Somalia’s NISA reports 23 al-Shabaab militants killed in weeklong Hirshabelle offensive

Somalia’s NISA says weeklong raids kill more than 23 Al‑Shabaab militants in Hiiraan, Middle Shabelle MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency said Tuesday it killed more than 23 Al‑Shabaab militants during a weeklong series of operations across the Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions, saying the raids targeted cells preparing attacks in several districts of Hirshabelle State. NISA said the strikes, conducted in coordination with international partners, followed actionable intelligence…

Search at Prince Andrew’s former residence comes to an end

British police have concluded searches at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home in southeast England after arresting the former prince last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office, part of an investigation into his ties with the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Officers have now left the location we have been searching in Berkshire. This concludes the search activity that commenced following our arrest of a man in his sixties from Norfolk on Thursday,” Thames Valley Police’s Assistant Chief Constable…

Sri Lanka ex-spy chief arrested in probe of 2019 Easter attacks

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan police have arrested the country’s former intelligence chief, retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay, in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners, authorities said. Police said Sallay, the former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), was taken into custody at dawn in a suburb of Colombo in the most high-profile arrest to date in the long-running probe. “He was arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attacks,” an…

Somalia Pilots Digital Public Infrastructure With Its National Job Portal

MOGADISHU, Somalia — On a warm afternoon in the capital, 23-year-old Abdirahim Ali Mohamud Shuriye refreshed a website that did not exist a year earlier: the Somali National Job Portal. The page was stark—search bar, vacancy list, live counters of job seekers and employers—but to a recent SIMAD University graduate who had spent months chasing scattered job posts on Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp, its simplicity felt like a breakthrough. For years, Somalis applied for work through a maze of ministry notices, radio…

Malawi Opens New Inquiry into Plane Crash That Killed Vice President Chilima

Malawi launches fresh investigation into Chikangawa military plane crash that killed former Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others in June 2024, citing gaps in earlier probes. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Charles Mhango on Tuesday announced a new, comprehensive review of the Chikangawa crash after a government audit found previous inquiries did not provide clear, conclusive explanations for the accident. The minister said a government review of earlier findings — including the national…

Nigeria Rejects Claims of Ransom Payment for Kidnapped Students’ Release

Nigeria Denies Ransom Payments to Boko Haram for School Abductions The Nigerian government has categorically rejected claims that it paid a significant ransom to the Islamist group Boko Haram in connection to the abduction of more than 200 pupils and staff from St. Mary's School in Papiri in November 2024. Information Minister Mohammed Idris described the allegations, which emerged from a report by AFP citing unnamed intelligence sources, as "false and baseless reporting," asserting that such claims undermine the…

Time will judge whether Trump’s unity-and-strength message truly resonates

Donald Trump’s State of the Union address ran long but felt tightly controlled, the work of a president who understands television and the power of staging. It was a carefully sequenced production that blended valor, grievance and a handful of policy points into a split-screen test of political identities in an election year. The speech returned Trump to familiar ground: the economy, tariffs, immigration and cultural combat. In front of a silent Democratic caucus and a Supreme Court he rebuked from a few feet away, the…

Federal Government Says Opposition Triggered Collapse of Political Negotiations

Mogadishu — Somalia’s federal government accused opposition figures on Tuesday of derailing high-stakes political talks in the capital by abandoning an agreed agenda, intensifying a standoff over elections and constitutional reforms as the United Nations urged both sides back to the table. In a statement, the government said the consultation process—launched in March 2025 to collect views from former leaders, politicians, academics and civil society—remains the vehicle to resolve what it called the country’s “fateful…

Trump touts ‘golden age’ in State of the Union amid economic pessimism

President Donald Trump proclaimed a “golden age of America” in his State of the Union address, using a record-length speech to cast his stewardship as a run of uninterrupted victories even as polls show sagging approval and voter frustration over the cost of living ahead of November’s midterm elections. Heeding warnings from Republicans anxious about losing control of Congress, Trump centered the first hour on the economy, asserting he had slowed inflation, lifted the stock market to record highs, signed sweeping tax cuts…

Police wrap up search at Prince Andrew’s former residence

Police conclude search at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home after arrest linked to Epstein probe British police have concluded searches at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home in southeast England following his arrest last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office, part of an ongoing investigation into his ties with the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Thames Valley Police said officers had wrapped up activity in Berkshire that began after the arrest on Thursday. “Officers have now left the location…