Kasmaal  Independent Somali news and analysis website .

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says ISIL’s “state of falsehood” has ended after Iraqi forces retook the wrecked landmark mosque in Mosul from where the armed group proclaimed its self-styled caliphate exactly three years ago. Seizing the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque hands a symbolic victory to the Iraqi forces who have been battling for more than […]

Half of all naturalisation hopefuls that took Denmark’s citizenship test in June failed. Only one in two of the thousands of people that took the citizenship test (indfødsretsprøven) at language centres across the country in June managed to pass, according to Ministry of Immigration figures. 49.8 percent passed the test by correctly answering at least […]

As North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un steps up the rate of his hi-tech missile tests, schoolchildren in the hermit kingdom are reportedly being forced to cut class to water crops that are dying in a severe drought. According to a report on Radio Free Asia’s Korean service, high school and college students in the north of […]

President Michel Temer was not inside the building when a minor rammed his vehicle into the presidential palace gate. A car has rammed the gate of the Brazilian president’s palace as calls grow on Michel Temer to resign amid a corruption scandal and single-digit popularity. A statement from Temer’s office said that a vehicle drove […]

The Iraqi Army said on Wednesday that it has recaptured two neighborhoods – Al-Sadeh and Al-Ahmadiya – in Mosul’s Old City. Al Arabiya News Channel also reported on Wednesday that ISIS militants are hiding in few houses loaded with explosives as the countdown to liberate a small remaining portion of the militant-occupied Iraqi city of […]

Moscow has warned the US against taking unilateral action in Syria, as there is no threat from the Syrian military, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. The statement comes after the US accused Syria of preparing for a chemical attack, without giving any evidence. Asked if Russia had warned the US administration against any unilateral action in […]

Six suspected members of the Isis terror group were arrested in Spain, Britain and Germany on Wednesday in an operation led by Spanish authorities investigating a jihadist recruiting network, the Spanish interior ministry said. Raids were continuing Wednesday morning targeting the group, based on the island of Majorca and led by an Islamist imam, who […]

France’s new President Emmanuel Macron invited US President Donald Trump on Tuesday to attend the country’s national day parade next month, his office said, adding that the US leader promised to examine the possibility. Macron, who has made clear his differences with Trump notably on climate change, invited Trump and his wife Melania to attend the […]

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi forces have taken over 70 percent of western Mosul’s Old City district, Islamic State militants’ last refuge in Iraq’s second largest city, police forces said. Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said his forces moved Wednesday through al-Farouq street towards Bab al-Toub, Serjkhana, Bab Jadid and Bab Lakash, all areas in […]

The Russian chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, accompanied Assad, according to a statement by Russia’s Defense Ministry. The two discussed coordinating actions of the Syrian government forces with the help of the Russian military against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and the Al-Nusra Front in Syria. Assad and Gerasimov also talked about implementing the […]