Wednesday 4,June 2025 {HMC}  H.E. Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, Speaker of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Somalia, alongside his delegation, visited the cathedral mosque in Moscow today. They were warmly welcomed by the mosque’s Imam and Khateeb, Mr. Ildar Galeev.

During the visit, the Speaker and his delegation toured various parts of the mosque, appreciating its architectural and cultural significance. They expressed sincere thanks to the mosque administration for their gracious hospitality.

In his remarks, Speaker Abdi Hashi urged the mosque leaders to continue promoting the positive values of Islam and to educate the broader Russian community about the religion’s teachings and benefits.

This visit underscores Somalia’s commitment to strengthening cultural and religious ties internationally and fostering mutual understanding between communities.

Source SONNA 

Wednesday 4,June 2025 {HMC} Human rights groups are now asking Kenyan and Ugandan legislators to hold their governments accountable over the torture of their citizens in Tanzania.

The groups want the Tanzanian government to be held responsible not only for the pain and anguish inflicted on Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire, but to also compensate the two activists.

Their demands come as they also move to petition the Kenyan and Ugandan foreign affairs ministers to explain what they did as the two suffered in Tanzania.

Hours after laying bare their ordeal – raw, real, and unforgettable – at the hands of the Tanzanian government, human rights groups are now demanding that those actions do not go unpunished.

Determined to ensure these alleged abuses don’t vanish into silence, the activists now say they will be pushing for accountability not just on the regional stage, through the East African Community, but also back home in Kenya and Uganda, where they insist the fight for justice must begin.

“There are still avenues and other ambits that we hopefully can look at, but we’re hoping that the interventions of the other governments within the region and the petition to the EAC Parliament will be sufficient to get those officers who violated the rights of Boniface and Agather, amongst others, brought to book,” Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo stated.

“We think that a private member’s bill in the two countries will be sufficient to have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the two countries come and outline,” Houghton Irungu, Executive Director, Amnesty International, noted.

“We are not prejudicially arguing that they have done anything wrong, but they need to tell the national assemblies what they did to keep Boniface and Agather safe and secondly, what action they will take following the horrendous actions we heard yesterday.”

Those actions, the rights groups insist, must start with arrests—specifically, of the officers named by both Mwangi and Atuhaire as the architects of their torture.

But they’re not stopping there. The groups are petitioning for an East African Legislative Assembly–led parliamentary public hearing into the torture of the two, as well as seeking compensation.

According to the rights groups, the three East African countries also need to refrain from collaborating with each other to abuse the rights of their respective citizens—citing the abductions and arrests of Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi and Ugandan Kizza Besigye in Nairobi.

“We are concerned there is some sort of collusion amongst the countries to silence dissent in every way. Even now, as we speak in this country, there are particular laws being used to kill dissent,” Eric Mokaya, Executive Director, ICJ, pointed out.

The Kenyan government has also been faulted for its deafening silence over the torture of its citizens at the neighboring country’s hands.

The activists also warned President Samia Suluhu against what they termed creating a chilling climate of fear and silencing opponents ahead of the presidential election later this year.

Wednesday 4,June 2025 {HMC} Billionaire Elon Musk has renewed his criticisms of United States President Donald Trump’s signature budget bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” in a series of social media posts.

On Tuesday, just days after leaving his post in the Trump administration, Musk offered yet another broadside against the legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk wrote. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

His subsequent posts laid out the reasoning for his opposition, suggesting that the spending and tax cuts proposed in the bill would balloon the US national debt.

“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt,” Musk said in one post. In another, he wrote, “Congress is making America bankrupt.”

The bill would extend tax cuts established in 2017, during Trump’s first term, and funnel more funds to his administration’s priorities, including $46.5bn for the construction of barriers at the US border with Mexico.

But to accomplish those goals, critics have pointed out that the legislation would lift the cap on the national debt by $4 trillion. It would also limit access to social safety-net programmes like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known colloquially as food stamps.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan bureau that provides research to Congress, estimates that the bill will result in a $698bn reduction in Medicaid subsidies and $267bn less in funding for SNAP.

Those trade-offs have spurred concern on both sides of the aisle, with Democrats and some Republicans expressing fears that their constituents may lose their access to vital government services.

Fiscal conservatives, meanwhile, have baulked at the increase to the national debt.

In an early-morning vote on May 22, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill by a tight vote of 215 to 214. Republicans hold a 220-seat majority in the 435-member chamber, but several members were either absent or voted “present”.

Only two Republicans — Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio — broke with party ranks to vote against the bill. The House’s 212 Democrats all voted against it as well, in a unified show of opposition.

That sent the bill to the Senate, where Republicans likewise hold a razor-thin majority. Senators are expected to weigh the bill in the coming days.

But following Musk’s criticisms of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Massie chimed in to applaud the billionaire for his frank criticism.

“He’s right,” Massie wrote in a brief post, to which Musk responded that his opposition was rooted in “simple math”.

Musk also called on voters to “fire all politicians who betrayed the American people” during the 2026 midterm elections — referencing what he considered wasteful spending.

Until last week, Musk had served as a special government employee in the second Trump administration, helping to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) since the president’s inauguration in January. In that advisory role, Musk was tasked with identifying and eliminating “waste” in the federal bureaucracy.

His and DOGE’s efforts to slash the federal workforce, yank contracts and shutter government agencies, however, made them both a target for widespread criticism and lawsuits. Opponents accused Musk of engaging in conflicts of interest, including by attacking watchdog groups like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Federal law generally prohibits special government employees from serving for more than 130 days in a year, and Musk ended his tumultuous tenure in the Trump administration with an Oval Office sendoff last week.

Trump presented the billionaire with a decorative key to the White House and called his work transformational, crediting Musk with ushering in “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington”.

But in the lead-up to that goodbye, Musk appeared in previews for the TV show CBS Sunday Morning denouncing the One Big Beautiful Bill. He described its provisions as contrary to the spirit of DOGE’s spending cuts.

“I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS.

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” he added. “I don’t know if it could be both. My personal opinion.”

Those comments fuelled rumours of a widening rift between Trump and Musk, who had been one of the president’s most prominent donors and proxies during his 2024 re-election campaign.

Still, the Trump administration has brushed aside reports of tensions between the two men. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, for instance, shrugged off a question about Musk’s latest fusillade from her podium at the White House briefing room.

“ Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion,” she said. “This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it.”

Leavitt did, however, blast Republican senators who opposed the legislation for “not having their facts together”.

One of those senators is Rand Paul of Kentucky, who voiced his support for Musk’s dissent against the bill on Tuesday.

“I agree with Elon. We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake,” Paul wrote. “We can and must do better.”

Trump, however, lashed out against Paul on social media and defended his budget bill, calling it a “WINNER”.

“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him,” Trump said. “This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!”

Source: Al Jazeera

Wednesday 4,June 2025 {HMC} AS  militants have displayed a helicopter that crash-landed near their territory in the Middle Shabelle region, following a technical malfunction during an evacuation mission by Burundian troops under the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).

The helicopter was transporting Burundian peacekeepers from the recently evacuated Hawadley village after heavy flooding forced their withdrawal. According to AUSSOM, the aircraft experienced mechanical failure during the operation on Monday, prompting the pilots to carry out an emergency landing in a location near Al-Shabaab-controlled territory.

All personnel onboard, including the pilot and troops, safely fled the scene and were later transferred to a nearby military base. However, the abandoned aircraft was subsequently captured by Al-Shabaab fighters, who now claim possession of the wreckage.

Local officials say Al-Shabaab may have re-entered Hawadley following the withdrawal of AUSSOM forces. The village is located in a region where Al-Shabaab maintains a strong presence, particularly around Jowhar, the capital of Hirshabelle State.

In a statement, Kareem Adebayo, acting Special Representative of the African Union Commission Chairperson for Somalia, praised the Burundian troops for their swift and safe evacuation.

“We commend the swift action of the AUSSOM Burundian troops during the delicate operation. We reaffirm our continued support to the people and the Federal Government of Somalia in mitigating the effects of the flooding.”

The incident has highlighted the fragile security situation in Middle Shabelle and the ongoing challenge facing Somali authorities and AUSSOM forces in maintaining control over strategic locations in the face of natural disasters and persistent militant threats.

Wednesday 4,June 2025 {HMC} Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud convened a high-level meeting with representatives from a broad cross-section of civil society at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday, marking a key step toward the National Consultation Forum scheduled for June 15, 2025.

According to Villa Somalia, the meeting is part of an ongoing series of inclusive consultations aimed at ensuring broad participation and consensus in shaping Somalia’s state-building agenda.

President Hassan Sheikh emphasized the crucial role of civil society in the country’s governance and future, stressing that national progress depends on active public engagement.

“If we want Somalia to move forward, we must break free from the stagnation of the past,” the President said. “Democratization is a fundamental pillar of good governance, and the Somali people must be given a full and meaningful role in determining their national destiny.”

The President reaffirmed his commitment to inclusive, ongoing dialogue with diverse community groups to prepare for the forum, which he described as a platform rooted in public interest and designed to build national consensus.

The upcoming National Consultation Forum will focus on five key state-building priorities: national security and the fight against terrorism, democratization and electoral processes, completion of the provisional constitution, national unity, and reconciliation.

Civil society organizations have welcomed the President’s outreach, calling for a transparent, well-structured process that allows all voices to be heard in shaping the country’s political future.