Stabber at U.S. Embassy in Kenya slain
NAIROBI, Kenya — A man was shot dead after stabbing a policeman guarding the perimeter wall of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and trying to take his gun, a Kenyan police official said Thursday.
The policeman who was stabbed opened fire in self-defense and killed the attacker, said Vitalis Otieno, the officer in charge of the Gigiri area that hosts several embassies and the U.N’s African headquarters.
“He fired first and shot the person, and the person died on the spot,” Otieno said.
The identity of the attacker, a Kenyan from the volatile region of Wajir near Somalia, is known to police, Otieno said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel were seen collecting evidence at the scene of the shooting.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed there was a shooting and said no embassy personnel were involved.
Wajir County has been cited by Kenyan authorities as a hot spot for recruitment by the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab from neighboring Somalia.
Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight the militants. The group has carried out a wave of attacks in Kenya that have left hundreds dead.
Scores of migrants perish off Libya coast
CAIRO — The Libyan navy said Thursday that scores of migrants are believed to have perished when their boat started to fall apart in the Mediterranean Sea, after leaving the Libyan coast.
The boat, which was made of rubber, tore and began filling with water about 26 miles off the Libyan coast, an area considered to be international waters, said the spokesman for the navy, Ayoub Gassim.
The Libyan coast guard rescued 29 people, who recounted that there were 129 of them in all on the boat, mostly Africans, Gassim said.
The migrants left Tajoura, in western Libya, before dawn Wednesday morning, and the coast guard received a call for help around 3 p.m.
So far this year, the death toll for migrants in the Mediterranean has reached at least 3,800, making 2016 the deadliest year ever for migrants at sea. Migrants fleeing war and poverty increasingly take the dangerous journey from Libya to Italy on overcrowded boats, hoping to make their way to new lives in Europe.
Turkey adds 45 pilots to coup detentions
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s state-run news agency said 45 military pilots were detained Thursday and 29 who had previously been detained were formally arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into the movement allegedly responsible for the failed coup on July 15.
The chief public prosecutor’s office in the central Anatolian city of Konya issued warrants for the detention of 73 military pilots — two colonels and 71 lieutenants— over alleged ties to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Forty-five were transported to Konya for processing.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the violent coup attempt that led to more than 270 deaths, and the government has initiated a massive crackdown on his followers.
Meanwhile, 47 Air Force personnel stationed in Konya, most of whom were detained Oct. 20 in operations upon orders of the chief public prosecutor’s office, were in court Thursday, with 29 suspects put under arrest and 18 released, nine on probation.
Nations OK Antarctic marine reserve
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica reached a historic agreement on Friday to create the world’s largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.
The agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.
Proponents of the reserve say it sets a precedent for multiple countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation’s jurisdiction.
The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.
The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctica require a consensus among the 25 members.
The U.S. and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday’s agreement.
The marine protected area covers 617,000 square miles. There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area.