 8,500 at the worst catastrophic level of hunger. The appeal was issued by Lola Castro, the World Food Program's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, who recently returned from Haiti, where escalating gang violence has displaced well over 1 million people and left half the population - 5.7 million people - in urgent need of food. Two million of them are in the two worst categories in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the leading international authority on hunger crises, and 8,500 are in the worst Phase 5 category, she said. That means at least one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation and destitution. Haiti is one of only five countries in the world that have people in the Phase 5 category of catastrophic hunger, Castro said, "and it is really dramatic to have this in the Western Hemisphere." Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021 and are now estimated to control 85 per cent of the capital and are moving into surrounding areas. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination, and the top UN official in the country said in April the country could face "total chaos" without funding to confront the gangs.. A UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police arrived in Haiti last year to help quell gang violence, but the mission remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 40 per cent of the 2,500 personnel originally envisioned. The WFP, the world's largest humanitarian organization, is among the UN agencies facing funding cuts, mainly from the United States, which provided nearly half of its funding in 2024. Castro said WFP reached over 1.3 million people this year until March using carryover funds from last year. But the agency is facing a dramatic situation now with food stocks only until July to assist with emergencies, new displacements or hurricanes, she said. In the past four years, Castro said WFP always had stocks to help between 250,000 and 500,000 people with any emergency. "This year, we start the hurricane season with an empty warehouse where we have no stocks for assisting any emergency, or we have no cash neither to go and buy (food) locally if it was possible in some areas, or to do a rapid humanitarian response," Castro said. "We are very concerned that a single storm can put hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti again into humanitarian catastrophe and hunger." WFP normally provides a meal every day for around 500,000 school children, but that number will be cut in half without additional resources, she told a video press conference on Tuesday. With $46 million, she said, WFP will be able to help the 2 million Haitians in most need of food, keep providing school meals for half a million children, and provide social protection for very vulnerable people in camps for the displaced. Haiti must not be forgotten as the world deals with other crises, Castro said, urging donors to be generous. "We really need to stop this and to hold the line on hunger," she said. "We continue calling the humanitarian community to provide support." With $46 million, she said, WFP will be able to help the 2 million Haitians in the two worst IPC categories, keep providing school meals for half a million children, and provide social protection for very vulnerable people in camps for the displaced.
Hindustan Times
13 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
HC dismisses plea for CBI probe from Chandigarh doctor
The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed a plea from a city doctor, Rosy Arora, seeking the transfer of probe into a September 2020 FIR, registered by a Kenyan woman, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Arora's husband Dr Mohit Dhawan is entangled in a dispute with a Kenyan woman over a dental treatment she received at his clinic in Chandigarh in 2017-2018. This has led to multiple FIRs, one of which is a criminal case registered against seven UT cops, by the CBI in February this year, on Dhawan's complaint. The dentist had alleged he was abducted from the district courts complex in 2022. The FIR was registered upon Supreme Court intervention. The dentist claims that he was being harassed at the behest of former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana and former Chandigarh director general of police TS Luthra. While the initial FIR, on the foreign national's complaint, was registered against Dhawan, his wife was roped in as accused later. The allegations are of cheating and offences under IT Act. The doctor, in her plea, alleged that she has been falsely implicated at the behest of some senior police officers, even though the dispute is between her husband and the foreign national. UT had claimed that a challan has been filed in the case and there is no ground for conducting a fresh investigation by transferring the case to CBI. There are specific and serious allegations against the petitioner woman as probe has revealed that she is the proprietor of the clinic and had impersonated as an employee to induce the foreign national to spend money for the dental treatment. The bench of justice Manisha Batra, while dismissing the plea, observed that the investigation by CBI is to be granted only in exceptional circumstances where the court is of the view that accusations are against a person, who by virtue of his post, could influence the investigation and may cause prejudice to the cause of the complainant. The court recorded that even as the woman alleges that the FIR was registered to wreak vengeance upon her husband who has filed certain petition against some high-ranking police officers. However, the names of those officers and details as to why such police officers are so offended have not been mentioned. Though there are some other FIRs, against the petitioner, nothing at this stage is reflected that petitioner had been implicated due to that reason. The court recorded that prime facie, the claim of the petitioner that she was not the proprietor of the clinic appears to be false. 'At this stage it cannot be stated that she had no concern with the said clinic and had no hand in inducing the complaint to accept the offer for getting treatment in the said clinic,' the court said while dismissing the plea.
First Post
14 hours ago
- First Post
Kenya: Ruto Govt Arrests Activist For Cybercrime Over Finance Bill Criticism
Kenya: Ruto Govt Arrests Activist For Cybercrime Over Finance Bill Criticism | Firstpost Africa Kenya: Ruto Govt Arrests Activist For Cybercrime Over Finance Bill Criticism | Firstpost Africa | N18G Rose Njeri, a Kenyan software developer and digital activist, was arrested after creating an online tool that allowed citizens to oppose the controversial Finance Bill 2025 with a single click. The bill proposes new taxes on essentials and digital services, which critics say could worsen the cost of living. Authorities charged her under Kenya's cybercrime law, claiming her tool disrupted parliamentary systems. Her arrest sparked nationwide outrage, with activists, civil society, and legal groups calling it an attack on free speech and public participation. Though released on bail, Njeri's case has intensified concerns about a growing crackdown on dissent in East Africa, especially as similar cases of repression and rights violations surface in neighbouring countries like Tanzania. See More
