Kenya Erupts Again: 16 Reported Killed in Anti-Government Protests Marking Bloody Anniversary
As police crack down with deadly force and media outlets pulled off air, Kenya relives the trauma of last year’s tax revolt—raising questions about accountability, press freedom, and use of force
Sixteen people have died and hundreds of others have been injured in nationwide anti-government protests in Kenya, a human rights charity has said. It comes a year after deadly demonstrations against a tax bill resulted in the storming of parliament. Most were killed by police, the head of Amnesty Kenya said. Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets on Wednesday to commemorate last year's protests, in which more than 60 people died. Police used water cannons and fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations in Nairobi. Amnesty Kenya's executive director Irungu Houghton told Reuters that 16 people had been "verified as dead". "Most were killed by police," he added, saying at least five people had been shot dead. In a statement posted on X, the government-funded KNCHR earlier said eight deaths had been reported from across Kenya, all "allegedly from gunshot wounds". The scenes were broadcast by Kenyan channel NTV before it and another were pulled off air after defying an order to stop showing the demonstrations live. - Sky News
At a panel discussion yesterday at the Conduit Club in London, Nairobi Governor Sakaja Arthur Johnson sought to downplay the widespread protests erupting back home. He framed them as part of a broader, global trend of youth disillusionment, rather than a unique crisis. In response to my question, Johnson said he was in contact with officials in Nairobi—even as dramatic, near-apocalyptic images of the unrest were emerging in real time. He characterized the demonstrations as a “one-off” event marking the anniversary of last year’s deadly uprising. He remarked that “a mayor must be as shrewd as a snake,” before pivoting to a more upbeat note, touting the planting of 2 million trees in the city. I responded that while environmental efforts are commendable, the benefits of a “liveable planet”—the stated theme of the discussion—are meaningless without peace and security. And on that front, Nairobi was clearly in crisis.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared “victory” over Israel in his first message to the public since a US-brokered cease-fire took effect two days ago. Khamenei, 86, was mostly absent from the public eye during the 12-day war with Israel, issuing only two video messages, with the second on June 19 widely believed to have been recorded in a bunker given the poor production quality. In his new video message, which had noticeably better audio quality than the last one, Khamenei congratulated Iranians on what he described as a “victory over the fake Zionist regime,” asserting that Israel had been “almost crippled and crushed under the blows of the Islamic republic.” Referring to the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, he said the "Americans couldn't do anything important" and accused the United States of "exaggerating" the damage to "hide the truth." US officials have spoken of "monumental damage" inflicted on Iran's main nuclear facilities, with President Donald Trump saying that "obliteration is an accurate term" to be used to describe the effects of US bombing of the sites. While a preliminary US intelligence report has cast some doubt on the extent of the damage to three of Iran's main nuclear facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said the US bombing likely resulted in "very significant" damage to the Fordow uranium enrichment plant, which is dug into a mountain in central Iran - RFE/RL
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has mounted a furious early morning rant over the U.S. strikes against Iran, accusing the press of trying to “manipulate the public’s mind” about the success of the attack, the Daily Beast reported. As Iran’s supreme leader downplayed the impact of the strike with a social media post on Thursday morning, a very animated Hegseth held an 8 am press conference at the Pentagon to once again insist the country’s nuclear facilities were “decimated” and lash out at a leaked intelligence. “You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated, choose your words,” he said.
The American media weren’t reporting this sufficiently, he said, because they were cheering against the president and hoping that he failed. “It’s in your DNA.” Taking another swipe at the media, he said: [Anyone] with eyes and a brain can recognise” the destruction.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to next week's BRICS summit in Brazil because of an outstanding arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday. The ICC issued the warrant in 2023, just over a year after Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, accusing Putin of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Putin needs to weigh the risk he might be arrested if he travels to another country that is a signatory to the ICC treaty. In 2023 he decided against travelling to one such country, South Africa, for a BRICS summit. But last year he was given a red carpet welcome in Mongolia, even though it is an ICC member state. Ushakov said Putin would take part via video link in the July 6-7 BRICS summit in Brazil. Chinese President Xi Jinping will skip the summit too - Reuters
Donald Trump has called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial to be "cancelled immediately" or for giving him a pardon - an unprecedented intervention by a U.S. president in a legal proceeding in another democratic ally. Netanyahu is standing trial for three charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He has been accused of receiving more than $200,000 worth of gifts from businessmen and for giving regulatory benefits worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a telecommunications tycoon in return for favorable press coverage on a website that was owned by the same businessman. Netanyahu's trial has been going on for four years, partially because the prime minister has been employing numerous legal delay tactics. The former head of the Israeli Shin Bet claimed Netanyahu tried to use his executive powers to delay his trial. Trump wrote on his Truth Social feed that he was "shocked to hear" that even after the war with Iran, the State of Israel "is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt" against Netanyahu. Trump stressed that he and Netanyahu "just went through HELL together" during the war with Iran. "The result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World," the president wrote - Axios
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a fresh package of military aid for Ukraine – this time paid for using the UK’s interest haul from frozen Russian assets. The UK will send 350 advanced air defence missiles, built in Britain and adapted in record time for ground launch, using £70m of interest raised through the government’s extraordinary revenue acceleration (ERA) scheme. The move marks the first time the UK has used Russia-linked funds to directly bankroll weaponry for Kyiv. The missiles will be deployed through UK-supplied Raven systems – five more of which are en route to Ukraine, taking the total to 13. Originally designed as air-to-air missiles, ASRAAMs have been retrofitted by RAF engineers and MBDA UK to fire from the back of a British-made truck. The conversion took just three months. Starmer, speaking before Nato’s annual summit in The Hague, said: “Russia, not Ukraine, should pay the price for Putin’s barbaric and illegal war. It is only right we use seized Russian assets to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences. The security of Ukraine is vital to our own.” The new package is part of the UK’s largest-ever yearly commitment to Ukraine – £4.5bn in military aid. It follows a £1.6bn deal in March for more than 5,000 air defence missiles and a separate £350m investment to ramp up drone deliveries tenfold - The Guardian
The BBC will charge viewers in the US to access its news coverage and TV content in the first scheme of its kind. It marks the first time consumers outside of the UK will be asked to pay for the broadcaster’s news output. A “premium experience” which gives access to unlimited news articles and the BBC News livestream will also be offered. Films and documentaries without advertisements, podcasts and newsletters will also be included in the scheme. It is part of a move by the BBC to expand into the American news market to raise funds. Users will be offered a subscription of $8.99 a month or $49.99 a year to access the package. The corporation said it was “the first phase of a pay model for BBC.com visitors in the US”. It added that there were “no current plans to introduce a pay model outside of North America”. The BBC website has an audience of around 60 million users in the US, which readers can currently access for free with adverts. The broadcaster is exploring new revenue streams amid a negotiation of its royal charter, which determines its funding model and expires in 2027 - Yahoo News
Britain’s planned new high speed rail line is long delayed, over budget and drastically curtailed. Now Cabinet ministers are growing ever-more furious about the cost of its notorious “bat tunnel” rising by millions. The price tag of the shield to protect a rare bat species a risk of being battered by HS2 trains has approached £125 million, an official estimate obtained by POLITICO suggests. That’s nearly a third higher than first forecast. Protecting wildlife including Bechstein’s bats, one of the most elusive specimens of the winged mammals in Britain, may have been a noble and legally-required cause. But the decision to save them by building a 900-meter-long structure has, for critics, become emblematic of Britain’s infrastructure woes. After being shown the latest estimates, Environment Secretary Steve Reed told POLITICO: “Spending vast sums to build a ‘bat tunnel’ is ludicrous.“For too long, regulations have held up the building of homes and infrastructure, blocking economic growth and doing little for nature. That is why we are introducing new planning reforms and a Nature Restoration Fund to unblock the building of homes and infrastructure and improve outcomes for our natural world.” Back under the Conservatives in 2019, the tunnel was initially priced at £95 million - Politico
North Korea will open a beach resort initially aimed at domestic and Russian tourists on its east coast next week in what authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un hopes will be the “first step” on the path to developing the country’s tourism sector. The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, which spans a 4-kilometre section of beach, comprises hotels, restaurants, shopping centres and a water park, according to state media. Building began in the area in 2018, but was delayed by both construction problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. The zone, which can accommodate roughly 20,000 guests a year, will receive its first domestic visitors on Tuesday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. It is not known when international tourists will follow. At the resort’s grand opening on Tuesday, Kim was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and their daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who is his presumed heir. Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora also attended as a special guest, the KCNA confirmed. The state-run news agency reported Kim as saying that the completion of Wonsan-Kalma would be “one of the greatest successes this year”, adding that the site was “the proud first step” towards boosting the country’s tourism industry. Analysts say Russian visitors will likely be granted access before other foreigners, given the close relationship between the two countries. North Korea and Russia deepened their alliance last year by signing a mutual defence treaty. Pyongyang has also sent thousands of troops to its neighbour to help with its war against Ukraine - Euronews
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