Foreign News
Gas blast in Kenyan capital kills three and injures nearly 300

A huge gas blast in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has killed at least three people and injured nearly 300.
A lorry carrying gas cylinders exploded in Embakasi district at about 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Thursday, “igniting a huge ball of fire”, an official said.
Housing, businesses and cars were damaged, with video showing a huge blaze raging close to blocks of flats.
An investigation has started and Kenya’s deputy president has said those responsible will be held accountable.
A child was among those who died, according Embakasi police chief Wesley Kimeto, who added that the death toll could rise. Some 271 people were taken to hospital, according to the authorities, including at least 25 children.
Nairobi county Governor Sakaja Johnson said many of these people had been treated and sent home, but at least 39 have been sent to other facilities – some with critical injuries. A further 27 people were treated on site for non-life-threatening injuries.
The government initially said the blast happened at a gas plant where workers were refilling gas cylinders, but the authorities later clarified that a truck had exploded in a parking yard.
According to government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, a fireball from the blast “spread widely”. A flying gas cylinder hit a clothing and textiles warehouse, burning it down. “The inferno further damaged several vehicles and commercial properties, including many small and medium sized businesses,” he said in a statement. “Sadly, residential houses in the neighbourhood also caught fire, with a good number of residents still inside, as it was late at night.”
The fire has been contained and a search and rescue operation has been launched to find out if people are missing or have simply taken shelter elsewhere.
“There is still a search going on of whether there are bodies which have been burnt in various houses,” said Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) said in a statement that the gas plant was illegal and that it had rejected three applications for construction permits to build a storage and filling facility at the site. Epra said the designs did not meet its safety standards and there was a high population around the proposed site. It is not clear how the facility was still able to operate.
Mr Mwaura, who visited the site, said the owners of the company involved must “compensate the victims” and take “full responsibility” for the explosion. “It is immoral to risk the lives of fellow Kenyans for profit,” he added. “Sometimes we have weak enforcement institutions and of course the element of corruption, which has now led to the death of three of us Kenyans.”
Kenyan Vice-President Rigathi Gachagua promised a tough government response. “As we call for caution and adherence to the rule of law, those culpable in this unacceptable occurrence will be held accountable,” he said.
About 10 trucks were completely burned inside the compound where the explosion occurred. One vehicle landed on top of a block of flats dozens of metres away, partially destroying the building’s front.
Witnesses told the BBC that the explosion sent objects including gas cylinders and a shipping container, flying into the air.
At the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, where many of the injured were initially treated, the BBC spoke to a man named Geoffrey. He said he and his family were woken by a big explosion and thought their building was collapsing.”When I saw that the fire was too much, I used my body to shield my child and sustained burns on my back in the process,” said Geoffrey.”My family members got minor injuries but I got the most severe burns”.
Isaac Mwaura, the government spokesperson, said a command centre has been set up to help co-ordinate rescue operations and humanitarian assistance is being given to those affected.
He also said the government plans to provide two months’ rent for survivors whose houses were razed in the explosion.
(BBC)
Foreign News
Myanmar military announces temporary truce as quake death toll passes 3,000

Myanmar’s governing military has declared a unilateral, temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war to facilitate rescue efforts after last week’s powerful earthquake, as state television reported the death toll from the disaster had surpassed 3,000.
MRTV said that the truce would last from Wednesday until April 22 and was aimed at making quake relief efforts easier.
The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army said in a statement.
The death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar rose to 3,003, and more than 4,500 were injured, MRTV reported late on Wednesday.
In neighbouring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 22, with hundreds of buildings damaged and 72 people missing.
In an incident underlining the challenge of delivering relief at a time of civil war in Myanmar, the military said its troops fired warning shots after a Chinese Red Cross convoy failed to pull over as it travelled in a conflict zone.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the media that its rescue team and supplies were safe after the incident on Tuesday.
Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, said at a news conference that Beijing hoped “all factions and parties in Myanmar will prioritise earthquake relief efforts, ensuring the safety of rescue personnel and supplies from China and other countries”.
“It’s necessary to keep transportation routes for relief efforts open and unobstructed,” Guo said.

Military government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said the Chinese Red Cross had not informed authorities it was in a conflict zone on Tuesday night, and a security team fired shots in the air after the convoy, which included local vehicles, failed to stop.
The military has struggled to run Myanmar following its coup against the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, reducing the economy and basic services, including healthcare, to tatters after civil war broke out.
The United Nations said more than 28 million people in the six regions were affected by the earthquake and that it put in place $12m in emergency funding for food, shelter, water, sanitation, mental health support and other services.
As hopes of finding more survivors were fading on Wednesday, rescuers pulled two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, and a third from a guesthouse in another city – five days after the magnitude 7.7 quake. But most teams were finding only bodies.
The rural parts of the hard-hit Sagaing region, mostly under the control of armed resistance groups fighting the military government, are among the most challenging for aid agencies to reach.
Earlier, Human Rights Watch urged the military government to allow unfettered access for humanitarian aid and lift curbs impeding aid agencies, saying donors should channel aid through independent groups rather than only the authorities.
“Myanmar’s junta cannot be trusted to respond to a disaster of this scale,” Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a report. “Concerned governments and international agencies need to press the junta to allow full and immediate access to survivors, wherever they are.”
[Aljazeera]
Foreign News
Death sentence for three Americans over DR Congo coup attempt overturned

Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said.
They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court.
The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May.
The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos.
Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, is expected to arrive in Kinshasa on Thursday on a trip that will also take him to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
The US has not declared the three Americans to be wrongfully jailed in DR Congo but the State Department said previously there have been talks between the countries over the matter.
The three were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, which they denied.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Netanyahu nominates new Israeli spy chief despite court order

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a former Navy commander to head the country’s domestic security services, despite the courts having blocked his bid to fire the previous head of Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that he had nominated Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead the agency, which surveils attacks from abroad and at home, including by armed groups based in Palestine and Lebanon. However, a halt to the sacking of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, ordered by the Supreme Court, remains in place.
[Aljazeera]
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