Kasmaal  Independent Somali news and analysis website .

 Rabat -Mar 12, 2021 – Morocco’s Health Ministry has ordered one million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. Morocco’s Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb confirmed the news in a statement to the Spanish news agency EFE. COVID-19: Morocco Orders 1 Million Doses of Sputnik V Vaccine The Spanish news outlet reported on Thursday that Ait Taleb […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a prime-time address to the nation from the East Room of the White House March 11, 2021 in Washington, DC. © Alex Wong, Getty Images via AFP One year after the nation was brought to a near-standstill by the coronavirus, President Joe Biden used his first prime-time address Thursday night to […]

Many years ago I conducted an interview with a leader of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). At the time, Ethiopia’s Somali regional state was often referred to as ‘region 5’ or kilil amist. Pastoralist women and children displaced by drought collect water from a distribution point near the Farburo site for internally-displaced people in Gode, in […]

Thailand abruptly called off its Oxford vaccine rollout (Picture: EPA) Denmark, Norway and Iceland suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday to investigate possible side effects. It came after a 49-year-old Austrian woman died of ‘severe blood coagulation problems’ after taking the jab. The press conference launching Thailand’s vaccine rollout was abruptly cancelled (Picture: […]

Sao Paulo [Brazil], March 11 (ANI): Amid an aggressive spread of the new COVID-19 strain from the Amazon in Brazil, a recent preliminary study has provided evidence that China’s CoronaVac, the country’s principal vaccine, might prove ineffective against the coronavirus variant. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the small-scale study comes as doctors have […]

Denmark has suspended the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine while it investigates possible serious side effects. A 49-year-old Austrian woman died of ‘severe blood coagulation problems’ after taking the jab, and three more cases of blood clotting issues have been reported in the country. The country is investigating whether the vaccine is linked with […]

Taiwan launching its office in Somaliland in August of 2020 (Facebook, MOFA photo)  TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Somaliland signed an agreement with Taiwan on March 3 to upgrade the digitalization of the East African country’s government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Thursday (March 11). Taiwan’s opening of a representative office in the Somaliland capital […]

Hathloul was sentenced in December to nearly six years in prison under broad cybercrime and counterterrorism laws after a lengthy trial that drew widespread international condemnation, but she was released last month having served half of her custodial sentence. Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul is seen on her way to court in the Saudi capital Riyadh on March 2, 2021. […]

The world marks a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic and though widespread vaccinations are encouraging, much of humanity still lives in dire conditions with no clear path to a normal life Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, speaks during a news conference, at the WHO […]

Joe Biden is about to sign what may well end up being the biggest accomplishment of his presidency, an enormous $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill. With his other priorities likely to grind to a halt in the Senate, the spending will probably stand as a signature statement of Biden’s approach to governance—and it should be […]