Kasmaal  Independent Somali news and analysis website .

Sweden is preparing to hold what it calls the “first and largest” exercise of its kind in over 20 years involving all of its military branches as well as troops from several NATO countries, to boost its deterrence capabilities, the Swedish military said. The exercise, Aurora 17, which is scheduled for September, is designed to […]

High-ranking officials from Iran’s rail industry signed a major deal with the French rail car manufacturer Alstom to produce subway cars. The agreement was signed in a ceremony in Tehran in which Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammadreza Nematzadeh was also present, Tasnim News Agency reported. Officials from Alstom — a multinational company […]

Locals in southwestern France have built a wall around the entrance to a disused hotel in protest against plans to turn it into a migrant centre. Protesters in a town in southwest France have built a nearly-two-metre-high wall around the entrance to a disused hotel to try to prevent it being turned into a migrant […]

Hezbollah said its forces seized a strategic valley on Monday, the latest advance in an offensive to oust militants from their last foothold along the Syria-Lebanon border. Hezbollah said it had advanced from several directions in the Wadi al-Kheil valley in Juroud Arsal, a barren mountainous border zone that has served as a base for […]

China has warned India not to “cling to fantasies” amid a tense border stand-off, which also involves Bhutan, involving disputed territory in the Himalayas. Earlier, China staged live-fire drills in the area while India deployed troops there. “China’s determination and resolve to safeguard national security and sovereignty is unshakable,” Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian […]

Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State have evacuated many of its main headquarters in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul, a local source from Nineveh was quoted saying. “IS has carried out emergency evacuations over the night at many of its main headquarters in Tal Afar, in west of Mosul, after some of them were targeted […]

A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered six of the human rights activists, including Amnesty International’s Turkey director Idil Eser, to be remanded in custody on charges of aiding a “terror” group. The four others were then released under judicial supervision. But an Istanbul court on Friday issued new arrest warrants for the four — Nalan Erkem, Seyhmus Ozbekli, Nejat […]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman in Jeddah as part of a two-day Gulf tour that will also see him visit Kuwait and Qatar. He arrived in Jeddah on Sunday where he was greeted by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, a key royal advisor. Erdogan said Saudi Arabia had “the greatest responsibility” […]

More than 100 Somalis, recently released from Ethiopian detention facilities and handed over to the Somali government, arrived in Mogadishu on Saturday, government officials told VOA Somali. The 114 prisoners smiled and some of them kneeled as they got off the plane and kissed the soil. Parents and relatives waiting for them at the airport […]

A key section of the bill mandates a congressional review if Trump attempts to ease or end the sanctions against Moscow. Democrat Steny Hoyer said lawmakers had settled lingering issues with the bill, which also includes economic penalties against Iran and North Korea [File: Yuri Gripas/Reuters] US Congressional Republicans and Democrats announced on Saturday they […]