Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

{{ subpage.title }}

Members of the Hargeisa Basketball Girls team wrapped in the Somaliland flags walk on Road Number One during the Independence Day Eve celebrations in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on May 17, 2024.

REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Why does a US senator want to recognize Somaliland?

Last week, US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) became the latest American conservative to voice support for Somaliland, as he publicly urged the Trump administration to recognize it as a country.

“Somaliland remains committed to forging closer ties with the US and is actively engaged in enhancing military cooperation, counterterrorism efforts, and economy and trade partnerships,” Cruz wrote in a letter to the White House. “To do so to the greatest effect and the greatest benefit to American national security interests, it requires the status of a state.”

So why is Cruz interested in a small, de facto state on the east coast of Africa?

Read moreShow less

Enaam Abdallah Mohammed, 19, a displaced Sudanese woman and mother of four, who fled with her family, looks on inside a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan July 30, 2025.

REUTERS

In Sudan, the skies have turned deadly

Drones have become the new face of modern warfare, dominating headlines as Russia and Ukraine trade near-daily aerial strikes.

But unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) are wreaking havoc in another of the world’s deadliest, and least covered, conflicts.

In Sudan, a country of 50 million people in the Sahel region of Africa, a brutal civil war is taking place between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Now drones are exacerbating the crisis.

Read moreShow less
Reuters

Can Egypt take the reins on Gaza’s future?

Egypt held a summit in Cairo on Tuesday, bringing together Arab states to forge a path forward for Gaza. The host proposed a $53 billion, five-year plan to rebuild the Palestinian enclave, which has been largely destroyed during the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas. The idea was to rally Arab League countries to fund and support the plan as a counterweight to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to turn Gaza into a Mediterranean “Riviera” and forcibly displace Palestinians from the region.

Read moreShow less

Children walk through the destruction, as Palestinians try to build tents next to their destroyed homes after returning to Khan Younis, amid the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Gaza ceasefire talks underway as first phase deadline looms

Phase one of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is set to expire Saturday amid uncertainty over whether there’s enough common ground to discuss phase two.

Both sides are sending delegations to Cairo for possible talks, with Qatar and Egypt serving as intermediaries in the US-backed process. This first phase, which went into effect on Jan. 19, included the handover of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Both parties paused hostilities in Gaza, where brutal fighting has destroyed around 70% of the structures and killed at least 48,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry, so people could return to their homes and critical aid could be allowed in.

Read moreShow less

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands as they make joint statements to the press at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on Feb. 16, 2025.

Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein

Gaza: The battle of the plans

When it comes to the future of Gaza, the only thing regional players agree on is that they don’t agree. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports US President Donald Trump’s vision of an American-controlled “Riviera of the Middle East,” relocating approximately 2 million Palestinians to neighboring countries – a move widely criticized as ethnic cleansing. Egypt is formulating a reconstruction plan that would rebuild Gaza’s infrastructure, exclude Hamas from governance, and ensure Palestinians remain on their land. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is developing an alternative strategy, advocating for Gaza’s reconstruction, a two-state solution, and no displacement of residents.

Read moreShow less

President Donald Trump meets with Jordan's King Abdullah in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Feb. 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Israel-Hamas ceasefire may hold. Trump’s Gaza plan? Not so much

After some uncertainty earlier this week, phase one of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire seems to be holding even as Donald Trump plans to press forward with his Gaza plan. On Thursday, Hamas promised to release three Israeli hostages, as planned, with Israel set to return Palestinian prisoners in return.
Read moreShow less

President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jordan's King Abdullah attend a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Feb. 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Trump and Jordan talk Gaza, ceasefire hinges on hostage release

King Abdullah II of Jordan visited US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss Gaza’s post-war future, including Trump’s plan to relocate some 2.1 million Palestinians to other countries in the Middle East. Before the meeting, Abdullah announced that Jordan would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, an offer that Trump termed a “beautiful gesture.”
Read moreShow less

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stands at attention while armed military personnel from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps parade during a military parade commemorating the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq War in Tehran, on Sept. 21, 2024.

Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters

Hard Numbers: Iran’s elite fighters go off the grid, Cognac takes on China, Egyptian weapons flood Somalia, Argentines empty their mattresses, “Noise shouter” wins Kiwi election

190,000: It’s not clear how the 190,000 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps are communicating at the moment, after reports that the government on Monday ordered the group to stop using all electronic devices while they are checked for tampering. The move comes after thousands of Hezbollah-owned pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon last week, killing at least a dozen people and wounding thousands. Iran has also arrested a dozen people on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.
Read moreShow less

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

Latest