Country

Kenya

1. Kenya bus crash on Nairobi-Mombasa highway kills at least 24 as government vows road safety crackdown

   Kenyan authorities said a bus carrying church members crashed on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, killing at least 24 people, most of them passengers returning from a religious event. The crash came weeks after another on the same stretch killed 17, and the government said it will step up road safety enforcement and inspections of long-distance coaches. Local road safety groups criticised long-standing overloading and inadequate vehicle checks on long-distance buses.

   Oct 26, 2026 Afternoon
2. Follow-up: Two rescued after building under construction collapses in Nairobi; five still missing as police seek owner and contractor

   A building under construction in Nairobi collapsed on the afternoon of Friday, Oct 23, and rescuers pulled two survivors from the rubble on Oct 24, with five people still missing. Police ordered the arrest of the building's owner and the contractor responsible for the site. The building, estimated at 16 or 18 storeys, was still wrapped in scaffolding, and 11 shops on the ground floor were already open; those missing are believed to have been inside the shops, while 66 of 67 workers in the building escaped safely.

   Oct 25, 2026 Morning
3. Follow-up: Kenya reports second Ebola death; WHO launches vaccine trial against Bundibugyo strain in DR Congo

   Al Jazeera reported that Kenya announced its second Ebola death, a 65-year-old woman; the country has nine confirmed cases, seven still in treatment and 135 close contacts traced, and the health ministry said there was 'no evidence' of community spread. The WHO launched the Tumaini clinical trial in Bunia, Ituri province, DR Congo, to test whether the Ervebo vaccine protects against the Bundibugyo strain. DR Congo's current outbreak has passed 9,700 cases and 4,600 deaths.

   Oct 24, 2026 Afternoon
4. Marathon world champion Peres Jepchirchir provisionally banned after positive EPO test before Sydney Marathon win

   The Athletics Integrity Unit said on Friday, Oct 23, that marathon world champion Peres Jepchirchir had been provisionally suspended after an out-of-competition sample collected before her Sydney Marathon win tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin). The 33-year-old won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021 and the New York (2021), Boston (2022), London (2024) and Sydney (2026) marathons, and once held the half-marathon world record. Her manager said he 'felt terrible' and that athletes who use banned drugs should be disqualified.

   Oct 24, 2026 Morning
5. Kenya records first Bundibugyo Ebola cluster as eighth case confirmed

   Kenya has recorded its first clustered outbreak of Bundibugyo-strain Ebola, with an eighth person testing positive. The regional outbreak is reported as the second-largest on record, with more than 4,300 deaths and more than 9,000 infections. A US quarantine centre for returning Americans at an air base in Laikipia drew local protests; a Kenyan court ordered the centre paused, with the case set for November. RFI said the epidemic was still spreading in DRC provinces including Nord-Ubangi near the Central African Republic. Public-health voices said US cuts to global health support had weakened surveillance and response.

   Oct 20, 2026 Afternoon
6. Kenya Shakahola starvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie found guilty of 191 murders

   A court in Mombasa on Oct 19 found Good News International Church leader Paul Mackenzie guilty of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, in the 2023 Shakahola forest starvation cult case; 28 other sect leaders were also convicted of murder. Judge Mochache, reading the verdict over more than eight hours, said Mackenzie ordered followers to starve their children to 'meet Jesus' and taught that education was forbidden and modern medicine 'evil'. After his 2023 arrest, authorities exhumed more than 400 bodies from shallow graves, only 26 identified; the defendants denied the charges.

   Oct 20, 2026 Morning
7. Follow-up: Kenya Ebola cases rise to 8; DRC outbreak has killed at least 4,000

   Kenya's first Ebola patient, a man who arrived in Nairobi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Uganda, died in a Nairobi hospital on Oct 5. Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said on Oct 18 that 1 of 38 people tested that day was positive: a 49-year-old man who cleaned utensils and linens at the hospital and may have been exposed to the first patient; he developed fever, headache and muscle pain on Saturday. The ministry reported 4 new cases on Saturday, including 3 health workers who treated the first patient. The outbreak is the Bundibugyo strain; Australia's ABC reported that the DRC has recorded at least 4,000 deaths since May, and up to 128 contacts of Kenya's first patient remain in isolation.

   Oct 19, 2026 Afternoon