Headline
Kenyans Pray For Peace, Await Presidential Election Results
Published
2 years agoon
By
Editor… Tension Heightens As Two Frontrunners Almost ‘Neck And Neck’
Kenyans prayed for peace Sunday as they waited anxiously for the final outcome of the presidential election, with the two frontrunners almost neck and neck, according to partial official results.
As of Sunday morning, Deputy President William Ruto was slightly ahead of his rival Raila Odinga, data from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission showed, before cutting off the live feed displaying the percentage of votes won by both men.
The IEBC, which has now tallied votes from over 70 percent of constituencies, did not give an explanation for the decision.
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But a running tally at the Daily Nation newspaper, citing the official data, said Ruto had so far scored 52.54 percent of the vote, while Odinga had 46.78 percent.
Tuesday’s vote passed off largely peacefully but after previous elections sparked deadly violence and rigging claims, the IEBC is under intense pressure to deliver a clean poll and release results by Tuesday.
Riot police were deployed overnight inside the commission’s heavily guarded tallying centre in the capital Nairobi after political party agents disrupted the process, hurling rigging allegations at each other.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has accused party agents of delaying the tallying process by haranguing election workers with unnecessary questions.
More than a dozen civil society groups, trade unions as well as the Kenyan chapters of Amnesty International and Transparency International issued a statement Sunday urging calm.
“We call on all political candidates, their supporters and the public to exercise restraint. We must all avoid raising tensions that could easily trigger violence,” the 14 organisations said.
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The poll pitted Odinga, a veteran opposition leader now backed by the ruling party, against Ruto, who was widely expected to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta until his boss joined hands with former foe Odinga in a dramatic shift of political allegiances.
– ‘Let us have peace’ –
Both candidates have pledged to maintain calm, with the memory of the 2007-08 and 2017 post-poll violence still fresh for many Kenyans.
“We have voted peacefully, we have gone through this process peacefully and it’s my prayer that we end this process peacefully,” Ruto, 55, said at a church service in Nairobi on Sunday.
Speaking at a separate service in the capital, Odinga, 77, recited the opening lines of the Peace Prayer of St Francis and said: “I want to become an instrument to bring peace, to heal, to unite and keep the hope alive in our country.”
Worshippers in Odinga’s stronghold of Kisumu also prayed for a peaceful outcome, with bishop Washington Ogonyo Ngede telling his 300-strong flock: “Don’t let politics divide us. We must remain united.”
“Because leaders come and go but the country of Kenya lives forever,” said Ngede, a lifelong friend of the Odinga family.
“Let us have peace,” he said to cheers and ululations.
In Ruto’s Rift Valley bastion of Eldoret, the clergy and congregants alike called for calm and patience.
“We have come here to pray for peace, for our country, for our politicians to ask them (to) be very cautious and prudent in their utterances,” said bishop Dominic Kimengich.
“We have gone through this as Kenyans, we know that any imprudent remark… can easily trigger conflict and that’s what we don’t want,” he told AFP.
Churchgoer Mary Wanjiru, 59, told AFP she didn’t “want to hear any incitement from politicians.”
“We want a peaceful Kenya.”
– Lower turnout –
Kenyans voted in six elections, choosing a new president as well as senators, governors, lawmakers, women representatives and some 1,500 county officials.
Lawyer David Mwaure — one of the four presidential candidates, along with former spy George Wajackoyah — conceded on Sunday, endorsing Ruto, whose party won a key gubernatorial race when Johnson Sakaja secured control of Nairobi, Kenya’s richest city.
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The election is being closely watched by an international community that views Kenya as a pillar of stability in a volatile region.
Turnout was about 65 percent, much lower than the 78 percent recorded in 2017, a reflection, some observers say, of the disenchantment with the political elite, particularly among young people.
The winner of the presidential race needs to secure 50 percent plus one vote and at least a quarter of the votes in 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties.
If not, the country will be forced to hold a runoff within 30 days of the original vote.
Observers say that with the race so close, an appeal to the Supreme Court by the losing candidate is almost certain, meaning it could be many weeks before a new president takes office.
AFP.
Headline
VIDEO: Guinness World Record: Nigerian Onakoya Begins 58-hour Chess Marathon In New York
Published
4 hours agoon
April 17, 2024By
EditorRenowned chess master, Tunde Onakoya, has embarked on a mission to surpass the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Onakoya announced the commencement of the via his X account with the caption, “Game time.”
The event, which is underway at New York City’s iconic Times Square, started at 10am on Wednesday, April 17, and is scheduled to end at 8pm on April 19.
Onakoya is set to engage in an intense chess marathon, aiming to play for 58 hours without a single defeat.
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The current Guinness World Record, set by Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad of Norway on November 11, 2018, stands at 56 hours, 9 minutes, and 37 seconds.
Renowned chess master, Tunde Onakoya, has embarked on a mission to surpass the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Watch video below:
We are live from NYC @Tunde_OD pic.twitter.com/2rrU1BlBkJ
— The Gift of Chess (@thegiftofchess) April 17, 2024
Headline
B-I-Z-A-R-E: Woman Wheels Dead Uncle’s Corpse Into Bank To “Sign Off” Loan In Her Name [VIDEO]
Published
7 hours agoon
April 17, 2024By
EditorA Brazilian woman reportedly wheeled the corpse of an elderly man into a Rio de Janeiro bank on Tuesday, April 16, to try to get him to co-sign on a loan.
The bank customer, identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, was captured on video standing next to the deceased seated in a chair and seemingly holding up his drooping head.
The footage captured Nunes talking to the dead man, whom she addressed as her “uncle,” and asking him to sign financial documents that would allow her to take out a $3,400 loan.
“Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you,” Nunes says in the video, while pushing a pen between his limp fingers and instructing him to hold it “hard.”
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“Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore,” she adds.
When a bank worker tries to point out that the man’s color looks off and he appears “not well,” Nunes dismisses his concerns.
“He is like that. He doesn’t say anything,” Nunes says. “Uncle, do you want to go to the [hospital] again?”
Bank staffers quickly called the police, who arrived and arrested Nunes.
It was later determined that the deceased, identified as 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga, had been dead for several hours before his trip to the bank.
“She tried to pretend to get him to sign the loan. He already entered the bank dead,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz told TV Globo. “The main thing is to continue the investigation to identify other family members, and find out more about this loan.”
Cops said they will look into the circumstances of Braga’s death and will try to determine whether Nunes is actually his niece, and whether other relatives were involved in the alleged attempt to commit bank fraud.
Nunes could face charges of theft through fraud, or embezzlement, and abuse of corpse.
Watch the video below.
in Rio de Janeiro Brazil a women (Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes) took the corpse of an elderly man into a bank to try to take out a loan of R$17,000 (USD $3,400), local Brazil media reported.
Suspicious bank employees filmed the incident and called the police.… pic.twitter.com/kzEzG6ORBP— interessingworld (@interssingworld) April 17, 2024
A newborn baby reportedly ‘came back to life’ after being sprinkled with holy water at her wake in front of stunned relatives in Paraguay.
The baby girl was born prematurely when her 21-year-old mother, at only 32 weeks along, was taken to hospital last Friday after suffering from breathing problems.
According to Mail Online, doctors advised her to deliver the premature baby as both the lives of the mother and her daughter were at risk as the mother-to-be was not getting enough oxygen.
Following an emergency caesarean section, her family received news that the baby girl was not showing any vital signs and had passed away. They later collected a death certificate and got a small coffin to hold a funeral.
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The hospital released the baby’s body to father Ignacio Medina Vega, who put his daughter in a tiny coffin and organised a small funeral. During the wake, her uncle saw the baby move her head after being sprinkled with holy water.
Ignacio told local media: ‘When the uncle arrived to say goodbye to her, he saw the baby was moving her head and was breathing.’
He added: ‘Then we went to look and we could see her little heart beating.’
The family immediately took the baby back to the Regional Hospital of Ciudad del Este in the Paraguayan city of the same name.
Doctors placed the newborn in an incubator in intensive care where she is still fighting for survival.
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The father said: ‘She started crying when a doctor grabbed her. The doctors told us it was a miracle. The serious thing is that we were about to bury her alive.’
It is estimated that the infant remained in the coffin for over four hours and the lid was closed for around half that time.
Following her alleged ‘resurrection’, the baby’s parents have decided to name her Milagros de Jesús – which translates as Miracle of Jesus -, according to local media reports.
The baby girl, who weighs less than 600 grams, is now back in hospital, where doctors have given her a ‘very reserved prognosis’.
Meanwhile, hospital officials are trying to establish why she was declared dead.
Hospital spokesperson Federico Schrodel said they haven’t ruled out the possibility of catalepsy, a condition characterised by a lack of response to external stimuli, loss of consciousness, and rigidity of the body.
He added: ‘Due to being premature, this is something that can happen, the patient is practically left without any vital signs.’
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