A radical Kenyan Muslim cleric who was on US and UN sanction lists for allegedly supporting Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab militants, has been shot dead.

A Kenyan judge dropped murder charges against four men for their alleged roles in the al-Qaida car bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel that killed 15 people, saying the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence.

A High Court judge in Nairobi is expected to rule today on whether four Kenyan men charged with murder for their alleged roles in the al-Qaida car bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya can go free.

Four people are to be charged with the suicide bombing of a hotel popular with Israelis on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.