This brief article clarifies the situation vis-a-vis internet connectivity in Somalia, and mentions the economic implications for most users there.

The "precarious humanitarian situation" in southern Somalia has been worsened by a United States clampdown on Islamic money-lending institutions accused of being channels for terrorist funds, an official with a leading British charity said today.

The United Nations Food Programme has made a renewed appeal for humanitarian aid for half-a-million people in the south of Somalia who are suffering from serious food shortages.

Peace talks aimed at bringing about reconciliation between the Transitional National Government (TNG) and factions opposed to it, due to open in Nairobi last week, failed to start because of the absence of some key faction leaders. However, efforts were now under way to get the talks started "by today or tomorrow", a Kenyan government source told IRIN on Tuesday.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has expressed serious concern over the food situation in Somalia, saying it is deteriorating rapidly mainly due to drought.

Fears of an imminent American air strike is gripping Somalia after reports that military aircraft have been conducting surveillance flights over the country, local sources told IRIN on Tuesday.

Traditional elders of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have so far been unable to resolve the political impasse in Garowe, the regional capital, local sources told IRIN on Wednesday.

Somalia is on the verge of an economic collapse unparalleled in modern history, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said on Monday.

The Deputy High Commissioner of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said that in the event that the United States launches any attacks on Somalia as part of its war on terrorism, the agency has developed contingency plans for coping with any resultant refugee exodus.

This is a two year contract, renewable. This post will take lead responsibility for managing and developing a project which will address women's health issues through an interactive radio magazine programme. Operating from an office/studio in Hargeisa, Somaliland the project is funded for five years and builds on the experience of a two-year pilot project. Programmes are written and produced by Health Unlimited's national staff and
broadcast to the Somali speaking Horn of Africa.

The United Nations Secretary-General has ordered an extension of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia's (UNPOS) to run for a further two years.

Families are fleeing their homes in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, in fear of renewed fighting, a local journalist told IRIN. They are doing so because of reports of militia approaching the town, and the fear of more clashes, Muhammad Sa'id Kashawito of Midnimo radio said on Friday.

Somalia's only Internet company and its key telecommunication company have been shut down by the United States, because of suspicions of terrorist links. The United Nations and many nonprofit aid organizations have been affected.

At least 18 students were killed and many others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a Koranic school on 16 November, a local source told IRIN on Monday.

Fighting broke out in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, on 21 November, a local journalist told IRIN.

The Barakaat Telecommunications Company, the largest in Somalia, has closed down its international telephone services throughout Somalia, after its British and American business partners terminated their relationship with the Al-Barakaat group, a senior company official told IRIN. The move has greatly limited telephone contact between the country and the outside world.

Somalis from every walk of life have been reacting with dismay, anger and fear to the decision last week by the US government to order the closure the Al-Barakaat money transfer company, one of Somalia's biggest, which is also the only source of income for tens of thousands of destitute Somalis.

Armed militia are still denying entry into the conference hall of the general congress of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, a local journalist told IRIN on Monday.

The president of the Transitional National Government (TNG), of Somalia, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, on Monday announced the appointment of Hasan Abshir Farah as his new prime minister, the TNG director of information told IRIN.

Thousands of Somali refugees were repatriated from camps in neighbouring Ethiopia last month, bringing the total of returnees for this year to more than 43,000.