CHRIS MSANDO

The scene where the body of Mr Msando was allegedly found. It’s in Kikuyu off Waiyaki Way, about 2km from the main road. The area is called Nguriunditu. Residents told the Nation that the body was picked up by police at around 10am on Saturday. PHOTO | BRIAN MOSETI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Chris Msando, the election board’s head of information, communication and technology, was found murdered on Monday. He had been tortured before he was killed, authorities said.

Msando oversaw the live transmission of election results, a contentious area that the opposition has said could be used to rig next Tuesday’s presidential and parliamentary polls.

The presidential race is very close: opposition leader Raila Odinga is favoured by 49 percent of voters compared with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 48 percent, according to a poll of 5,000 Kenyans across 47 counties released on Tuesday by Infotrak Research and Consulting.

The close race, the murder, and a history of malfunctions of election equipment have raised tensions in Kenya and provoked a storm of speculation on social media.

“It is important that security agencies expedite investigations as a matter of utmost urgency,” John Githongo, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, said during the march by about 25 protesters.

“The timing of his torture and murder serves to undermine Kenya’s election management body,” he added as the group sang and held up banners denouncing the killing.

Kiev (AFP) – Former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili on Tuesday pledged to fight a fierce court battle to reclaim his Ukrainian citizenship after political rival President Petro Poroshenko revoked his passport.

Currently staying in the US, Saakashvili — once lauded in the West as the reformist president of his Caucasus homeland — has effectively been left stateless after he was earlier forced to give up his Georgian citizenship.

“I plan to go to court, moreover, I seek the right to go and take part in this court,” Saakashvili said in a press conference via Skype.

“I will fight for my right to return. I’ll find a way home.”

Charismatic Saakashvili, 49, moved to Ukraine in 2015 to work for the country’s pro-Western authorities as governor of the key Odessa region on the Black Sea.

He quit in November 2016 amid a dramatic falling out with Poroshenko, accusing high-ranking officials of blocking his efforts to tackle rampant corruption.

Ukrainian-speaker Saakashvili was frequently accused of having political

ambitions of his own that made him a political threat to Poroshenko.

Saakashvili is currently wanted in his homeland Georgia for alleged abuse of power during his tumultuous nine years as president that saw him fight and lose a brief war against Russia in 2008.

He insists the charges are politically motivated revenge masterminded by his billionaire foe Bidzina Ivanishvili, currently seen as the power behind the scenes of Georgia’s government.

Saakashvili lost his Georgian citizenship when he was granted a Ukrainian passport, as the country bans dual citizenship.

The authorities in Georgia have said they will seek to get Saakashvili extradited from the US if he remains there to face trial in his homeland.Ukraine’s announcement that it was pulling Saakashvili’s passport came shortly after Poroshenko visited Georgia. Saakashvili alleges Poroshenko struck a secret deal to revoke his citizenship.

By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

LONDON (Reuters) – Iran believes new sanctions that the United States has imposed on it breach the nuclear deal it agreed in 2015 and has complained to a body that oversees the pact’s implementation, a senior politician said on Tuesday.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by the United States, Russia, China and three European powers, Iran curbed its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.

However, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for

their role in the development of a ballistic missile program, after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

The U.S. Senate voted on the same day to impose new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea. The sanctions in that bill also target Iran’s missile programs as well as human rights abuses.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the agreement – negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama – “the worst deal ever” last week told Iran to adhere to the terms of the nuclear accord or face “big, big problems”, although his administration has certified Iran as being in compliance with the it.

Iranian media said on Monday the government had agreed measures in response to the U.S. sanctions and that President Hassan Rouhani would announce them soon to relevant ministries.

Iran has previously accused the United States of defying the spirit of the nuclear deal or “showing bad faith”, but has not taken any formal action against Washington.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

“Iran’s JCPOA supervisory body assessed the new U.S. sanctions and decided that they contradict parts of the nuclear deal,” Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.

“Iran has complained to the (JCPOA) Commission for the breach of the deal by America,” he added, referring to the joint commission set up by the six world powers, Iran and the European Union to handle any complaints about the deal’s implementation.

If the commission is unable to resolve a dispute, parties can take their grievances to the U.N. Security Council.

How Kelly could really end white house chaos.

Despite President Trump’s proclamation that there is no chaos in the White House, new chief of staff John Kelly has a lot to do — stopping the leaks of information, ending the bitter fighting between staffers and promoting the president’s agenda.

Yahoo News talked to experts to find out what Kelly needs to do to ensure his tenure is longer than that of his predecessor.

Limit access to the president

“It’s an unbelievably long and difficult to-do list that Kelly faces,” said Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.

Kelly needs to lay down the law in Trump’s Wild West White House, ensuring that he controls access to the president and his time, and is empowered to hire and fire, Whipple told Yahoo News.

“He’s got to make sure that he’s first among equals,” and empowered to be “lord high executioner,” Whipple said. Apart from Trump’s daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and possibly senior adviser Steve Bannon, no one should have unfettered access to the Oval Office.

“The hardest and most important thing Kelly has to do is be able to walk into the Oval Office, shut the door, and tell Trump what he doesn’t want to hear,” the author said. “He needs to see the tweets before they go out. And he needs to draw some red lines,” including warning the president that he’ll walk out if Trump tweets a “demonstrable lie,” Whipple said.