In Kenya, six people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Venezuela's acting ambassador. The diplomat, Olga Fonseca, was found strangled to death at her official residence in Nairobi on Friday.

Kenyan officials said some staff at the residency had complained about being fired by Ms Fonseca after they refused to retract allegations about her predecessor, Gerardo da Silva. Ambassador da Silva left Nairobi two months ago after six years in the post.

The Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is conducting an investigation into the allegations against Mr Da Silva.

Two Venezuelan government officials arrived in Nairobi on Saturday to help with the probe into Ms Fonseca's killing. She had started her new role in Nairobi on 15 July.

Staff had found Ms Fonseca, 57, in her bedroom on Friday morning. She had only moved into the official residence, which is surrounded by an electrified fence, two days ago.

Chief of Nairobi police Anthony Kibuchi said investigations are progressing well. He told local media he expects to charge some of the suspects either today or tomorrow.

Syria has blamed international sanctions for shortages of cooking gas and other basic goods in the country. The Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Allaw told reporters in Damascus on Wednesday that sanctions had cost Syria's oil sector about $4 billion. He said that the punitive measures were responsible or the shortages that have left Syrians across the country standing in queues to pay inflated prices for cooking gas, fuel, sugar and other staples. 

Prices for a tank of cooking gas have spiraled to some $25 as shortages have spread across the country. Allaw tolfd that a Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tons of fuel docked in Syria on Tuesday and another will follow. Syria is also seeking to arrange further gas imports from Algeria and Iran. However, the U.S. ambassador to Damascus denied that the international sanctions are to blame for the shortages facing Syrians.