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Minnesota charges eight in alleged Medicaid housing fraud as state moves to reboot troubled program Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged eight people with orchestrating more than $8 million in alleged wire fraud tied to the state’s Housing Stabilization Services program, a Medicaid benefit intended to keep disabled and elderly residents housed. The indictments, announced Thursday in Minneapolis, mark what prosecutors called the “first wave” in a widening probe into a program that ballooned far beyond its original…

Somalia’s identity shake-up: a bid to reclaim control sparks questions about reach and rights MOGADISHU — In a forceful televised address that mixed alarm at security risks with the blunt tools of statecraft, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced a sweeping overhaul of how Somalis are identified: passports, he said, will no longer be the primary credential for accessing government or private services. Instead, the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) card must be used — and those who refuse to…

Trump’s attack on Ilhan Omar is less about Somalia and more about American politics When President Donald Trump turned his sights again on Representative Ilhan Omar this week, the target was nominally a foreign one: Somalia, the East African nation where Omar was born. But beneath the rhetorical blast — a catalogue of Somalia’s decades-long misery — lay a familiar political script in Washington: personal denigration of a dissenting lawmaker, a reminder that birthplace can be weaponized in domestic debates, and a signal…

Somalia’s push for direct vote exposes fault lines between Mogadishu and the regions When Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre insists Somalia is moving away from "lawmakers appointed by clan elders or regional administrations" toward a system in which "representatives elected directly by the Somali people," he is sketching a future that is both aspirational and deeply contested. The proposal — to replace a decades-old, clan-based indirect model with universal suffrage and to shift governance toward a presidential system — has…

‘We Know Hunger’: Somali Donors Keep a Gaza Kitchen Alive, One Pot at a Time In the crowded lanes of Gaza, where fuel is scarce and days are measured by the arrival of bread, a line forms before noon. Children clutch metal bowls, women balance plastic containers, and an old man steadies himself on a cane as steam curls from vast metal pots. The kitchen—funded by Somalis thousands of miles away—has been serving up a rare constant amid the chaos: a hot meal. For 50 days and counting, a grassroots Somali initiative has pushed…

Ugandan troops kill senior Al-Shabaab commander in Lower Shabelle MOGADISHU — Ugandan forces serving with the African Union mission in Somalia say they have killed a senior Al-Shabaab operative in an ambush in the volatile Lower Shabelle region, a development that comes as Somalia struggles with shrinking international support and a partial drawdown of peacekeepers. The operation UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Forces) units operating under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) reported…

Somalia Says Voter Registration in Jubbaland to Start Soon, Pushing Toward One-Person, One-Vote Somalia’s prime minister says voter registration in Jubbaland will begin “soon,” a fresh signal that the federal government is pressing ahead with a long-promised shift to one-person, one-vote elections across the country. The announcement, delivered Wednesday, is meant to reassure Somalis that preparations are on track for landmark local government polls slated for October 2025. But the path ahead remains bumpy, with political…

The Hidden Truth About Light Beers: Quality vs. Quantity When it comes to enjoying a refreshing drink after a long day, many of us reach for light beers, believing they are kinder to our waistlines. With their lower calorie counts and lighter flavors, it seems like a guilt-free option, right? But as a holistic nutrition coach, Candice van Eeden from Kuon Healthcare explains, "Light beers may contain fewer calories, but they often skimp on quality ingredients, leading to empty nutritional profiles." In this post, we’ll dive…

The Hidden Truth About Light Beers: Quality vs. Quantity When it comes to enjoying a refreshing drink after a long day, many of us reach for light beers, believing they are kinder to our waistlines. With their lower calorie counts and lighter flavors, it seems like a guilt-free option, right? But as a holistic nutrition coach, Candice van Eeden from Kuon Healthcare explains, "Light beers may contain fewer calories, but they often skimp on quality ingredients, leading to empty nutritional profiles." In this post, we’ll dive…

A strike in Sanaag and the question of who counts as a target The killing of a traditional elder in the contested Sanaag region of northern Somalia has reopened raw questions about intelligence, accountability and the politics of a war that has stretched into its third decade. The U.S. Africa Command said the man, identified as Abdullahi Omar Abdi, was “responsible for procuring and transferring illegal weapons” for the militant group Al-Shabaab and that the strike that killed him on Sept. 13 was carried out “to degrade…