Somalia, Mexico, South Africa,

Today's three stories you should know.

Aug 20, 2022

Somalia

At least 13 people have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu and, at the time of writing, a battle for control of the building was ongoing. Members of the al-Shabab armed group have been holed up inside the Hayat Hotel for nearly 24 hours and say they are holding several hostages. Local journalists reported that the hotel is popular with government workers, which fits a pattern of attacks in which Shabab targets restaurants, cafes and hotels where it thinks it can take out officials and ministers. The armed group has been fighting to topple the government for more than a decade and controls large parts of the country.

Mexico

A stunning arrest in Mexico today as police detained former attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam in connection with the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. The students vanished while travelling by bus to a protest in Mexico City in an incident that shocked Mexico and the world. Karam then led an investigation that has since been widely criticised and called a cover-up. The probe found that the students were stopped by corrupt police before being handed over to a drug cartel who mistook them for members of a rival gang before executing them and burning their remains. That finding was rejected by the student’s families and independent experts.

South Africa

Thousands of people have gathered in South Africa at the KwaKhangelamankengane Palace to celebrate the coronation of a new Zulu king. Misuzulu ka Zwelithini was crowned after a bitter succession row prompted by the death of his father in March last year. The position is still relatively influential in the country with a fifth of the population identifying as Zulu. A royal trust controls almost three million hectares of land and the monarchy receives a yearly taxpayer-funded budget of more than $4.9m.