Sports

In Exile but Unbowed: Somalia and Guinea Chase Pride and Direction in Kampala A match far from home On a breezy Friday evening in Kampala, Uganda’s Mandela National Stadium will stand in for Mogadishu. Somalia “hosts” Guinea there in a World Cup qualifier that won’t change the group’s balance of power, but still holds weight in ways a scoreboard can’t always measure. It is a low-stakes fixture, perhaps, but one heavy with pride, patience and the hope of forward motion for two teams searching for a foothold. Somalia’s…

Liverpool smash Premier League transfer record to land Alexander Isak from Newcastle Liverpool have completed the signing of Sweden striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle United in what sources describe as a Premier League-record deal, a coup that redraws the contours of the title race before the transfer window shuts. The agreement, confirmed by people close to the talks who were not authorized to speak publicly, will cost Liverpool around £125 million, with Newcastle receiving roughly £130 million once solidarity…

Under the acacia: After a night of fire, families from Adale search for safety Displaced mother and her family sit outside their makeshift shelter/Ergo The tree offers a patch of shade and not much else. A few plastic jerrycans, a cooking pot blackened by smoke, a sleeping mat—this is all that remains for dozens of families who fled Adale, a remote town in Somalia’s Mudug region, after armed men set fire to homes and shops late on July 31. The attack, rooted in a smoldering clan dispute, pushed more than 120 families into…

Szoboszlai’s late thunderbolt edges Arsenal as City falter again: Premier League picture jolts in August Liverpool needed a spark. Anfield knew it, Arsenal knew it, and so did Dominik Szoboszlai as he stood over a set piece eight minutes from time. The Hungary international, deputizing at right back, rifled a long-range free kick off the post and in to snatch a 1-0 win on Sunday—one of those strikes that bend a heavyweight contest to a single shimmering moment. The roar told you what it meant. Three wins from three, nine…

Somalia and Djibouti set up regular political talks amid shifting Horn of Africa landscape Somalia and Djibouti signed a memorandum of understanding in Mogadishu on Saturday that creates a new, formal channel for routine political consultations between the two neighbors—an understated but potentially important move in a region where quiet diplomacy often does the heavy lifting. The agreement was inked by Somalia’s foreign minister, Abdisalam Abdi Ali, and Djibouti’s foreign minister, Ambassador Abdulqadir Hussein Omar,…

Opinion | Mogadishu’s New Port Terminal Is a Bet on Trade, Trust, and a Different Future The cranes at Mogadishu’s seafront swung into motion this week with a confidence that felt new. Somalia inaugurated a modern container terminal—lifting capacity from roughly 150,000 to 250,000 twenty-foot equivalent units—and launched work on a new harbor headquarters to tighten management. For a city where the port once evoked images of conflict and relief shipments, the sight of fresh steel and bright paint is its own kind of…

Qalanjo, the Star Who Gave Somalia Its Soundtrack, Dies in Hargeisa She walked onto the stage with a dancer’s grace and a singer’s certainty, a silk scarf sweeping like a banner. In the 1970s and ’80s—when Somali theaters were full and radios hummed in every teashop—Khadijo Mohamud Yusuf, known to her country simply as Qalanjo, helped give Somalia its soundtrack. The Ministry of Information confirmed she died on August 29 in Hargeisa, calling her passing a profound loss to Somali culture. She was among the first women to…

Somalia courts China in Ningxia as Mogadishu seeks a new investment chapter In Yinchuan, the windswept capital of China’s Ningxia region, a small delegation from the Horn of Africa tried to cast a very large shadow. Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre stood before a hall of businesspeople and provincial officials at a newly minted Somalia-China Business Networking Conference and made a pitch that was at once practical and aspirational: come see Somalia for yourselves. “Directly explore,” Barre urged Chinese investors,…

Changing Tides at Mogadishu Port: A New Chapter for Somalia's Economic Lifeline MOGADISHU, Somalia — In the heart of the Horn of Africa, where geopolitical currents are as tumultuous as the Indian Ocean waves, Mogadishu Port stands as a beacon of economic potential and national resilience. Thursday marked a notable shift in its stewardship as Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur, affectionately known as Americo, took the helm, poised to chart a fresh course for Somalia’s primary gateway to the world. Leadership Transition: Americo…

Grimsby Town Stuns Manchester United in a Cup Shock for the Ages In a heart-stopping encounter that will echo through the annals of football history, fourth-tier Grimsby Town triumphed over Manchester United in a monumental upset during the second round of the English League Cup. The setting was Blundell Park, a modest venue with a capacity of 9,000, but on this night, it felt like the center of the football universe. The Underdogs' Triumph The tale began with humble Grimsby, a team proud of its roots and brimming with…