Monday May 18, 2026 Hargeisa (AX) — North Western State of Somalia on Monday marked 35 years since it broke away from Somalia, staging military parades, public festivities and fresh calls for wider international recognition. Tens of thousands turned out in Hargeisa and other major cities, including Burco and Borama, to observe May 18, the date North Western State of Somalia says represents its 1991 declaration of independence after the collapse of Somalia’s central government in Mogadishu. The main ceremony took place in…

By: Abdirahman Jeylani Mohamed Saturday May 16, 2026 Somalia has reached a fraught political milestone. On 15 May 2026, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s constitutional mandate formally expired, landing the country in one of its most precarious moments in recent memory. The date carries heavy symbolism. It coincides with Somali Youth Day, a commemoration of the generation behind the Somali Youth League (SYL), which once imagined a united, democratic and sovereign Somali republic built on civic nationalism rather than…

Tuesday May 12, 2026 After more than two years in detention in Somalia, six Moroccan nationals have finally made it home, their return marking the end of a long and closely watched ordeal, according to their families and the Joint Committee for the Defense of Islamist Detainees. The men arrived in Morocco last week and were then held in police custody at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations in Salé for questioning over the circumstances of their detention in Somalia’s Puntland State region.…

By Dr. Ali Said FaqiMonday May 11, 2026 When President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud campaigned on the promise of “Somalis at peace with themselves and at peace with the rest of the world,” the line struck a nerve. After years of political turbulence and fragmentation, many Somalis saw in it the outline of a fresh start: reconciliation, rebuilt institutions and a stronger sense of national purpose. Four years on, that optimism has largely given way to frustration. Many Somalis now say the country is more divided than before, its…

Thursday May 7, 2026 Missouri (AX) — A Somali national has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after being convicted in the kidnapping of a woman whose body was later found in a roadside ditch in Missouri, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Mahamud Tooxoow Mahamed, 44, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Megan B. Benton in a case that ended with the death of a woman identified in court records as J.M. According to prosecutors, J.M.’s body was discovered on July 29, 2019, near Missouri Highway 59 after a…

By  JAMES ROBSONMonday May 4, 2026 Manchester United is back among Europe’s elite. Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Liverpool ensured United’s return to the Champions League after a two-year wait, sealing the club’s place in next season’s top-tier continental competition in dramatic fashion. Kobbie Mainoo delivered the decisive blow in a tense Premier League showdown at Old Trafford, firing first time from the edge of the area after defending champion Liverpool had clawed its way back from two goals down. The result also brought…

By Margaret KalekyeTuesday April 28, 2026 A Somali national has been convicted and jailed for belonging to the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Abdikarim Hassanow Hassan, also known as Ali, was sentenced on Monday by the Kahawa magistrates’ court after the Director of Public Prosecutions called four witnesses. The court handed Hassanow 10 years’ imprisonment for membership in Al-Shabaab, and a further 10 years for organising a meeting in support of a terrorist group. He was also given 10 years for radicalisation, another 10…

Four decades after Reactor 4 exploded at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster is once again shadowed by danger. At 01:23am on 26 April 1986, an explosion tore through the reactor during a failed safety test, blasting apart the roof and sending a vast cloud of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Radiation spread west and north across Europe for days, while neighbouring Belarus absorbed the heaviest share of the fallout. Soviet authorities waited 36 hours…

Mike BungeSaturday April 25, 2026 A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison after investigators say he tried to join ISIS and provide support to the extremist group. U.S. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 23, to 102 months behind bars, followed by 15 years of supervised release. Hassan had pleaded guilty in September 2025 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS, which the U.S. State Department designated a foreign terrorist…

In a move that has sparked widespread outcry, activist and opposition figure Zainab Sheriff was sentenced to four years in prison for incitement. Known not only for her political stance but also as a model and musician, Sheriff was arrested in February after she voiced her criticisms regarding alleged electoral fraud at a political event. The contentious results of the 2023 general elections have ignited fierce debate, with numerous opposition leaders challenging the legitimacy of the polls that allowed President Julius…