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

Friday April 24, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — A boat carrying Somali migrants capsized between Algeria and Spain, killing at least 17 people, Somalia’s ambassador to Algeria said Thursday. Ambassador Yusuf Ahmed Hassan told state media that 12 men and five women drowned after the vessel overturned during the crossing. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were aboard. “I was reached by parents who were looking for their children and wanted to know their whereabouts,” Hassan said. He said he later spoke with Algerian…

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is preparing to shed 10% of its global workforce — a move that would amount to about 8,000 jobs. It remains unclear how the planned cuts will affect the company’s Irish business, where roughly 1,800 people are employed. A spokesperson for Meta Ireland declined to discuss the specifics of the redundancies, but confirmed the details of a Bloomberg report that first revealed the worldwide layoffs. The reductions were set out in a memo to employees, which also said Meta will leave thousands…

A fragile truce in the Middle East was given more time on Thursday after Israel and Lebanon agreed at the White House to extend their ceasefire by three weeks, while US President Donald Trump signalled he was willing to hold out for what he called “the best deal” to ⁠end his conflict with Iran. Mr Trump brought together Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Moawad, in the Oval Office for a second round of talks mediated by the United States. “The Meeting went very well!…

Warner Bros Discovery cleared a major hurdle in its proposed $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance after shareholders approved the transaction, even as they signaled sharp unease over the executive pay arrangements tied to the deal. Those compensation plans drew a clear rebuke in an advisory vote. Under the proposed packages, CEO David Zaslav stands to collect as much as $887 million if the sale goes through. Proxy adviser ISS had described Zaslav's possible payout as "extremely large". "Management now faces a twofold…

A head-on collision between two commuter trains near the Danish capital left five people critically injured and 13 others hurt, authorities said, in a crash that sent emergency crews rushing to a wooded rural area north of Copenhagen. Police said they could not yet say what caused the accident, which happened near a level crossing about 40km north of Copenhagen, close to the town of Hillerod. "Eighteen people have been injured in the accident. Of these, five are currently considered to be in critical condition," police said…

A promotional stunt for Drake’s upcoming album Iceman came to an abrupt end in Toronto, where firefighters took apart a massive ice sculpture after swelling crowds around the display raised safety concerns. Hundreds of people flocked to the installation, turning the scene chaotic as some fans climbed onto the structure and others tried to chip away at it in hopes of revealing the album’s release date, which Drake had said was concealed inside. Accounts from the scene said one person arrived with a sledgehammer, while others…

A sweeping shift in US drug policy is underway after the Department of Justice said it would immediately ease restrictions on some marijuana products and speed up the long-running effort to treat the drug as less dangerous under federal law. The Trump administration said FDA-approved marijuana products and state-regulated medical marijuana would be moved at once from a category reserved for highly addictive drugs to one considered to carry a low to moderate risk of abuse. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the federal…

Hanna Tetteh, head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, warned that momentum toward national elections and the creation of unified institutions is faltering, and that the public’s patience is being tested by sluggish progress. She cautioned that some key actors are ignoring the "expectations of the public" about their role in the political process, undermining hopes for timely reform. “There are both national and regional risks to any continued inaction and foot dragging on the implementation of the roadmap and we believe it…

BRUSSELS — The European Union and its member states have signed off on a €75 million contribution to the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, cementing the bloc’s position as the mission’s biggest financial supporter. The latest package lifts total EU assistance to a string of African Union-led operations in Somalia over the past 20 years to nearly €2.8 billion, highlighting the bloc’s enduring investment in security efforts across the Horn of Africa. Bankole Adeoye, the AU commissioner for political…

Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has lodged a formal protest with his South African counterpart after widely shared videos purportedly showing xenophobic assaults on Ghanaian nationals sparked outrage online. Calling the footage “extremely disturbing,” Ablakwa pressed South African authorities to act swiftly. “The South African Foreign Minister has expressed empathy with the victims and promised full-scale investigations into these depressing incidents,” Ablakwa said on social media. He added that…