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Kenya Mourns As Marathon World Record-Holder Kelvin Kiptum Is Given A State Funeral
NAIROBI, Kenya – Kelvin Kiptum, Kenya’s world marathon record holder, was accorded a state funeral Friday after being killed in a vehicle accident earlier this month, prompting many Kenyans to call on the government to do more to protect the country’s famed sportsmen.
Hundreds of dignitaries, including Kenyan President William Ruto and World Athletics Federation President Sebastian Coe, paid their final respects to Kiptum as he was interred in Naiberi, some 6 kilometres (4 miles) from his village of Chepkorio in western Kenya.
The 24-year-old runner and his Rwandan coach, Gervais Hakizimana, died in a collision two weeks ago near the town of Kaptagat in western Kenya, in the heart of a high-altitude region known as a training ground for Kenya’s and the world’s greatest distance runners.
Kenya Mourns As Marathon World Record-Holder Kelvin Kiptum Is Given A State Funeral
Kiptum was one of the most promising road runners to emerge in recent years, breaking the world record in only his third competitive marathon outing. Just days before his death, the world track body World Athletics certified his record of 2 hours and 35 seconds achieved at the Chicago Marathon last October.
Kiptum intended to break the two-hour marathon record in Rotterdam in April and make his Olympic debut in Paris this year.
His death echoed throughout Kenya, where runners are the biggest sports heroes, and many people have become accustomed to tragedies involving their best athletes, with dozens dying in traffic accidents or as a result of domestic abuse.
According to officials, Kiptum was driving on the night of February 11 when the car went off the road into a ditch and collided with a huge tree. He and Hakizimana died instantly. Sharon Kosgei, another passenger, was also hurt in the incident.
Kiptum, an only child, leaves his wife, Asentah Cheruto, and their two children. A High Court on Thursday declined to postpone the funeral in response to a woman’s legal claim that Kiptum fathered her kid.
Kenya Mourns As Marathon World Record-Holder Kelvin Kiptum Is Given A State Funeral
Kiptum ran the fastest as a marathon debutant in the 2022 Valencia Marathon. The next year, he won two of the world’s most prestigious marathons: London and Chicago. He set a new course record at the London Marathon in April; months later, he set the global record in Chicago.
He became the latest Kenyan celebrity to die in sad circumstances.
David Lelei, an All-Africa Games silver medalist, was killed in a car crash in 2010. Francis Kiplagat, a marathon runner, was among five individuals who died in a crash in 2018. Nicholas Bett, who won gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2015 World Championships, was also killed in a car accident in 2018.
Many Kenyans believe the government should do more to protect athletes who bring international attention to their country, such as providing them with security, drivers, and advisors.
Elizabeth Wairimu, a vegetable trader in the western Kenya town of Nakuru, said the number of athletes killed in road accidents was frightening.
“I am asking myself what is the problem with our athletes,” she said. “The government should look into this… figure out what is killing our athletes. Where are we headed?”
She expressed sadness that the government was rushing through the process instead of Kiptum, who had pledged to build a new house for his parents.
Kenya Mourns As Marathon World Record-Holder Kelvin Kiptum Is Given A State Funeral
Others in the packed market agreed with Wairimu’s comments.
“The government should not wait until the legends are dead to start caring about their welfare,” said George Thuo, a market seller.
Jimmy Muindi, a six-time Honolulu Marathon winner from Kenya, believes young athletes who reach Kiptum’s level require assistance managing their newfound celebrity status. Former marathoner Isaac Macharia concurred, stating that a support system is required to develop stars.
Jack Tuwei, the president of Athletics Kenya, urged President Ruto and MPs to find a solution to secure the athletes’ well-being and “allow them to have everything they need to be safe.”
Ruto announced that an endowment fund would be established for athletes and that the government would provide Kiptum’s widow with another house and $34,000 in support.
SOURCE – (AP)
News
Outrage Erupts After NY Authorities Kill Peanut the Squirrel
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ‘s killing of Peanut the squirrel, well-known on Instagram for his enormous and loyal fan base, has sparked indignation among Internet users worldwide.
The government’s move horrified Peanut’s owner, Mark Longo. He lost his squirrel companion Peanut and his raccoon friend Fred when agents from the DEC stormed his home. It was a double murder!
Using Instagram to express his desire for Peanut’s safe return, Mr. Longo vowed to authorities that the DEC would have a “special place in hell” in his heart.
But the authorities said they had to put Peanut the squirrel down because it bit a government employee who was helping with his seizure. During the raid on Mr. Longo’s residence, the DEC also claimed to have euthanized a raccoon named Fred.
“Multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and the illegal keeping of wildlife as pets” prompted the DEC to announce that they were conducting an inquiry.
A petition demanding Peanut’s return had collected over 30,000 signatures by Friday afternoon when word of his demise arrived.
What started as an ordeal turned into a “terrible nightmare,” according to his Friday morning message.
Following Peanut’s passing, Mr. Longo encouraged fans to contact the DEC by posting their phone information online and asking them to “express your feelings” by calling. “We will not let this be Peanuts final memory,” he concluded.
The government should leave people and their animals alone https://t.co/wFHZHuqJEv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2024
As the news of the DEC killing Peanut the squirrel sparked ire on social media, Musk, the owner of X and a Trump supporter, wrote: “The government should leave people and their animals alone.”
In another post, the Tesla CEO extended condolences to Longo over the death of Peanut. “President @realDonaldTrump will save the squirrels 🐿️ 😢 RIP P’Nut.”
His reaction came as several Trump supporters posted a picture of a squirrel wearing a Trump hat as a tribute to Peanut. Meanwhile, Squirrels for Trump also started trending on X.
Reacting to Musk’s post, Andrew Tate wrote: “This is peak government. Busting down your door because you dont have a squirrel licence and murdering your pet. Who gains? Who benefits? Who did the police “save”?”
“Only death and sadness and wasted money,” he added.
“First they were eating the cats, now, they’re executing the squirrels. Terrible times,” commented Collin Rugg, the co-owner of Trending Politics.
Mr. Longo adopted Peanut seven years ago after seeing the newborn squirrel near the scene of his mother’s vehicle accident.
Despite his best efforts, he could not free Peanut; the next morning, he discovered the animal on his porch with “a chunk of his tail missing.”
More than half a million people have followed Peanut the squirrel on Instagram since then.
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BC Supreme Court Stops MAID Death of Woman from Alberta
A Supreme Court Judge in British Columbia has given a rare, last-minute injunction prohibiting a woman from receiving medical assistance in dying (Maid) after physicians in her home province refused to approve the request.
The lady’s common-law partner received the injunction, which prohibits Vancouver physician Ellen Wiebe or any other medical professional from “causing the death” of an Alberta woman within the next 30 days.
The court judgment came as the country remains embroiled in a contentious debate over extending medical assistance to dying or Maid.
Earlier this week, Quebec became the first province to enable people to make the decision years in advance, in breach of federal legislation.
While official records show that the vast majority of people who use Maid have terminal diseases, critics are concerned that a tiny but growing proportion of cases reflect poverty and social inequity, which drives people to end their lives.
According to the Canadian Press, the injunction in the British Columbia case comes after the woman’s partner filed a notice of civil claim alleging Wiebe negligently approved the procedure for a patient who does not legally qualify and that administering Maid would constitute wrongful death and possibly a criminal offense.
According to court documents, the 53-year-old lady flew from Alberta to BC to obtain Maid after doctors in her native province refused to approve it. The woman had requested Maid, alleging akathisia, a movement disorder associated with altering doses of psychotropic or antipsychotic medication.
The woman had “distressing side effects” after reducing her dose of a bipolar illness medication.
Symptoms include “an inner sense of terror all day long, the inability to sleep at night, nightmares, the inability to lie down during the day due to a feeling of falling, the inability to sit or remain still suicidal thoughts”.
According to court records, the woman and her partner were assured that the disease was curable and that the symptoms would resolve within a few months. As a result, doctors denied her request for assisted death.
The woman found Wiebe and connected with her via Zoom. “At the end of the first meeting, Dr Wiebe approved [the woman] for Maid,” the allegations state. Wiebe, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, has emerged as a staunch supporter of Maid, claiming that current laws recognize “basic human rights.”
According to the British Columbia lawsuit, Wiebe failed to consult with the woman’s doctors or obtain the patient’s complete medical information. Instead, Wiebe is accused of email reviewing only a fraction of the woman’s medical records.
In Canada, the euthanasia framework comprises two “tracks” – one for terminal diseases and another when “natural death is not reasonably foreseeable”. Applicants with a medical condition involving mental illness will be ineligible until at least March 2027.
Federal law requires a second, independent doctor to accept a request for treatment when the petitioner has a chronic, irreversible physical condition. The complaint claims that it did not occur in the case of the Alberta woman.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Simon Coval stated in his decision that the woman looked to have a mental health illness rather than a medical one. He said he allowed the plea since the case was “clearly a situation of extreme irreparable harm” if she carried out her plan to die on October 27th.
Justice Coval recognized that the order “is a severe intrusion” on the woman’s personal and medical autonomy.
“I can only imagine the pain she has been experiencing and I recognize that this injunction will likely make that worse,” stated the lawyer.
However, he questioned if the Maid standards were correctly applied, given that her condition “may not only be remediable, but remediable relatively quickly”.
Source: The Canadian Press
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RCMP Take Down Fentanyl “Super Lab” in British Columbia
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has dismantled the largest and most sophisticated illicit drug “super lab” in Canadian history, seizing a record quantity of illegal firearms, synthetic drugs, and precursor chemicals.
The RCMP believes organized crime was behind the operation, which involved the mass production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine throughout Canada and worldwide.
Last Monday, officers executed search warrants on a drug lab in Falkland, British Columbia, and related facilities in Surrey, Metro Vancouver.
The RCMP posted several images of the operation, including officers in protective suits taking objects from the “super lab.”
They also found a total of 89 firearms, including handguns, AR-15-style rifles and submachine guns — “many of which were loaded and ready to be used.” They also discovered minor explosive devices, ammo, silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armor, and $500,000 Canadian (US$359,000) in cash.
According to police investigators, Mr. Gaganpreet Randhawa has been arrested and is facing several narcotics and firearms-related crimes.
“This is undoubtedly a major blow to the transnational organized crime groups involved, and a great step towards ensuring the safety of Canadians, and the international community,” said Jillian Wellard, spokesperson for the RCMP.
According to the Canadian authorities, fentanyl is a common constituent in many of the lethal illicit substances that killed approximately 48,000 people in Canada between January 2016 and March 2024.
The bust comes just two weeks after Canadian police announced arrests related to another multinational organized crime gang.
The RCMP said it had worked with the FBI for over a year to target a Mexican cartel-linked criminal network that had been moving large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine from Central and South America via the United States to Canada and overseas.
Canadian authorities said that the network had also been commissioning murders across North America and laundering significant amounts of money.
The alleged leader of that network, Canadian Ryan Wedding, remains at large and is wanted by the United States and Canada, authorities said.
Police reported seizing 54 kilograms of fentanyl, “massive” amounts of precursor chemicals, 390 kilos of methamphetamine, and smaller amounts of cocaine, MDMA, and cannabis.
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