Kenyan governor turns away top officials for lateness

 A newly elected Kenyan governor has won praise for harsh office rules after turning away top officials from a meeting for arriving minutes later than him.

Governor George Natembeya of Trans-Nzoia county, in western Kenya, ordered doors to be closed for anyone arriving past 09:00 local time, the time set for the meeting.

The meeting with County Executive Committee members, equivalent of cabinet ministers, was meant to discuss the county’s development plan for the next five years.

“When I say we meet at 9am sharp I mean 9am sharp and not 9:01am. I personally arrived here five minutes earlier so everyone should learn to keep time. Past the said time, if you are out, remain there,” Mr Natembeya is quoted as saying by local outlets.

The governor gained a reputation for his strictness in his former role as a government administrator.

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Police Arrest Five Chinese Suspects In Connection With The Ellembelle Excavators

 As part of an ongoing investigation into the Ellembelle excavators, the Police have arrested five Chinese suspects for their involvement in the case.

An intelligence-led operation from the night of 7th September till the dawn of 8th September 2022 led to the arrest of Shi Zhong Qix, Wei Lin Xi, Huang Qian Xi, Li Jian Wen and Huang Qian Sheng, at their hideout at Asiama, in the Ellembe District of the Western Region.

The Ghana Immigration Service has been contacted for details of their immigration status and their Ghanaian sponsors to assist with the investigation.

As the investigation continues, “we would like to assure the public that all other accomplices, both Ghanaian and foreigners will be arrested and brought to face justice.”

Meanwhile the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ellembelle, Mr. Kwasi Bonzo has been granted police enquiry bail.

“We would like to commend the Regional and all the teams involved in the operations for their continued selflessness and patriotism.” Police said

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

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Ghanaian Kwasi Kwarteng appointed new UK Chancellor of the Exchequer

 THIS JUST IN – New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has appointed her ideological ally and former business secretary of Boris Johnson Kwasi Kwarteng as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Kwarteng had been business and energy minister since January 2021, previously holding a junior role in the department, and he also worked in the Brexit ministry. He described his appointment as “the honour of a lifetime” in a post on social media.

Kwarteng replaces Nadhim Zahawi who took up the role when his predecessor Rishi Sunak quit, saying in his resignation letter to Mr. Johnson that their approaches to the economy were “fundamentally too different”.

The Eton-educated son of Ghanaian immigrants, Mr Kwarteng only took up his first cabinet role last year, but has been a long-term ally of Ms Truss’s since they entered the commons together back in 2010.

“Kwasi Kwarteng clearly has been a big part of Team Truss… So she’s putting in someone who she thinks shares her sort of governing philosophy and priorities,” said Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute for Government think-tank and a former Treasury official.

DNT News, London with correspondence reports from Linda Wayoe

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Typhoon Hinnamnor: Seven drown in flooded South Korean car park

 Seven people in South Korea have died after they were trapped in an underground car park during floods caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor.

They had gone down to move their cars but got caught by the incoming torrents.

Crew said they rescued two people, who reportedly survived by clinging to ceiling pipes for more than 12 hours.

Typhoon Hinnamnor, the strongest cyclonic storm this year so far, hit South Korea earlier this week.

Rescuers had to wade through metres of brown water to enter the almost completely submerged basement on Tuesday night.

According to news site Yonhap, all nine people were residents of an apartment building who had earlier on Tuesday morning been told by the management office to move their cars from the car park.

The survivors – a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s – were reported to be in stable condition.

Crews remove a body – covered by a white sheet -from the submerged basement car park

The water rushed in before many people were able to get out

President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed his grief over the drownings, calling it a “disaster”.

“I couldn’t sleep last night because of this tragedy,” he said.

He added that he had designated the city a special disaster zone, and would travel to the region later on Wednesday.

Pohang, the city where the tragedy occurred, has suffered the worst damage across the country. In one area, a beachside hotel collapsed on its foundations during the storm. The resort operators told the BBC no guests had been injured.

The beachside resort collapsed during the storm

At least 10 people have now died as a result of Typhoon Hinnamnor, which swept South Korea’s southern and eastern coasts on Monday and Tuesday, driving huge surf, gale-force winds and heavy rain. Several other cities across the south – including Busan and Ulsan- are also dealing with wreckage caused by the storm, which ripped up roads, smashed building windows and flattened trees.

South Korea – like many countries in East Asia – has over the past few months endured extreme rains as well as record temperatures.

In early August, it recorded massive downpours which flooded cities, including the capital Seoul. Such floods killed at least eight people, including three who were living in basement apartments.

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Nigeria arrests woman with 15 trafficked children

 

Nigerian police have arrested a 44-year-old woman for alleged theft of 15 children in the southern Rivers state.

The police say the children were abducted in order to be trafficked by the woman – who claimed to be a nun running an orphanage.

The children are reportedly aged between four and 15 years.

The police said they were working to reunite the children with their parents.

State Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, said investigations revealed that some had been abducted years ago, including a nine-year-old boy who had been taken from a market in 2020.

He said some of the children had recounted to the police their experiences of torture and mistreatment.

He said a further probe into the incident was ongoing with a view to arrest other suspects linked to the crimes.

Human trafficking is common in Nigeria.

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New York returns $19m worth of stolen art to Italy

 New York’s district attorney has returned $19m (£16m) worth of stolen art to Italy.

The 58 pieces include a marble head of the goddess Athena dated 200 BC, worth an estimated $3m alone.

The stolen artefacts were sold on to museums and private dealers by convicted looters, said Mr Alvin Bragg.

It is the city’s latest effort to return plundered goods to their country of origin – $66m worth have been returned so far this year.

The head of the DA’s antiquities trafficking unit promised there would be ”many more seizures and many more repatriations”.

Homeland Security was part of the investigation to seize and repatriate these objects to the Italians – 21 of these came from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Although the pieces have immense monetary value, an Italian official described them as “priceless”.

General Roberto Riccardi said he felt especially happy knowing that these objects would be returning to communities who will know “where we come from, about our history, about our identity”.

Investigators had worked for years to track down the art smugglers’ trails and locate the items that were being repatriated, according to Homeland Security officials.

Giacomo Medici and Giovanni Franco Becchina are among the convicted robbers who used a network throughout Italy to steal pieces from unguarded sites, according to the DA’s office.

It said these objects were eventually imported to the US where they were sold to American billionaire Michael Steinhardt, who is now banned from buying antiquities after evidence found that items he owned had been looted and illegally smuggled.

In 2021, Mr Steinhardt surrendered treasures worth $70m as part of a deal which means he will not face criminal charges.

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Nigeria seizes donkey penises for export at airport

 Nigeria’s customs service has intercepted 7,000 donkey penises at an airport in the commercial hub, Lagos, that were headed to Hong Kong, according to an official.

The animal parts were packed in 16 sacks found in the animal export section, said Sambo Dangaladima, the customs controller at Murtala Muhammed airport.

He said the smell from the sacks aroused suspicion of the authorities.

The consignment is estimated to be worth 200 million Naira ($478,000; £416,000)

A suspect linked to the package is said to have escaped.

Donkey parts are sought after in China where they are used to make traditional medicine.

Nigerian law forbids export of donkey parts.

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