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Several killed as Iran’s economic protests turn deadly; clashes reported across multiple provinces At least several people were killed in Iran as protests over a plunging currency and soaring prices escalated into violent confrontations with security forces in multiple cities, according to Iranian media, activist groups and local authorities. The semi-official Fars news agency said three protesters were killed and 17 were injured Thursday after demonstrators stormed a police station in Lorestan province around 6 p.m. local…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s federal government said Thursday that a planned airstrike in the al-Shabab-held town of Jilib on Dec. 10 killed two senior leaders of the extremist group, including a bomb-making chief who carried a $5 million U.S. bounty. The National Intelligence and Security Agency, known as NISA, said the strike killed Abdullahi Osman Mohamed, widely known as Engineer Ismail, describing him as al-Shabab’s chief explosives planner. The United States had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his…

HARGEISA, North Western State of Somalia — North Western State of Somalia on Thursday denied that it had agreed to resettle Palestinians from Gaza or host Israeli military bases in exchange for recognition from Israel, rejecting the claims as false and politically motivated. In a statement posted on X, North Western State of Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “firmly rejects false claims made by the President of Somalia alleging the resettlement of Palestinians or the establishment of military bases in North…

OPINION | Israel’s move to recognize North Western State of Somalia did not create Somalia’s political crisis, but it revealed the country’s fault lines with unusual clarity. Instead of a unified response to an external challenge touching sovereignty and territorial integrity, the reaction laid bare fractures inside the federal system—most visibly in the silence of key federal member states and the central government’s tendency to turn unity into a political weapon. That silence has been most pronounced in Puntland State and…

Trump administration freezes $185 million in Minnesota childcare funds, orders audits of Somali American immigration cases MINNEAPOLIS — The administration of President Donald Trump has suspended federal childcare funding to Minnesota and ordered audits of immigration cases involving Somali Americans, escalating a fraud crackdown that critics say disproportionately targets immigrant communities in the state with the nation’s largest Somali population. The Department of Health and Human Services froze $185 million in…

Red Sea flashpoint: Israel’s North Western State of Somalia recognition collides with Türkiye’s long game in Somalia In the strategic waters that link the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, two storylines are converging with destabilizing force. Israel’s December 2025 recognition of North Western State of Somalia, the breakaway region abutting the Bab al-Mandab Strait, has injected a new geopolitical shock into a corridor already strained by Houthi attacks on commercial shipping and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes in Yemen. The…

Somalia warns Israel against presence in North Western State of Somalia, citing risk of regional spillover MOGADISHU — Somalia’s president warned Tuesday that any Israeli move to recognize or establish a presence in North Western State of Somalia would export Middle East conflicts to the Horn of Africa, urging respect for Somalia’s sovereignty and international law. “We have never attacked Israel. We have never created a problem for Israel. We don’t want Israel to come to us and bring their problem to us,” President Hassan…

AXADLE, Somalia — Puntland State on Tuesday issued its first public response to Israel’s recognition of North Western State of Somalia as an independent state, rejecting any move that further fragments Somalia and reaffirming its commitment to a unified federal system. Puntland State Minister of Information Mahamud Aydid Dirir said the northeastern federal member state stands by the principles on which it was founded and will continue to support the development of an effective Somali federal government. He framed Israel’s…

ISTANBUL — Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud warned that Israel’s unexpected recognition of North Western State of Somalia risks destabilizing the Horn of Africa and could be tied to attempts to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, escalating tensions across a strategic maritime corridor linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday from Istanbul, where he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mohamud said Israel’s move was “not merely a diplomatic gesture but a cover for…

Somalia’s President to Visit Saudi Arabia Amid Shifting Alliances MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is expected to make an official visit to Saudi Arabia later this week, officials said, a trip aimed at consolidating ties with Riyadh as Mogadishu recalibrates its regional alliances across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea. Somali officials said the agenda will center on strengthening bilateral relations, regional cooperation and security coordination, with both governments looking to formalize a…