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

A stark new warning from President Donald Trump has raised the temperature in an already dangerous conflict, as he threatened to unleash “hell” on Tehran if it failed to strike a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline, while also hailing US special forces for extracting an airman from deep inside Iran in a risky rescue mission. For more than five weeks, the United States and Israel have battered Iran with missiles and airstrikes in a campaign they say is aimed at eliminating an imminent threat posed by…

By  SEUNG MIN KIM, MATTHEW LEE and SAMY MAGDYMonday April 6, 2026 A high-risk American rescue operation unfolded deep inside Iranian territory after a U.S. fighter jet was shot down, with one aviator pulled to safety first and a second service member recovered only after hiding for hours in rugged mountains as Tehran urged civilians to help capture him. Behind the scenes, the CIA moved to muddy the waters before the second crew member was located, pushing out false information inside the Islamic Republic that the United…

A deadly Easter weekend crossing in the central Mediterranean left two migrants dead and dozens more feared missing after a boat traveling from Libya toward Europe ran into trouble near the Italian coast. Two merchant vessels recovered the bodies of two migrants and rescued 32 survivors, according to rescue charities Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch. Citing accounts from those pulled from the water, the groups said 71 other people were lost at sea. The victims were transferred to an Italian coast guard patrol boat…

On 16 February 1992, Sheikh Abbas al-Musawi was heading to Beirut in a black Mercedes with his wife and five-year-old son when the journey turned deadly. The Iran-backed Hezbollah secretary-general was travelling with two Range Rovers carrying armed bodyguards. He was returning from a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the killing of one of Hezbollah's founders. Trailing the convoy were Israeli Apache AH-64 helicopters, which fired missiles and killed the Hezbollah leader along with his family. A month later, a…

By  STEVE DOUGLASSunday April 5, 2026 Saturday delivered a pair of FA Cup shocks and a statement from Manchester City, as second-tier Southampton knocked out Premier League leaders Arsenal while Erling Haaland powered City past Liverpool with a ruthless 4-0 rout. Arsenal, coming off a League Cup final loss to City before the international break, watched another trophy opportunity vanish in the closing stages when Southampton struck in the 85th minute to secure a 2-1 victory at St. Mary’s Stadium. Southampton entered the…

The Moon was looming larger outside NASA’s Orion capsule on Saturday as the crew of Artemis II entered the third day of a mission billed as a crucial step toward putting humans back on the lunar surface later this decade. NASA said the four-member Artemis crew has now crossed the halfway mark between Earth and the Moon as Orion presses on toward its scheduled lunar flyby. "We're halfway there," the space agency posted on social media. NASA also published the first images captured from inside Orion, among them a striking…

BAIDOA, Somalia — Southwest State is approaching a decisive political moment, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s talks in Baidoa placing the region squarely between the prospects of peace and the threat of deeper conflict. The president met with traditional elders as tensions mounted over the future of the regional leadership. According to reports, Southwest State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed, widely known as Lafta-Gareen, has been pushed to the margins amid political maneuvers involving the federal government.…

Sunday April 5, 2026 Baidoa (AX) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met Sunday with traditional elders in Baidoa, stepping into the center of a delicate push to calm tensions and reinforce governance in Southwest State after recent political unrest. According to Villa Somalia, the talks centered on community reconciliation, support for Somalia’s democratization drive, the worsening drought and wider state-building efforts. The meeting comes days after federal authorities assumed control of Baidoa and installed an…

A Russian drone strike tore through a market in the frontline Ukrainian city of Nikopol this morning, killing five people and wounding 19 others, according to Ukraine's prosecutor general's office. "This is yet another war crime committed by the Russian Federation," the prosecutor's office said on Telegram. Regional governor Oleksandr Ganja said in a Telegram post that the dead included three women and two men. He also said a 14-year-old girl was among the 19 injured and remained in "critical condition". At the same time, a…

By Hon. Ali M OmarSunday April 5, 2026 The Federal Government says it will not accept lessons in democracy from critics it accuses of trying to weaken Somalia’s hard-won political progress. A wave of commentary on Somalia, both online and in other forums, has offered what the government sees as a selective and misleading picture of the country’s politics. The debate over South West State, it argues, has similarly obscured the deeper question: whether Somalia’s federal arrangement can be protected and strengthened. That,…