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☆ Al Qaeda's new leader Adel has $10 million bounty on his head
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Michael Georgy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Zawahiri's death piled pressure on the group to choose a strategic leader who can carefully plan deadly operations and run a jihadi network, experts on al Qaeda say. The department’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering up to $10 million for information on Adel, whom it says is a member of "al Qaeda’s leadership council” and heads the organisation’s military committee. He and other Al Qaeda leaders were placed under house arrest in April 2003 by Iran, which released him and four others in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Yemen. OPERATIVE TO LEADERAdel, one of the few remaining al Qaeda old guard, has been close to the central command for decades, experts say. Adel gained more jihadi credentials after he joined other Arab militants fighting Soviet occupation troops in Afghanistan, where he eventually headed a training camp before becoming a senior figure in al Qaeda.

☆ Vast Refugee Camp in Kenya Swells as Drought Hits Somalia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Michael M. Phillips | Photographs Natalia Jidovanu For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DADAAB REFUGEE COMPLEX, Kenya—Magan Noor Abdi was 17 with three children the first time she fled Somalia. It was 2010, and famine was coming. The second time was a decade later. Al-Shabaab militants infiltrating her hometown had beaten her husband so badly that he couldn’t support a family that had grown to eight children.

☆ Malawi cholera death toll crosses 1,300: health official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has crossed 1,300, a senior Malawian health official said on Thursday, as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet. Cholera outbreaks happen regularly in Malawi, usually in the rainy season from November to March, but they only average an annual death toll of about 100. Malawi has conducted two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks means vaccine supplies are under strain. Other African countries, including Malawi's neighbours Mozambique and Zambia, have reported cholera cases. On Sunday, South Africa reported two imported cholera cases from Malawi, with the husband of one of the first two cases subsequently testing positive.

☆ Shunned by the US, Turkey is preparing to launch its first aircraft carrier — but it will come with a twist
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Turkey will instead operate the Anadolu with drones, using them to project power across the region. The US kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program in 2019, leaving Ankara without fighter jets for its new carrier. Strictly speaking, Anadolu is not a dedicated aircraft carrier but an amphibious assault ship — specifically a landing helicopter dock, or LHD. Turkey was a Level III partner in the US-led F-35 program, with Turkish companies making about 900 parts for the aircraft. Turkish carrier dronesTCG Anadolu in Istanbul in September 2022.

☆ Ex-Twitter employee tells AOC the platform changed its content moderation policy to accommodate Trump's racist 'go back' tweets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former top Twitter official said the social network bent its rules for Trump's 2019 racist tweet. "So much for bias against right-wing on Twitter," Ocasio-Cortez said, concluding the line of questioning. The recommendation had been for Trump's tweets to be labeled but allowed to remain on the platform since he was a public figure. Twitter was repeatedly criticized for allowing Trump's tweets to stand. Following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, the social network banned the president "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."

☆ Hope for jobs drives recruitment by militant groups in Africa - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Nellie Peyton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While worldwide deaths from terrorism have declined in the last five years, deaths in sub-Saharan Africa have risen, making it now the global epicentre of attacks, the UNDP report said, citing an annual survey called the Global Terrorism Index. Countries from east to west Africa have seen Islamist militant groups take over large swathes of territory, displacing millions, eroding faith in democratic government and causing widespread hunger. The UNDP report found that 25% of voluntary recruits to such groups cited job opportunities as their primary reason for joining, while 22% cited wanting to join with family and friends and 17% cited religious ideas. An additional year of schooling reduced the likelihood of voluntary recruitment to extremist groups by 13%, it found. The Global Terrorism Index is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace think-tank, which draws its data from the Terrorism Tracker database of Dragonfly, a private sector security and intelligence service.

☆ Fears of Losing Out to China Put U.S. Under Pressure Over Kenya Base
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Michael M. Phillips | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

MOKOWE, Kenya—Kenya is asking the U.S. to pay for the expansion of a joint counterterrorism base, raising concerns in Washington that the East African country could turn to China if the Americans balk, according to U.S. officials. The Kenyan military has drawn up plans for a new runway long enough to handle jet fighters at Manda Bay Airfield, a hub for U.S. and Kenyan operations against al-Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in neighboring Somalia, the U.S. officials said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republicans on Thursday ousted Democrat Ilhan Omar from a high-profile committee over remarks widely condemned as antisemitic, two years after Democrats removed two Republicans from committee assignments. The deeply divided House voted 218-211 along party lines to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee with Republicans citing the 2019 remarks for which she later apologized. She was in line to be the top Democrat on the foreign affairs panel's Africa subcommittee. [1/6] U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) walks to her office after being ousted by the Republican-lead House of Representatives to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 2, 2023. McCarthy previously rejected assignments of Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

☆ U.S. Forces Kill Senior Islamic State Militant in Somalia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Vivian Salama | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Nearly a dozen operatives with the Islamic State group in Somalia were killed in a U.S. military assault operation, including a senior militant who the U.S. had intended to capture but instead killed, U.S. officials said. The raid, which took place in a mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia late Wednesday, killed Bilal al-Sudani , a key operative and facilitator of ISIS’s global network who has been under U.S. sanctions. Ten other operatives were also killed. The operation resulted in no U.S. or civilian casualties, officials said, adding that the only injury suffered by an American servicemember was a dog bite from a U.S. military canine.

☆ Before a secret raid on an ISIS leader's mountain cave complex, US forces ran the mission at a special recreation of the target area
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US forces carried out a raid in northern Somalia this week and took out a top ISIS money man. Before the operation, troops ran practice runs on a recreation of the mountainous target area. It's a similar technique to the one used before the 2011 raid that brought down Osama bin Laden. US forces used the mock-up to practice what their ground movements and helicopter approaches would look like during the actual raid. Wednesday's raid in Somalia comes as the US and partner forces continue to track down ISIS fighters in Syria.

☆ Exclusive: Indian sugar mills to close early as rain hits cane supply - govt official
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Rajendra Jadhav | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

India has allowed sugar mills to export only 6.1 million tonnes of the sweetener in the current season and, out of that, mills have already contracted to export 5.7 million tonnes. Sugar mills in Maharashtra were operational until mid-June in 2021/22 as they were struggling to harvest a record crop. LOWER EXPORTSIn 2021/22 Maharashtra produced a record 13.7 million tonnes, higher than the initial estimate of 11.2 million tonnes, allowing New Delhi to export a record 11.2 million tonnes. As the sugar exports quota was nearly exhausted, the Indian Sugar Mills Association and other trade bodies were requesting the government to allow additional exports of up to 4 million tonnes. India mainly exports sugar to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates.

☆ U.S. military raid in northern Somalia kills a senior ISIS leader and 10 ISIS fighters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Courtney-Kube-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Courtney Kube | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A U.S. military operation in northern Somalia killed a senior leader of the Islamic State terrorist group and 10 other ISIS fighters on Wednesday night, according to two senior administration officials. Bilal al Sudani, who the officials described as a key operative and facilitator of the terror group’s global network, was the target of the raid. The only injury the officials reported was a U.S. service member who was bitten by one of the American military service dogs. The operation took place in a mountainous area in northern Somalia and followed months of planning, the officials said. “Our intelligence community expects to glean valuable information from this operation as well, demonstrating our continued emphasis on maximizing intelligence collection,” one official said.

☆ U.S. military operation kills Islamic State leader in Somalia - officials
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. military carried out an operation that killed a senior Islamic State leader in northern Somalia, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters that Bilal al-Sudani, a U.S.-designated ISIS leader in Somalia, was killed in the operation along with about 10 of his associates. They added that the operation was approved by President Joe Biden earlier this week and carried out within the past 24 hours. . The officials declined to discuss basic details of the operation. Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Ismail Shakil; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ At least five injured after blast at mayor's office in Mogadishu
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Somali policemen prepare to take their positions near the mayor's office following a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia January 22, 2023. REUTERS/Feisal OmarMOGADISHU, Jan 22 (Reuters) - At least five people were injured in a blast on Sunday at the gates of the mayor's office in Somalia's capital Mogadishu and gunfire continued to sound, a member of the ambulance service and a witness said. Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin Ambulance Services, told Reuters that ambulance staff had so far evacuated five injured people from the scene of the blast. "We were in the office and we were deafened by a blast, we ran out, gunfire followed," Farah Abdullahi, who works in the mayor's office, told Reuters. The mayor's office is located in the local government headquarters building in a well guarded area of Mogadishu.

☆ Ukraine's battlefields look like World War I but with a new and terrifying addition that leaves troops with almost nowhere to hide
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The conflict in Ukraine has emerged as the first major war involving drone use on both sides. By the late 1990s, Predator drones were being used by the US and NATO for reconnaissance missions in the Kosovo War. Ukraine has in many ways emerged as a guinea pig for drone warfare. Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesLater in the war, Russia began launching swarms of Iranian-made Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones, striking targets across Ukraine. Drones have significantly shortened the so-called kill chain, Cancian explained, helping troops swiftly locate targets and provide coordinates for artillery.

☆ U.S. military says Somalia strike killed 30 al Shabaab fighters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. military strike has killed approximately 30 Islamist al Shabaab militants near the central Somali town of Galcad, where Somalia's military was engaged in heavy fighting, U.S. Africa Command said in a statement. U.S. Africa Command, the military arm of the American government's presence on the continent, said no civilians were injured or killed in the strike. Al Shabaab fighters had stormed a Somali military base in Galcad on Friday and killed at least seven soldiers, according to the Somali government and the militant group. Al Shabaab has been fighting since 2006 to topple the country's central government and install its own rule, based on a strict interpretation of Islam. Friday's attack underscored the formidable threat that al Shabaab poses for Somalia's military, despite government successes against the al Qaeda-allied militants last year.

India, the world's biggest sugar exporter after Brazil, exported a record 11 million tonnes in the previous season to Sept. 30, 2022. Lower sugar exports from India could raise global prices , and allow rivals Brazil and Thailand to increase their shipments. We can't allow even additional exports of 1 million tonnes," said another official, who declined to be named. The country's sugar production was initially projected to rise to a record 36.5 million tonnes, far above local demand of 27.5 million tonnes. India mainly exports sugar to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Somalia and United Arab Emirates.

☆ Davos 2023: Idris Elba calls for investment to help world's poor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Kathryn Lurie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] British actor Idris Elba delivers a speech as he and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba, United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Goodwill Ambassador, receive the 2023 Crystal Award during the Crystal Awards Ceremony 2023, ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba called on Monday for business and political leaders to provide more support to the world's poorest countries in the form of investment rather than aid. "The poor of this world are not just looking for aid and handouts, they’re looking for investment," Idris Elba said. (For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here.) Reporting by Kathryn Lurie in Davos; Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia’s war in Ukraine sparked a historic food crisis. It’s not over
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“All the major causes of the food crisis are still with us — conflict, Covid, climate change, high fuel prices,” Cary Fowler, the US special envoy for global food security, told CNN. But high food prices mean that funding can’t go as far, and Russia’s war continues to generate volatility. “The Ukraine crisis has had this ongoing negative impact on world food prices and [added] even more volatility,” said Abby Maxman, CEO of Oxfam America. Russia “is not assisting in alleviating the food crisis in slowing down the grain inspections,” Fowler said. Oxfam’s Maxman, who traveled there in September, said disruptions to food supplies were obvious in markets.

☆ At least one killed in blasts targeting troops in central Somalia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOGADISHU, Jan 14 (Reuters) - One person was killed and at least six others injured in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint manned by Somali government troops in the central region of Hiran on Saturday, witnesses said, part of a twin suicide car attack. Federal government soldiers and allied clan militias launched a major offensive against al Shabaab last August. The group has retaliated with a series of attacks after they were driven out of some of the territories. "A suicide car bomb exploded at a government forces checkpoint near the bridge," said Seinab Abdullahi, a shopkeeper in Jalalaqsi, who counted one body and six injured victims. Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Christina Fincher and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Europe had second-warmest year on record in 2022, EU scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Stephane MaheBRUSSELS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Europe experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2022, European Union scientists said on Tuesday, as climate change unleashed record-breaking weather extremes that slashed crop yields, dried up rivers and led to thousands of deaths. The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said 2022 was also the world's fifth-warmest year, by a small margin. The last eight years were the world's eight hottest on record, C3S said. Britain experienced its hottest year on record in 2022, its national weather service said on Wednesday. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service shares its findings on the global climate for 2022 The annual global average temperature in 2022 was 0.3 degrees Celsius above the reference period of 1991-2020.

☆ War and drought drove global food prices to record high in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, dipped by 1.9% in December from a month earlier, the Rome-based organization said Friday. “Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years,” FAO chief economist Maximo Torero said in a prepared statement. With critical Black Sea supplies disrupted, food prices rose to record highs, increasing inflation, poverty and food insecurity in developing nations that rely on imports. The organization’s Vegetable Oil Price Index hit an all-time high last year, even as it tumbled in December to its lowest level since February 2021. For all of 2022, the FAO Dairy Price Index and Meat Price Index also were the highest since 1990.

☆ At least 20 people killed in clashes in Somaliland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Abdiqani Hassani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BOSASO, Somalia, Jan 1 (Reuters) - At least 20 people have been killed in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces over several days, according to a doctor at a public hospital. Mohamed Farah, a doctor at Laascaanood Hospital, a public facility in Laascaanood, told Reuters at least 20 people had been killed and dozens injured. Protesters are demanding that Somaliland cede control of the town to Puntland and also accuse security forces of failing to end insecurity in the town. We are demanding that they leave," Adaan Jaamac Oogle, the spokesman of the protesters told Reuters. Puntland's Vice President, Ahmed Elmi Osman Karash, accused the security forces of violence.

☆ Former Pope Benedict was first pontiff to resign in 600 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

[1/3] Pope Benedict XVI blesses a baby as he rides around St Peter's Square to hold his last general audience at the Vatican February 27, 2013. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File PhotoVATICAN CITY, Dec 31 - Former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday aged 95, was the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, leaving behind a Catholic Church battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in mismanagement and polarised between conservatives and progressives. Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, had good relations with his successor, Pope Francis, but his continued presence inside the Vatican after he stepped down in 2013 further polarised the Church ideologically. Although he said he would remain "hidden from the world", Benedict did not live up to that promise and in retirement sometimes caused controversy and confusion through his writings. Ganswein's role as a middleman between Benedict and the cardinal was unclear, with many believing he had misled Benedict, the cardinal, or both.

☆ I'm a leg-lengthening surgeon. I won't do cosmetic procedures because they cheapen what my work is really about — fixing deformities.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Natalie Rahhal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Dr. S. Robert Rozbruch has led limb-lengthening and reconstruction surgery for more than 20 years. Rozbruch performs 350 to 400 limb-lengthening surgeries and deformity corrections a year. I also loved the TV show "M*A*S*H." The character Hawkeye Pierce, who's a surgeon, was like a mentor to me. I really like helping these kinds of patients and feeling their appreciation for something special that not every orthopedic surgeon can do. Cosmetic limb-lengthening surgeries are a one-offI do limb-lengthening reconstruction, not that bullshit cosmetic limb-lengthening that was discussed in GQ.

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