Tuesday June 9, 2026 For Somalia, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be a mixed stage of pride and frustration: while the national team is absent, five people of Somali heritage are still set to feature in football’s showcase event as players and officials. (Photo: Handout) Miami, US – (AX) — Somalia’s presence at the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be felt in two very different ways. Several players with Somali roots are preparing to take part in the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while Somali referee Omar…

Tuesday June 9, 2026 Somalia will not take the field at the FIFA World Cup, but Somali football will still be represented on the game’s grandest stage. Five people of Somali heritage are due to feature in the tournament as players and officials, even as one of them, referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, has been barred from entering the United States. (Photo: Handout) Miami, US – (AX) — A number of footballers with Somali roots are preparing to appear at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while Somali…

By Tal Shalev and Tim ListerSaturday June 6, 2026 North Western State of Somalia's Ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Hag, left, meets with Israel's President Isaac Herzog, right, after presenting his credentials at the presidential residence in Jerusalem, on May 18. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Washington, DC — Israel quietly sent elite military and intelligence units into Azerbaijan during its war with Iran, positioning them at a string of covert sites across the Middle East that helped support operations against Tehran, according to…

by STEPHEN ASTARIKOFriday June 5, 2026 Garissa Governor Nathif Jama chairing the high-level security meeting./STEPHEN ASTARIKO Garissa’s standing as one of Kenya’s safest towns is facing a serious test after a wave of killings, muggings and violent break-ins jolted leaders into urgent action. Governor Nathif Jama said the county can no longer ignore the escalating insecurity that has left many residents afraid to move about freely. Shaken by the rise in crime, senior government officials, security agencies, religious…

Thursday June 4, 2026 Smoke billowed above Mogadishu’s Howl Wadaag neighbourhood on Thursday after reports of mortar fire, as the Somali capital endured some of its most intense fighting in years. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Government troops and opposition-aligned militias have clashed violently in Somalia’s capital, leaving property damaged and forcing some residents to abandon their homes. As the confrontation gathered pace from Wednesday afternoon, opposition figures who had joined with militias were reported to have…

by BRIAN ORUTAThursday June 4, 2026 Former Somalia president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo/HANDOUT Former Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has sharply criticized President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, accusing him of fueling the latest wave of political turmoil and deadly violence in Mogadishu as the country slips deeper into a constitutional and electoral standoff. In a statement issued on Thursday, Farmaajo said the president had brushed aside repeated appeals for consensus, tampered with the electoral and constitutional…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 President William Ruto has ended his three-day tour of Northern Kenya with a renewed promise to direct more development funds to a region he says has been left behind for too long. He argued that Kenya can only unlock the area’s huge untapped potential if the North is fully woven into the national development blueprint. “Northern Kenya is not peripheral; it is central to the development of Kenya,” he said on Tuesday at Maalimin in Lagdera Constituency, Garissa County. He added: “I am on a mission to…

Sunday May 31, 2026 Baidoa (AX) — Southwest State’s newly elected House of Representatives members were sworn in on Saturday in Baidoa, a ceremony that unfolded against the backdrop of intense fighting between federal government forces and troops loyal to former regional President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen. Southwest State’s interim leader, Jibril Abdirashid Haji, attended the event alongside federal government officials, traditional elders and other dignitaries. The new lawmakers formally took the oath of office,…

by FELIX KIPKEMOISunday May 24, 2026 FILE PHOTO Security officers in Garissa County thwarted what is believed to have been a terror plot after arresting a man and recovering an improvised explosive device (IED) along the Garissa–Dadaab Road. ‎A multi-agency patrol intercepted the suspect at the Haji Aden area during a routine sweep, just as he appeared poised to disappear into nearby bushes. ‎Police said the man drew attention when officers noticed him behaving suspiciously by the roadside. He then bolted into a thicket in…

Saturday May 23, 2026 Maths teacher Hassan Mohamed Ibrahim lost his job in one of eight IDP schools in Baidoa closed by funding cuts/Abdullahi Mohamed/Ergo More than 120 teachers in Baidoa’s displacement camps have been left without work after aid cuts shut down eight schools, pushing hundreds of families deeper into hardship in one of Somalia’s busiest hubs for the displaced. The schools, located in the Bookay area north of Baidoa, had been educating about 1,500 children from internally displaced families. With the…