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

U.S. asserts control over Venezuela’s oil ‘indefinitely’ after raid that seized Maduro; Caracas reports 100 dead WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said it will dictate decisions to Venezuela’s interim authorities and market the country’s oil “indefinitely” following a U.S. special forces raid that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, an escalation officials cast as part of what President Donald Trump has called the “Donroe Doctrine” of regional dominance. The claim of sweeping U.S. control — over a nation with…

ICE officer fatally shoots legal observer in Minneapolis; protests erupt as officials dispute self-defense claim MINNEAPOLIS — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a legal observer, during an immigration enforcement operation Wednesday, igniting street protests and sharp disagreement among federal, state and local officials over what happened. DHS says the officer fired “defensive shots” after Good allegedly…

Berlin restored electricity to tens of thousands of customers this afternoon, five days after a suspected act of sabotage plunged parts of the German capital into darkness in what officials called the longest outage since the end of World War II. City officials said power was fully restored to roughly 45,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses following round-the-clock repairs. The blackout affected more than 100,000 Berliners, many of whom endured more than four days without power and heating as temperatures hovered…

MINNEAPOLIS — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman during an immigration raid in south Minneapolis, federal officials said, claiming she tried to ram agents with her vehicle — an assertion the city’s mayor blasted as “bullsh*t” and demanded ICE leave the city. The fatal encounter, which has ignited protests and dueling narratives, unfolded near 34th Street and Portland Avenue, according to local reports. The woman, described by Mayor Jacob Frey as a 37-year-old whose name has not been…

Aldrich Ames, the longtime CIA officer who became one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history by selling secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia, has died in federal custody, authorities said. He was 84, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Ames, a counterintelligence analyst who spent 31 years at the agency, was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison for betraying U.S. operations between 1985 and 1993. Prosecutors said he and his wife, Rosario, received more than $2.5 million for information that compromised…

Analysis: Trump’s Greenland gambit tests NATO’s red lines — and its trust The White House says President Donald Trump is weighing options, including military action, to take Greenland — despite Denmark’s warning that an attack on a NATO ally would spell the alliance’s end. The clash of rhetoric has thrust Greenland, NATO and U.S.-Europe ties into an unexpected stress test at a volatile moment for Western security. Whether this escalates into a full-blown crisis hinges on two questions: Is the military threat real or a…

BERLIN — Power was fully restored this afternoon to roughly 45,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses in Berlin, city officials said, five days after a suspected act of sabotage triggered the German capital’s longest blackout since World War II. The outage affected more than 100,000 Berliners, many of whom endured more than four days without electricity or heating as temperatures hovered below freezing. The disruption darkened streets and apartments, snarled train services, cut internet access and initially affected…

‘I have nowhere to turn’: In Somalia, unpaid debts can mean years behind bars — and a grassroots effort to buy back freedom When Abdifatah Mohamed Dhaqane walked out of Mogadishu Central Prison in October after three and a half years behind bars, there were no charges to clear and no sentence to complete. His freedom depended on a single number: $590 — the debt he failed to repay after robbers snatched seven phones from his small mobile trade in June 2022. A court in Afgoye had ruled in favor of his suppliers and ordered him…

U.S. forces have seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic for alleged sanctions violations tied to Venezuelan crude, capping a multiweek pursuit that unfolded under the eye of nearby Russian naval assets but ended without confrontation, U.S. officials said. U.S. European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said the operation was conducted jointly with the Department of Homeland Security. The tanker evaded an earlier boarding attempt near Venezuela and was intercepted as it moved north in…

ADEN, Yemen — The Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday that Aidrous al-Zubaidi, leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, fled to an unknown location after failing to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at defusing escalating violence in the country’s south. Date: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 Coalition says Zubaidi skipped a planned flight for talks and later “fled” without notifying colleagues Limited pre-emptive strikes reported near al-Zand camp in al-Dhalea to disrupt armed units Presidential Leadership Council moves…