Abdiwahab Ahmed

After days of uncertainty at sea, two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba arrived in Havana yesterday, ending an overdue voyage from Mexico that had prompted a search-and-rescue operation. The nine crew members — among them American, French and German citizens, as well as a four-year-old boy — appeared healthy and upbeat as they docked in the capital beneath clear skies, smiling and flashing thumbs-up signs. The vessels delivered the last shipments of the Our America Convoy, an international aid campaign aimed at…

North Korea has taken another step in its weapons buildup, with state media reporting that leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw a ground test of an upgraded solid-fuel rocket engine, underscoring Pyongyang’s drive to sharpen its strategic arsenal. The launch test points to what appears to be Mr Kim’s continuing effort to expand and modernise a stockpile of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) designed to reach the United States mainland. The announcement came just days after Mr Kim used a speech to North Korea’s…

A standoff at one of Christianity’s holiest sites upended Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, with the Latin Patriarchate saying Israeli police barred the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — an unprecedented interruption to ceremonies it said had not occurred in centuries. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said police stopped Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Friar Francesco Ielpo as they walked toward the church, which stands on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and…

Live Explosions rock Iran’s capital in a series of blasts Middle East

Anger at President Donald Trump erupted into massive demonstrations across the United States and overseas, with millions turning out to denounce what they describe as authoritarian rule and a pattern of harsh, law-defying governance. The mobilization marks the third nationwide surge in less than a year under the grassroots banner "No Kings," which has become the most visible and forceful outlet for resistance to Trump since the start of his second term in January 2025. Protesters now have a fresh target for their outrage:…

A widening Middle East conflict moved closer to a broader confrontation with Iran yesterday after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched their first attacks on Israel since the war began, even as more US forces arrived in the region. Washington has sent thousands of Marines to the Middle East during the month-old conflict. The first of two contingents arrived on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the US military said yesterday. The Washington Post reported that US officials said the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of…

“Meat grinder” assaults. That was the stark phrase used by Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, to characterize Russian tactics on parts of the 1,200km front in mid-March. From Tuesday, 17 March through Friday, 20 March, Russian troops carried out more than 600 assault operations across the entire frontline, General Syrskyi said this week in a post on the Facebook page of Ukraine’s armed forces. He said those attacks left Russia with more than 6,000 casualties in only four days. Ukrainian and Western military…

More than half a million KitKat bars vanished in Europe last week after thieves stole the truck carrying the confectionery, Nestle said. In a statement, the Swiss food giant said the shipment consisted of 413,793 KitKat bars from the brand’s new range. The truck departed from central Italy to distribute the chocolate across Europe, but it never arrived at its planned final stop in Poland. Nestle said neither the vehicle nor the merchandise has been accounted for, and it did not specify the exact location where the truck was…

French police foiled what authorities described as an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris early Saturday, arresting a man seconds before he could trigger a homemade explosive device, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The incident unfolded at around 3.30am local time, or 1.30am Irish time, in front of a Bank of America building in the city’s upscale 8th arrondissement, just a couple of streets from the Champs-Elysees. One of the sources said officers detained the suspect shortly after he had…

Four astronauts chosen for NASA’s Artemis II mission are preparing to cross the next threshold in the push to return humans to the Moon: arrival in Florida and the final sprint of pre-launch work for the first crewed journey to deep space in more than five decades. Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Pilot Victor Glover and Christina Koch will launch alongside Canadian astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen from Kennedy Space Center as soon as 1 April, riding atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. They will travel inside an…