International
Last weekend, authorities in Nairobi, Kenya suspended exhumations at the site where 400 followers of a doomsday cult were found dead two years ago.
Shakahola’s Kilifi county hosts Chakama Ranch where the members of Good News International Church lived in seclusion with their leader, Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who reportedly ordered his followers to fast to death so they could meet Jesus before the end times.
Many of the bodies exhumed also show signs of beating, strangulation, and suffocation.
According to Kenyan authorities, more than 34 new bodies have been discovered over the past two weeks at a site two kilometers from the original location. Digging has been halted to allow for DNA collection.
Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja told ABC News multiple agencies are collaborating to uncover the events that lead to these deaths.
“We have our best team working here,” he said, “and very soon we will complete the investigation.”
According to Government Pathologist Richard Njoroge, postmortem examinations will be conducted pending X-rays.
Police arrested 11suspects one month ago when a woman filed a complaint over the deaths of her children. They are to remain in custody while the investigation is in progress.
The isolated and rural nature of the ranch means police have a harder time patrolling the area, makingthe hunt for the rest of the victims difficult.
“This is a very expansive and forested area,” Police boss Kanja said, “and for that reason, it needs all of us to come together so that we can overcome these challenges,”
National
This week, Meta announced they will be incorporating new precautionsinto their chat bots, forbidding them from talking about sensitive topics such as suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders.
The changes were sparked after a US senator launched an investigation based on leaked documents claiming their AI products could have explicit conversations with teenagers.
“We built protections for teens into our AI products from the start,” a Meta spokesperson told BBC, “including designing them to respond safely to prompts about self-harm, suicide, and disordered eating.”
Meta’s announcement comes one week after a California couple sued OpenAI when their chatbot, ChatGPT, allegedly encouraged a teenage boy to take his own life.
Andy Burrows, head of the Molly Rose Foundation, said it was “astounding” companies released chatbots to the public when they potentially posed a risk to young people:
“While further safety measures are welcome, robust safety testing should take place before products are put on the market – not retrospectively when harm has taken place,” Burrows said. “Meta must act quickly and decisively to implement stronger safety measures for AI chatbots and Ofcom should stand ready to investigate if these updates fail to keep children safe.”
Local
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden welcomed a new endangered okapi calf into the world on Sunday.
Born to new mother and father Kayin and Bosomi, the new okapi is the eighth to be born in Oklahoma City.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the birth of this little calf and are thrilled that she’s here, healthy and strong,” Bill Smith, OKC Zoo’s Curator of Hoofstock, told KOKH. “Okapi are endangered, so this calf represents a new generation of okapi that are vital to the population as a whole. We look forward to watching her thrive alongside her parents.”
According to the Oklahoma City Zoo, only around 10,000 okapi remain worldwide.
“Okapi are extremely rare, beautiful animals that we have proudly been caring for, helping conserve, and connecting Oklahomans to for decades,” Dwight Lawson, OKC Zoo’s Executive Director and CEO said. “I am excited for guests to make a connection with our newest okapi ambassador.”
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