Axadle - Breaking news and analysis from Somalia, the Horn of Africa, and across Africa.

Russia launched a massive overnight air assault on Ukraine’s energy network, striking electricity generation and distribution facilities with more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the barrage targeted the grid, generation sites and distribution substations across the country, as winter temperatures begin to plunge. “Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,” he posted on X. Moscow did not immediately comment on the…

Red Sea Dreams: Can Ethiopia Swap National Icons for a Maritime Future? ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday renewed his push to secure Ethiopia’s long-sought access to the Red Sea, calling it a “matter of survival” essential to the country’s long-term development and security and insisting any path forward would be negotiated, commercial and peaceful. Speaking during a question-and-answer session with the House of People’s Representatives, Abiy framed the issue as central to regional stability and…

Measles outbreak in Minnesota’s Somali community tests public health outreach as vaccine fears persist MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota health officials racing to contain a measles outbreak centered in Minneapolis’ large Somali community are confronting entrenched vaccine fears stoked by long-running myths about autism and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot. Fourteen measles cases have been confirmed statewide since February. About half are in Somali children, six of whom were not vaccinated and one of whom was too young for shots,…

Clintons ask House committee to make Epstein testimony public Bill and Hillary Clinton are urging the House Oversight Committee to take their testimony in public rather than behind closed doors, arguing that transparency is the best guard against politicization of the panel’s inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s connections and how authorities handled information about his crimes. The Republican-led committee had ordered the former president and former secretary of state to sit for closed-door depositions as part of its Epstein…

Somali police seize control of parliament; lawmakers report threats of lethal force MOGADISHU, Feb. 7 — Armed police units took control of Somalia’s Federal Parliament main hall on Saturday, paralyzing proceedings as lawmakers said officers threatened to open fire on anyone attempting to speak and a female representative was physically assaulted during a chaotic standoff. Witnesses and parliamentary sources said police deployed inside the House of the People imposed extraordinary restrictions that blocked members of…

Saturday, February 7, 2026 MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s lower house of parliament has suspended 19 lawmakers for repeatedly disrupting legislative sessions, a move that underscores deepening political rifts over contentious constitutional amendments. The decision was issued in an official letter from acting speaker and second deputy speaker Abdullahi Omar Abshirow, who said the lawmakers were barred from attending several upcoming sessions after causing chaos during a sitting on Feb. 2. The letter said the members violated…

Keir Starmer’s defense of his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington — that he did not grasp the depth of Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — does not withstand the weight of what was already widely known. The scandal now engulfing Downing Street is not a bolt from the blue; it is the foreseeable consequence of elevating a man whose entanglements, instincts and methods were part of the public record. And it has exposed the operating system of this government more starkly than…

Sydney is bracing for large protests and a heavy police presence as Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrives Monday for a four-day visit to honor victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, with authorities warning demonstrators to avoid violence and disruption in the city’s streets. New South Wales Police said they will deploy in large numbers and have declared the visit a “major event,” a designation that allows officers to separate rival groups and impose crowd-management controls to reduce the risk of confrontation. “It’s…

GENEVA — The United States called for three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons after the New START treaty expired, erasing the last binding cap on U.S.-Russian strategic arsenals and reviving fears of a new arms race. Thomas DiNanno, the under secretary of state for arms control, told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that the now-lapsed pact had “fundamental flaws,” citing what he called serial Russian violations, the growth of global stockpiles and weaknesses in the treaty’s…

Egypt condemns Israel’s recognition of North Western State of Somalia, warns of Red Sea destabilization Friday February 6, 2026 CAIRO — Egypt on Thursday condemned Israel’s recognition of the breakaway region of North Western State of Somalia, calling it a violation of international law that infringes on Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and risks undermining stability across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea corridor. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty delivered the warning during talks in Cairo with Somali…