Global

‘The West is winning’, Pompeo tells China, Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany February 15, 2020. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the United States’ global role and launched a scathing attack on China and Russia, vowing that the West’s ideals and values would prevail. “I’m happy to report

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Somali man caught posing as woman to go to UK

The Somali man, seen here in the security camera footage of the airport, was nabbed thanks to attentive police officers. (AA Photo) Observant policemen and a trace of foundation on the earphones he was wearing meant the game was up for Ibrahim M.’s attempt to illegally go to the United Kingdom. The young Somalian man

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Saudi Arabia accuses Turkey of supporting extremist militias in three Arab countries

Photo Credit Reuters Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, confirmed that the kingdom opposes what he described as “Turkey’s incursion into Syria, and its support for extremist militias in Libya and Somalia.” Al-Jubeir stated in a press conference on the sidelines of his visit to the Romanian capital, Bucharest, to meet officials there, on

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IMF and World Bank Consider Somalia Eligible for Assistance Under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative

Photo Credit Kristalina Georgieva The Executive Boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank met, on February 12 and 13, respectively, to consider Somalia’s eligibility for debt relief under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The Executive Boards commended the authorities’ sustained commitment to economic and institutional reforms under challenging circumstances

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Somalia’s terror problem and Turkey’s stance

Turkish medical staff in the Somalian capital Mogadishu gather victims of a brutal terrorist attack that claimed nearly 80 people and wounded many others to transport them to Turkey for treatment, Dec. 28, 2019. (AA Photo) I will start by condemning last month’s bloody Mogadishu attack that killed many Somalian and two Turkish citizens. I

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US unlikely to meet schedule for ‘degrading’ Al Shabaab

The US Army’s Africa Command (Africom) says in a new report that it aims to render al-Shabaab incapable of conducting effective operations by next year. But the military situation in Somalia, as appraised by the US Defence Department’s inspector general, makes it appear unlikely that this ambitious timetable will be met. In its “campaign plan”

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Trump says he does not mind if Philippines cuts military pact with U.S

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 12, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday brushed aside the decision of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to end a decades-old military agreement with United States, saying he didn’t

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Haftar forces block U.N. flights in and out of Libya: U.N. mission

Photo/ Reuters Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar have blocked flights carrying United Nations staff to and from Libya, hampering humanitarian and mediation efforts, the U.N. mission said on Wednesday. Haftar’s eastern-based Libya National Army has on several occasions in recent weeks refused to grant permission for the regular U.N. flights to land, the U.N. mission

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Somali troops still vulnerable to al-Shabaab outside Mogadishu, Pentagon says

By Jared Szuba New report calls into question AFRICOM’s ability to ‘degrade’ al-Shabaab by 2021 Troops loyal to Somalia’s Federal Government in Mogadishu are not yet ready to stand on their own against al-Shabaab militants in the country’s south, the U.S. Defense Department said in a new report. Despite some successes, the Somali National Army

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Japan begins testing air-launched variant of new anti-ship missile

Photo from social media By Dylan Malyasov The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) has begun testing the improved version of the Type-12 surface-to-ship missile in an air-launched configuration designed for the P-1 maritime patrol aircraft. According to several media reports, a P-1 patrol aircraft equipped with four modernized air-based Type-12 missiles made its first test

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