Monday June 1, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s Military Court on Sunday opened proceedings in a case involving two Ethiopian nationals accused of ties to al-Shabab, prosecutors said. Military prosecutors named the defendants as Hamza Ibrahim Ali, also known as Abuu Irshad, and Nasri Abdirahman Ali, also known as Abuu Safiya. Both men are from Harar, Ethiopia, and are fluent in Somali, according to prosecutors. Security officials said the pair were detained in Baidoa, the capital of Bay region, during a planned operation…

Sunday May 31, 2026 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief is in DRC, to monitor Ebola containment efforts. / Reuters Five Ebola patients have recovered in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, offering a rare sign of progress as health workers battle an outbreak in Bunia, the center of the crisis. “Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the inauguration of a…

by STEPHEN ASTARIKOSunday May 31, 2026 Officials from the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) inspecting the Wajir Airport/STEPHEN ASTARIKO Work on major aviation upgrades in Garissa and Wajir is gathering pace, with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) using a weekend inspection to take stock of projects meant to ease travel and boost commerce across Northern Kenya. KAA Managing Director Moses Wekesa led the tour on Saturday alongside General Manager for Operations and Safety Dr Simon Peter and General Manager for Engineering…

Wycliffe Muia and Akisa Wandera, NairobiSaturday May 30, 2026 With the Ebola outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo and cases now appearing in Uganda, a Kenyan court has stepped in to halt a US-backed quarantine plan that had stirred alarm over whether the country could become a staging ground for the virus. The court has suspended American plans to establish an Ebola isolation facility for US citizens in Kenya, a proposal that had already triggered widespread concern about the risk of cross-border transmission.…

Saturday May 30, 2026 Kenya Red Cross workers recover a body after Thursday’s blaze at Utumishi Girls Academy, May 28, 2026. Kenyan police said at least eight students have been taken into custody on suspicion of arson after a fire at a girls’ boarding school left 16 students dead and 79 others injured. The inferno erupted in the early hours of Thursday at Utumishi Girls Academy Senior School in Gilgil, in west-central Kenya. On Friday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation said initial inquiries had singled out eight…

A devastating fire tore through a girls' dormitory in Kenya early Thursday, claiming the lives of 16 students and leaving 79 others injured in its wake. The tragedy unfolded at Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County, located approximately 120 kilometers north of Nairobi, as reported by local officials. This catastrophe is the latest in a series of school fires that have plagued Kenya, a country where boarding schools are prevalent—a system reminiscent of colonial missionary and British educational influences. Education…

by Quincy Thomas Thursday May 28, 2026 Shamso Ahmed Hassan and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf Federal prosecutors say two Minnesota women played a central role in a sprawling fraud tied to the state’s autism Medicaid program, in a case they describe as one of the largest of its kind. Shamso Ahmed Hassan, 55, and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf, 25, allegedly submitted more than $46 million in fraudulent claims and laundered $21 million of those proceeds, according to court filings and statements from prosecutors. Authorities allege that from May…

By Anthony Bettin, Adam DuxterThursday May 28, 2026 Muhammad Omar U.S. Attorney's Office A Minnesota man facing charges in what federal officials describe as a sprawling Medicaid fraud case has been ordered held as a flight risk, underscoring the scale and seriousness of the alleged scheme that siphoned more than $90 million from taxpayers. At an arraignment and detention hearing Wednesday, a judge ruled that Muhammad Omar, 32, of Roseville, Minnesota, must remain in custody while his case moves forward. Omar and a partner,…

Somalia sits on a strategically important stretch of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, close to one of the world’s busiest chokepoints. The country’s maritime space influences how goods move between Europe, Asia and Africa—and how shipping security in the region is managed. This explainer outlines why Somalia matters to global trade routes, what has shaped maritime activity over time, and key facts that help explain the geography of shipping in the Horn of Africa. Somalia’s location: a gateway to major sea lanes…

Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is bracing for what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls a "catastrophic collision of disease and conflict," as a rapidly advancing Ebola outbreak outstrips efforts to contain it in a region already scarred by armed groups, displacement and severe hunger. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Ebola Bundibugyo virus outbreak in Ituri province is unfolding in conditions that undermine basic public health measures, with insecurity, assaults on clinics and…