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

LONDON — Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer for the past year, saying the disease is “gone at the moment” and urging the U.K. government to introduce a national screening program for men. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the 85-year-old singer said he learned of the diagnosis during health checks for insurance ahead of a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. “I don’t know whether it’s going to come back. We can’t tell those sort of things but we need to, absolutely, I’m…

Police are investigating the deaths as an "apparent homicide". The Los Angeles Police Department has not publicly named the deceased, but the couple were identified in a family statement and were also named in statements from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3.30pm local time on Sunday and found a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman dead inside the residence. A law enforcement official briefed…

U.N. Condemns Deadly Attack on Bangladeshi Peacekeepers in Sudan The United Nations has strongly condemned a recent attack on Bangladeshi peacekeepers in southern Sudan, marking the incident as a potential war crime. The attack has drawn international outcry and highlights ongoing conflict in the region. Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in a drone attack. Eight additional peacekeepers sustained injuries. The attack occurred at a U.N. base in Kadugli. International Reactions and Condolences U.N.…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A man believed to be a Somali National Army soldier shot and killed a rickshaw operator in Mogadishu’s Dayniile district on Sunday night before fleeing the scene, according to local witnesses and family members. The victim was identified by relatives as Abdirisaq Abuukar Mohamud. He was shot in the Barwaqo area of Dayniile, witnesses said. The assailant, described as wearing a military uniform, escaped while firing sporadly as he fled. Family members accused the gunman of an unprovoked killing and said…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Several Somali political organizations have rejected the National Electoral Commission’s announcement that 20 groups are registered for the December 25 local council elections in the Banadir region, accusing the commission of violating electoral law and operating under political influence. Representatives from the organizations told reporters in Mogadishu on Sunday that five rounds of talks with the National Electoral Commission (NEC) “ended in vain,” arguing the body lacks the independence required to…

Jose Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidency with about 58% of the vote, becoming the country’s most right-wing leader since the return to democracy 35 years ago. He defeated Jeannette Jara, a communist who headed a broad leftist coalition, after campaigning on a sweeping security and immigration crackdown and a promise to jump-start the economy. “Chile wanted change,” Kast told supporters, vowing to “restore respect for the law.” He has pledged to expel more than 300,000 immigrants in the country illegally, seal the northern…

HONG KONG — Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was found guilty Monday on two counts of foreign collusion and one count of seditious publication, a landmark verdict under Hong Kong’s national security law that could send the 78-year-old founder of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper to prison for life. Lai, who has been jailed since 2020, listened impassively with folded arms as a panel of national security judges delivered the verdict in one of the Chinese territory’s most closely watched trials since Beijing imposed the…

MOGADISHU — Several Somali political organizations said they are not part of the 20 groups the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has listed for the December 25 local council elections in Banadir region, alleging violations of electoral law and undue government influence over the process. Representatives of the organizations spoke at a Sunday press conference in Mogadishu, warning that the dispute threatens to derail the first-phase vote in the capital. “Five rounds of talks with the commission ended in vain because there…

In the hills of Cox’s Bazar, inside a shelter pieced together with bamboo and tarpaulin, Nur Haba unwraps a bundle of keepsakes. At its center is a faded photograph of Mariam. “She was shot dead in front of me,” Nur says quietly. The picture is one of the few belongings she salvaged from their home in Myanmar’s Rakhine State before, she recalls, soldiers torched it and the family fled. In the chaos of escape, as they waded across a river, her two-year-old son, Mohammed, was swept away and drowned. For the Rohingya—described…

Zelensky offers to drop NATO bid in Berlin talks with U.S. envoys as ceasefire plan advances BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s longstanding aspiration to join NATO during hours of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin, a significant shift in Kyiv’s wartime posture as negotiators work toward a ceasefire with Russia. The meetings, hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, stretched for more than five hours and will resume tomorrow morning, Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Zelensky, told…