Sports

From Flight to Fight: Ramla Ali’s return to Kenya turns advocacy into action A champion steps back into a familiar story On a bright morning in Nairobi’s Dandora neighborhood, Ramla Ali pulled on gloves—this time not for sparring, but to sort plastic and cardboard alongside dozens of women in a community recycling yard. The Somali-born boxer, model, and UNICEF ambassador moved quickly along the line, measuring, weighing, and bagging materials that would help turn a day’s work into a day’s pay for refugee mothers. Kids…

UK warns travellers of conflicting visa rules across Somalia after federal e-visa rollout North Western State of Somalia and Puntland State reject Mogadishu’s system, creating airport confusion The United Kingdom has cautioned its citizens to expect inconsistent and sometimes conflicting visa requirements across Somalia after the federal government launched a new e-visa system that regional authorities in North Western State of Somalia and Puntland State say they will not honor. In updated guidance, the UK Foreign,…

U.S. Embassy warns of suspected breach in Somalia’s e‑visa system, thousands of travelers at risk The United States Embassy in Mogadishu has issued a security alert warning that a suspected cyber intrusion into Somalia’s electronic visa platform may have exposed the personal data of tens of thousands of applicants — a reminder that the global rush to digitize borders carries risks as well as convenience. In a notice released this week, the embassy said it received credible reports on November 11, 2025, that unidentified…

EU warship seizes suspected pirate ‘mother ship’ off Somalia after tanker hijack; 24 crew freed unharmed A 30-hour standoff ends without casualties in the Western Indian Ocean European naval forces have captured an Iranian-flagged dhow believed to have served as a pirate “mother ship” in the hijacking of the oil products tanker Hellas Aphrodite, bringing a tense 30-hour standoff to a close and freeing all 24 crew members unharmed, officials said. Operation Atalanta, the European Union’s counter-piracy mission, said the dhow…

A Gate Birth in Mogadishu Sparks a Bigger Question: Who Gets Care in Somalia? In a city that understands endurance, one image has shaken Mogadishu this week: a woman giving birth on the steps outside Banadir Maternity and Children’s Hospital after she was reportedly refused admission while in active labor. An elderly passerby helped bring the child into the world at the hospital gate, witnesses said. Both mother and newborn were later reported in critical condition. The incident, on October 26, triggered outrage far beyond…

Between a Scholarship and a Closed Door: A Somali Student’s Long Wait for a Yes The calls stopped first. Then the messages. For 12 days, a Somali student who had won a coveted Erasmus Mundus scholarship waited for a residence permit to study in Denmark—only to learn, as so many young people with dreams find out, that the hardest borders are often the invisible ones. Ali Musa, a scholar who had secured full funding to study at the University of Copenhagen, found his plans stalled when Danish authorities denied his residence…

Analysis: A diplomat’s lonely fight exposes a bigger test for Canada’s foreign service OTTAWA — The room was quiet when Madina Iltireh finished talking. She had just told a small crowd of former colleagues and friends what it felt like to represent Canada abroad while, she says, being made to feel she did not belong. “I was representing Canada, but Canada did not represent me,” she said softly, standing in a downtown Ottawa conference room. “I went through hell.” The hell she describes unfolded thousands of kilometres…

Yemen and Somalia Look to the Gulf of Aden for a Reset — Trade, Flights, and a Security Hedge On a warm Sunday in Aden, inside a government building that has seen more than its share of chapter changes, Yemen’s Transport Minister Dr. Abdisalam Hamid sat down with Somalia’s ambassador, Abdulhakim Mohamed, to talk about rebuilding old routes across a troubled sea. The meeting didn’t produce the flashy, sweeping pledges that crowd the diplomatic calendar. Yet in a region where small steps often foreshadow bigger shifts, their…

North Western State of Somalia, Somalia and the politics of the skies: Why a digital visa is touching a raw nerve Airspace rarely makes front-page news until it does. In the Horn of Africa, where borders are contested and history weighs heavy, the latest salvo isn’t happening on the ground but in the air—and online. North Western State of Somalia’s Minister of the Presidency, Khadar Hussein Abdi, has accused Somalia’s federal government of waging a “war” over air travel and airspace, claiming the aim is to pressure North…

A Somali audio startup turns listening into a bridge for a scattered nation On a humid morning in Mogadishu’s Hamar Weyne market, the bustle runs on engine oil and conversation. A tea vendor pours spiced shaah with one hand and, with the other, taps play on his phone. In his ear, a familiar voice narrates the ideas of Marcus Aurelius—in Somali. Five thousand miles away, a nurse on a night shift in Jigjiga cues up a 20-minute deep dive on genetics. In Minneapolis, a rideshare driver squeezes in a lesson on economics between…