Axadle - Leading News from Somalia and the Horn of Africa

Trump resumes Davos trip after Air Force One glitch as Greenland dispute roils transatlantic ties WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump resumed his journey to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos after Air Force One returned to Washington over what the White House called a minor technical issue, a two-hour delay that did little to ease tensions already overshadowing his visit. Trump is scheduled to deliver an eagerly awaited address to delegates this afternoon, but the trip has been consumed by a widening…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has welcomed an appellate ruling that clears the way for the country’s elected representatives to take their seats in the East African Legislative Assembly, ending months of legal uncertainty over Somalia’s participation in the regional body. In a statement issued Tuesday, the ministry congratulated the nine lawmakers chosen by Somalia’s Federal Parliament to represent the country in EALA, calling the court’s decision a key step toward…

Spain mourned its deadliest rail disaster in more than a decade as the death toll from a high-speed train collision in Andalusia rose to 42 and a second accident near Barcelona killed one person and injured dozens. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited the crash site and met survivors Tuesday as the government pledged a full, transparent investigation. The first crash occurred late Sunday when an Iryo-operated train traveling from Malaga to Madrid derailed near Adamuz in southern Spain. The train crossed onto the opposite…

Trump seeks $1 billion for permanent seats on new “Board of Peace,” a Gaza-born plan with global reach and sweeping chair powers U.S. President Donald Trump is asking countries to pay $1 billion (€853 million) for a permanent place on a new “Board of Peace” intended to resolve conflicts worldwide, according to a charter seen by AFP. Conceived initially to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction, the body’s mandate is not limited to the Palestinian territory and would allow the chairman—Trump—to steer its agenda and operations. The…

At Davos, Trump’s Greenland push ignites transatlantic showdown DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump descended on the World Economic Forum on Wednesday for a high-stakes confrontation with European leaders, arriving as his bid to secure U.S. control over Greenland and threats of tariffs on European allies deepen the most serious rift across the Atlantic in decades. Trump’s keynote address to the annual gathering of political and business elites — his first in six years — is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. local time (1:30…

One person has died and at least 15 others were injured after a commuter train near Barcelona struck rubble from a collapsed wall, Catalonia’s fire service said Tuesday, marking Spain’s second deadly rail accident in days. “There are four seriously injured and one person who has passed away,” fire service spokesman Claudi Gallardo told reporters. Spanish state news agency EFE reported that the train’s driver was the person who died. Catalan emergency services said medical teams were treating at least 15 injured people at the…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump refused Monday to say how far he is prepared to go on Greenland, suggesting he could “make a deal” even as European leaders warned that any U.S. move to seize the autonomous Arctic territory from ally Denmark would shake NATO and trigger a response. Asked hours before departing for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, how far he would go, Trump replied: “You’ll find out.” He added that he has “a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland” in Davos and predicted “things are going to…

‘We sell what we collect’: In Kismayo, displaced women turn acacia seeds into a lifeline KISMAYO, Somalia — Before sunrise on the outskirts of this southern port city, groups of women shoulder sacks and long sticks and set out from the internal displacement camps. They walk together into the scrub outside Kismayo, toward stands of acacia trees where, with a shake and a thud, their day’s earnings fall to the ground. Their harvest — tiny, brown acacia seeds, locally known as abqo — has become a fragile but vital income stream.…

Israel has demolished multiple structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s east Jerusalem compound after seizing the site last year, an action UNRWA condemned as a violation of international law and UN privileges and immunities. Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and smaller facilities within the compound, where dozens of agency staff once worked. UNRWA has not used the site since early last year after Israeli authorities ordered the agency to vacate all premises and…

Somalia’s 20‑Year Reset: From the Dervish Torch to a 2026 Inflection Point Somalia’s modern story reads like a sequence of 20-year resets. From the Dervish movement at the turn of the 20th century to the dawn of independence, from the rise and fall of military rule to civil war and fragile federal reconstruction, pivotal shifts seem to arrive roughly once a generation. As 2026 opens, the country stands at another hinge moment, shaped by constitutional change, a grinding war against Al-Shabaab, and a storm of geopolitics…