Following a collision with another vehicle, a petrol tanker truck exploded on Sunday, killing at least 48 persons, according to the state’s emergency management agency.

According to the State Emergency Management Agency in north-central Niger State, a truck transporting animals and travelers crashed with a fuel truck. According to the report, the accident reportedly included a number of other automobiles.

Officials were still working to clear the area of the disaster, but 48 people were confirmed dead, according to agency spokesperson Hussaini Ibrahim.

The price of gasoline was raised by at least 39% last week by Nigeria’s state-owned company NNPC Ltd., marking the second significant increase in over a year. Despite this, shortages have persisted, causing drivers to wait in line for hours in the biggest cities of the nation.

Wavinya Ndeti, the governor of Machakos, has refuted rumors that she was arrested in the UK for allegedly trying to smuggle millions of cash into the country from Kenya.

Wavinya refuted the charges on Monday, stating that they are sponsored by her political rival and are fabricated to damage her reputation.

“Those fabricating falsity are clearly ignorant of the robust nature of UK/Customs/Border control and financial institutions. I can confirm that my family and I are safe and sound and remain in good standing both home and abroad,” she said in a statement.

The governor went on to say that she will sue anyone who disseminates the allegations and threatened to hold the suspects accountable for any misfortunes suffered by her relatives.

“Such malicious misinformation has created perceptions about me and my family members that endanger our lives,” she stated.

“I encourage those spewing these fabrications to arm themselves with hard evidence when the law comes knocking.”

She insisted that threats on her family would not stop her from trying to change Machakos County and give its citizens a better quality of life.

“My administration is closing in on nearly 1,000 projects from August 2022 and in FY 20232024 we collected Ksh.1.7B own source revenue which is the highest ever collected in Machakos since the inception of devolution.”

A petition has been launched by prominent Egyptian archaeologist and former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass to bring the pharaonic bust of Queen Nefertiti back to Egypt from the Neues Museum in Berlin.

A German archaeological mission discovered Nefertiti’s renowned painted limestone bust near Tell el-Amarna, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Cairo, in 1912. The following year, they transported it to Berlin.

Pharaoh Akhenaten of the 18th dynasty, the husband of Nefertiti, briefly ruled over Amarna as his capital until approximately 1335 B.C.

Known as the “heretic king,” Akhenaten was infamous for encouraging the worship of Aten at the expense of other Egyptian deities. Egyptian art underwent a dramatic transformation during his rule as well.

Hawass demanded the return of the bust in his Saturday-launched petition, claiming that it had been taken out of Egypt without authorization after its discovery.

“We announce today that Egypt – this is the national committee, it is not a government committee – asks for the return of the bust of Nefertiti,” Hawass stated.

“What I need from everyone here is to go to my website… hawasszahi.com, and you will sign, one signature, to show that you would love for this bust to come back.”

According to Hawass, he is not advocating for the return of artifacts that have been lawfully removed from Egypt. The Dendera Zodiac, the Rosetta Stone, and the bust of Nefertiti are the “three main beautiful objects” that he is attempting to repatriate.

Neues Museum officials in Berlin were not immediately reachable for comment.

There have been several destructive fires in the country since August 26, 2024, when schools reopened for the third term.

The most recent case in point happened at Njia Boys Secondary School in Maua, where an uncontrollably burning dormitory completely demolished.

Although footage revealed attempts to douse the flames with buckets of water, the fire continued, resulting in substantial property damage that has not yet been assessed.

Police officials were on the scene, directing those attempting to control the blaze as it spread quickly.

Thankfully, as of the time of this report, no fatalities or injuries had been reported.

The investigation into the fire’s cause is still ongoing. Authorities have called for a thorough inquiry into these distressing cases and have called for upgrades to school infrastructure, yet the fires are still going strong.

In Kwale County, efforts were made to extinguish a fire at the Diani Diani Reef Hotel.

The fire situation started at about 4.30 p.m., according to the Kenya Red Cross, and they were reacting to it.

Kenya Red Cross issued a statement on X stating, “Kwale County Fire Department and the Kenya Red Cross are currently responding to a fire incident at Diani Reef Hotel in Kwale County.”

An hour later, the volunteer emergency response provider reported that the fire was contained and that no casualties had been reported.

“The fire has been contained. Thankfully, there are no casualties.”

The cause of the fire was not disclosed by Red Cross.

Chief of the public service Felix Koskei has cautioned those in charge of appointing authorities against extending public officers’ terms of service over the age of retirement.

According to Koskei, public officers must retire at the age of sixty, while people with disabilities must retire at the age of sixty-five.

Koskei asked state employees to follow the order in a memo dated August 5.

“Attention is drawn to Section 80 (1)(a) and (b) of the Public Service Commission Act, 2017, which provides that a public officer shall retire from the service with effect from the date of attaining the mandatory retirement age,” he said.

“Further, the section stipulates that the Commission or other appointing authority shall not extend the service of such retired public officer beyond the mandatory retirement age.”

The Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, CEOs of State corporations, county secretaries, county governments, clerks of county assemblies, CEOs of county public service boards, the Solicitor General, CEOs of constitutional commissions, clerks of the Senate and the National Assembly, and all Principal Secretaries and Accounting Officers in all ministries received copies of the circular.

According to Koskei, relevant legislation and regulations will determine the required retirement age for judicial officers, research scientists, and academic staff at public universities.

According to him, certain appointing authorities have been breaking the law by keeping public officers on after the legal retirement age.

In August, there were almost 43,000 individuals on the list who were anticipated to retire during the subsequent five years.

According to government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, youths will be given preference for the available positions.

“In total, the number of people who will be retiring in the next five years will be over 43, 976 people,” he stated.

According to Mwaura, the total number of open positions is approximately 46,000, including those with contracts, permanent and pensionable terms and those without.

On July 5, governmental employees sixty years of age and older were instructed to proceed with retirement by President William Ruto.

He said that there will be no tenure extensions for civil servants as part of austerity measures to reduce the costs of running the government.

“They are directed to do this with no extensions to their tenure of service,” Ruto stated.

There have been multiple injuries in a terrible accident near the extremely busy Thika Superhighway.

Just before 4 p.m. on Sunday, the accident happened at the Roysambu roundabout caused by a PSV bus that had overturned.

Videos posted online show the accident occurred directly across from TRM Mall, and the people who provided the footage stated that emergency services are required.

The number of individuals on the bus is unknown, but judging from the video, some of them looked to be in pain as they were being dragged out.

We established that the bus lost control while attempting to avoid hitting a pedestrian, even though the police had not yet made their official statement public.

….More to follow

It has been confirmed by Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) detectives that two suspected drug traffickers were apprehended in Nairobi’s Donholm area.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) named the suspects as Tanzanian citizen Simba Kitwana Khamri and Kenyan national Teresia Nduku in a statement posted on social media platform X on Sunday. The two were discovered in possession of high-value cannabis that was allegedly trafficked from overseas.

Following their apprehension, the suspects took the detectives to their residence in Tala’s Manyanzani area within the Kangundo Sub-County.

Authorities found multiple incriminating documents, a digital scale, and a rucksack with a cunningly concealed compartment that contained cannabis sativa during a thorough search.

The DCI stated on Sunday that “this is a unique strain of cannabis sativa that originated from foreign lands and infiltrated Kenya through the Namanga border.”

It is thought that the Tanzanian suspect, who authorities have referred to as a “maestro in skillful packaging and disguising the illicit drug in backpacks,” was in charge of getting the drugs ready for international distribution.

Investigators estimate that the confiscated cannabis strain is worth Ksh. 8,000 per gram on the black market.

“More investigation will be carried out to comprehend its uniqueness,” the statement continued.

The suspects are still being held while they are awaiting arraignment.