KCB Group surpassed Equity Group for the first time in four years with a 69 percent increase in net profit to Sh16.06 billion in the first quarter ending March 2024 due to more income and lower taxes.
The lender reported Wednesday that net profit rose from Sh9.5 billion, accounting for 43% of the full-year Sh37.46 billion recorded in December 2023.
KCB’s first-quarter net earnings were Sh16.06 billion, higher than Equity’s Sh15.4 billion. This is the first time KCB’s quarter-one net profit has surpassed that of Equity since 2020, when it was Sh6.26 billion versus Equity’s Sh5.82 billion.
“Despite a tough operating climate across the area, we experienced a good revenue performance in the business as we anchored prudent credit, liquidity, cost, and risk management,” said KCB Group CEO Paul Russo.
“Our deliberate investments in digital and payments capabilities and regional expansion continued to deliver impressive results.”
Interest revenue, mostly from lending, rose 40.8 percent to Sh31.06 billion as KCB’s loan book grew 9.6 percent to Sh1.09 trillion in the first quarter. Total operational income rose nearly a third to Sh48.5 billion as non-interest income from loan and advance fees and commissions rose 17.7% to Sh17.4 billion from Sh14.79 billion.
Net profit increased due to decreased taxes, coming in at Sh4.67 billion, or 22% of pre-tax earnings, compared to Sh6.77 billion, or 48.8%, for the previous quarter.
Lawrence Kimathi, chief finance officer at KCB Group, said investment in income-earning assets that don’t draw taxes, such as infrastructure bonds, caused the effective tax rate to decline. Government securities investment surged by roughly a third. The net profit of KCB Kenya, the group’s major subsidiary, rose 73.2 percent to Sh11.17 billion from Sh6.45 billion.
KCB wholly owns the National Bank of Kenya, which it plans to sell to Nigeria’s Access Bank. It tripled its net profit to Sh444.2 million from Sh101.1 million. Other subsidiaries contributed 17.9% to pre-tax profit, excluding KCB Bank Kenya, demonstrating the benefits of diversifying to Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
KCB Group’s operational expenses rose 18.8% to Sh27.33 billion in the period under review due to higher loan default provisioning, worker compensation, and other operating expenses. Income grew faster than operating expenses, improving the cost-to-income ratio to 43.3 percent from 51.2 percent.
The bank increased its loan loss provisions by 53.4% to Sh6.3 billion as the stock of loans with no interest or principal for three months rose to Sh205.3 billion from Sh176.5 billion. The non-performing loans ratio rose to 18.2% from 17.3% due to Kenyan downgrades and the translation of the foreign currency-denominated loan book, according to KCB. The cost of staff grew to Sh9.65 billion from Sh9.36 billion, while other operational expenses rose 13.5% to Sh8.4 billion.
KCB Group’s balance sheet rose to Sh1.996 trillion from Sh1.63 trillion, approaching Sh2 trillion, while deposits rose to Sh1.5 trillion from Sh1.19 trillion, mostly from Kenya.
“Compared to last year, we are optimistic about business prospects in the remaining part of the year. By achieving excellent financial performance and pursuing our future-proof business agenda, we have made substantial progress towards sustaining outstanding shareholder value, said KCB Group chair Joseph Kinyua.
In their investigation against Dr. Evanson Njoroge Kamuri, chief executive officer of Kenyatta National Hospital, detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission conducted a raid on the hospital’s offices.
Additionally, the commission was able to get court orders freezing his Housing Finance bank accounts holding Sh28 million. The CEO allegedly obtained the funds from the hospital through corrupt means, according to the detectives.
Allegations of Sh634,465,000 corruption at KNH have Dr. Kamuri under investigation. On Wednesday morning, the sleuths raided Kamuri’s office and made off with a trove of documents, catching many by surprise.
While he has been released by the detectives after being held briefly, the commission has announced the commencement of investigations into the accusations including alleged abuse of office, engaging in conflicts of interest, and irregularly awarding tenders to companies linked to him.
The institution’s overall operations have been impacted by the stalemate between Kamuri and some of the directors. Despite being the largest referral hospital in the region, KNH has fallen short in providing services that meet its requirements.
The Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) will open its portal for students who wish to transfer from institutions the agency has placed them on June 5.
Speaking on Tuesday KUCCPS CEO Agnes Mercy Wahome said the agency anticipates a smooth process that will guarantee completion of the entire process by July in time for all students to begin reporting in August.
She added that all the students qualified for the government sponsorship should apply for Higher Education Loans before they report to schools.
“A total of 153, 000 students who qualified (76 per cent) will get the Education funding. We will ensure a seamless process so that by August all students should be settled in their schools,” she said.
Wahome said the Bachelor of Education attracted the highest number of applicants from the 2023 cohortof Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
She said over 30,000 students have applied to pursue education.
KUCCPS placed 10,263 students in Teacher Training Institutes where they placed 734 students for Diploma Secondary Teacher Training and 9,529 for Teachers Training in Primary.
Male applicants maintain trend
The agency also placed 19,653 students in Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC).
Wahome said male applicants dominated placement to degree programmes sustaining a trend observed since the beginning of the central placement system.
“In contrast, female students were the majority of those placed in TVET, from the 2020/2021 Cycle to the present,” she said.
She said the placement is guided by the Placement Policy and Processing Procedure.
The key considerations are the applicant’s choices, merit (qualifications), and approved capacities.
She noted that KUCCPS applies affirmative action for gender, persons with disabilities, and marginalized regions.
Students can log in to KUCCPS portal to check their placement results.
During the 2023 KCSE Examination, a total of 899,453 candidates sat the Examination.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was on a US-made Bell 212 helicopter on Sunday when the aircraft crashed near the northwestern city of Tabriz.
Neither Raisi, nor any members of his accompanying delegation, emerged from the wreckage of the helicopter, which Iran procured decades ago from the US before the 1979 Iranian revolution.
The Bell 212 was first manufactured in Fort Worth, Texas, before its factory was moved to the Canadian city of Mirabel, Quebec in 1988, with production ceasing in 1998.
Although the aircraft made its first flight in 1968 for military purposes, its durability and ease of use made an good choice for civilian transportation.
The Bell 212 has the capacity to carry up to 15 passengers, including the pilot.
It can serve in firefighting missions, as well as cargo transport and armed reconnaissance.
Raisi’s helicopter was reportedly modified to carry 15 passengers.
Technical specifications
The Bell 212, which can be flown with either one or two pilots, is 17.41 meters (about 57 feet) long, with a height of 3.83 meters from the ground.
It weighs 2,962 kilograms (6,525 pounds) when empty, with a maximum takeoff weight of 5,080 kilograms and is powered by a 1,300-kilowatt engine with two rotors, each 14.63 meters long.
The helicopter normally flies at a speed of 118 miles per hour (190 kilometers) but can reach up to 137 miles per hour in combat flight.
It can travel up to 273 miles and operate at a maximum altitude of 17,388 feet.
Maintenance, spare parts shortages
Iran has faced difficulties maintaining US-made weapons and vehicles due to years of embargoes that have also caused spare part shortages.
The crashed Bell 212 helicopter is estimated to be at least 30 years old and it is believed that Iran’s military have 10 of its type in its inventory.
Michelle Ntalami a common figure in Kenya’s social webs has called it quits with her past life and announced her new path in Jesus.
Taking to her Instagram page, Ms Ntalami, shared a deeply personal and transformative experience that led to her embracing Christianity. Known for her social media presence and dating scandals with fellow women, the self confessed lesbian revealed that on August 21, 2023, she had a life-changing encounter with God, which she described as an overwhelming rush of love and light.
Michelle had a romantic relationship with former BBC presenter Makena Njeri.
Ntalami’s journey to this spiritual awakening was marked by personal struggles and a sense of hitting rock bottom. She recounted questioning God’s existence during a particularly difficult moment, only to receive a divine response. In that instant, she felt the presence of the Lord, who spoke to her about her life and experiences.
“I had a life-changing encounter with God Himself. As an astute businesswoman, life was beautiful. However, behind the success lay a heart that was deeply wounded by different human experiences along the journey of my life. Being an empath, the hurt began to take a toll. Last year, I hit rock bottom. One night in total surrender, I cried out to God questioning His existence.” She wrote.
“In an instant, I felt the most overpowering rush of love and light engulf me! A thunderous, beautiful voice called my name “Michelle” 3 times. He blinded me and threw me to the floor.In that moment, knew I was in the presence of the Lord!”
“Then God said; ‘Yes I am real. Yes I have seen your pain and I have been there through it all. Yes, I AM. Then, for about an hour, God showed me visions, and spoke to me about so many things in my life. The depth of this entire conversation and experience cannot be put in words. I will share in time.” She recounts.
Since that day, Ntalami’s life has undergone a significant transformation. She described feeling a peace like never before and a newfound dedication to living her life for the glory of God. Ntalami also expressed her intention to use her influence on social media to share her faith and touch the lives of others.
“From that day, my life has never been the same. God healed my heart and set me free. I’ve experienced a peace like no other. I’m not perfect. Walking with Christ is a journey. I was a sinner, saved by the Blood of Jesus. And my past life is a true testimony to this.” She said.
“What’s different about me? A lot. First, I fully gave my life to Jesus! Second, everything I do in my life including all my influence on social media, will all be for the Glory of God.” She added.
This announcement marks a new chapter in Ntalami’s life, one in which she seeks to decrease as God increases in her life, and to use her story to save souls and inspire others. Her post has garnered a lot of attention and support from her followers, who have joined her in celebrating her newfound faith.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS) says 134,743 students are poised to join public universities.
Speaking during the release of the placement report for the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates, the agency’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Agnes Wahome said 18,558 students have been placed in private universities.
11,991 students who had met the threshold for joining university opted to pursue diplomas.
85% of 2023 KCSE candidates with C+ and above made applications where 76.2% opted for Degree courses while the rest opted for Diploma (11,991).
Bachelor of Education attracted the highest number of applicants.
Male applicants continued to dominate placement to Degree programmes, sustaining a trend that has been observed since the beginning of the central placement system.
In contrast, female students were the majority of those placed in TVET, from the 2020/2021 Cycle to the present.
The agency also placed 19,653 students in Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC).
How to Check Placement Status
Learners who wish to know the higher institutions of learning they have been placed in are advised to log into their KUCCPS student portal.
“KUCCPS congratulates all the applicants whose placement report has been released today. Log in to http://students.kuccps.net to check the details of your university or college placement,” the placement service said.
Once the learner clicks the login link.
They will be required to enter their KCSE index number, then the year they sat the national exam and enter their password.
Learners can use their birth certificate numbers or their KCPE index number as used in KCSE exam registration as their password to log into the portal.
Once fully logged in, the learner will be able to see the university they have secured placement in and know the particular course.
Transfers
At the same time, KUCCPS will open its portal for students who wish to transfer from institutions the agency has placed them on June 5.
CEO Agnes Wahome said the agency anticipates a smooth process that will guarantee completion of the entire process by July in time for all students to begin reporting in August.
She added that all the students qualified for the government sponsorship should apply for Higher Education Loans before they report to schools.
“A total of 153, 000 students who qualified (76 per cent) will get the Education funding. We will ensure a seamless process so that by August all students should be settled in their schools,” she said.
In a move that is likely to widen speculations about a rift between the country’s top leadership, Members of Parliament allied to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have threatened to shoot down the Finance Bill 2024 should the second in command continue to be ‘sidelined’.
The lawmakers intend to begin speaking against the Bill in rallies and church functions, vowing to push for several amendments.
Speaking to The Standard, the leaders stated that, unlike the 2023 Finance Bill, they will wait for Gachagua’s directive on steps forward.
The leaders claim to have sought expertise from economists to better understand the Finance Bill to avoid voting for what they don’t understand. They reiterated that a vote against the bill would be the ultimate retaliation.
Some of the proposed taxes they intend to oppose include the Minimum Top-Up Tax, Motor Vehicle Circulation Tax, Significant Economic Presence Tax and 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on bread.
Mbeere North Member of Parliament Geoffrey Ruku cautioned that increasing VAT on basic commodities such as bread would further burden Kenyans. He also argued that some of the proposed taxes subvert the four principles of manufacturing.
“Any proposal coming from the Treasury which does not enhance the four factors of production, which includes land entrepreneurship and capital labour, should be discarded from debate in Parliament. We want to support these four engines of production so that we can move our nation forward. This time around, we must do justice to Kenyans,” Ruku told The Standard.
Tetu MP Geoffrey Wandeto complained that the government is only allocating Ksh4 billion to coffee farmers whereas Ksh117 billion has been allocated to clear sugarcane miller debts.
”If we allow such proposals to pass, we shall find it rough with our people. Our senior MPs from our camp should arrange and summon us for the way forward because we don’t want to repeat a mistake. This time round we shall be very alert. We should not allow something to be passed that will be detrimental to us when we go back to grassroots as we shall be at pains to explain it to our people,” said the MP.
The leaders claimed that the state had promised Ksh80 per kilogram of coffee but has since remitted half the money and failed to include the remainder in the 2024-2025 budget estimates.
Gachagua’s allies are expected to meet with experts drawn from local universities and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers on Friday, May 24, 2024, to discuss the Bill.
Confirming the meeting, Kieni MP Njoroge Wainaina stated that the leaders are determined to make an informed decision on the Bill rather than wait for directives on how to vote.
“On Friday, ten MPs will engage experts who will give their impartial views on the Finance Bill so that we don’t just oppose or second it without understanding it. This time around, it will not be business as usual, of going to Parliament and approving the bill,” he said.
(BBC)-Benjamin Netanyahu responded with fury to the news that he might face an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It was “a moral outrage of historic proportions”, he said. Israel was “waging a just war against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organisation that perpetrated the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
In a bitter personal attack, Mr Netanyahu said Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was one of the “great antisemites in modern times.”
Mr Khan, he said, was like judges in Nazi Germany who denied Jews basic rights and enabled the Holocaust. His decision to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defence minister was “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging around the world.’
Mr Netanyahu spoke English on the video that was released by his office. He does that when he wants his message to reach the foreign audience that matters most to him, in the US.
The outrage expressed by the prime minister, and echoed by Israel’s political leadership, was generated by pages of carefully chosen legal language in a statement issued by Mr Khan, the ICC chief prosecutor who is a British King’s Counsel.
Word by word, line by line, they add up to a devastating series of allegations against the three most prominent leaders of Hamas as well as Israel’s prime minister and defence minister.
A determination to apply international law and the laws of armed conflict to all parties, no matter who they are, lies at the heart of Mr Khan’s statement in which he lays out his justification for requesting arrest warrants.
“No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity.” The law, he says, cannot be applied selectively. If that happens, “we will be creating conditions for its collapse”.
It is the decision to hold both sides’ conduct up to the template of international law that is causing so much anger, and not just in Israel.
US President Joe Biden said it was “outrageous” to apply for arrest warrants. There was “no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
Hamas demanded the withdrawal of the allegations against its leaders, claiming that the ICC’s prosecutor was “equating the victim with the executioner”. It said the request to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership came seven months too late, after “the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes”.
Mr Khan does not make direct comparisons between the two sides, except to lay out his claim that they have both committed a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He also emphasises that this latest war comes in the context of “an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas”.
The court treats Palestine as a state as it has observer status at the United Nations, which meant it was able to sign up to the Rome Statute which created the ICC.
Mr Netanyahu has declared that Palestinians will never have independence on his watch.
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Palestinian enclave. Image | LightRocket via Getty Images
ICC’s Karim Khan announces arrest warrant application for Israeli and Hamas leaders
Instead of seeing disgraceful and false parallels between, as Israel’s President Isaac Herzog put it, “these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel”, human rights groups have applauded the way that the ICC prosecutor is seeking to apply the law to both sides.
Btselm, a leading Israeli human rights organisation, said the warrants marked “Israel’s rapid decline into a moral abyss”.
“The international community is signalling to Israel that it can no longer maintain its policy of violence, killing and destruction without accountability,” it added.
Human rights campaigners have complained for many years that powerful Western countries, led by the US, turn a blind eye to Israeli violations of international law, even as they condemn and sanction other states who are not in their camp.
The actions being taken by Mr Khan and his team are, they believe, long overdue.
Mr Khan says that the three main leaders of Hamas committed war crimes that include extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture.
The men named are Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Qassam Brigades, its military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau.
As part of their investigation, Karim Khan and his team interviewed victims and survivors of the 7 October attacks.
He said Hamas had assaulted fundamental human values: “the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness”.
Israel, Mr Khan said, does have the right to defend itself. But “unconscionable crimes” did not “absolve Israel of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law”.
The failure to do that, he said, justified issuing warrants for the arrest of Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes including starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, murder, extermination, and intentional attacks on civilians.
From the start of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October, President Biden has issued a series of rebukes to Israel, expressing concern that it was killing too many Palestinian civilians and destroying too much civilian infrastructure in Gaza.
But in a careful balancing act with a close ally which he has always supported, Mr Biden and his administration have not spelt out in public about what they mean.
Mr Khan makes his interpretation crystal clear. Israel, he says, has chosen criminal means to achieve its war aims in Gaza – “namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury” to civilians.
A panel of judges at the ICC now will consider whether to issue the arrest warrants. States signed up to the ICC’s Rome Statute would then be obliged to detain the men if they had the chance.
The 124 signatories do not include Russia, China and the US. Israel has not signed either.
But the ICC has ruled that it does have legal authority to prosecute criminal acts in the war because the Palestinians are signatories.
If the arrest warrants are issued, it would mean that Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, would not be able to visit close Western allies without risking arrest.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the ICC’s actions were “not helpful to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or humanitarian aid in”. But if the warrants are issued, Britain would have to make the arrests, unless it could argue successfully that Mr Netanyahu had diplomatic immunity.
An all-important exception for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant is the US. The White House believes the ICC does not have jurisdiction in the conflict, a position that might widen the split inside Joe Biden’s Democratic party over the war.
Progressives have already welcomed the ICC’s action. Staunch allies of Israel among the Democrats might support Republican moves to pass a law to sanction ICC officials or ban them from the US.
As rumours of impending indictments churned through Europe, America and the Middle East weeks ago, a group of Republican senators issued the kind of threat to Mr Khan and his staff that they might have heard in a movie.
“Target Israel and we will target you… you have been warned.”
Yoav Gallant would also be unable to travel freely. The words he used when announcing that Israel would besiege Gaza has been frequently quoted by critics of Israel’s conduct.
Two days after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, Mr Gallant said: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed… we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”.
Mr Khan writes in his statement that “Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival”.
Famine, he says, is present in parts of Gaza and imminent in others.
Israel denies there is a famine, claiming that food shortages are caused not by their siege – but by Hamas thefts and UN incompetence.
If an arrest warrant is granted for Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political branch, he will have to think harder about his regular trips to meet senior Arab leaders. He is likely to spend much more time at his base in Qatar, which like Israel, did not sign the Rome Statute that set up the ICC.
The other two accused Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, are believed to be hiding somewhere inside Gaza. An arrest warrant does not add much to the pressures on them. Israel has been trying to kill them for the last seven months.
The warrant would also put Mr Netanyahu in a category of accused leaders that also includes Russian President Vladmir Putin, and late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Mr Putin faces an arrest warrant for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Before he was killed by his own people, Col Gaddafi’s arrest warrant was for murder and persecution of unarmed civilians.
It is not attractive company for Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of a state that prides itself on its democracy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a call for arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will not tie Israel’s hands in its war on Gaza.
In video statement, Netanyahu said the ICC’s warrants are directed against all of Israel and reiterated that the court’s move was antisemitic.
He harshly attacked ICC Public Prosecutor Karim Khan, claiming that seeking to issue arrest warrants against him and Gallant along with three leaders from the Palestinian group Hamas is “an utter distortion of reality.”
Several Israeli officials including Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed Khan’s announcement made earlier in the day, with all of them accusing the ICC of antisemitism.
Hamas earlier called on Khan to cancel the request for arrest warrants against three of its leaders.
In a statement, it said the ICC’s arrest warrants came late after seven months “during which the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, doctors and journalists.”
Khan applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leaders including political chief Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and military chief Mohammed Deif.
Khan said he has reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed on Palestinian territories, specifically in the Gaza Strip, from at least Oct. 8 last year.
He added that the arrest warrants for the three Hamas leaders are for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed in Israel and the Gaza Strip “from at least 7 October 2023.”
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
More than 35,500 Palestinians have since been killed, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 79,600 others injured since last October following an attack by Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
(Reuters) -Footage has emerged showing the leader of an attempted coup in Democratic Republic of Congo broadcasting live on Facebook from inside the presidential palace shortly before he was killed by authorities following the failed putsch on Sunday.
In the video, Christian Malanga, named by the army as the ringleader, declares in the Lingala language: “We, the militants, are tired. We cannot drag on with Tshisekedi.”
Reuters was able to independently verify the location as the palace in Kinshasa by matching imagery to satellite data and file photos. The news agency also confirmed the date through corroborating information.
The government said Malanga, a US-based Congolese politician, was killed when his forces attacked the palace and residence of parliament speaker hopeful Vital Kamerhe in the early hours of Sunday.
Around 50 people including three American citizens were arrested, army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge told Reuters, adding that one of the US nationals was Malanga’s son.
WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange’s battle to avoid extradition to the United States received a huge boost on Monday when London’s High Court ruled that U.S. assurances over his case were unsatisfactory and he would get a full appeal hearing.
In March, the High Court provisionally gave Assange, 52, permission to appeal on three grounds. But it gave the U.S. the opportunity to provide satisfactory assurances that it would not seek the death penalty and would allow him to seek to rely on a First Amendment right to free speech in a trial.
In a short ruling, two senior judges said the U.S. submissions were not sufficient and said they would allow the appeal to go ahead.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza for war crimes.
Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from at least 7 October 2023.
The ICC, based in The Hague, has been investigating Israel’s actions in the occupied territories for the past three years – and more recently the actions of Hamas as well.
Mr Netanyahu recently called the prospect of senior Israel figures joining the ICC’s wanted list “an outrage of historic proportions”.
Known as a jurist and religious figure, the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was born on December 14, 1960, in Mashhad. Following the 1979 revolution, he began his career as a prosecutor in 1981.
Rising swiftly in his position, Raisi became Deputy Prosecutor General of Tehran at the young age of 25.
Raisi was part of a 4-member committee that, under the instruction of Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued the death sentences for regime opponents imprisoned in 1988.
After Khomeini’s death and during Ali Khamenei’s tenure, Raisi rapidly climbed the ranks in state offices. He served as Tehran’s prosecutor general from 1989 to 1994.
In 1994, Raisi was appointed as the head of the State Inspectorate Organization, a position he held for 10 years.
In 2004, Raisi was appointed as the first deputy chief of the judiciary. He later became Iran’s attorney general in 2014 and was appointed as the head of the Imam Reza Shrine and Foundation in Mashhad by Khamenei in 2016.
Raisi also ran as a candidate in the presidential elections held on May 19, 2017, but lost to the then-incumbent President Hassan Rouhani.
Following the dismissal of Ayatollah Amoli Larijani from the judiciary chief position and his appointment as the head of the Expediency Discernment Council by Khamenei, Raisi assumed the vacant position of judiciary chief in March 2019.
In the presidential elections held on June 18, 2021, Raisi won by a large margin, securing 62% of the votes, thus becoming Iran’s 8th president.
Biography: The Butcher Of Tehran
Raisi had been in office as President of Iran since August 3, 2021. He was a representative of the extremely conservative wing in Iranian politics, supported even greater Islamization of society, restrictions on women’s rights and control of the Internet.
Raisi previously served as Hamadan prosecutor, Tehran prosecutor, and Iran’s Attorney General.
In each of these positions, he participated in mass repression of opponents of the Ayatollah’s regime. Raisi handed down death sentences, personally participated in torture, and oversaw the executions of political dissidents.
Raisi was one of four men involved in the mass executions of Iranian political prisoners in 1988. Then, over a five-month period, thousands of prisoners of conscience across the country were kidnapped and extrajudicially executed. Many of those killed were tortured and brutally abused.
He also oversaw the execution of minors and brutal torture of Iranian prisoners, including amputations.
For this, Iran’s future president was nicknamed “The Executioner of Tehran.”
Earlier on Monday, President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and their companions were declared dead after their helicopter crashed in northwestern Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Sunday afternoon.
(Reuters)-Here are some key facts about Mohammad Mokhber, 68, Iran’s first vice president who became interim president on the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
* As interim president, Mokhber is part of a three-person council, along with the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary, that will organise a new presidential election within 50 days of the president’s death.
* Born on September 1, 1955, Mokhber, like Raisi, is seen as close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the last say in all matters of state.
Mokhber became first vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president.
* Mokhber was part of a team of Iranian officials who visited Moscow in October and agreed to supply surface-to-surface missiles and more drones to Russia’s military, sources told Reuters at the time. The team also included two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council.
* Mokhber had previously been head of Setad, an investment fund linked to the supreme leader.
* In 2010, the European Union included Mokhber on a list of individuals and entities it was sanctioning for alleged involvement in “nuclear or ballistic missile activities”. Two years later, it removed him from the list.
* In 2013, the US Treasury Department added Setad and 37 companies it oversaw to a list of sanctioned entities.
* Setad, whose full name is Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam, or the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, was set up under an order issued by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
It ordered aides to sell and manage properties supposedly abandoned in the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and channel the bulk of the proceeds to charity.
After a night-long search operation hampered by bad weather, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other top officials have been declared dead.
TheIRNA state news agencysays that also on board were Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, the imam for Friday prayers in the city of Tabriz, and General Malek Rahmati, the governor of the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan.
The commander of the president’s protection unit, Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, was also killed, as were a number of bodyguards and helicopter crew who have not yet been named.
The helicopter carrying President Raisi made a “hard landing” after it got into difficulties, state media reported.
The details of what happened remain unclear.
According to local media, Raisi washeading to the city of Tabriz,in the north west of Iran, after returning from the border with Azerbaijan, where he opened the Qiz Qalasi and Khodaafarin dams
The helicopter wasone of three travelling in a convoy.
Next Iran’s President
According to the Iranian Constitution, the first Vice President – Mohammad Mokhber – will now take over as the new president of the country for 50 days.
During this period, a high-powered council comprising the first vice president, the Speaker of Parliament and the chief of the judiciary have to make sure new elections are held.
Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution stipulates this, in the event of the death or illness of the sitting president.
“In the event of the death, removal, resignation, absence or illness of the president for more than two months, or in the event that the term of the presidency has ended and the new president has not yet been elected due to obstacles, the first vice president assumes his powers and responsibilities with the agreement of the leadership, and a council consisting of the speaker of the parliament, the head of the judiciary and the first vice president is obliged to arrange for early presidential elections to be held within a maximum period of fifty days,” says the article.
Raisi was elected Iran’s president in 2021 after winning by a landslide, garnering 17.9 million votes out of the 28.9 million cast during the polls.
He previously headed the Iranian judiciary and also served as the head of the revered Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, his hometown.
Official operations of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta have assumed a new twist after the government maintained that the fouth Head of State must move to Nairobi’s Nyari Office Complex which was used by the late President Mwai Kibaki.
The government’s stance is likely to ex- heighten the apparent stand-off between the government and Kenyatta over where the former President should operate from.
For almost two years now, the govern- ment has insisted that Uhuru moves into the property that was occupied by Kibaki in Nyari, while the retired president wants to convert his private residence into an office and rent paid by taxpayers.
The Nyari property, that sits on about an acre parcel of land, was bought at Sh250 million in 2013. Since exiting office, Kenyat- ta has never been allocated a government sponsored office as required by the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act of 2003.
The Act provides that any retired Presi- dent while still alive is entitled to an office and permanent staff, who shall be public officers remunerated on the terms dictated by the Salaries and Remuneration Com- mission (SRC) among other privileges.
“There’s an office complex in Nyari that has been used by a previous president, the
late President Mwai Kibaki, and he occu- pied that office for nine years. It is very well known that the office is there and former President Kibaki used it for nine years. It is vacant. President Uhuru Kenyatta can use that office as and when he deems fit to use it,” State House Spokesman Hussein Mo- hammed said.
On his part, Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said that Kenya trusts and believes in the role of its former leaders adding that their offices are supported in accordance to the law.
Budgetary allocations
He exonerated Ruto’s administration from any wrong doing following media reports that the government had denied Kenyatta money to fund retirement office.
“As far as we are concerned, we have seen nothing that the government has done to diminish the role of that office. I think Kenya is a well-known democratic state has institutions, including institu- tions touching on budgetary allocations,” Korir said.
He went on: “The entire budgetary pro- cess takes a while. Citizens are consulted. They provide their input. Parliament is now taking charge of the process through the fi- nance bill and the finance legislation.”
On reports that the former President’s of- fice being denied operational funds, Mo- hammed said there were official channels Uhuru’s office can access the funds.
“As for the other matters about budget, there are channels and mechanisms to access budget and provision in the Office of the Fourth President and all those have been provided for officially for any official engagement,” the Spokesperson said.
Standoff erupted
According to the PS, the Foreign Office does not see anything to warrant any con- cerns regarding Kenya’s democratic cre- dentials as President Ruto heads to the US for a state visit.
A standoff has erupted between Kenyat- ta and President William Ruto’s govern- ment after the former declined to occupy the Nyari office.
It emerged that former Head of State prefers an office near Statehouse but the
government has been adamant to yield to his demand terming it as misuse of public funds.
It is said that Uhuru wants to be allowed to operate from an office of his choice, the same way others who retired before him like former Presidents Kibaki and Daniel arap Moi , former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Vice Presidents Moody Awori and Kalonzo Musyoka were allowed.
The former president has explained that he wants his Caledonia residence in Nairobi to serve as the office of the retired President.
Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Everton proved in vain as their hopes of a first Premier League title for 20 years were crushed on the final day of the season on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s side began the day needing a win and for Manchester City to fail to beat West Ham United — a scenario that few inside The Emirates Stadium believed would happen.
All hope looked lost when Idrissa Gueye’s deflected free kick put Everton in front and City led 2-0 but Takehiro Tomiyasu levelled before halftime at around the same time that West Ham halved the deficit at City.
Kai Havertz fired home Arsenal’s winner late meaning they ended the season with six successive victories but they had to settle for the runners-up spot for the second successive season as City wrapped up a record fourth consecutive title by beating West Ham 3-1.
Manchester City edged out Arsenal on the line to clinch their fourth consecutive English Premier League title following a 3-1 victory over West Ham on the final day of action on Sunday.
City became the first ever team in Premier League history to win four titles in a row, while Arsenal were left licking their wounds despite laboring to a 2-1 victory over Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London.
Two goals from Phil Foden in the first half set Pep Guardiola’s team on course for its latest title. Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal back for West Ham with a stunning overhead kick, but Rodri restored City’s advantage as it marched toward a sixth title in seven seasons.
Guardiola’s team needed to beat West Ham at Etihad Stadium to be certain of the title, having gone into the game two points clear at the top of the standings.
Foden helped ease any potential nerves among the home fans when firing City ahead with a brilliant goal inside two minutes.
Receiving a pass from Bernardo Silva, Foden side-stepped West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse and unleashed a left-foot shot outside the area that rocketed into the top corner. The goal was timed at just under 80 seconds.
Foden, England’s footballer of the year, added a second in the 18th minute when converting Jeremy Doku’s cross from close range.
Kudus produced a moment of magic in the 42nd with an acrobatic overhead kick that might have given Arsenal hope of an unlikely comeback.
But it didn’t take City long to extend its lead again after the break as Rodri fired low a effort from the edge of the box that West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola could not keep out despite getting a hand to the ball.
City ended the season with 91 points — two more than Arsenal.
Sean “Diddy” Combs admitted that he beat his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack, saying in a video apology he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” the music mogul said in a video statement posted Sunday to Instagram and Facebook.
The video aired Friday shows Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching and kicking Cassie, an R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend at the time. The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her direction.
Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November over what she said was years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The suit was settled the next day, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
He denied the allegations in the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives had responded to the newly emerged video until Sunday.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy says on the video. He adds, “I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
Combs is looking somber and wearing a T-shirt in the selfie-style apology video, and appears to be on a patio. It is the hip-hop mogul’s most direct response after six months of allegations that have threatened his reputation and career. Previous statements have been released through his lawyers.
The security camera video, dated March 5, 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles described in Ventura’ lawsuit.
The suit alleges that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security video immediately after the incident. Neither he or his representatives have addressed that specific allegation. CNN did not say how it obtained the footage.
Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating. The statutes of limitations for the assault and battery charges he would be likely to face expired years ago.
Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has long been seen as a protégé to Iran’s supreme leader and a potential successor for his position within the country’s Shiite theocracy.
News of his helicopter making what state media described as a “hard landing” on Sunday immediately brought new attention to the leader, who already faces sanctions from the U.S. and other nations over his involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.
Raisi, 63, previously ran Iran’s judiciary. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, the relatively moderate cleric who as president reached Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
In 2021, Raisi ran again in an election that saw all of his potentially prominent opponents barred for running under Iran’s vetting system. He swept nearly 62% of the 28.9 million votes, the lowest turnout by percentage in the Islamic Republic’s history. Millions stayed home and others voided ballots.
Raisi was defiant when asked at a news conference after his election about the 1988 executions, which saw sham retrials of political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as “death commissions” at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
After Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, heavily armed by Saddam Hussein, stormed across the Iranian border from Iraq in a surprise attack. Iran blunted their assault.
The trials began around that time, with defendants asked to identify themselves. Those who responded “mujahedeen” were sent to their deaths, while others were questioned about their willingness to “clear minefields for the army of the Islamic Republic,” according to a 1990 Amnesty International report. International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed. Raisi served on the commissions.
The U.S. Treasury in 2019 sanctioned Raisi “for his administrative oversight over the executions of individuals who were juveniles at the time of their crime and the torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including amputations.” It also mentioned his involvement in the 1988 executions.
Iran ultimately is run by its 85-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But as president, Raisi supported the country’s enrichment of uranium up to near-weapons-grade levels, as well as it hampering international inspectors as part of its confrontation with the West.
Raisi also supported attacking Israel in a massive assault in April that saw over 300 drones and missiles fired at the country in response for a suspected Israeli attack that killed Iranian generals at the country’s embassy compound in Damascus, Syria — itself a widening of a yearslong shadow war between the two countries.
He also supported the country’s security services as they cracked down on all dissent, including in the aftermath of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests that followed.
The monthslong security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death after her arrest for not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
What happens if an Iranian president dies in office?
Below is brief outline of what Iran’s constitution says happens if a president is incapacitated or dies in office:
* According to article 131 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution, if a president dies in office the first vice president takes over, with the confirmation of the supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state.
* A council consisting of the first vice president, the speaker of parliament and the head of the judiciary must arrange a election for a new president within a maximum period of 50 days.
Raisi was elected president in 2021 and, under the current timetable, presidential elections are due to take place in 2025.
