Somalia is grappling with a deepening food crisis as persistent drought continues to grip the East African nation. The lives of more than six million Somalis are hanging in the balance as hunger intensifies across the country.

Reports indicate that on the outskirts of Somalia’s southern port city, vast stretches of land have turned into open graveyards for livestock. Dead cattle lie scattered where they collapsed, while others are buried in shallow graves following several consecutive failed rainy seasons.

The situation is particularly dire for communities living in remote areas who depend heavily on livestock for milk, meat and income. With many animals dead, countless families have lost their primary means of livelihood.

The drought has forced millions of people to skip meals and endure daily hunger. According to a report by Al Jazeera, a combination of prolonged drought and rising living costs is pushing the country deeper into crisis.

The humanitarian director at Save the Children, Francesca Sangiorgi, said the crisis is being driven by repeated climate shocks that have compounded over time.

“We’re seeing multiple rainy seasons that have failed across the country,” she told Al Jazeera, noting that even when rain falls, it is often uneven and arrives too late to restore livelihoods that have already collapsed.

The scale of Somalia’s hunger crisis is severe and worsening rapidly. Nearly a third of the population is facing severe food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 3 and above. Many households are struggling to obtain enough food to meet their basic daily needs, and in some cases are going without food altogether, leaving them vulnerable to malnutrition and diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and other infections.

Of those affected, more than two million people are already in the most critical conditions short of famine, known as IPC Phase 4 or emergency levels. Families in this category face extreme food shortages and are increasingly forced to flee their homes in search of assistance, often moving to overcrowded aid camps where resources are rapidly dwindling.

Children remain among the hardest hit. According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.8 million children under the age of five in Somalia are at risk of acute malnutrition, putting their survival in immediate danger.

Sangiorgi warned that the situation is deteriorating quickly and its effects are already widespread.

“The situation of children across the country is extremely concerning,” she said. “We’re seeing the spread of child illnesses across the country. Dropout rates are extremely high right now and continue to rise because of the drought. We want to make sure that children have a chance at life — access to the health and nutrition services they need, as well as education.”

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reports that more than 3.3 million people have been displaced, placing immense pressure on already limited resources and basic services in affected communities.

Sweden has  intercepted a cargo ship believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” in the Baltic Sea.

A report by Russia Today said, Moscow maintains that the notion of a Russian-operated “shadow fleet” is unfounded. According to Kremlin officials, the term is used to describe vessels that transport cargo outside the coverage of London-based insurance brokers.

Russia insists that even if such ships carry sanctioned cargo, Western countries have no legal basis to enforce these sanctions on the high seas under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Caffa, the vessel in question, was reportedly seized on Friday in cooperation with Swedish police aviation and the National Task Force. Authorities are currently conducting searches and questioning the 11 crew members, 10 of whom hold Russian citizenship.

The ship is listed on Ukraine’s sanctions list and sails under the flag of Guinea, although the Swedish Coast Guard says its flag status remains unclear.

According to tracking data, the cargo ship departed Casablanca, Morocco, in late February, bound for Saint Petersburg, and was expected to arrive on March 10. Built in 1997, the vessel had previously sailed under the flags of Malta and Russia before switching to the flag of Guinea, the data tracked by VesselFinder shows.

Swedish Minister of Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin posted on X that the authorities have yet to determine if the vessel “meets the requirements for navigating in our waters.” Bohlin cited “the significant challenge posed by the so-called shadow fleet” as the reason for the seizure.

The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it was in contact with local authorities about the ship’s Russian crew members and offered the detainees consular assistance.

The Caffa is the first cargo ship carrying grain to be seized on suspicion of sanctions violations. Previous interceptions by Western allies have primarily targeted oil tankers or other energy-related shipments, rather than general cargo vessels.

Moscow has condemned the recent seizures of Russian cargo vessels, which Western countries have conducted under various pretexts.

In February, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev called on the BRICS countries to demonstrate strategic maritime cooperation in order to defend global shipping lanes from “Western piracy.”

The recent crisis in the Middle East is likely to linger more than expected.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has dismissed media reports in the United States claiming he had made a new push to resume nuclear talks with Washington, as Israel and the US have continued attacks on Tehran.

“We will not negotiate with the United States,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Larijani made the push through Omani mediators following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a joint attack by the US and Israel on Saturday.

Reacting post on X, Larijani said Trump had plunged the Middle East into chaos with his “delusional fantasies and now fears more American casualties”.

“He turned his self-made ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel’s power-hungry ambitions,” Larijani said.

At least three service members were killed in an operation against Iran on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed in a statement, and five others were “seriously wounded”.