Thursday 8, May 2025 {HMC} Somalia’s National Consultative Council (NCC) concluded its meeting in Mogadishu on Wednesday night with an agreement to enhance coordination on national security and accelerate the country’s electoral process.

In a communique issued after the meeting, leaders pledged full support for the Somali National Army in its fight against terrorism and called for stronger collaboration between federal and regional authorities to improve stability.

The Council also emphasized the need to expedite voter registration efforts, which began in Mogadishu last month and are expected to expand to other federal member states. Regional governments were urged to work closely with the National Independent Electoral Commission to ensure timely implementation.

The Ministry of Interior was tasked with drafting a legal framework to address the political standoff in Jubbaland, where disputes with the federal government have stalled coordination on national priorities.

In a major development, the NCC officially recognized SSC-Khaatumo as a federal member state. The Council agreed to complete the region’s ongoing state formation conference in accordance with Somalia’s provisional constitution.

Despite the progress reported in the communique, two key federal member states—Puntland and Jubbaland—were absent from the talks due to unresolved political disputes with the central government over constitutional amendments and the electoral process.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud chaired the talks at Villa Somalia, which attended by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama, and the presidents of Galmudug, Hirshabelle, South West, and the newly recognized SSC-Khaatumo State, as well as the Banadir regional administration.

The NCC is Somalia’s top intergovernmental forum, bringing together federal and regional leaders to coordinate national priorities, including security, governance, and elections.

Source Hiiraan online

Paris Saint-Germain will play Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final after a 2-1 win at home to Arsenal on Wednesday saw them emerge victorious 3-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal had chances to get back into contention and even overturn the tie, only to be frustrated time after time by PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Although Arsenal had struggled to control last week’s first leg against PSG’s three-man midfield, Mikel Arteta’s players quickly showed they had come to Paris to overturn the first leg defeat.

The game was barely a minute old when Jurrien Timber crossed for Declan Rice to head just wide.

The visiting side looked to asphyxiate PSG high up the field, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli both active, and Martinelli forced the first of Donnarumma’s excellent saves on the night, when he almost bundled in Thomas Partey’s long throw.

The Italian produced an even better stop in the seventh minute when another long throw from Partey fell to Martin Odegaard, whose low drive looked destined to end up in the net until Donnarumma got down to make a fine block.

Arsenal pressed forward and gave the home side options on the break, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia hitting the post before Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring in the 27th minute.

The midfielder latched onto Partey’s headed clearance from a free kick to control on his chest and lashed home a powerful volley that deflected off William Saliba.

It should have been 2-0 when Kvaratskhelia launched another break before sliding the ball to Desire Doue, who should have scored but hit the ball tamely at goalkeeper David Raya.

PSG started the second half strongly until Saka got into the game with a deflected cross and another curling shot that again drew a fine response from Donnarumma.

Vitinha should have sealed the tie for PSG from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after VAR spotted a handball from Myles Lewis-Skelly. Vitinha looked to fool Raya with a hop-skip-and-jump run up, but the goalkeeper got down well to block his weak effort.

It was only a temporary stay of execution for Arsenal after Achraf Hakimi finished low into the side of the net in the 72nd minute as Arsenal failed to clear a ball in the area.

Saka pulled a goal back for Arsenal four minutes later as he bundled home a cross from Leandro Trossard, but PSG held firm to see out the win.

Qualification is a personal triumph for former Spain boss Luis Enrique, who saw his side lose Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid in the summer, but has won Ligue 1 and now reached the Champions League final for the second time in PSG’s history.

A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four men $7,700 each for trying to traffic thousands of ants valuable to the country’s ecosystem, in cases experts say signal a shift in biopiracy from trophies like elephant ivory to lesser-known species.

Authorities arrested two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese man and a Kenyan national on April 5, accusing them in two separate cases of trying to smuggle out roughly 5,440 giant African harvester queen ants.

Magistrate Njeri Thuku said the ants would fetch in excess of 800,000 euros or $900,000 online in Europe, Asia, and parts of North America, where ant keepers maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known as formicariums to observe their cooperative behaviour.
Queen ants are valued because they are the only ones capable of laying eggs that grow into worker, soldier and future queen ants, meaning that the illegal trade can jeopardise colonies critical to Kenya’s wildlife ecosystem.

Thuku convicted the traffickers of dealing in live wildlife species, and ordered them to pay the fine or face 12 months in jail. They had all pleaded guilty.

The cases had raised questions about whether the alleged trafficking was linked to wider networks.

Thuku said that Duh Heng Nguyen, from Vietnam, was sent to Nairobi to meet a Kenyan, Dennis Nganga, and collect ants in an elaborate scheme that had “all the hallmarks of illegal wildlife trade and possibly biopiracy”.

Nguyen is what is known in the drug trafficking world as a “mule or courier”, Thuku said, describing his role as having the tell-tale signs of organised crime.

Nguyen and Nganga said they did not know their actions were against the law, according to the judge’s characterisation of their pleas.

‘ANT GANG’

The two Belgians, identified in court documents as Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, are both ant enthusiasts who claimed in court that they acted out of naivety, Thuku said.

Lornoy David’s phone revealed that he was a member of a group known as “Ant Gang”, and that he had initially bought 2,500 queens for $200, Thuku said in her ruling.

There was no justification for being found with such a large quantity of queen ants, Thuku said.
“This is beyond a hobby,” Thuku said. “Indeed if it happened to any larger species with 5,000 of a specific gender being taken away, it would be genocidal proportions.”

Ants are prized by enthusiasts for the way they work together, performing tasks like building a nest, collecting seeds or making collective decisions without a leader, in what experts describe as a superorganism.

“Over time, if you’re keeping ants or observing them, you’ll be able to watch this growth of the colony from just one individual, the queen, to ultimately thousands of individuals… (functioning) together as if they are one unit,” said Dino Martins, one of Kenya’s leading ant experts.

The Kenya Wildlife Service said the messor cephalotes ants are a critical species in maintaining soil health and ecosystem balance, and were intercepted by authorities at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the capital.

It said in a statement that the ants “were destined for the European and Asian exotic pet trade, where colonies of rare and ecologically unique species can command prices of up to 1,200 euros each.”

“Today’s ruling sends an unequivocal message: Kenya will not tolerate the plunder of its biodiversity. Whether it’s an ant or an elephant, we will pursue traffickers relentlessly,” said Erustus Kanga, KWS Director General.

Ant exports are permitted from Kenya with licences, though the regulations are difficult to navigate, experts say.

Reporting by Humphrey Malalo, Hereward Holland and Monicah Mwangi; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Ammu Kannampilly and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Thursday 8 May 2025 {HMC}  Pakistan has promised to retaliate after India launched military strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, fuelling fears of a broader confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan’s government on Wednesday pledged to respond “at a time, place and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty”.

Pakistan’s military said at least 31 civilians were killed and 46 others injured in the Indian attacks and ensuing cross-border shelling, describing the strikes as having “ignited an inferno in the region”.

In New Delhi, Indian officials briefed more than a dozen foreign envoys, telling them: “If Pakistan responds, India will respond”.

It comes amid spiralling tensions following a deadly attack last month on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan-based fighters. Islamabad has denied any involvement.

Cross-border shelling

India’s government said its forces targeted nine sites it described as “terrorist infrastructure”, including facilities allegedly linked to the fighters who killed 25 tourists and one local in last month’s Kashmir attack.

However, in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, residents said Indian missiles struck a mosque-seminary in the city centre.

The building, which included residential quarters, was left in ruins, with five missiles reportedly killing three people inside the two-storey structure.

Meanwhile, heavy cross-border shelling and gunfire continued along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir. Officials said 13 civilians were killed and 43 wounded on the Indian side, while at least six civilians were killed on the Pakistani side.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office claimed that five Indian fighter jets and drones were shot down during the escalation. The Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed reports of downed aircraft as “disinformation”.

Sharif promises response

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar told TRT World that there had been communication between the national security advisers of the two countries, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged that Pakistan would respond decisively.

“For the blatant mistake that India made last night, it will now have to pay the price,” Sharif said on state broadcaster PTV. “Perhaps they thought that we would retreat, but they forgot that … this is a nation of brave people.”

Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Islamabad, said that retaliation from Pakistan was widely anticipated.

“Pakistan is expected to retaliate within the next 24 to 48 hours, and that’s something we’ve been hearing from politicians across the board,” he said.

“They’re citing Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which says that a country has the right to respond to an unprovoked act of aggression.”

India defended its actions, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claiming its “targets we had set were destroyed with exactness according to a well-planned strategy”.

“We have shown sensitivity by ensuring that no civilian population was affected in the slightest,” he added.

Islamabad claims six sites targeted by India were not linked to armed groups.

‘I want to see it stop’

The Pakistani military said 57 commercial aircraft from multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Thailand, South Korea and China, were in Pakistan’s airspace at the time of India’s attack, putting thousands of passengers at risk.

India has since ordered the closure of at least 21 civilian airports in the northern and western parts of the country for passenger flights until May 10, The Hindu reported.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Prime Minister Sharif and expressed Ankara’s support. According to the Turkish presidency, Erdogan praised Pakistan’s “calm and restrained policies” during the crisis.

In Washington, United States President Donald Trump said he hoped to help de-escalate the situation. “I want to see it stop. And if I can do anything to help, I will be there,” he told reporters at the White House. “We want to see them work it out.”

Uday Chandra, assistant professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said while retaliation from Pakistan was expected, it appeared that neither country was seeking “an all-out war”.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies