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Mogadishu — Somali and U.S. forces are intensifying a joint campaign in northeastern Somalia to capture Abdulqadir Mumin, whom U.S. officials say now leads the Islamic State group, as his estranged wife in Britain says he abandoned the family more than a decade ago and has not contacted them since. Security officials say Mumin is believed to be hiding in the Cal Miskaad mountains in Puntland State, where Islamic State fighters have fortified camps and used remote valleys to evade detection. U.S. Africa Command has said the…

JIGJIGA, Ethiopia — Police in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State have arrested a man accused of secretly recording Somali women and attempting to extort them with explicit videos obtained through social media, authorities said Monday. The suspect, identified by police as Ayuub, is originally from Mogadishu and has lived in several European countries, including Italy and Austria. He was detained in Jigjiga after multiple women reported that he recorded them without their knowledge and later threatened to release the footage…

Somali lawmakers pass amendments to Accountants Bill to tighten financial oversight MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s House of the People on Monday approved amendments to the Somali Accountants Bill, a measure aimed at strengthening financial oversight across federal institutions and raising professional standards in the public accounting sector. The chamber voted 140-1 to adopt the revisions, with four lawmakers abstaining. Second Deputy Speaker Abdullahi Omar Abshirow announced the tally shortly after debate opened on the…

Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia is preparing to relaunch Somali Airlines in the coming months, marking the national carrier’s first return to service since it was grounded more than 30 years ago during the civil war, the country’s transport minister said Sunday. Government says management, regulation and fleet plans are in place as the carrier enters final operational planning. Two Airbus A320s have been acquired; additional jets are slated from 2026. IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan access is being reinstated after 33 years, a…

Thailand launched air strikes against neighboring Cambodia on Friday as renewed clashes along their disputed border escalated sharply, with both sides trading blame and reporting casualties. At least four Cambodian civilians and one Thai soldier were killed, officials said, as evacuations widened and artillery and rockets pounded frontier areas. Thailand’s Second Army Region said about 35,000 people have been evacuated from Thai border communities, while Cambodia’s information minister, Neth Pheaktra, reported at least 1,157…

Mogadishu — U.S. Africa Command carried out seven new airstrikes in Somalia between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, pushing this year’s total to at least 109 strikes — a record level of U.S. military activity in the country. The latest operations targeted ISIS-linked militants in Puntland State and an al-Shabaab site in southern Jubaland, AFRICOM said. The command described a rapid sequence of strikes focused on a remote mountain zone southeast of Bosaso, a longtime militant hideout, and a separate strike near the Kenyan border. It did…

A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan late Monday, prompting evacuation orders for about 90,000 residents and tsunami warnings that were later downgraded to advisories, officials said. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) initially warned that waves as high as 3 meters could strike parts of the northeastern coast after the quake hit at 11:15 p.m. local time (2:15 p.m. Irish time). Observed tsunami between 20 and 70 centimeters reached several ports, including along stretches of Hokkaido, Aomori and…

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities entered the shuttered East Jerusalem compound of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, raised Israel’s flag and began seizing equipment in a raid they said was ordered over unpaid municipal taxes — a move the United Nations condemned as a violation of international law. The Jerusalem municipality said tax collectors entered the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s compound to recover 11 million shekels (€3 million) in property taxes after “repeated requests” and warnings. UNRWA, which Israel has…

Jubaland forms drought response committee as water crisis deepens; 1.5 million need aid, OCHA says KISMAYO, Somalia — Jubaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam “Madobe” has appointed a seven-member committee to steer the region’s response to a worsening drought, as aid agencies warn of escalating food insecurity and water shortages across southern Somalia. The decree, released Sunday, empowers an interministerial body to organize relief operations, accelerate aid delivery and coordinate with humanitarian partners. The committee…

Somalia on the Brink of Fragmentation Under Hassan Sheikh Amid Escalating Federal Rift MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s fragile federal system faces a fresh test after Jubaland moved to strip the words “federal member” from its official title, a direct challenge to Mogadishu that echoes an earlier rupture by Puntland State and deepens a nationwide constitutional and political rift under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The move, announced Sunday by Jubaland regional Speaker Sheikh Abdi Mohamed, follows months of acrimony over…