Kenyas former Chief Government Pathologist, Dr. Moses Njue on, accused of stealing the heart of a corpse at Lee Funeral Home three years ago, has denied the allegation.

Dr Njue was charged at a Nairobi court alongside his son, Lemuel Anasha Mureithi who was his assistant pathologist.

They are accused of stealing the heart of Timothy Mwandi Muumbo while performing an autopsy on June 25, 2015.

Mureithi was not in court and Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi issued summons for him to appear in court and answer to the charges before the hearing date on July 3.

Dr Njue denied a further count of destroying the heart, to conceal evidence, knowing that the autopsy report would be used as evidence in a case pending in court.

He denied a third count of illegally removing the heart.

The court had earlier rejected an application by Dr Njue to defer the plea arguing Mr Muumbos relatives, had filed a petition before the High Court, seeking to compel him to release the body part. According to Dr Njue, the trial will prejudice the High Court case.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Catherine Mwaniki objected the application saying Dr Njue was not the applicant in the petition and the trial court had not been served with orders, stopping the proceedings.

Mr Andayi agreed with Ms Mwaniki saying that there was nothing stopping the court from proceeding with the case.

After denying the charges, the court ordered Dr Njue to deposit cash bail of Sh300,000 to secure his release.

Another family in Meru County complained that they buried their relative minus the heart after Dr Njue performed an autopsy to establish the cause of his death.

The DPP had recommended that Dr Njue, who resigned from the government a few years ago to work at his own medical school, be charged with theft of body parts belonging to Benedict Karau.

Mr Karau died mysteriously on March 2, 2015 and Dr Njue was set to be charged with three counts including theft contrary to section 275 of the penal code, wilful destruction of evidence and illegal removal of body parts contrary to the Anatomy Act.

But Dr Njue rushed to court and obtained orders obtained an anticipatory bail and filed a petition seeking to block the charges.

Source:

Source: NAN

Uganda has imposed taxes on religious groups for sale of Bibles, Koran, prayer and hymn books.

The countrys Revenue Authority (URA) imposed the taxes prompting clerics across faith groups expressing consternation and disbelief.

The clerics are insisting that religious materials should be tax-exempt since they use them for spiritual nourishment of Ugandans.

However, the URA commissioner general, Ms Doris Akol, disagreed, saying the practice of not taxing the entities and materials was in the first place an anomaly.

We understand that Value-Added Tax (VAT) has in the past not been paid on the said Bibles, prayer books and hymn books. This was an anomaly, she wrote in an April 19 letter.

Ms Akol was responding to a petition a month earlier by the Church of Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali.

The prelate had asked the tax man to release a consignment of 9,120 prayer and hymn books imported from Nairobi, Kenya, without the church having to pay VAT.

In his March 18 letter, Archbishop Ntagali noted that items had been shipped in by Centenary Publishing House Limited, Church of Ugandas (CoU) publishing arm, which in his view should be tax-exempt.

It is from this point of view that we write to you, appealing that the VAT be waived since they (books) are used to educate the masses and Christians by spreading the word of God as our nations motto affirms, For God and my country, he stated.

Ms Akol said she had no power to waive a tax not excluded under the law and, as such, URA released the consignment only after CoU paid Ush8.9 million ($2,395).

In a country where nine out of every 10 citizens are either Christians or Muslims, the proposed tax that a church official said would result in increase of, for instance, a hymn books cost by Ush3,000 ($0.80).

If enforced, it also means the government could raise substantial revenues from taxes on religious materials.

The religious institutions were unable to immediately provide the number of Bibles, Korans and other worship materials sold in a year.

Mr Joshua Kitakule, the secretary general of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, an umbrella body of different faiths, on Monday said whereas religions should not entirely be tax-exempt, imposing 18 per cent VAT on Bibles, Korans and prayer books would be erroneous.

These items are not meant for profit; so, it is erroneous to tax them. Prayer books are supposed to strengthen the spiritual nourishment of individuals, he said.

The tax bodys break from tradition followed months of engagement with religious leaders who remained opposed to the proposal.

For instance, Mr Ramathan Mugalu, the secretary general of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, said President Museveni had said all imported prayer materials that are not for sale should not be taxed.

This government has gone too far in its collection of taxes. How can you tax the word of God? It should instead come in to assist in publishing these materials, Mr Mugalu said.

Canon Joram Kahenano, a CoU commissioner, said URA should have referred its proposal for consideration by Parliament before proceeding to implement it.

Source: NAN

A school in Kenya has closed down on Monday over fears of demons in the school compound that has left a number of students hysterical.

Luani Mixed Day and Boarding Secondary School is an ABC sponsored institution at the top of Luani hills, Kaiti sub-county, Makueni.

According to the students, in the last few days, strange forces have been pelting them with stones at night. Even more bizarre, female students claim they have been sexually assaulted by demons. Sources that sought anonymity claim students have been screaming incomprehensibly paralysing night preps.

When The Standard contacted the County Education Director, Ms. Jane Njogu, she confirmed that the school had been shut down. “The school was closed but today we are going there to have a meeting for the way forward”, she said.

Area assistant chief Francis Kimaiyo said the school has been performing well and that it was the first time the school is experiencing such strange events. “We have not had such a scenario in the past, though authorities have visited the school”, he said.

Cases of demons invading schools in the sub-county have been rampant but the institutions have been preferring to deal with the cases through the use of religious leaders avoiding cultural cleansing. A recent case was in Kwa Makuli primary school.

The Kaiti Assistant County Commissioner Benard Nicholas says they will be investigating the claims. He also says they will be looking at other reasons that have prompted the students’ allegations; especially those that have escaped from the school.

“We are investigating the matter and majorly a possibility that the students might not be willing to study”, The ACC said. The school has close to 300 students who will continue staying at home as the matter is looked at by Education authorities.

Source: StandardMedia

The Yobe Government says it has established a dedicated account to ensure the completion of the N11billion Damaturu International Cargo Airport before the tenure expiration of the present administration.

Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam made the disclosure on Tuesday while inspecting work on the project in Kalallawa village, 17 kilometres from Damaturu.

We have opened a dedicated account called the Airport Project Account, money is there waiting for payment at any time, Gaidam said.

The governor expressed satisfaction with the speed and quality of work at the airport.

Gaidam said the contractors should complete the project on time because government has the money to execute the project.

He said the state government had paid N5.6 billion out of the N11.3 billion contractual fee.

According to the governor, the project is cost effective compared to airports constructed at over N63 billion in other states.

Gaidam said work has reached 51.5 per cent completion with impressive speed and quality.

The contract was awarded in September 2017 with 15 months completion period.

Source: NAN

Zimbabwe has followed Lesotho by legalisingthe production of marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes, making it the second African country to turn the drug into a source of revenue.

However, recreational use of the drug known in the country as mbanje or dagga remains illegal.

A government notice by the health and child care minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa says individuals and corporations can apply for licenses to grow marijuana, whose production and possession had brought up to 12 years in prison.

Producers of mbanje must be licensed by the minister, reported Zimbabwe Herald.

The notice was contained in a Government Gazette Statutory Instrument 62 of 2018 (Dangerous Drugs Production of Cannabis for Medicinal and Scientific Use Regulations).

An application for the issue of a licence in terms of section 27 of the Act shall be made to the Minister, in duplicate and shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee and three copies of a plan of the site proposed to be licensed which shall comply with the requirement specified in these regulations.

In case of an individual, proof of citizenship or proof of being ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe or proof of an exemption by the Minister (will be required), reads the regulations.

In the case of a company, proof of citizenship or proof of being ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe of the majority of directors or proof of an exemption by the Minister and proof of incorporation in Zimbabwe of the company; and a declaration, signed and dated by the proposed authorised person in charge, stating that the authorised person in charge, the proposed responsible person in charge and, if applicable, the proposed alternate responsible person in charge, are familiar with the provisions of the Act (will be required), reads the regulations.

The application for the licence must also provide a detailed description of the method that the applicant proposes to use for keeping records.

The Minister has powers to audit the activities of the licensed producer with respect to cannabis.

The application shall also contain the following (a) if applicable, the maximum quantity expressed as net weight in grammes of fresh cannabis, dried cannabis, cannabis oil to be produced by the applicant under the licence and the production period . . . and the maximum number of cannabis plants to be sold or provided by the applicant under the licence and the period in which that quantity is to be sold or provided, read the regulations.

In case of an application for a licence to sell or provide fresh cannabis or cannabis oil under, the applicant must provide the Minister before commencing to sell or provide the substance, with the dried cannabis equivalence factor determined under section 73 and the method that they used to determine it.

If an applicant intends to possess, produce, sell, provide, ship, deliver, transport or destroy cannabis at more than one site, a separate application must be submitted for each proposed site.

A licensed producer designate one authorised person in charge to have overall responsibility for management of the activities conducted by the licensed producer under their licence at their site who may, if appropriate, be licensed producer.

The latest move on marijuana by Zimbabwe is a marked shift from the traditionally tough stance in the largely conservative country.

The tiny nation of Lesotho last year became the first African country to issue a license for medical marijuana.

Countries including Malawi and Ghana are reportedly exploring ways to legalise the drug. Nigerias National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency continues to arrest people in possession of marijuana.

A South African court last year ruled that private use of marijuana was legal but the government appealed.

Source: NAN

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday the worlds largest social network will soon include a new dating feature while vowing to make privacy protection its top priority in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Zuckerberg unveiled the plans as he addressed Facebooks annual developers conference in San Jose, California emphasizing that the focus would be on helping people find long-term partners.

This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships, not just hook-ups, Zuckerberg said in presenting the new feature, noting that one in three marriages in the United States start online and that some 200 million Facebook users identify as being single.

Under the new feature, users will be able to create a separate dating profile not visible to their network of friends, with potential matches recommended based on dating preferences, points in common, and mutual acquaintances.

Zuckerberg did not specify whether the feature would be free of charge, in line with Facebooks core offer but the announcement was enough to send shares in the online dating giant Match.com tumbling by 17 percent.

The 33-year-old CEO also said the dating offer was built from the ground-up with privacy and safety in mind, as he underscored the firms commitment to boosting privacy protections.

Facebooks closely-watched developer conference comes as the giant faces intense global scrutiny over the mass harvesting of personal data by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy that worked for Donald Trumps 2016 election campaign.

Facebook has admitted up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked in the scandal, which saw Zuckerberg grilled at length by the US Congress last month.

We need to make sure that never happens again, Zuckerberg told the audience.

Clear history

In a related move, Facebook Tuesday announced an upcoming feature called Clear History that will allow users to see which apps and websites send the network information, delete the data from their account, and prevent Facebook from storing it.

The social network has already moved to limit the amount of data it shares with third-party applications and plans further steps to prevent a repeat of the Cambridge Analytica debacle, Zuckerberg said.

Facebook is also reviewing applications overall as well as auditing those that accessed large amounts of data to make sure access isnt abused, he said.

Security isnt a problem than you ever fully solve, Zuckerberg said, outlining the slew of efforts by Facebook to battle election interference, misinformation, spam among other challenges.

This is an arms race; we are going to be working to stay ahead of our adversaries forever.

Message translation

Facebook separately announced Tuesday that its popular Messenger app would soon be able to translate missives in real time, deploying artificial intelligence to enable text conversations between people using different languages.

Source: NAN

Twitter on Thursday urged its more than 300 million users to change their passwords, saying they had been unintentionally unmasked inside the company by a software bug.

The social media site said it found no sign that hackers accessed the exposed data, but advised users to change their passwords to be safe.

Twitter practice is to store passwords encrypted, or hashed, so they are masked to even people inside the company, Twitter chief technology officer Parag Agrawal explained in a blog post.

Due to a bug, passwords were written to an internal log before completing the hashing process, he said.

We found this error ourselves, removed the passwords, and are implementing plans to prevent this bug from happening again.

The San Francisco-based internet company did not specify how many passwords were exposed or how long the glitch made data vulnerable to snooping.

Out of an abundance of caution, we ask that you consider changing your password on all services where youve used this password, Agrawal told users.

We are very sorry this happened, he said.

The stumble comes as the sector faces intense scrutiny over the protection of personal data online, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw information from tens of millions of Facebook users hijacked and misused.

Twitter shares ebbed about a percent to $30.36 in after-market trades that followed word of the password mishap.

Going public with a security slip and getting users to take precautions is preferable to remaining mum and hoping no data was taken, according to independent technology industry analyst Rob Enderle.

When in doubt, it is better to have people change passwords than to be wrong, Enderle said.

With security, it is always better to err on the side of caution.

The analyst thought it unlikely people would abandon Twitter simply for being asked to change passwords.

Openly admitting our mistakes quickly, learning, and moving on, Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said in a tweet that including a link to Agrawals blog post.

I love my teammates.

Twitter last week reported its second consecutive quarterly profit, boosting the outlook for the platform after years in the red.

The social network earned $61 million in the first three months of the year, helped by strong growth in advertising revenue and modest gains in users.

First quarter revenues rose 21 percent from a year ago to $665 million, and the key metric of monthly active users increased by six million from late last year to 336 million.

Source: NAN

As reactions continue to trail the controversial comments made earlier this week by U.S. rapper Kanye West, that slaverywas a choice, a Detroit radio station has said it will ban his music.

Hosts Shay Shay and BiGG of 105.1 the Morning Bounce made the announcement on Facebook with the hashtag Mute Kanye.

Kanye has gone too far with his latest comments, they said. They wrote that they are refusing to give him a platform, according toNew York Post.

We dont want to hear Kanyes music, we dont want to play Kanye on our show, we dont want to talk about Kanye anymore, the post read.

So we are taking a stand and we arent playing his music anymore; we just are refusing to give him a platform.

The ban will be for the entire hip-hop station and will include tracks that West produced or is featured in as well, theDetroit Free Pressreported.

West faced swift backlash following an interview withTMZon Tuesday, where he said when you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice.

The music mogul took to twitter shortly after to try and walk back his comments and compared himself to both Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman.

If this was 148 years ago I would have been more like Harriet or Nat, West tweeted, before clarifying the reason he brought up the 400 years point is because we cant be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years.

We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thoughtIt was just an idea.

The two morning DJs didnt announce how long the ban will last, and left it open to a gut feeling.

Thats what it is right now. We need a break, Shay Shay, told thepaper. I think its a gut feeling of when well be able to feel comfortable playing it again, when well want to hear it again, and more importantly, when will our listeners want to hear it again.

West was banned from a Hot 103.5 in Sacramento in 2016 after he attacked radio stations and fellow artists during a concert for his Saint Pablo Tour.

Source: NAN

David Goodall, a 104-year-old Australian scientist who committed assisted suicide in Switzerland today left some parting shots, saying choosing how and when to die should be a right.

Speaking to reporters at a hotel near Spalentor Gate in Basel on Wednesday, Goodall stressed he was happy to have the chance to end his life in Switzerland but would have preferred to do so back home.

Everyone over middle age should have the right unquestioned to end their lives as and when they choose, but we have quite a way to go in Australia for that, he said.

Asked by reporters what would be his last meal, the centenarian wryly noted that he is rather limited in his culinary enjoyments these days.

Goodall said he had no doubts over his chosen course of action and was grateful for the opportunity to come to an end gracefully.

There are many things I would like to do, but its too late.Im content to leave them undone.

My abilities have been in decline over the past year or two, my eyesight over the past six years.I no longer want to continue life. I am happy to have the chance tomorrow to end it, he said.

Goodall died today after taking a fatal sleeping drug and was surrounded by four family members and a close friend.

The renowned ecologist had flown to the clinic from his home in Australia where euthanasia is illegal.

He was not terminally ill but said he had grown tired of living with deteriorating health.

Dr Goodall had arrived at the clinic just before 11am on Thursday morning and enjoyed a final meal of fish and chips and cheesecake, which was his favourite.

Beethovens 9th Symphony was played in the room at the suicide clinic in Liestal, near Basel, as he took the fatal overdose of the sleeping drug.

Goodall arrived in Switzerland on May 7, after visiting relatives in the French city of Bordeaux.

He celebrated his 104th birthday on April 4. The scientist was granted a fast-track appointment at the Life Circle clinic in Basel.

Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world to allow assisted suicide, in which a person is given a lethal drug to administer themselves.

Assisted dying is illegal in Australia. except for one state, Victoria, which in November 2017 voted to legalize euthanasia in some cases.

That law doesnt come into effect until mid-2019 and would not benefit Goodall because he is not terminally ill or suffering from an incurable disease.

Born in London in 1914, he went to Australia in 1948 to teach at the University of Melbourne.

He married three times, has four children and twelve grandchildren. The family is scattered around the world.

By his bedside Thursday will be one of the scientists sons along with some grandchildren, who came from the United States and France respectively.

Goodall is a veteran member of Exit International, an end-of-life choices information and advocacy organisation.

He unsuccessfully tried to take his life earlier this year and had a fall at his home in Perth.

The organization arranged his appointment at Life Circle and raised funds for the scientist to travel business class from Australia to Switzerland.

In the vanguard
Exit International director Philip Nitschke says there is a growing generation of older people who are living longer than ever before, who are not ill, and who are demanding end of life choices.

Professor David Goodall is at the vanguard of this generational change in deciding when and how to die, he said, urging more countries to adopt laws similar to those of Switzerland.

The scientist will take the drug Nembutal, a barbiturate, intravenously. He will turn a knob that will allow a saline solution mixed with the drug to flow into his system.

He will go to sleep within a minute or two and be dead within the hour, says Dr. Fiona Stewart, publisher and co-author of the The Peaceful Pill Handbook.

Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe overdosed on barbiturates in 1962 in a death characterized as a probable suicide. American guitarist Jimi Hendrix died of a similar overdose in 1970.

Stewart says more than 30 Australians have made the trip to Switzerland since the 1998 foundation of Dignitas in Zurich. The number is at least ten times higher for Britons.

The Alpine nation has three assisted suicide organizations catering to foreigners: Dignitas, Basels Life Circle and Ex International in Bern (no relation to Exit International).

Assisted suicide and euthanasia, where the lethal drug is adminsitered by a doctor or medical staff, is at the heart of heated ethical debates that touch on religious, medical, legal and ethical questions.

Goodall, a botanist and ecologist, said he would quite like to be remembered as an instrument of freeing the elderly from the need to pursue their life irrespectively.

Source: NAN

A stunning nude paint that is the largest produced by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani sold for $157.2 million in New York on Monday night, becoming the fourth most expensive work of art sold at auction.

Painted a century ago, Modiglianis masterpiece Nu couche (sur le cote gauche) fetched the highest price in Sothebys history and was the star single lot in the May art auction season in New York.

Modigliani follows Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso as the third highest-selling artist at auction. Mondays sale failed to eclipse the $170.4 million paid for another Modigliani nude at Christies in 2015.

Nearly 58 inches (147 centimeters) wide, the picture was the cover star of a recent retrospective at the Tate Modern gallery in London.

Modigliani reinvented the nude for the modern era, and when his series of paintings were first exhibited in 1917, they were considered so shocking that police closed the show in Paris.

Bidding was restrained, lasting three to four minutes and opening at $125 million before auctioneer Helena Newman brought the hammer down at $139 million. The final price includes a buyers premium.

The price chalks up a healthy profit for its seller, who acquired the picture in 2003 for $26.9 million.

Modigliani completed 22 reclining nudes and 13 seated nudes between 1916 and 1919. Most of the former are found in museums, such as The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Simon Shaw, co-head of impressionist and modern art at Sothebys, said the painting sold Monday, while rooted in tradition, reflected the changing status of women during World War I.

This is a nude of a very self-possessed, sexually confident woman who is not looking out from a distance. Shes absolutely meeting our gaze, he told AFP prior to the sale.

Modiglianis dealer Leopold Zborowski gave him a stipend of 15 francs a day and paid the models five francs to pose in a Paris apartment.

Source: NAN