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

The US Supreme Court has struck down a Colorado ban on "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ minors, handing a major victory to a Christian therapist who argued the restriction violated her free speech rights. The case centred on a 2019 Colorado law barring licensed practitioners from providing "conversion therapy" to patients under 18. Supporters of the practice say it can alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people. Major medical groups, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical…

A wolf roaming through a shopping centre in Germany bit a woman in Hamburg, marking what officials say is the first attack of its kind in modern times. The animal entered the complex in Hamburg’s Altona district on Tuesday evening, the city’s deputy mayor, Katharina Fegebank, said. She added that the wolf had already been seen several times in different parts of Hamburg over the past few days. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) said the incident is the first such case since wolves started returning to Germany…

Tiger Woods told investigators he had been looking down at his phone and failed to notice that the truck ahead had slowed before his vehicle rolled over in Florida last week, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained Tuesday. The affidavit says Woods had two hydrocodone pills in his pocket, and officers described him as lethargic and slow, with bloodshot, glassy eyes, "sweating profusely" and pupils that were "extremely dilated". During the criminal DUI investigation, when asked whether he had taken any prescription…

The energy shock triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran is “probably the worst ever”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said, warning that the fallout could outstrip even the supply crisis of the 1970s. Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Israel launched attacks on the country on 28 February. Mr Martin made the remarks after talks with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Helsinki, before heading to Warsaw for a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The discussions are part of a wider round of…

Four men appeared in a Harare courtroom accused of running a trafficking ring that sent Zimbabweans to Russia, where victims were allegedly coerced into fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war. Prosecutors say the suspects worked with a Russian national to recruit five people by advertising bogus firefighting jobs. Authorities allege the group targeted recruits on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp, arranging travel to Russia before confiscating the victims’ documents on arrival. Instead of the promised emergency work, the…

Tuesday March 31, 2026 Somalia’s national army seized control of Baidoa, the largest city in South West state, on Monday, setting off a political rupture that ended with the regional president stepping down two weeks after he said his administration was cutting ties with the federal government. Baidoa, the administrative hub of South West state, is a key strategic center in a region shadowed by drought, conflict and displacement. The city also hosts international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies, adding to its…

South Africans face the prospect of record pump prices, even as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana moves to trim the fuel tax by R3.00 a litre on both petrol and diesel. The step comes after crude prices surged by nearly 50% following attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran on  February 28. 

Celine Dion is set to make a long-awaited return to live performance, announcing that she will play 10 concerts in Paris later this year. The French-Canadian star, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1988, said she "cannot wait" to reunite with fans, describing the comeback as the "best gift of my life" as she shared the news on her 58th birthday. The shows in the French capital will be her first full-length concerts in nearly six years, following an extended break after her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome…

Somalia: Hormuud Telecom and GIZ Ink MoU to Bolster Inclusive Digital Economy in East Africa   MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 31 - Somalia’s biggest telecom operator, Hormuud Telecom, has joined forces with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in a new agreement aimed at widening access to the digital economy in Somalia and across East Africa. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed Tuesday in Mogadishu, is intended…

Tuesday March 31, 2026 Baidoa (AX) — Somalia’s Speaker of the House of the People, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur Madoobe, landed in Baidoa on Tuesday as federal authorities moved to steer preparations for presidential and local council elections in Southwest State, one day after federal forces seized control of the city. Accompanying the speaker are Minister of Religious Affairs Mukhtar Robow and Interior Minister Ali Yusuf Ali Hosh, both of whom are expected to be key figures in shaping a new regional administration after the…