Japan, Somalia, Ethiopia.

Today's three stories you should know.

Japan

Most often, the stories covered in Proximities are under-reported. But this will lead international headlines everywhere. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has been shot dead at a campaign event, sending a nation where guns and such violence are rare into deep shock. Abe, who was Japan’s longest serving leader, was shot from behind with what looked like a homemade gun as he spoke at an event in the city of Nara. Police were seen tackling a man and officials say a 41-year-old is now in custody. Japan’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said he was “lost for words.”

More from Kyodo News here.

Somalia

The Horn of Africa is going through its worst drought for nearly four decades and, according to the UN, a quarter of a million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia. Al Jazeera today published a report from the epicenter of the hunger. “I’m here for 10 days [and] we have not received any help. No one is here to help us. There is only a water tap. Can water be food? We are just drinking water,” one woman said.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has for the first time admitted the scale of the losses his forces are suffering as they fight a rebel group in the country’s Oromia region. Abiy said security forces and police officers were dying on a daily basis at the hands of the Oromo Liberation Army. He said hundreds of local officials have also been killed. The war against the OLA is the second major insurgency Abiy is facing. For almost two years the Ethiopian military has been battling a former regional government, the TPLF, but that conflict appears to be dissipating now.

More from AP here.