Saturday 16,Nov, 2024 {HMC} U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape. He also named two people to positions in the White House.

The transition team officially announced the choice of Burgum on Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also will lead a newly created National Energy Council that will be established to help the U.S. achieve “energy dominance” around the globe.

In this role, Burgum will direct a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, the president-elect said.

Burgum briefly ran against Trump as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 before dropping out and throwing his support behind the eventual president-elect.

The Trump-Vance transition team announced Steven Cheung will return to the Trump White House as communications director. He held the same position for the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as director of strategic response.

Friday evening, Trump announced that his campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, would be his White House press secretary. She had served as assistant press secretary in his previous term in office.

Trump has swiftly named an array of political loyalists to key Cabinet positions. They remained vocal supporters during his four years out of office, and most of them are likely to win quick Senate approval after confirmation hearings.

Having won majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January.

Source VOA NEWS

Saturday 16,Nov, 2024 {HMC} Two children and an elderly woman were killed in a drone attack, and another woman was wounded in the Shoa area of the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

The elderly woman who was wounded in the attack is reportedly in serious condition.

Ethiopian Media Service (EMS) on Thursday cited sources reporting that the children were eight and nine years old.

Fano Mintesnot, head of the Amhara Fano Popular Organization’s political division and public relations, confirmed the attack to Anchor Media, a U.S.-based Ethiopian outlet.

The attack occurred around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Sources indicated that no Fano forces, the armed group active in the Amhara region, were present in the area during the drone strike.

Reports from local sources suggest that the target was a shelter for internally displaced persons, including those evacuated after a recent landslide that claimed dozens of lives.

The Ethiopian government has not commented on the incident at the time of this writing.

Since last month, reports of intensified drone strikes have emerged from several parts of the Amhara region. Fano leaders, such as Asres Mare, told Anchor Media earlier this week that the government’s increased use of drone strikes reflects “frustration with battlefield losses.”

In early October, the Ethiopian government launched what it described as a “final operation” to eliminate Fano forces and reclaim areas under their control or influence. This campaign reportedly involved deploying an additional 40,000 troops to the region.

Fano leaders claim the operation has failed, with video footage shared on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook allegedly showing thousands of captured government troops. The Ethiopian Defense Force has not verified or denied these claims but instead stated that “Fano forces are surrendering.” Meanwhile, state-owned television has been airing videos purportedly showing Fano forces surrendering to the defense force in North Gondar and South Wollo. Fano forces, however, reject these claims, describing them as government propaganda.

Drone strikes have reportedly resulted in significant civilian casualties. Last week, as many as 50 civilians were killed in the Gojjam area when strikes targeted a school, a health center, and an open-air market.

Source Hiiraan Online

Saturday 16,Nov, 2024 {HMC} Somali federal government has deployed additional troops to the El-Wak district in the Gedo region following unsuccessful mediation efforts to resolve tensions with Jubbaland President Ahmed Madobe, sources confirmed on Saturday.

Troops from the Somali National Army’s 43rd Division have established defensive positions and are preparing operations against al-Shabab militants in Gedo, Lower Juba, and Middle Juba regions. However, the deployment reportedly lacked prior coordination with the Jubbaland administration, potentially escalating existing tensions.

A Kenyan delegation recently held separate talks with Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre in Mogadishu and Jubbaland leader Ahmed Madobe in Kismayo. The delegation, which included former IGAD Secretary General Mahbub Moalim and former IGAD Special Envoy for Somalia Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey, aimed to mediate the political standoff.

Despite their efforts, no compromise was reached, with both sides remaining steadfast in their positions. Madobe had earlier exited a National Consultative Council (NCC) meeting in Mogadishu, demanding the inclusion of Puntland and SSC-Khatumo in discussions. Puntland continues to boycott NCC meetings over disagreements with the federal government.

The impasse highlights broader disagreements over Somalia’s electoral process. Madobe advocates for indirect elections, while federal leaders and three regional states have agreed to implement universal suffrage.

The Somali government has yet to comment on the troop deployment or the breakdown in talks, but observers warn the growing discord could hinder national efforts to stabilize the country and implement electoral reforms.

Source Hiiraan online

Saturday 16,Nov, 2024 {HMC} Former Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo, a key figure in the region’s political history, died Friday night in Hargeisa at 86, his family confirmed.

Silanyo served as the leader of the Somali National Movement (SNM), the founder of the ruling Kulmiye party, and later became President of Somaliland from 2010 to 2017.

Born in Buro in 1938, Silanyo also served as the Somali Republic’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation from 1965 to 1973, as Minister of Trade from 1973 to 1978 and again from 1980 to 1982. He also held the roles of Somaliland Minister of Finance (1997–1999) and member of the House of Representatives (1993–1996).

As chairman of the SNM from 1984 to 1990, Silanyo played a pivotal role in the movement that ousted the military regime of Mohamed Siyad Barre. Following the collapse of Barre’s government, Somaliland declared independence in 1991, though it remains unrecognized internationally.

During his presidency, Silanyo championed political reforms and infrastructure development. He is also remembered for his fierce opposition to the administration of President Dahir Riyale Kahin from 2002 to 2010, which culminated in his election victory.

Silanyo retired from politics in 2017 due to age and health issues, spending his final years in Hargeisa.

sOURCE Hiiraan Online

Saturday 16 Nov 2024  {HMC} As Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake left the polling station at the Abeysingharama Temple in Maradana, Colombo, on Thursday, Sulaiman called out to him, urging him to stop and listen to his grievances. The police quickly accosted Sulaiman and asked him to leave the venue.

“I want [Dissanayake] to listen to the woes of my people,” Sulaiman said later. “When the former government cremated a baby during the COVID-19 pandemic, I protested it. I spoke on behalf of my religion. Justice was not served to the Muslim people.”

Sulaiman’s hope that Dissanayake will deliver justice that his predecessors did not finds echoes across Sri Lanka, which overwhelmingly voted for the centre-left leader in presidential elections in September. Now, that hope will be tested like never before.

Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) won a landslide majority in Thursday’s parliamentary election, securing 159 seats in a house of 225 members – representing a comfortable two-thirds majority. The main opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), under its leader Sajith Premadasa, won just 40 seats.

According to political analyst Aruna Kulatunga, this is the first time since 1977 – when Sri Lanka changed its parliamentary system to proportional representation – that a single party has won a clear majority. This is also the first time that the incumbent president has the numbers needed to pass legislation in parliament without needing to rely on any allies or coalition partners.

“The importance of this result, therefore, is that the Sri Lankan political fabric, fractured along racial, religious and ideological lines, has got the opportunity to unite behind a single party,” Kulatunga said, “without the horse-trading that took place in the previous coalition governments and the resultant weakening of the election pledges given.”

With a two-thirds majority, Dissanayake can now amend the constitution. The NPP has earlier promised a referendum on a new constitution.

The expectations from the NPP are high. Led by Dissanayake’s Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the NPP also includes multiple organisations, including civil society groups that came together during the 2022 protests against the government of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted from power.

Vasantha Raj, 38, a daily wage earner from Dehiwala, Colombo, said he did not know the names of the NPP candidates contesting from his area but voted for the alliance – it didn’t matter who was representing it.

“We have been voting for the same people for years and nothing has changed. This time, we’ll see what these ones [the NPP] do,” Raj said.

The ministry said one drone each was downed in the Bryansk region, also on the border, and in Lipetsk, further north, as well as in the central Oryol region.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, a frequent target on the Ukrainian border, said a series of attacks had smashed windows in an apartment building and caused other damage, but no casualties were reported.

Dozens of mourners filled a golden-domed Orthodox cathedral in Ukrainian capital Kyiv to pay their respects to a beloved combat medic, 32-year-old Maria-Khrystyna Dvoinik, who was killed this week on the front line.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in nearly two years and urged Moscow to pull its forces from Ukraine and begin talks with Kyiv.

• The Kremlin described the call as a “detailed and frank exchange of views over the situation in Ukraine”. It said Putin told Scholz that any agreement to end the war should “proceed from the new territorial realities and, most importantly, address the root causes of the conflict”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised Scholz’s phone call with Putin, saying it opened a “Pandora’s box” that undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader and end the war in Ukraine with a “fair peace”. “This is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation and to conduct ordinary negotiations,” he said.
• Scholz said changes are needed to Germany’s spending cap to respond to the “financial emergency” of war in Ukraine after the centre-right opposition signalled willingness to reform the so-called debt brake.
• Zelenskyy told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne that Russia’s war against his country will “end sooner” under US President-elect Donald Trump‘s administration.
• Russia has informed Austria that it will suspend gas deliveries via Ukraine starting on Saturday, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe.
• Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Austria’s large gas storage facilities are 93 percent full and the country is well equipped to deal with Russia’s decision to stop gas deliveries.
• Ukraine is fighting to liberate all territory captured by Russia in the last decade, and is not shifting its focus in the war, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told a news conference in Norway.

Source Al-Jaziira