Latest news with #Somalia
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
RHONY star engaged to her German businessman boyfriend after three years of dating
The Real Housewives of New York City star Ubah Hassan announced her engagement to 'Mr. Connecticut ' aka Aris Mining senior VP Oliver Dachsel last Saturday. The 44-year-old groom-to-be got down on one knee as he proposed to his 41-year-old bride-to-be as she sat on a chair in the middle of a desert. Ubah - who boasts 254K Instagram followers - captioned her romantic slideshow: 'To love and be loved by someone so kind, deeply good, and quietly breathtaking.' Hassan wore a bridal-white blouse, matching pants, and sandals and her eyes were brimming with tears as she accepted the massive diamond ring Oliver presented to her. The Somali-Canadian model appeared to be crying as she passionately embraced the German businessman, whom she met in 2022 through mutual friends. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop Ubah then FaceTimed her RHONY castmate Jessel Taank, who gushed: 'And here I was thinking it was just a regular day... until @ubah rocked my world with the best news.' Hassan also gave her personal trainer Kim Strother a sneak peek at the impressive sparkler, and she gushed: 'This is everything! So happy for you!' The Ubah Hot CEO's cousin Chanel Ayan, who's on The Real Housewives of Dubai, commented on her slideshow: 'We can now celebrate and I can tell the world my cousin is engaged! So happy love you both so much!' RHONY executive producer and Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen commented: 'This is outstanding!' Ubah also received congratulatory comments from Bravo-lebrities like Garcelle Beauvais, Rebecca Minkoff, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Ariana Madix, Carole Radziwill, Melissa Gorga, Ramona Singer, Heather Dubrow, and Kenya Moore. In January, Hassan admitted her 'dream' engagement ring would've been a yellow diamond rather than the crystal-clear variety she accepted Saturday. 'I do love a yellow diamond, just because they're rare. And I didn't know they were the most expensive,' the 6ft stunner told Parade. 'I like to make sure like I match, you know, because yellow you can't match a lot.' Ubah then added: 'I don't even care about the diamonds. I have diamonds, like, I don't need diamonds. I have him.' Fans will not be able to continue watching the Muslim beauty's wedding journey as Bravo execs met with 10 potential new Real Housewives of New York last month to cast in the upcoming 16th season And while Hassan confessed on the 15th season premiere she wanted 'to start trying' to get pregnant at the end of last year, the couple expanded their family last November adopting seven-month-old Goldendoodle Miles. The Muslim beauty only went Instagram official with Dachsel last September, but they made their red carpet debut in October 2023 at the American Ballet Theatre Fall Gala. Fans will not be able to continue watching Ubah's wedding journey as Bravo execs met with 10 potential new Real Housewives of New York last month to cast in the upcoming 16th season - according to Cohen. RHONY - originally titled 'Manhattan Moms' - was a spin-off of The Real Housewives of Orange County, and the OG cast members were paid around $7K to star in the first season back in 2009.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
KSrelief extends aid to Syria, Somalia, Sudan
RIYADH: The Saudi aid agency KSrelief continues to make a significant global impact, providing critical assistance to some of the world's most vulnerable communities. The organization has distributed 2,290 food baskets and hygiene kits in Sarmada in the Idlib Governorate of the Syrian Arab Republic, benefiting 6,870 individuals. This effort is part of the second phase of a project to ease the suffering of Syrian families. KSrelief in Somalia has distributed 1,200 food baskets to the neediest families in the Baidoa district in Bay region, assisting 7,200 people and supporting food security for vulnerable groups. KSrelief in Sudan has distributed 825 food baskets to the most needy families in Blue Nile State, helping 3,986 people. This aid forms part of Saudi Arabia's broader humanitarian efforts to support the Sudanese population amid the ongoing crisis in the country. Since its launch in May 2015, KSrelief has implemented 3,438 projects worth more than $7.9 billion across 107 countries, in partnership with more than 318 organizations.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Abandoning Somalia again will empower terrorists
America never seems to get Somalia right. For decades, U.S. relations with the impoverished, strategically located country on the Horn of Africa have followed a pattern: cycles of robust intervention followed by neglect. During times of neglect, violence and terrorism take root and threaten the stability of the entire region. And the United States is forced to return.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
US airstrikes surge in Somalia, surpassing 2024 numbers
The U.S. military has carried out more than two dozen airstrikes on targets in Somalia in the first five months of this year, double the total number of strikes in 2024. The escalation of the air war comes as the United States is 'actively pursuing and eliminating jihadists' in the country, at the request of Somalia's government, Gen. Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command, said in a May 30 briefing. The air campaign has targeted ISIS militants and fighters with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which continues to fight for territory against the federal Somali government. While Langley claimed 25 separate strikes, American forces carried out 33 airstrikes on Somalia this year, Kelly Cahalan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Africa Command, told Task & Purpose this week. New America, which tracks airstrikes in Somalia and other countries the United States is militarily engaged in, reports 34 total airstrikes in 2025. Between 109-174 people have been killed so far, per New America. Langley noted that the purpose of the air campaign is to back Somali military operations on the ground against ISIS members and al-Shabab fighters. He said that the rising number of strikes 'have achieved tactical gains against both groups.' Langley emphasized a 'moral imperative' in protecting civilians in strikes. It's unclear how many civilians have been killed by American airstrikes this year. Over the last two decades, at least 33 civilians died as a result of those bombings. In February, the USS Harry S. Truman — operating in the waters around Yemen and the Horn of Africa to fight Houthis in Yemen — carried out a major airstrike on Somalia. More than a dozen aircraft from the Truman Carrier Strike Group dropped 124,000 pounds of munitions on ISIS fighters on Feb. 1, killing 14. The acting chief of naval operations initially called it the 'largest air strike in the history of the world' earlier this month, although the Navy walked that back, qualifying it in terms of the amount of firepower sent by a single aircraft carrier. Since the start of the Global War on Terror, the United States has regularly bombed Somalia. The first post-9/11 strike occurred in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration, which carried out a dozen total. Barack Obama's presidency saw that quadruple. But the largest expansion happened during Donald Trump's first term, with 219 airstrikes reported, per Airwars. The Biden administration drastically scaled back its air campaign in the country, carrying out 51 over four years, even as the U.S. redeployed several hundred troops to the country. In the first four months of the second Trump administration the U.S. has already carried out approximately half as many strikes. 18 Army Rangers suspended for allegedly firing blanks at Florida beach Hegseth announces accountability review of Afghanistan withdrawal Coast Guard rescue swimmers saved a worker stuck in hardening concrete after roof collapse This National Guard unit went completely analog to simulate a cyber attack Fewer reenlistment options for soldiers amid high Army retention
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Africom's demotion sends a signal: Africa must buckle up
US Gen. Michael Langley's blunt declaration at the African Lion 2025 military exercise — 'There needs to be some burden sharing' — resonates less as a strategic evolution and more as polite euphemism for irreversible US retrenchment in Africa. It marks a discernible shift away from the usual rhetoric of good governance and counters the underlying causes of insurgency that defined past US engagement. Instead, Washington is now signaling that its fragile African allies must prepare to stand more on their own. This is not merely a tactical adjustment; it is perhaps the opening salvo in a potential dismantling of the US Africa Command, an institution born in 2008 to symbolize Africa's rising strategic importance. A leaked Pentagon briefing, contemplating Africom's merger back into European Command as a subordinate three-star billet, exposes the core driver: fiscal parsimony disguised as strategic realignment. After all, the projected savings represent a minuscule 0.03 percent of the Pentagon's nearly $900 billion annual budget, leading to one retired general's wry assessment that dismissed the proposed 'merger' as mere cost-cutting rather than well-conceived strategic maneuvering. Strangely, the move contradicts the administration's almost simultaneous escalation of kinetic operations — from loosened airstrike rules in Somalia to expanded combat authorities — revealing a preference for lethal action divorced from the holistic planning a dedicated command is almost always required to provide. On the surface, this bizarre posture does not suggest outright disengagement, as alarmists would have us believe, but a cheaper, more fragmented, and ultimately less effective militarization. 'Burden sharing,' therefore, appears less a call for equitable partnership and more a precursor to transactional disengagement. The underlying calculus seems worryingly mercenary — that is, for African countries to expect enduring US security investments, Washington must first be assured of demonstrable, immediate returns. Of course, this introduces a whole host of questions. Will potential host nations even agree to foot the bill for bases? Will access to critical minerals such as cobalt — vital for batteries, with 70 percent of global supply coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo — be guaranteed on favorable terms? Favorable to whom? Will US energy firms secure priority contracts? Langley's oblique reference to US support for Sudan, in further comments, hints at this new 'quid pro quo' expectation. Moreover, the systematic dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development and other soft power initiatives under previous budgets leaves the military as the primary, blunt instrument of influence, now wielded with an eye firmly on the balance sheet. This is not multilateralism but rugged transactionalism, where security partnerships exist only if they yield direct, tangible economic or strategic profit that exceeds the cost of deployment. For now, however, the bureaucratic inertia favoring Africom's survival remains formidable. Congressional Armed Services Committee chairs issued an immediate rebuke of any plans to dismantle the institution, declaring combatant commands the tip of the American warfighting spear and vowing to block unilateral changes lacking rigorous process. Their control over the defense budget and security assistance programs grants them significant leverage. But it is unclear whether that will be sufficient to dissuade an administration convinced that a rather different set of rules are now at play across the African continent. For African countries to expect enduring US security investments, Washington must first be assured of demonstrable, immediate returns. Hafed Al-Ghwell Regardless, CASC lawmakers do have a point. The proposed demotion of Africom from a four-star combatant command to a three-star entity under European Command constitutes far more than an organizational reshuffle. It represents a deliberate degradation of Africa's institutional standing within the Pentagon's hierarchy, with profound implications for how US security policy toward the continent is formulated and prioritized. After all, the bureaucratic architecture of the US military assigns immense weight to the rank and position of its commanders. A four-star combatant commander occupies one of only 41 such positions across the entire US military — a rarefied stratum granting direct, unfiltered access to the defense secretary and the president. This constitutes a critical 'action channel,' a formal pathway enabling the commander to shape policy debates, advocate for resources, and present Africa-centric security assessments at the apex of national security decision-making. Removing this four-star billet effectively mutes Africa's dedicated advocate in the rooms where global priorities are set and resources allocated. A three-star deputy, nested within EUCOM's bureaucracy and reporting through a superior focused primarily on European and transatlantic security concerns, simply lacks the equivalent rank, prestige, and direct access necessary to ensure Africa's complex challenges receive commensurate high-level attention, especially when competing against demands from regions such as Ukraine or the Indo-Pacific. However, Africom's toehold on the continent, though opaque, has only become more vulnerable in recent years. The expulsion from Agadez and Niamey, two critical drone bases in Niger with more than 1,100 personnel, crippled intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities across the Sahel. This leaves Chabelley airport in Djibouti — supporting perhaps 4,000 troops and a squadron of MQ-9 Reaper drones — as the sole publicly confirmed, persistent drone hub. Estimates of total Africom personnel fluctuate wildly due to rotational deployments and classified sites, but credible assessments suggest fewer than 5,000–10,000 troops continent-wide at any time, concentrated heavily in Djibouti and Somalia. This scattering across what are known as 'Cooperative Security Locations' and 'Contingency Locations,' potentially two dozen sites with 100-200 troops each, creates persistent entanglement risks. Furthermore, sustaining such a diffuse, vulnerable presence has become politically unsustainable given the lack of clear, publicly defensible victories against resilient groups such as Al-Shabab or Daesh affiliates flourishing in post-Qaddafi Libya and parts of the Sahel. Yet, the confluence is undeniable. The demand for allies to shoulder more risk coincides with a push to downgrade the command structure advocating for sustained engagement, all while expanding kinetic operations on the cheap. Thus, the 'end' of Africom as an independent entity is plausible, even likely — blamed on budgetary scalpels, but mostly due to being a casualty of a transactional worldview. However, this does not in any way signify a total demilitarization of US policy in Africa. Rather, it heralds a more incoherent, reactive, and narrowly self-interested era — and Africa had better buckle up. Military force would remain an option, perhaps even the default option in the absence of robust non-kinetic tools, but planned and executed with less expertise, less consistent oversight, and less regard for long-term stability. Africa, in this emerging era, risks becoming a theater for opportunistic strikes and extractive deals, its complex challenges reduced to a ledger of costs and immediate benefits — a far cry from the 'smart power' aspirations that accompanied Africom's founding.
