Axadle - Leading News from Somalia and the Horn of Africa

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the country can wage an “intense war” for six months against the United States and Israel, as Israeli forces announced fresh strikes “across Tehran” and a precision hit on Quds Force commanders at a seaside hotel in central Beirut. The claims and counterstrikes rippled across the region Saturday, with Saudi Arabia intercepting a wave of drones and Kuwait reporting an attack on aviation fuel tanks at its international airport. Kuwait’s national oil company said it would cut crude production,…

Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones across Ukraine overnight, killing 12 people and wounding more than a dozen, authorities said, as strikes hit apartment blocks and critical energy and rail infrastructure from Kharkiv to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 29 missiles and 480 drones, several of which targeted power and railway facilities. He urged Kyiv’s allies to sustain military support, saying, “Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical…

President Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury is colliding with a familiar political truth: foreign policy gambits rarely escape the gravity of domestic economics. As U.S. strikes in Iran disrupt the Strait of Hormuz and send oil markets lurching, the administration’s “America First” doctrine faces a stark test — can voters be persuaded that national security is worth higher gas prices in an election year? The White House is sharpening its case. Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, recast the slogan on Fox News this…

Opinion: Ethiopia’s impunity test — why Abdi Iley’s return to public life imperils reconciliation In Ethiopia’s Somali Region and far beyond it, reconciliation is not a slogan but a test measured in the dignity afforded to victims. The reemergence of Abdi Mohamed Omar — widely known as Abdi Iley, the former Somali Region president — after a March 2024 pardon has turned that test into a crisis. Rights groups have long documented grave abuses by the region’s Liyu Police during his tenure, including torture, extrajudicial…

You are an elite, award-winning international journalist and a meticulous senior editor. Your job is to transform raw source material into a publish-ready article that meets the highest AP-standard editorial and technical requirements. PHASE 1 — ANALYSIS AND FORMAT DECISION Read the source text thoroughly. Identify the core themes, dominant purpose, crucial facts, data points, and human or structural angles. Based solely on this analysis, select exactly one article format from the list below. Always choose Football…

Analysis: Pakistan’s Saudi defense pact faces its first major test as Iran-Israel war engulfs the Gulf ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on February 28 and Tehran’s retaliation with missiles and drones — not only at Israel but at six Gulf countries — have thrust Pakistan into the most precarious regional crisis it has faced in years. Bound to Saudi Arabia by a new mutual defense pact, tied to Iran by geography and a tense but necessary relationship,…

Saudi surgeons separate Somali conjoined twins in 14-hour operation in Riyadh RIYADH — A Saudi medical team has successfully separated 13-month-old Somali conjoined twins in a complex 14-hour operation at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh, officials said Thursday, marking a milestone for the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program and new hope for the family. The twins, Rahma and Ramla, were joined at the lower abdomen and pelvis and shared critical organs, making the case among the more complex conjoined twin…

Opinion/Analysis: Somalia’s constitutional crossroads — process, not power, will decide the future Somalia’s Constitution is again at the center of national politics. A round of changes presented as a constitutional amendment has triggered sharp objections from federal member states and opposition figures, raising questions about legality, legitimacy and the balance of power in the federation. At stake is not only the letter of the 2012 Provisional Federal Constitution but public confidence in the institutions charged with…

Analysis: Macron’s nuclear bet redraws Europe’s security map — and tests its appetite for autonomy Emmanuel Macron stood before a hulking French ballistic-missile submarine in Brest and declared a new nuclear doctrine for Europe. In quieter times, the French leader’s vow to expand France’s arsenal, cease public warhead disclosures and extend a French “nuclear umbrella” over willing European partners would have sparked a week of front pages. Instead, with the United States and Israel waging war on Iran, the significance of…

Saturday March 7, 2026 Arusha — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Arusha on Saturday to attend the 25th Annual Summit of the East African Community, a high-level gathering focused on advancing economic integration, security cooperation and political coordination across the region. The visit signals Somalia’s deepening engagement with the regional bloc as it seeks to consolidate post-conflict gains and broaden economic and diplomatic ties. The summit brings together heads of state and senior officials from EAC…