Amnesty International on Tuesday slammed a call by the Kenyan President William Ruto to shoot protesters, saying it would fuel more violence at a time of mounting anger and deadly anti-government rallies.

At least 38 people died last week during demonstrations, rights groups say, marking the deadliest day of protests since the start of youth-led rallies against Ruto.

The demonstrations have shaken the country, and Ruto recently said protesters who engaged in violence “should be shot in the leg”.

Amnesty International’s Kenya director, Irungu Houghton, said the president’s comments were “unlawful”.

“It is extremely dangerous for politicians to instruct police officers… on how to conduct policing during protests,” he said.

Irungu said such orders “would escalate the levels of violence” through “greater conflict between police officers, protesters, bystanders, counter-protesters, and even criminals and bullies”.

Rights groups have previously warned about the presence of armed men during protests and noted reports suggesting that some operate alongside police officers.

Kenyan police have repeatedly denied the allegations.

International criticism has also mounted, with the United Nations urging restraint.

In a report released Tuesday by the Police Reforms Working Group — a coalition of grassroots and national rights groups, including Amnesty — found the recent marches were “marred by state violence, unlawful policing tactics”.

The report said it had documented “the use of live ammunition against unarmed civilians, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, and unlawful arrests”.

“The evidence points to serious allegations of unlawful conduct and extrajudicial killings by individuals suspected to be police officers,” it said, adding that over 500 civilians and police officers were wounded.

The National Police Service spokesperson told AFP such allegations were part of a “false narrative”.

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen on Tuesday said police excesses during protests will be investigated, adding, “There is no law that excuses a police officer to commit crimes or kill people”.

Murkomen also stated that he will issue a policy directive on the use of force and firearms by officers on Friday.

The interior ministry said more than 1,500 people had been arrested during the last two demonstrations, with 71 being handled by the anti-terror unit.

There was widespread looting and vandalism during the protests, with many businesses forced to close and employees remaining home to avoid the violence.

The report noted the protests were responsible for an “economic loss possibly as much as 1.1 billion Kenyan Shillings ($14 million)” but did not elaborate.



AFP

US tech giant Nvidia said on Tuesday it will resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China, after Washington pledged to remove licensing curbs that had put a stop to exports.


The California-based firm produces some of the world’s most advanced semiconductors but is not allowed to ship its most cutting-edge chips to China owing to concerns that Beijing could use them to boost its military capabilities.

It developed the H20 — a less powerful version of its AI processing units — specifically for export to China, although that plan hit the skids when the Trump administration firmed up export licence requirements in April.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “filing applications to sell the Nvidia H20 GPU again”.

“The US government has assured Nvidia that licences will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the statement said.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a video published by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday that “the US government has approved for us (to file) licences to start shipping H20s, and so we will start to sell H20s to the Chinese market”.

“I’m looking forward to shipping H20s very soon, and so I’m very happy with that very, very good news,” Huang, wearing his trademark black leather jacket, told a group of reporters.

Zhang Guobin, founder of the Chinese specialist website eetrend.com, said the resumption would “bring (Nvidia) substantial revenue growth, making up for the losses caused by the previous ban”.

It would also ease the impact of trade frictions on the global supply chain for semiconductors, he told AFP.

But he said Chinese firms would remain focused on domestic chip development, adding that “the Trump administration has been… prone to abrupt policy shifts, making it difficult to gauge how long such an opening might endure”.

Huang will attend a major supply chain gathering on Wednesday, the event organiser confirmed to AFP.

It will be his third trip to China this year, according to CCTV.

China is a crucial market for Nvidia but in recent years the US export squeeze has left it battling tougher competition from local players such as homegrown champion Huawei.

Beijing has decried Washington’s curbs as unfair and designed to hinder its development.

Huang, an electrical engineer, told Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on a visit to Beijing in April that he “looked favourably upon the potential of the Chinese economy”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

He said he was “willing to continue to plough deeply into the Chinese market and play a positive role in promoting US-China trade cooperation”, Xinhua reported.

The tightened US export curbs have come as China’s economy wavers, with domestic consumers reluctant to spend and a prolonged property sector crisis weighing on growth.

President Xi Jinping has called for China to become more self-reliant as uncertainty in the external environment increases.

The Financial Times reported in May that Nvidia was planning to build a research and development centre in Shanghai. Neither Nvidia nor the city’s authorities confirmed the project to AFP at the time.

China’s economy grew 5.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, official data showed on Tuesday, after analysts predicted strong exports despite trade war pressures.

AFP

The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year in 2016.


Two men guilty of the “deliberate and mindless” felling of one of the UK’s most iconic trees, sparking national outrage, will find out on Tuesday if they are to be jailed.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court in May found former friends Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap.

It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England. The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”.

They were convicted on two counts of criminal damage: to the sycamore and to the Roman wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it.

They will be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, and face a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail. The hearing is due to start at 11:00 am (1000 GMT).

Reacting to the guilty verdict, the National Trust conservation body said the “needless felling” of the tree had “shocked people around the country and overseas”.

“It was felt particularly deeply here in the north east of England where the tree was an emblem of the region and the backdrop to many personal memories,” said a spokesperson.

The pair drove to the site near Hexham in Graham’s Range Rover and felled the tree on the night of September 27, 2023, slicing through the trunk with a chainsaw in “a matter of minutes”, said prosecutor Richard Wright.

“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and travelled back towards Carlisle” where they lived, he added.

The pair were jointly charged with causing £622,191 ($832, 821) of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England.

The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year in 2016.

Efforts are under way to see if it can be regrown from its stump or seeds.

The National Trust, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore’s seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK.

An over six-foot (two-metre) piece of the felled tree now forms the centrepiece of an art installation on permanent display at a visitor centre near where it stood.

People can see and touch part of the trunk, and “can once again gather, sit, and reflect”, according to the visitor centre.