Kenyan police are investigating four suspected killings on a Del Monte pineapple farm after bodies were retrieved from a river on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
It follows a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism into allegations of brutal assaults and killings by security guards at the farm in Thika, which is the single largest exporter of Kenyan produce to the world.
This month the Guardian revealed that human rights groups were investigating another death at the farm after a man’s body was found in its dam in November.
Friends and relatives of the four men found dead on 24 and 25 December urged the government to intervene to explain how they ended up in the river.
The Muranga county police commander, David Kainga Mathiu, said: “Kenyan police have launched investigations into the killings of people inside the Del Monte pineapple farm.” He told Reuters that no suspects had yet been arrested.
On Wednesday, Del Monte said it was“cooperating with Kenyan authorities as they continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the four bodies retrieved from the Thika River last week. The postmortems are still under way. Our security footage from when the men attempted to steal pineapple shows no foul play on Del Monte’s part and instead shows them running away towards the river, after dropping bags of stolen pineapple, as they tried to run away from security guards.”
It added: “Organised crime, particularly around pineapple theft, is becoming increasingly rampant in the area. We are actively seeking additional ways to help tackle organised crime as safely and effectively as possible.”
The company, which employs 6,000 people in Kenya, said it was working closely with local authorities and “takes our social responsibility very seriously there, as we do everywhere else where we operate”.
A search had been going on for the missing men for several days when two bodies were found in the river on Sunday, and another two were found on Monday, the independent broadcaster Citizen TV reported.
“When we found the first body, we started screaming,” Rhoda Wayua told Citizen TV. “After a while, the second body washed up. It was that of my son.”
Another relative, Peter Kamanzi, claimed that at least one of the victims had injuries that may have contributed to his death. “It’s quite visible that this boy was seriously beaten up,” Kamanzi said.
The body of Peter Mutuku Mutisya, 25, was found on 17 November, four days after friends said he had gone there to steal pineapples. A spokesperson for Del Monte said it had “fully cooperated with Kenyan authorities throughout its investigation last month” and offered its “heartfelt condolences to the family”.
Subhi Shaledeh and his extended family had around 500 acres of prime grazing land in the Occupied West Bank, in the village of Janoub.
They owned olive trees and hundreds of sheep. The land had been in the family for decades.
But overnight they lost their livelihood and their and land.
Subhi says on 9 October, two days after the 7 October attack by Hamas, settlers from an Israeli outpost, which is classed as illegal under both Israeli and international law, stormed their land and destroyed their homes.
"Over 50 settlers armed with long rifles, guns, knives and machetes came," he says. "They entered out homes, set our houses ablaze and took away our livestock."
Image:Subhi Shaledeh says he and his family were driven off their land by Israeli settlers
The family of nine, including seven children, along with around 70 members of the extended Shaledeh clan, were suddenly homeless.
"The settlers took advantage of the war in Gaza. They expelled us from our land and told us to leave, 'this is an open war', they said."
With nothing to defend themselves with and no one to call on, the family was forced to immediately flee.
Image:The remains of Subhi Shaledeh's home following the attack
They haven't been able to return, the military has closed the roads, an Israeli checkpoint blocks the way, and the Shaledeh family say outpost settlers have taken over their land.
The Palestinian family is now renting one room for their large family, in a nearby village. They can't harvest their olives or sell their sheep. Everything is gone.
"We informed the Red Cross, Palestinian and Israeli authorities and we filed complaints," Subhi says. "We don't know what will happen."
Image:Subhi now rents a single room in a nearby village for himself, his wife and their seven children
It's been the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank. Around 500 have been killed in settler violence and raids by the Israeli military. Around 30 Israelis have also been killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Israel argues that extreme settler violence is carried out by a small minority and the Israeli military raids target Palestinian militant groups.
Subhi Shaledeh is a broken man. With a large family to support this proud Palestinian landowner has been forced into poverty, his land and his freedom all taken away.
He hopes and prays to get his land back one day, but with international human rights organisations like the UN saying settlers act with growing impunity in the occupied West Bank, Subhi's hopes are fading fast.
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Israel's war with Hamas militants in Gaza will continue for "many more months", Israel's army chief has said.
"There are no magic solutions," Herzi Halevi told reporters. On Monday PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign was "not close to being over".
Israel says it hit more than 100 sites on Tuesday. It is reportedly extending ground operations to central Gaza.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 20,915 Palestinians have been killed in more than 11 weeks of fighting.
The war began on 7 October after Hamas led a wave of deadly attacks on communities inside Israel. About 1.9 million have been internally displaced by Israeli bombardments since then, the UN says.
Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unwra) told the BBC: "We're seeing very worrying reports of hunger and starvation in some places, and meanwhile the war continues, the displacement continues and UN shelters are overcrowded and overwhelmed."
EPA
Last week US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Israel to lower the intensity of its strikes to limit "harm done to civilians".
On Tuesday Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told a news conference that the war would "continue for many more months" to ensure that "our achievements are preserved for a long time".
"There are no shortcuts when it comes to thoroughly dismantling a terrorist organisation except being stubborn and determined in the fighting," he added.
The IDF says Tuesday's air strikes hit 100 targets from Jabaliya in northern Gaza to Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south.
There are also reports that it launched a ground offensive in refugee camps in central Gaza after ordering residents to evacuate.
Internet and telephone services were again cut across the Gaza Strip.
Some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the 7 October attacks. About 240 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel says 132 are still being held.
On Monday Mr Netanyahu told parliament: "We will not be able to release all the abductees without military pressure... we will not stop fighting."
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Israeli and Arab media say that Egypt has proposed a plan for a ceasefire.
According to reports, the plan would see the phased release of all Israeli hostages and an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, ending with a suspension of Israel's offensive.
A previous temporary truce deal negotiated by Qatar saw dozens of hostages released from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. So far, both Israel and Hamas have resisted calls for a lasting ceasefire.
Meanwhile Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer is Washington for talks with Mr Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The talks will focus on "matters related to the conflict in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas", National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
One person was killed, two injured and a large landing ship called Novocherkassk was damaged in an overnight Ukrainian attack on the Crimean port city of Feodosia, Russia’s defence ministry and officials said.
The Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that Ukraine had used guided missiles launched by aircraft to attack Feodosia.
Reuters reported that the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been killed and two injured as a result of the attack.
There was no immediate report of how badly the ship was damaged, but videos circulating on Ukrainian channels showed an extensive fire in the port area.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow on Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.
The ministers plan to discuss bilateral ties as well as the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and issues related to groups such as BRICS, it said in a statement.
Here is a video of the large explosion in Crimea as a Ukrainian airstrike hit a Russian warshipduring an overnight attack on the Crimean port city of Feodosia, Russia’s defence ministry and officials said.
The Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that Ukraine had used guided missiles launched by aircraft to attack Feodosia.
Reuters reported that the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been killed and two injured as a result of the attack.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has briefed Vladimir Putin about the Ukrainian attack on the Crimean port of Feodosia and damage sustained by the Novocherkassk landing ship, Interfax quoted the Kremlin as saying.
The Guardian’s Russia affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer has the full report on the Russian warship which Ukraine says it has destroyed in a Crimean port.
He writes:
The Ukrainian air force said it struck the Novocherkassk navy ship, which was stationed in Crimean waters controlled by Russia.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on the Telegram messaging app:
And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the air force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!”
Footage circulating on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.
Russia’s defence ministry acknowledged via a statement that the Novocherkassk landing ship was “damaged” by Ukrainian guided missiles launched by aircraft, adding that one person was killed and two injured in the attack.
Earlier in the day, the Russia-appointed head of occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said in a statement on Telegram that there had been “an enemy attack in [the] Feodosia area”, adding that “detonation has stopped and the fire has been localised”.
Moscow is believed to have already withdrawn a significant bulk of its Black Sea fleet from its main base in Crimea after a series of Ukrainian missile and drone strikes last autumn and summer.
Japan’s Mitsui & Co has decided to pull its employees out of Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, the Sankei newspaper reports, citing several sources.
The decision is yet another blow for the project.
Fearing the backlash from US sanctions targeting the project, foreign shareholders have suspended participation, renouncing their responsibilities for financing and for offtake contracts for the plant, the Russian daily Kommersant reported on Monday.
Sanctions have also resulted in Novatek, Russia’s largest LNG producer, declaring force majeure over LNG supplies from the project, industry sources told Reuters last week.
Here are the latest images coming out of eastern Ukraine:
The Guardian’s chief culture writer, Charlotte Higgins, has written her moments of hope column about the young women she met in Ukraine.
She writes:
There is Sofia Cheliak, a cultural broadcaster who also runs the programme for Lviv BookForum, a brilliant literary festival where ideas are exchanged vigorously, held in the thick of war.
There is Bohdana Neborak, who is editor-in-chief of the Ukrainians magazine, a podcaster and cultural manager: she is elegant-minded, intellectually rigorous and an energetic ambassador for Ukrainian literature.
There are the talented, generous, very funny photographers with whom I’ve covered stories for the Guardian, Anastasia Vlasova and Julia Kochetova. Julia told me once that her career had been defined by documenting conflict, not out of choice, but because war came to her doorstep: it’s an unlooked-for, tough destiny.
There’s Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Nobel peace prize-winning Center for Civil Liberties, whose work as a human rights lawyer is about strengthening institutions in Ukraine and campaigning for justice for war crimes. She is one of the most poised public speakers I have heard, and uses her quiet, eloquent powers of persuasion relentlessly. I could go on: there are many others.
I don’t like to use the word “hero”. I studied Homer, once: the original heroes, the violent, godlike men of the Iliad and the Odyssey, have nothing to do with these women. In our own times, declaring someone heroic often does that person a disservice, flattening out their human complexity, turning them into untouchable paragons. So I don’t call these women heroic. But when I think of the future of Ukraine in such hands, hope still perches in my soul.
Here is an image of the Novocherkassk landing ship, a navy vessel that Moscow says has been damaged in an overnight Ukrainian attack on the Crimean port city of Feodosia.
One person was killed, two injured and a large landing ship called Novocherkassk was damaged in an overnight Ukrainian attack on the Crimean port city of Feodosia, Russia’s defence ministry and officials said.
The Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that Ukraine had used guided missiles launched by aircraft to attack Feodosia.
Reuters reported that the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on the Telegram messaging app that one person had been killed and two injured as a result of the attack.
There was no immediate report of how badly the ship was damaged, but videos circulating on Ukrainian channels showed an extensive fire in the port area.
Ukraine carried out an air attack on Feodosia in Crimea, the country’s air force commander said on Tuesday, after the Russian-installed governor of the Crimea said the assault sparked a fire in the town’s port area.
Reuters reports that the commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieut Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram, without providing evidence, that the attack destroyed a major Russian navy vessel, the landing ship Novocherkask.
Oleshchuk said:
And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!
The report could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both Russia and Ukraine have often exaggerated the losses they claim to have inflicted upon each other in the 22-month-long war, while underestimated their own casualty and equipment losses.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said only that the Ukrainian attack resulted in a fire in the town’s port area that was promptly contained.
Aksyonov said on the Telegram:
All relevant emergency services are on site. Residents of several houses will be evacuated.
Footage posted on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.
This marks the continuation of live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine on this 26 December. Here’s an overview of the latest news.
Ukraine carried out an air attack in Crimea and destroyed a major Russian navy vessel, Ukraine’s air force commander has said.
A huge explosion and fireball engulfed part of the Crimean port of Feodosia early on Tuesday morning. An initial fire was followed by a massive secondary explosion.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lieut Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram that the attack destroyed a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing ship Novocherkask.
The Russian-installed governor of Crimea said earlier that the assault sparked a fire in Feodosia.
More on that that story soon. In other developments:
Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers has submitted to parliament a draft law lowering the age of those who can be mobilised for combat duty to 25 from 27. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, said a week ago that the military had proposed mobilising up to half a million more Ukrainians but it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and government would have to discuss.
The Ukrainian military shot down 28 Russian drones out of 31 launched from the annexed Crimea peninsula, mostly targeting the south of the country, it said on Monday. Air defences also destroyed two missiles, it said.
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been located at a penal colony in the Arctic Yamal-Nenets region of northern Russia, his spokesperson has confirmed. Kira Yarmysh was quoted as saying Navalny’s lawyer managed to see him on Monday. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, expressed concern at the weekend about Navalny’s whereabouts as he had been missing in Russia’s prison system for nearly three weeks.
Russia said emergency workers had put out a fire on a Soviet-era nuclear-powered cargo-icebreaker ship. The state company that runs the vessel said on Monday there were no casualties and no threat to the security of the reactor.
Russia on Monday accused western countries of stirring up tensions in Moscow-friendly Serbia, which has been rocked by protests over alleged fraud in elections held on 17 December.
Five Russian UAVs (drones) over the region were “destroyed” by Ukrainian forces late on Sunday evening, said Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union’s members have signed a free trade agreement with Iran, Russian news agency Tass has reported.
The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, will pay a two-day visit to Russia, after skipping a summit in Kyrgyzstan Putin attended in October.
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has issued his first statement after going missing for nearly three weeks.
Mr Navalny disappeared shortly after Vladimir Putin announced his intention to run for a fifth presidential term in early December. On Christmas Day his lawyers said they had tracked him down to one of Russia’s toughest prisons.
On Tuesday the jailed critic issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, discussing the details of the past few weeks, during which many feared for his life.
Vladimir Putin (R) announced his intention to run for a fifth presidential term during a stage-managed awards ceremony with soldiers who had fought in Ukraine
Describing himself as the new Santa Claus, Mr Navalny said he was very surprised to have been found, adding that he expected to be missing until at least mid-January.
He wrote: “The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus.
“They brought me here on Saturday night. And I was transported with such precaution and on such a strange route (Vladimir - Moscow - Chelyabinsk - Ekaterinburg - Kirov - Vorkuta - Kharp) that I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January.
“That’s why I was very surprised when the cell door was opened yesterday with the words: ‘A lawyer is here to see you.’ He told me that you had lost me, and some of you were even worried. Thanks very much for your support!”
Mr Navalny went missing on 6 December but was discovered in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle on Christmas Day. He is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
The prison colony is located in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. The region is notorious for its long and severe winters.
Mr Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, described the colony as almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.
“It is almost impossible to get to this colony; it is almost impossible to even send letters there. This is the highest possible level of isolation from the world,” he wrote.
Alexei Navalny has been in prison since returning to Russia in January 2021
(Getty Images)
In typically recalcitrant fashion, Mr Navalny’s public response appears to involve branding himself the new Santa Claus.
“I don't say ‘Ho-ho-ho’, but I do say ‘Oh-oh-oh’ when I look out of the window, where I can see a night, then the evening, and then the night again,” he wrote.
He added: “Since I'm Santa Claus, you're probably wondering about the presents. But I am a special-regime Santa Claus, so only those who have behaved very badly get presents .”
In Mr Navalny’s last statement before going missing, he called on Russians to use the upcoming presidential vote, set for next March, to vote against Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.
A day later, Putin launched his bid to run for a fifth term during a stage-managed awards ceremony for soldiers who had fought in Ukraine, during which war veterans implored him to run again for office.
In those two days - the setting of the election date and Putin’s announcement to run - Mr Navalny went missing, two of his lawyers had their pretrial detention extended to 13 March, just four days before the scheduled national vote, and another opposition figure, ultranationalist Igor Girkin, had his pretrial detention extended by six months.
Irish Police are bracing for 'revenge attacks' and are 'seriously concerned' innocent people could be dragged into an 'all-out feud' between gangs allegedly involved in a Christmas Eve shooting at a Dublin steakhouse.
The attacker, named as 26-year-old Tristan Sherry, left a man fighting for his life in hospital after shooting up Browne's Steakhouse in Blanchardstown, west Dublin.
The victim is understood to be a 47-year-old man who was eating with several members of his family when they were attacked at 8.10pm on Christmas Eve.
He is currently being treated in Connolly Memorial Hospital. As of last night, his condition was described as serious, after suffering at least one gunshot wound to the neck.
The body of the shooter, who was killed after being stabbed several times during the attack, has been taken to a pathologist for a post-mortem examination today.
Sherry is believed to have been a member of a local drug trafficking gang led by 'Mr. Flashy', which has been involved in several violent incidents in the area in recent years.
Gardaí are now 'seriously concerned' that innocent members of the public may be dragged into a wider feud sparked by the shooting after one gang offered the public over €1,000 for information on the whereabouts of rivals.
A security source told the Mail: 'Gardaí are now fearing a really large escalation in this feud following the attack. The general public in the area are being asked to give up the location of a rival gang member for cash.
'This is being sold as a 'no questions asked' type of situation. But if someone does know this information and gives it up, they could be targeted by the gang for effectively informing on them which will put them and the family in danger.
'Also, they could unwittingly become party to a crime and may have the Gardaí knocking on their door if there are repercussions to this shooting.'
It is understood Sherry had targeted a father and son who were having dinner together at Browne's.
Both Sherry and the injured man are known to police for their alleged involvement in drug crime. Associates of the injured man have already sworn to take revenge, the Irish Independent reported.
Two suspects fled the scene in a white Audi and police are calling on anyone with information to get in touch as soon as possible.
Helen McEntee, Ireland's justice minister, condemned the attack which is thought to be linked to a west Dublin feud responsible for a large number of assaults.
She said: 'This viciousness has resulted in unimaginable human suffering this Christmas.
'That anyone could perpetrate such violence as families gathered together is especially disgusting.
'I'm thinking of the bereaved, those who were at the scene and indeed all the emergency service personnel working tonight and over Christmas who have to deal with this senseless violence.'
Multiple sources told the Irish Daily Mail they believe the horror attack to be linked to a feud in the Corduff area of west Dublin that has been going for several years.
One said: 'There's been a feud since around 2019 involving a very serious drugs gang based out in Corduff. They've been at war with a Finglas-based drugs gang run by a young man who has been nicknamed Mr Flashy.
'There have been several shootings and fire attacks on homes and cars due to this feud. There was even an incident when a man was attacked with a machete in a police station.
'It was being warned that it would be a matter of time before a murder and it's happened. Sherry was known to police for his involvement in crime, especially his links to organised criminals.
'What appears to have happened is he went in firing shots at the two men but was overpowered and beaten and stabbed by the uninjured man. It also looks like the men in the Audi outside realised that things had not gone to plan and sped off.
'What we're likely to see now is a ramping up of retaliations. Both sides of this feud are feared organised crime gangs who specialise in drug trafficking.
'The Finglas group have links to the Westies gang, which was a serious outfit over the last two decades where the other side have their own pedigree.
'The thing about this feud is that there are so many moving pieces. People who were once loyal to one gang are now on the other side and vice versa.'
Several videos of the aftermath of the attack were shared on social media in the hours after the incident. In one of them a man can be seen lying on the ground covered in blood. Other videos show diners hiding under tables and screaming.
A police spokesman said yesterday: 'A man in his 20s was fatally injured. A second male aged in his 40s continues to receive treatment for gunshot wounds. His condition remains serious.
'Police are aware of videos of the incident and immediate aftermath which are in circulation on social media and messaging apps. We are appealing to the public for these videos not to be further distributed.
'We are also appealing to the public to be aware of a significant level of speculation, misinformation and disinformation which is in circulation. Gardaí have increased uniform patrols in the Dublin region, with support from armed patrols, including the Garda armed support unit.'
Residents in Blanchardstown have shared how devastating the shooting was to the community.
'I'm absolutely appalled,' said a local school warden, Pauline Harte, told the Irish Independent.
'It's a very safe community and to happen on that occasion on Christmas Eve is absolutely deplorable.'
She added: 'I'm just really in a state of shock because Blanchardstown is a very tightly knit community and I often dine in that restaurant and it's a very busy, popular restaurant. Lovely staff and lovely people go there from the area.
'Everybody knows everybody, and what a time for it to happen and so unfortunate because Christmas is a time of peace and love and good Christmas spirit. I'm absolutely shocked.'
