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

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,…

7 yogurts with higher added sugar than you expect Some popular yogurts can be significantly higher in sugar—especially added sugar—even when they appear to be everyday health foods. Yogurt can be a nutritious snack, but it’s not always as simple as the front-of-pack label suggests. “Yogurt naturally contains lactose, so the sugar number on the label isn't just added sugar,” explains Tara Collingwood, MS, RDN, CSSD, LD/N, ACSM-CPT, a board-certified sports dietitian and co-author of Flat Belly Cookbook for Dummies. “Some…

Nearly half a century has passed since Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi climbed aboard his royal jet at Tehran airport and departed Iran for the last time. His exit, in January 1979, was officially framed as a holiday — a claim few took seriously. After 14 months of unrest, the Associated Press captured the moment by calling him "a weeping king driven from his kingdom". Within hours, statues of the Shah were pulled down and his image disappeared from banknotes. Another 26 days would pass before the monarchy finally gave way, and…

Sunday April 5, 2026 Baidoa (AX) — Somali National Army commander on Friday rewarded soldiers who took part in the operation that reopened the key Mogadishu–Baidoa road, calling the campaign a serious setback for al-Shabab and a breakthrough for the movement of civilians. Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Mohamed Mahmoud praised the troops for helping secure the corridor, which militants affiliated with al-Qaida have intermittently blocked since 2009. “I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart,” the commander said. “As far as I am…