Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was due to hold talks today to mediate in the deadly dispute over Kenya’s presidential election, and the opposition said it was willing to reconsider plans for protest rallies this week.

Kenyan police have killed and wounded dozens of protesters, an international human rights group said today, warning that the opposition call for mass rallies this week raises concerns of new clashes that could lead to more deaths and injuries.

Kenya’s opposition leader called today for rallies across the country, raising the prospect of renewed bloodshed even as he indicated he was willing to negotiate a power-sharing agreement to resolve the explosive electoral crisis.

The leading US diplomat for Africa is in Kenya today to encourage a peaceful resolution after a disputed presidential election sparked days of deadly riots.

Riot police in Kenya fired tear gas and water cannons today to beat back surging crowds of rock-throwing opposition protesters who took to the streets for a cancelled rally.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at crowds gathered in Kenya today for a protest rally.

The death toll from more than five days of violence in Kenya rose above 300 today as the government denied the country was in crisis.

Signs have been found of a Kenya-bound flight that crashed in Cameroon with 114 people aboard, an aviation official said today.

Gunmen carjacked a US Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital today, killing two women in the car, police said.

Kenyan officials today said a passenger plane had crashed near a Nairobi Airport with 80 people on board, but when reporters arrived, they found it had only been a practise drill.

An Israeli rescue team pulled two more bodies from a collapsed building early today, bringing the death toll to 16 as police search for the owners of the building who reportedly rushed construction workers to put up new floors even before concrete on the lower level had set properly.

Kenya today called on all of its citizens to leave Iraq immediately, and a government spokesman urged insurgents to release the three Kenyans they have taken hostage.

Militants took six foreign truck drivers hostage and threatened to behead them unless their company ends its business in Iraq, and their countries – India, Egypt and Kenya – pull all their citizens out.