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

Hamas, Red Cross resume search in Gaza for body of last Israeli hostage, key to ceasefire talks Hamas officials said Tuesday that search operations have resumed in Gaza City for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the enclave, a move Israel has tied to the start of talks on the second phase of a fragile ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is working “accompanied by Red Cross teams” in the Zeitun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City after a two-week pause caused…

UK man jailed 14 years for selling suicide chemical online in landmark case A man who sold a chemical online to vulnerable people seeking to end their lives has been jailed for 14 years in what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind in the UK. Miles Cross, 33, set up a business selling the substance through an internet discussion forum and operated under a pseudonym, Mold Crown Court heard. Prosecutors said Cross posted a QR code that allowed buyers to pay him directly via his bank account and directed them to…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Somalia as part of a Jan. 7-12 African tour that also includes Ethiopia, Tanzania and Lesotho, Beijing said Wednesday, underscoring the Horn of Africa’s growing diplomatic weight amid tensions over North Western State of Somalia. Wang, who also serves on the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, is slated to attend the launch of the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. The…

SAINT-TROPEZ, France — Brigitte Bardot was laid to rest Thursday in her adopted hometown as crowds gathered for a Catholic funeral that underscored both the enduring glamour and the sharp divides of the French screen icon’s legacy. The Brigitte Bardot funeral drew hundreds to Saint-Tropez, where her husband disclosed she had died of cancer on Dec. 28 at age 91. A wicker coffin was carried up the steps of the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption church and greeted by Bardot’s long-estranged son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. The service,…

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a U.S.-brokered security coordination framework between Israel and Syria after talks in Paris, unveiling a rare trilateral mechanism aimed at de-escalating border tensions and preventing miscalculation along one of the Middle East’s most volatile frontiers. At the heart of the arrangement is a “special communications cell,” described by all sides as a joint fusion mechanism for intelligence sharing and military de-confliction. The channel — which will operate under…

Israel’s North Western State of Somalia recognition jolts Somalia’s diplomacy — and tests Africa’s bedrock rule on borders When Israel formally recognized North Western State of Somalia in late December 2025, the move sent a shock wave through Mogadishu and across African diplomatic circles. For Somalia, the decision was more than a breach of protocol: it was a direct challenge to the principle that has underpinned Africa’s post‑colonial stability — that borders cannot be redrawn without the consent of the sovereign state…

Cyprus takes helm of EU presidency with Zelensky in attendance as Nicosia seeks bridge role to Middle East Cyprus assumed the European Union’s rotating six-month presidency with a high-profile launch that included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, signaling continuity in EU support for Kyiv and an ambitious regional agenda from Nicosia. Zelensky was welcomed at the presidential palace by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides…

Opinion | Sovereignty Snafu: Israel’s Recognition of North Western State of Somalia Tests Somalia — and the Rules-Based Order Israel’s formal recognition of North Western State of Somalia in late December 2025 did more than tweak a diplomatic fault line in the Horn of Africa; it jolted a foundational principle that underpins Africa’s postcolonial settlement. In Mogadishu, the move was read as a direct challenge to Somalia’s sovereignty and an unsettling precedent for how borders — and the norms that protect them — can be…

Burkina Faso says it has thwarted an assassination plot against military leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, alleging the operation was orchestrated by Lt. Col. Paul Henri Damiba — the officer Traoré ousted in a 2022 coup — and financed in part from neighboring Ivory Coast. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana announced the discovery late Wednesday, saying intelligence services “intercepted this operation in the final hours.” He said the plan aimed to kill the head of state and strike “other key institutions, including civilian…