Nairobi  - Kenya's cabinet has agreed to implement a report into this year's post-election violence that should see a local tribunal set up to try politicians and businessmen accused of orchestrati

Nairobi - Some 90 per cent of Kenyans want their MPs to pay taxes on their allowances, a poll published in the Daily Nation revealed Wednesday a day after lawmakers threw out an amendment to a bill that would force them to do just that.

Kenyan MPs pay tax on their basic monthly salary of around 2,500 dollars, but they enjoy tax-free allowances of almost three times that figure.

MPs argue that their allowances, which cover healthcare, entertainment and interest-free home and car loans, should not be taxed as constituents often expect the MPs to help them out financially.

Nairobi, Nov. 22 : Kenya’s Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula has clamed that Somali pirates have collected over 150 million dollars in ransoms over the past year, and appealed to ship owners not to pay when their vessels are hijacked.

According to Fox News, Somali pirates have seized eight vessels including a huge Saudi supertanker loaded with 100 million dollars worth of crude oil in the past fortnight.

"We are advised that in the last 12 months, ransom to the excess of 150 million dollars has been paid to these criminals and that is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their activities," Wetangula said.

Nairobi - Somali pirates have demanded a ransom for a Saudi supertanker carrying around 100 million dollars worth of crude oil amid reports Wednesday that another ship had been seized and that an Indian warship had destroyed a pirate vessel.

"Negotiators are on the ship and on land," Farah Abd Jameh, who claimed to be a member of the group that seized the Sirius Star, said in a tape sent to Arabic broadcaster al-Jazeera. "Once they agree on the ransom, it will be taken in cash to the oil tanker."

Nairobi - Dozens of suspected dealers in illegal wildlife products have been arrested and one ton of ivory products seized in an operation encompassing five African countries, INTERPOL said Monday.

The operation - which targeted local ivory markets, airports and border crossings in Kenya, Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia - saw 57 suspects arrested.

Aside from raw, powdered and processes ivory products, cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins were seized.

Rome - Italy's foreign ministry confirmed Monday that two Italian Roman Catholic nuns have been abducted in Kenya.

"Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is constantly monitoring the situation," the ministry said in a statement in Rome.

The nuns may have been taken across the border into Somalia, the ANSA news agency said, citing Somali "news reports."