Happy 800 Birthday, Rumi

Today is the 800th anniversary of the birth of the great Sufi poet Rumi.

An interesting article on Rumi in Afghanistan here

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,

Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,

Like this.

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God’s fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.

Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.

Like this.

Excerpt from Like This. Illustration by ERIK VILET, from Rending the Veil.

FINAL HOUSE ACTION ON H.R. 2003 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2007

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION IN SUPPORT OF H.R.2003

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A special congratulations to Ethiopia's own, athlete Haile Gebrselassie, who has shattered the world marathon record with an official time of 2hr 4min 26sec to win the 34th Berlin Marathon
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The Coalition for H.R. 2003 is pleased to announce that HR 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007”), introduced by Chairman Donald Payne of the Subcommittee on Africa on April 20, 2007, has been scheduled for final action by the House of Representatives on October 2, 2007. Consideration of items on the suspension calendar will begin at 10:00 a.m. [See, Here]

There are 14 bills scheduled for floor debate on October 2. H.R. 2003 is listed as #5 on the calendar.

H.R. 2003 was referred to the floor on a special House procedure known as “suspension of the rules”. This procedure is used generally to act swiftly on relatively non-controversial legislation. The procedure is set forth in clause 1 of House Rule XV. When a bill or some other matter is considered “under suspension,” floor debate is limited, all floor amendments are prohibited, and a two-thirds vote is required for final passage. The equivalent calendar in the Senate is called the consent calendar.

Also see:
-EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT H.R. 2003, BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!

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September 29, 2007 - Weaving the Safety Net

Last night a friend called me, to talk about her father, whose lung cancer has relapsed. She was anxious and upset, nearly beside herself with worry. For the first time she’d heard the dreaded words, “Stage IV.”

What could I do? What could I say? I’m fresh out of magic words that can make everything all right.

I did the only thing I could do. I listened. Every once in a while, I threw in some small piece of advice about navigating the cancer-care maze: the importance of sitting down with the whole family and talking frankly about the situation, the need to make sure the right-hand doctor knows what the left-hand doctor is doing, the value – nay, the necessity – of getting a second opinion (preferably from a specialist at an NCI-accredited Comprehensive Cancer Center).

By the end of the call, she seemed to feel much calmer. I didn’t do very much, really, other than listen. But that was enough. It was the needful thing.

Certain experiences in life are better done on our own: pulling on our clothes in the morning, ordering from a menu, deciding what book to bring along to read on a plane. Facing cancer isn’t one of them. No, when a cancer diagnosis looms, the first thing to do is assemble a posse.

Reynolds Price, poet and novelist, was a well-known figure in the literary world before he got cancer, and started writing about it. A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing tells the story of his treatment, mostly by surgery and radiation, for life-threatening spinal cancer. Never a man of overt religious faith, but always one of deep religious sensibility, he discovered a web of support he never knew was there: people who found their way to him at his darkest moments, people who prayed for him when he barely believed in prayer. Here’s something he wrote:

“One of the strongest and most ironic assurances came from a woman I hadn’t seen for years, who’d herself been placed in an isolation chamber for several days shortly before a whole capsule of radium was implanted in her body to bombard a pelvic cancer. She phoned me on a dismally low Sunday morning and, with no preface, calmly said, ‘I’ve called to tell you you’re not going to die of this cancer.’ Then she quoted the famous talisman lines from Psalm 91 that so many soldiers have taken to war,

‘He shall give his angels charge over thee;
to keep thee in all thy ways.’

Soon she was dead but her word on me is still in force.

At moments of exhaustion those unsought assurances could ring a little crazily. I well understood that the vast majority of human prayers get No for an answer, if any answer at all. I knew that my threatened life was surely not an exception to that dark rule.... But as things sped downward in my mind and body that summer and fall, and a blank wall was all the end I could see, those promises from friends of unquestioned sanity carried more weight with my battered mind than most other messages. Bad as I often felt, they seemed oddly credible. And I’m still not convinced I chose to trust them only because I needed to. Even now as I recall each one and the moment of its arrival, I can hear its battlefield-bulletin prose as welcome and trusty; and I take great care not to make empty promises to troubled friends unless, as I very rarely do, I have a firm sense of their ongoing luck.” (Reynolds Price, A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing – Plume, 1982, pp. 64-65.)

It was a pretty gutsy thing for that woman to do, phoning her friend and pronouncing medical absolution over him, when she wasn’t even a doctor. I don’t think I would be so bold. Yet, somehow, her preposterous prophecy seemed to make all the difference for Reynolds. Along with other good friends, she slid under him when he was falling, and caught him.

A weaver, creating a blanket, sends the loom’s shuttle sliding back and forth, again and again, crafting a web of gossamer thread that has far more strength than any one cord alone. This is what we do for each other, when the touch of cancer’s icy, skeleton finger would chill us to the bone. We wrap one another in listening, and, more rarely, speaking. We stand at the end of a frightful chasm and halloo our prayers into the darkness, then together await the echo.

Thank God we are not alone.

Troops refuse to fire in Rangoon - Possible army mutiny?

The best outcome we could hope for in Burma would probably be if the soldiers were won over. That would be in keeping with the peaceful Buddhist ideals. Whether or not this is a real possibility has been debated by many others far more knowledgeable than me, but the reality is nobody knows.

However, if this is true, it looks promising:

Reports from Rangoon suggest soldiers are mutinying. It is unclear the numbers involved. Reports cite heavy shooting in the former Burmese capital.

The organisation Helfen ohne Grenzen (Help without Frontiers) is reporting that "Soldiers from the 66th LID (Light Infantry Divison) have turned their weapons against other government troops and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters. At present unsure how many soldiers involved."

Soldiers in Mandalay, where unrest has spread to as we reported this morning, are also reported to have refused orders to act against protesters.

Some reports claim that many soldiers remained in their barracks. More recent reports now maintain that soldiers from the 99th LID now being sent there to confront them.

Growing numbers of protestors are gathering in Rangoon, with 10,000 reported at the Traders Hotel and 50,000 at the Thein Gyi market. The police are reported to have turned water cannons against crowds at Sule Pagoda.

Many phone lines into the Burmese state have now been cut, mobile networks have been disabled and the national internet service provider has been taken off-line.

In a related development, an unverified report from cbox says:

Military sources in Rangoon are claiming that the regime's number two, General Maung Aye (right), has staged a coup against Than Shwe, and that his troops are now guarding Aung San Suu Kyi's home. A meeting between him and Suu Kyi is expected. Maung Aye is army commander-in-chief and a renowned pragmatist.

Lots more here or on the facebook group.

Winners of the "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals" Journalism Awards

Daniel San Juan Tolentino dug his own grave. A pile of earth fell on him and buried him.

First Prize was awarded to this article on child labourers in Mexico. The quote is from one of the stories in the article, and refers to a 12-year old boy who was digging a ditch to prevent floods in the field where he worked. He was buried by an avalanche of mud.

None of the daily rituals carried out by 26-year-old biology student Flávia Santiago, who is seven months pregnant and anxiously awaiting the birth of her first child, was ever experienced by Nadja Batista Borges, 29, who dropped out of primary school in the third grade. She, too, is pregnant. But with her seventh child.

They probably love their babies equally. The difference lies in their addresses. Nadja lives in a 'favela' (shantytown) of Santo Amaro. Flávia lives with her husband in a comfortable apartment [in a well-off neighbourhood].

This quote is from the second place article about women and motherhood in Brazil, "Faces da maternidade" by Bruna Cabral and Mona Lisa Dourado, published in the Jornal do Commercio in Recife, Brazil.

"This kind of journalism, often consigned to the sidelines and neglected for obvious reasons, has shown its credentials and demonstrated that in Latin America, hidden behind more sensational reporting, there is this other kind, with a vocation for participating and a sense of its own usefulness," said one of the members of the jury. 466 articles were entered from 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The top five winners will be published in a book, and the top 3 also recieved cash prizes. More info on the competition here.

I tried to find more, but nothing much was available in English. I'd love to read the articles in full if they get translated. If anyone has more info or a link, please let me know!

Eritrea calls on UN to solve border crisis, warns of Ethiopian attack

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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- Today's Top HEADLINES
- BURMA - SPECIAL COVERAGE (cntd.)
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the Day - (MESKEL)
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EDITORIAL: ETHIOPIAN POLITICS (AMHARIC)
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ASMARA — Eritrea urged the United Nations to force its arch-foe Ethiopia urgently to implement a border ruling, warning it feared Addis Ababa was preparing to resume war, in a letter published Friday.

(Members of The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, EEBC (from left to right): Sir Arthur Watts, KCMG QC; Professor W. Michael Reisman; Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, CBE QC; His Excellency Prince Bola Adesumbo Ajibola; Judge Stephen M. Schwebel)
In the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh said he believed that Ethiopian threats to scrap the Algiers peace deal that ended their bloody 1998-2000 border war were a precursor to an attack.

"Ethiopia seems to be planning to use its unlawful attempt at renunciation of the Algiers Agreements as a precursor for initiation of renewed hostilities," read the letter, dated Thursday but posted on the Eritrean information ministry website Friday.

"It is a cardinal principle of international law that forcible occupation of the territory of another state is an act of aggression and Ethiopia's stationing of troops north of the recognised international boundary falls squarely within that category," Osman added.

Early this month, a meeting of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) meeting in The Hague, seen as a last-ditch attempt to break the frontier deadlock, ended in failure.(More...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-100,000 Ethiopian faithful celebrate 'true cross'
-Kinijit delegates arrive in Oakland (ER) --- [See Video here]
-Press Release: The Coalition for HR 2003
-Merkel to visit Ethiopia, South Africa and Liberia
-Meles speaks at the Clinton Summit, NY - VIDEO
-11,000 fled Mogadishu fighting in September-UNHCR
-Press group deplores attack on Somali media boss
-Four Somali soldiers killed in Mogadishu attack

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BURMA - SPECIAL COVERAGE (cntd.)

BURMA JUNTA CUTS INTERNET ACCESS AND PHONE-
Bush: Every nation should stand up for Burama-
VIDEO - Reuters REPORT-
AUDIO - PROTESTER SPEAKING TO NPR-
Burmese Authorities Attack Civilians-
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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Court Allows Musharraf to Seek Re-Election
-Iran Signs Accords With Venezuela And Bolivia
-Iraqi Leader rejects division of nation
-Phone credit low? Africans go for "beeping"

PICTURE OF THE DAY

(Ethiopia, Meskel Festival)

(Festival marking the finding of the true cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The festival is ancient; dating back 1,600 years. The celebration of Meskel recognizes the presence of the true cross at the Mountain of Gishen Miriam monastery, and also recognizes Empress Helena’s road to finding it. According to tradition, Empress Helena lit incense and prayed for assistance from God in her search for the cross. The smoke from the incense drifted in the direction of the buried cross. She dug and found three crosses: one of them was the true cross on which Christ died. Empress Helena gave a piece of the cross to each of the churches, including the Ethiopian church. The piece given to the Ethiopian church was then brought to Ethiopia.)


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September 27, 2007 - Looking Goliath in the Eye

I realize I’ve been writing a lot, recently, about the health-care funding debate in this country, but that’s partly been because of the long gaps between medical appointments that lead to lots of “slow news days” with respect to my own health situation. (By the way, there’s going to be a further delay before I hear from the Tumor Board at Hackensack University Medical Center; they’d like me to travel up there next Thursday for a consultation with a Dr. Feldman, a member of the Lymphoma Department, before the Tumor Board makes their decision.)

I was concerned about the plight of the uninsured even before I got sick, but the ever-growing flood of window envelopes pouring through my mailbox has led me to feel even greater compassion for those who keep getting hit with budget-busting medical bills and have no way to pay them. Furthermore, my prior experiences of living in England and Scotland have given me a generally favorable opinion of single-payer, national health programs. I’m convinced that most of the tiresome screed decrying “socialized medicine” that we Americans hear so often is pure invention, promulgated by panicky people with no firsthand experience of how well the European and Canadian systems actually work for most citizens.

So, there it is. My cards are on the table. I believe our health-care funding system has become so bloated and dysfunctional that it's beyond any kind of tinkering. It needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. (Please note that I'm talking about our health-care funding system – the creaky, complex medical-insurance system that puts the needs of stockholders above those of policyholders, and wastes billions of dollars on pointless paper-pushing that could otherwise be spent on patient care. Against all odds, we still somehow have a health-care system we can be proud of - or, at least, that the insured among us can be proud of. The quality of care available to most insured Americans is still among the highest in the world – as is also true of national-health-insurance countries like Britain, France and Canada, that also manage the feat of caring for all their citizenry.)

Given that presupposition of mine, it will come as no surprise to hear that I was terrifically impressed by a recent essay by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich. She's written some interesting things in the past: most notably a provocative book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (Holt, 2002). In that book, she chronicled her experiences working for several months at a time at minimum-wage jobs, trying to live on that salary alone. She had to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still nearly ended up in a homeless shelter. Her conclusion? In our economy, minimum wage is not a living wage – not even close.

In a September 20th blog entry, We Have Seen the Enemy – And Sur- rendered, Ehrenreich suggests that one of the most fearsome enemies the American people are facing today is the multi-billion-dollar medical-insurance industry. So cowed are all the presidential candidates by the bare-knuckle power of this industry (with the sole exception, she says, of the rarely-heeded Dennis Kucinich), that no one has come close to suggesting total, paradigm-busting reform, along the lines of universal health care. The most any of them are suggesting is baby steps.

Big Insurance is a mammoth industry indeed. Citing economist Paul Krugman, Ehrenreich points out that this industry employs "two to three million people just to turn down claims."

Our spiraling medical bills are not only paying all those pointless salaries ("pointless" because they benefit stockholders at the expense of policyholders). They're also indirectly funding both sides of an ongoing, ever-escalating war between doctors and insurers. The insurers get tougher, rejecting more claims. The doctors employ specialized office workers to circumvent the insurers' rejections. The insurers respond in kind, continually increasing their workforce of abominable no-men (and women). And on and on. Caught in the crossfire, uninsured and under-insured patients become "collateral damage."

Unlike other industries, which grow by producing more, the way the medical-insurance industry garners profits is exceedingly odd. It grows by turning potential customers away:

"The private health insurance industry is not big because it relentlessly seeks out new customers. Unlike any other industry, this one grows by rejecting customers. No matter how shabby you look, Cartier, Lexus, or Nordstrom's will happily take your money. Not Aetna. If you have a prior conviction – excuse me, a pre-existing condition – it doesn't want your business. Private health insurance is only for people who aren't likely to ever get sick. In fact, why call it ‘insurance,' which normally embodies the notion of risk-sharing? This is extortion.

Think of the damage. An estimated 18,000 Americans die every year because they can't afford or can't qualify for health insurance. That's the 9/11 carnage multiplied by three - every year. Not to mention all the people who are stuck in jobs they hate because they don't dare lose their current insurance.

Saddam Hussein never killed 18,000 Americans or anything close; nor did the U.S.S.R. Yet we faced down those ‘enemies' with huge patriotic bluster, vast military expenditures, and, in the case of Saddam, armed intervention. So why does the U.S. soil its pants and cower in fear when confronted with the insurance industry?"

I'd encourage you to take a look at the entire essay. If nothing else, it will give you something to think about.

HR 2003 ON TO THE NEXT STAGE

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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Also:
- ON THE KINIJIT CRISES: ETP and Others
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- SPECIAL COVERAGE – JUNTA IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
- INTERNATIONAL news
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HR 2003 ON TO THE NEXT STAGE

[AUDIO] - Congressman Chris Smith, Members of the Kinijit delegation and others react to the news. [Click here to Listen to VOA's Report]

Also see:
-Report: Ethiopia Legislation Moves Forward
-EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT H.R. 2003, BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK!
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ON THE KINIJIT CRISES: ETP and Others

Here are some opinions (articles, video and audio) that deal with the current crisis within KInijit. We have also tossed in our two cents into this conversation by posting our first AMHARIC editorial



-IN POLITICS, CRISIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY (Abebe Gelaw)
-Almezuria Teshome appeals to Kinijit’s leaders
-VP Birtukan Mideksa appeals to chairman Hailu - VIDEO
-Obang Metho Appeals to Kinijit’s leaders
-Winners do not falter at faulty moments (ENC)
-Management of crisis
-Enkifat - Poem (Tewodros Abebe)
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Today's Top HEADLINES

-Kinijit leaders meet with authorities in Finland (EMF)
-Ethiopian Human Rights Council Report
-Upstate New York welcomes Kinijit Delegation
-Press Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-Ethiopia Threatens to Terminate Peace Deal With Eritrea
-Ethiopia gets $208 mln China loan
-Ethiopia to sell hydro power to Egypt (Capital)
-Somali president, PM meet to solve latest rift
-Pictures - Kinijit Delegation in Sweden

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Who will win the $5m prize?

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is next month due to award over $5m to the former African head of state adjudged to have demonstrated exemplary leadership. The presidential prize is aimed at encouraging best practice. The lucky recipient of what the organisers call "the world's biggest prize" will be named on 22 October.(More...)

Also see:

Rwanda 'most improved' in Africa-
Ibrahim Index of African Governance-
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SPECIAL COVERAGE – JUNTA IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

-BURMA MONKS CHANT "DEMOCRACY, DEMOCRACY"
-BUSH TO ANNOUNCE SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA
-BRITISH PM CALLS FOR ACTION ON BURMA
-AUNG SAN SUU KYI INTERVIEW - VIDEO
-BURMESE CONTINUE DEFIANCE - AUDIO

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Fukuda elected Japan's prime minister
-Ahmadinejad Remarks Meet With Scorn, Laughter
-Putin purges cabinet of last reformers
-Lebanon parliament puts off presidential vote
-Germs taken to space come back deadlier (Science)




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Because War Just Isn't Enough...

As if invasion, occupation, destruction of infrastructure, unemployment, poverty, and displacement aren't enough... now they've got cholera, a truly horible and deadly disease.

You know, if the American military had any intention of actually trying to win "hearts and minds", they might consider nutritious food and clean water as a start, rather than, say, this.

September 25, 2007 - Insurance Denied, Assurance Supplied

This morning I receive a phone call from Cindy, my new case manager from CIGNA Care Allies (last week, they moved my case from their general oncology division to their stem-cell transplant division, which necessitated a new case manager). She gets right to the point, informing me that a physician on their staff, reviewing my case, has denied Hackensack University Medical Center’s request for pre-approval of funding for donor-compatibility testing of my two brothers.

This denial, she’s quick to explain, is just for the donor testing. The reason their doctor gave is that I’ve not yet been approved for a transplant, so the testing of Jim and Dave is premature. Cindy will send me paperwork I can use to appeal this decision, if I wish. This is the type of call she hates to make, she adds (I can sympathize with her on that, on a personal level, but it doesn’t bring me a whole lot of comfort).

This decision doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, I explain. Isn’t the information about sibling donors essential to deciding whether or not a stem-cell transplant is the way to go? There’s also the element of time. Because sibling donor testing – and a subsequent search of the national donor registry, should that prove futile – can take a while, I thought the point was to get as much of this preliminary work out of the way as possible, in case future circumstances should make a transplant suddenly urgent. The insurance company evidently doesn’t operate that way. If it’s not urgent, it doesn’t matter how important it is.

Dr. Donato told me Hackensack offers a “Family and Friends Program,” a subsidized program that reduces the cost of donor-compatibility testing for patients whose insurance doesn’t cover this. I believe she said the subsidized cost was $150 per potential donor, which I would need to pay out of pocket. I didn’t pay close attention to her at the time, because I was assuming Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield would step up to the plate, but now I see why she mentioned it. Evidently, this sort of denial happens often enough that the hospital has developed its own work-around arrangement.

This is the first time, since I got sick, that any insurance claim of mine has been denied. I suppose I should count myself lucky that I’ve gone this long without getting the ol’ thumbs-down. Thanks to the Family and Friends Program, it’s not that large an amount of money; I’ll probably just pay for it myself, then submit an appeal and hope for the best. (I’d probably only have to pay for Dave’s testing, anyway, since Jim is evidently already in the national registry.)

Cindy’s call leaves me with a strange, empty feeling: more betrayal than anger. I don’t feel it as being directed towards her (she’s just the messenger), but rather towards the nameless doctor on the insurance company’s payroll who wields the rubber stamp. Who is this guy, anyway, and what makes him think he knows more than Dr. Donato, a nationally-regarded stem-cell transplant specialist?

I put all this out of my mind, reminding myself that I haven’t even heard from HUMC’s Tumor Board yet (I’m supposed to call Brenda tomorrow, to find out their recommendation).

This evening, I attend a meeting of Monmouth Presbytery – the regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) of which I’m a member. In the past year or so, the presbytery has been meeting less frequently, about four times a year. Some of my fellow presbyters I haven’t seen in quite some time. I swiftly lose count of the number of people who come up to me, shake my hand, and ask, “How are you?” – with emphasis on the “are.”

It’s not just a casual “How ya doin?” There’s a genuine desire to hear some details. I know most of my minister colleagues in the presbytery, but a good many of these people who come up to me with words of support are elders (elected lay leaders) from other churches – some of whose faces I recognize, but whose names don’t come readily to mind. I’m been on their church’s prayer list, they explain, and they’ve been concerned about me.

It’s a very different experience, this evening, than I had with my insurance company this morning – although, of course, the circumstances are quite different. In both cases, there are people I don’t know who have been considering my medical situation. Some of those people responded by wielding the dreaded rubber stamp. Others joined hands in prayer.

Note to self: Never forget to be thankful for the church of Jesus Christ, which has a way of coming through when you need it.

The Shape of a Mother

The Shape of a Mother shows the beauty of the female form during and post pregnancy.

One day I sat in a restaurant in Anaheim, California eating breakfast, when a woman passed by my table with her infant carrier in tow. As she lifted it up to fit between the tables, her shirt raised and I saw that, although she was at a healthy weight and her body was fit, she had that same extra skin hanging around her belly that I do. It occurred to me that a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets...

I don't know about you but I think the photo on the right is absolutely gorgeous. You can see the life weight of her heavy breast and the aesthetic texture of her stretch marks. Whereas this photo is artistic, most of the other photos are more like snapshots. There are photos of lovely round bellies, babies, and stretch marks.

This is a very cool site. Check it out. Reminds me of another really interesting project which shows photographs of normal breasts (Obviously NSFW).

(Via Cranky Fitness)

Media Face Off: OJ Takes on the Jena Six

I watched television news this weekend. Typically I get my news online, or from a newspaper, but rarely from television. I think I forgot how limited and misleading TV news tends to be. I'm sure some experts have theories about why this is, but all I know is it is worse than print media.

I was shocked to see no coverage at all of the Jena 6.

So I thought I'd do a little experiment, to see whether the newsies think people are more interested in OJ Simpson, or in a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for African American civil rights.

Google News (which is a highly balanced aggregator of diverse sources), offers me 15,599 results for OJ Simpson.


How did the Jena 6 fare? Well, Google informs me there are 3,465 pieces. Apparently OJ's antics are just that much more interesting.


This of course should lead any thinking person to question why one is considered newsworthy and the other is not.


See my first Media Face Off: China's Stock Market vs. Migrant Workers.

Almezuria Teshome appeals to Kinijit’s leaders

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the Day - (millennium edition featuring Faces of Ethiopia)
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Almezuria Teshome appeals to Kinijit’s leaders

Alemzuria Teshome is 25 years old. In November 2, 2005 security forces who came to arrest her father (Kinijit’s city council elect for Addis Ababa) murdered her mother W/ro Etenesh Yimam , a 52 years old housewife, for screaming too loud. [Listen here]

Also see:
-Alemzuria's Testimony to the U.S. Congress

Today's Top HEADLINES

-VP of Kinijit Birtukan Mideksa Speech - VIDEO
-Winners do not falter at faulty moments (ENC)
-Azeb Mesfin in NY to attend conference
-Ethiopian Doctors fleeing in record numbers
-Ethiopia to see grand Millennium Library
-Africa flooding spreads, 22 countries hit: UN
-Enkifat - Poem (Tewodros Abebe)

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SOMALIA: RIFT BETWEEN PRESIDENT AND PM DEEPENS

The political row between Yusuf and Gedi first surfaced earlier this year when the two leaders supported opposite deals with foreign firms intending to explore for potential oil in Somalia. Some insiders suggested that Gedi's recent meetings with opposition figures represents a separate policy the Prime Minister is pursuing, especially with regard to securing Mogadishu, which is dominated by members of Gedi's Hawiye clan.(More...)

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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Iranian president begins US visit amid controversy
-US invites Syria to peace talks
-Top Pakistan politicians arrested
-Germans Protest Online Surveillance
-The Most Influential People in the World

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JUNTA IN CRISIS AS BURMA'S MONKS MARCH ON

The military leaders of Myanmar, the former Burma, are expected to meet this week, to decide how to react to growing protests against their rule. Thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns have staged daily demonstrations on the streets. The generals face a dilemma; stamp out the dissidents and risk an explosion of popular anger, or allow the monks to continue and see the protests become unstoppable.(More...)
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PICTURE OF THE DAY - FACES OF ETHIOPIA^{Millennium edition}

(Ethiopia - Borana girl)

(the Borana are estimated to total 500,000, but because many live in remote areas it is hard to know exactly how many exist. They are traditionally semi-nomadic pastoralists, who depend exclusively on their livestock for subsistence. The women are independent and equal to men even with building and owning houses. )

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September 24, 2007 - Hurry Up and Wait

Last night I watched the first part of Ken Burns’ new documentary series, The War – his take on World War 2. It was, as I’ve come to expect from Burns, gripping. One of the people interviewed, a woman from Alabama whose brother went to war, kept saying over and over how suddenly all their lives changed, the day they heard, over the crackling radio speaker, the news of Pearl Harbor. She seems a bit bewildered by the rapidity of the change, even to this day. Anyone with an eye to the political situation in Europe and East Asia in the late 1930s could have predicted that global conflagration was in the offing, but Americans were oddly insular. Our nation was in denial that the rise of the Nazi, Italian Fascist and Japanese war machines would ever affect us.

Lots of people are fond of describing patients’ experience of cancer in military terms. Turn to the obituaries any day of the week, and you’re likely to find the words “after a long battle with cancer” somewhere on that page. I’m not fond of such language, as I’ve said several times upstream – although I’ll admit that the shock of a cancer diagnosis, and the rapid changes it brings about, is not unlike receiving the news that formations of Zeroes have been sighted over Pearl Harbor.

Yet, it just doesn’t make sense, biologically speaking, to think of cancer as an outside invader. Our own bodies make the cancer. The cancer is us. If we’re going to use the military metaphor at all, I suppose we’ve got to describe it as a civil war – a protracted, brother-against-brother slugfest – rather than some pious crusade against a foreign enemy.

Even when we’re healthy, our bodies are perpetual killing fields. Cells come into being and die every hour, every minute, only to be replaced by other cells. That’s the natural order. It’s when a cell doesn’t die when it’s supposed to that the trouble begins. Maybe we ought to think of cancer cells as legions of the undead, marching dumbly onward.

I’m no fan of horror films, but I do know that one thing that makes for a good one is how well the director manages the viewers’ experience of waiting. There’s a delicious experience of foreboding that’s dear to the hearts of true horror fans. A good director knows that, once the swamp creature or zombie or pissed-off dinosaur finally shows up, that’s good for only a few minutes’ worth of celluloid. You could never sustain that level of terror throughout a full-length film. So, a great many minutes of horror movies are dedicated to spinning out that experience of waiting: knowing the evil adversary is coming, but not exactly when.

You can probably sense where I’m going with this. Someone has memorably described an ordinary soldier’s experience of war as long days of boredom punctuated by moments of absolute terror. Burns’ footage of Marines undergoing training and leaning on the rail of the troopships, then finding themselves in the fight of their lives in the pestilential jungles of Guadalcanal, is true to form.

I’ve noticed that members of the World War 2 generation are fond of the phrase, “Hurry up and wait.” It captures a reality they knew all too well: whether it was lining up for an army physical, queuing for a gas-ration card or playing endless rounds of penny-ante poker on a barracks footlocker.

In that respect, I suppose the military metaphor will serve for me as well. “Hurry up and wait”: I know a little better, now, what they mean.

September 23, 2007 - Hospital Hospitality

It’s not only in Africa that the poor have difficulty obtaining cancer treatment. The same thing is happening, it seems, in the USA. Under newly revised Federal Medicaid guidelines, the government will no longer reimburse hospitals for chemotherapy provided to illegal immigrants (Sarah Kershaw, “U.S. Rule Limits Emergency Care for Immigrants,” New York Times, September 22, 2007).

Some may find it surprising that our government provides any medical reimbursement at all for illegals. Yet, Medicaid guidelines evidently contain a limited provision that underwrites the cost of emergency treatment for non-citizens. What’s happened is that the Federal government’s regulation-writers have now decided that chemotherapy, by its very nature, is never an emergency. Given the high cost of most forms of chemo, I can understand why government bean-counters would be inclined to make such a declaration. But, I still don't like it.

I’m glad our country covers the cost of emergency-room treatment, at least, for indigent people within our borders. It’s the humane thing to do. The word “hospital” has its roots in “hospitality,” after all. If the government didn’t provide any reimbursement at all, then hospitals would undoubtedly extend some level of care to illegal immigrants anyway, then write the expense off as a loss. Eventually – at least in the case of the most financially-stressed urban hospitals – some of that expense would find its way back to the government, in the form of subsidies that keep hospitals from going bankrupt and closing their doors.

I know a minister who works with Hispanic people in our local area. He’s escorted quite a number of them to the hospital, when they needed treatment, serving as interpreter and general go-between. Those who are here illegally often avoid seeking medical care, sometimes endangering their health and even their lives – even though the local hospitals aren’t particularly interested in reporting people to the INS. (I’m not sure they even can, under HIPAA privacy regulations.)

My colleague told one story about a young man who had broken his arm. He surely couldn’t go without treatment for something like that, nor could he travel back home to Mexico in pain. I presume Medicaid picked up most of the cost, although perhaps he paid some of it himself (he is employed, after all, which is why he’s in this country in the first place). I’m glad Medicaid is there to cover cases like his.

In countries with universal health-care coverage, like Britain and Canada, emergency treatment is often provided to visitors free of charge. I found this to be true when I was in Scotland, some years back (it was just treatment for a fever, but I was surprised they wouldn’t let me pay). Another colleague of mine had to have emergency surgery recently, while on vacation in Canada. I’ve heard he was very impressed with the quick and efficient response of the Canadian health-care system (whether the Canadians will subsequently try to collect from his medical-insurance company, I have no idea).

Yet, what about chemotherapy? As the Times article points out, there’s a considerable gray area here. Some doctors evidently consider certain forms of chemotherapy to be an emergency treatment, or a palliative treatment in the case of pain. There are some cases when, if cancer is left untreated, it will soon become a true emergency, anyway.

Illegal immigrants who come down with cancer are in an unenviable position. Depending on what country they come from, treatment may not be available back home at all. Here in this country, they face fears of deportation (however unfounded) if they show their face in an emergency room, and even then, they’ll likely receive only the bare minimum of treatment. From here on in, that treatment will only include chemotherapy if the hospital is willing to eat the cost, or if the State government is willing to go solo and cover the expense, without Federal subsidy.

All this makes me feel fortunate, indeed, to have medical insurance, and – as a citizen – to have the minimal Medicaid safety net underneath me, should I ever lose my coverage and become indigent.

How is that I’m so fortunate as to live here, to be gainfully employed, and to receive some of the best cancer treatment available, while sisters and brothers from other lands must go without? That’s a question for another day. Yet, I’m grateful, all the same.

(09.21.07) Recommends:

I'm 16 And Ready To Cope With Prostate Disease.

AMNESTY: OGADEN CLAN ELDERS HELD INCOMMUNICADO IN JIJIGA

Sultan Fowsi Mohamed Ali and Ahmed Mohamed Tarah were arrested on 28 August in Jijiga, the capital of the Somali Region (known as the Ogaden) in the east of the country. They are held incommunicado in Jijiga military barracks, where they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

Both men are respected clan elders, Fowsi Mohamed Ali with the title of Sultan. Both had long been involved as independent mediators in conflict-resolution activities in the Somali Region.

There have been reports that they were arrested to prevent them meeting and giving evidence to a UN fact-finding mission, which visited the Somali Region on 29 August to investigate.(More...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-AUDIO: OLF spokesman Beyan Asoba's Interview with VOA
-Fresh Ethiopia forces deployed in Mogadishu
-US gives 'strategically important' Ethiopia $97 million
-Ethiopia: Worst place to live in the World?
-VIDEO - PM Meles answers questions from govt. Journalists


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The Revolution Will Not Be Motorized: Tomorrow is World Carfree Day

Plan to be in Toronto this weekend? Check out the World Carfree Day festivities on Queen Street West.

Why not have a parking meter party around 1:00 pm? Here's how:

• Scout out a parking spot where you'd like to spend the afternoon
  
• Park your non-motorized "vehicle" (bike, trike, roller-skates, dinky-car etc.) along Queen West
  
• Pay the meter: for $1.50 per hour the spot is yours! (Be sure to display your parking receipt on the "dash" of your "vehicle")

Or, go a-paradin' at 6:00. Meet at 5:00 at Trinity-Bellwoods park. One tip: I don't suggest driving down to the parade (or if you have no other method of transportation, why not consider one of these).

More festivities on Sunday. Details here and here

If you feel so inclined check out these related links:

Do Motorists in the US Pay Their Own Way? No. They are subsidized by taxpayers. Check out the UC Davis study (PDF) that proves it. Bookmark it for use the next time some taxpaying motorist complains about subsidizing public transit.

And, yes, it is within our power to create carfree cities. Don't believe me? Check out the book that proves it.

Today is also Park(ing) Day. Who knew? A whole day in which parking spaces are transformed into parks. Like this on a larger scale. Sweet.

And next time you get into a car by yourself, for goodness sakes, check the passenger seat. Darn evil dictators, always bumming a ride!

September 20, 2007 - The Politics of Pain

Recently I ran across a news article that was a real eye-opener for me. (Donald G. McNeil, Jr., “Drugs Banned, Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain,” New York Times, September 10, 2007.) We’ve all become overwhelmed with statistics about how widespread poverty is in our world, and how inequitably wealth is distributed. I don’t mean to be cavalier about it, but it’s a simple fact: you can only read so many accounts of millions of refugees living under canvas in displaced-persons camps before your eyes glaze over with the sheer enormity of it all.

A week and a half ago, the New York Times ran a feature story that coalesced this universe of statistics into a single point: the story of one poor cancer patient who’s living in pain. More than the story, it’s a photo of her that speaks the proverbial thousand words. It depicts her pursing her lips and wrinkling her forehead, as she endures unspeakable agony.

Let me share a few insights from the article that made an impression on me.

The woman’s name is Zainabu Sesay, and she lives in the tiny nation of Sierra Leone, in West Africa. She’s got breast cancer – a case so advanced that it displays symptoms rarely seen in Western hospitals. Even the poorest of the poor, in America, would not be permitted to go so long without treatment. Her tumor, says the Times article, has broken through the skin of her breast, and looks “like a putrid head of cauliflower weeping small amounts of blood at its edges.” It's long past being curable, or even operable.

Sierra Leone is not a good place to be a cancer patient. There’s not a single CT scanner in the entire country. Only one private hospital offers chemotherapy treatments. Sharecroppers like Zainabu and her husband couldn’t dream of affording even one chemo treatment (as though one treatment could make a difference, anyway). For most people in this benighted land, a cancer diagnosis of any kind is a death sentence.

A kindly nurse is attending to her. All he can do is change her dressing, sprinkle antibiotic powder on the skin infection and give her Tylenol and tramadol – a medication related to codeine, that’s only 10 percent as effective as morphine. That, and offer her some encouraging words.

The lack of curative treatment is bad enough, but Zainabu also suffers unremitting pain, because morphine-based pain-killers are all but unknown in her country. In part, this is a decision of her country’s government. Fearing the impact of drug abuse on a country already devastated by years of civil war, they have enacted a total import ban on all opiates. Yet, the shortage also has to do with simple economics. Morphine is a relatively cheap medication, but in an economy like Sierra Leone’s, it would still be beyond the reach of nearly everyone’s ability to pay.

Sierra Leone is not alone. Here are some telling statistics: “Six countries – the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Australia – consume 79 percent of the world’s morphine, according to a 2005 estimate. The poor and middle-income countries where 80 percent of the world’s people live consumed only about 6 percent.”

Do the math: 80 percent of the world’s people get just 6 percent of the world’s narcotics. That means a whole lot of cancer patients are living with levels of pain unimaginable to anyone in our culture.

I think back to my minor surgeries, and how worried I felt about pain of a few seconds’ duration, that might break through the “twilight sedation” I had been given. Compare that to Zainabu Sesay’s unceasing agony – well, there’s no comparison. None whatsoever.

The hospice nurse speaks to her in the local pidgin dialect, a hybrid of English and tribal languages left behind by the English colonists who formed this nation as a place to settle repatriated slaves. He suggests that Zainabu let a neighbor plait her hair for her - just to make her feel better - but she declines.

“It’s necessary for to cope,” he says. “For to strive for be happy.”

“I ‘fraid for my life,” she says.

“Are you ‘fraid for die?”

“No, I not ‘fraid. I ready.”

“So what is your relationship to God? You good with God?”

“I pray me one.”

Prayer is about all she’s got. Effective medicine is an impossible dream.

(09.20.07) Recommends:

Bush Threatens Veto of Child Health Bill.

Ethiopian Politicians Making the Rounds in the U.S.

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the Day - (millennium edition featuring Faces of Ethiopia)
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“For the sake of political stability and political dialogue we decided to accept the proposal from the elders” - Gizachew Shiferaw On signing the pardon letter

"U.S. government should do more to ensure human rights are protected in Ethiopia" - Hailu Shawel On U.S. foreign policy

"The ultimate desire is for all principles contained in the bill to be implemented" - Brook Kebede On HR 2003

Members of an Ethiopian opposition party who were jailed for 20 months in connection with a disputed election are lobbying the Bush administration and Congress to pressure Ethiopia to support a more open and democratic society.

Members of the CUD delegation also plan to travel to various U.S. cities in an effort to continue to organize Ethiopian Americans and to thank them for providing financial and political support during their incarceration.


The CUD members were among a group of 38 who were pardoned in July after being imprisoned since November 2005. They had been arrested after months of unrest in Ethiopia that followed elections in May of that year.

A report written by the European Union called the election the “most competitive” Ethiopia had ever held, but said it was “marred by irregular practices, confusion and lack of transparency.” The report credited the government for allowing relatively unbiased campaign coverage in the weeks before the election but said support of Democratic institutions waned in the weeks following the disputed vote.

Government police reportedly arrested as many as 30,000 people in the weeks after the elections. Most were released soon after, but around 70 top CUD members were kept in jail, drawing condemnations from human rights groups and foreign governments. Most were released in July and August after receiving pardons.

The pardons came after eight months of negotiations from a group of elders. CUD members said they signed the letters seeking the pardons, which included apologies to the government, even though they believed they had not committed any crimes.

“For the sake of political stability and political dialogue we decided to accept the proposal from the elders,” said CUD member Gizachew Shiferaw, who was elected to a seat in parliament but refused to accept it unless the government agreed to a list of eight conditions CUD members said would promote democracy.(More...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-SOMALI OPPOSITION ALLIANCE BEGINS FIGHT AGAINST ETHIOPIA
-UN calls for Human rights probe in Ogaden
-O.N.L.F STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO UN REPORT
-ETHIOPIAN GOVT. STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO UN REPORT
-US endorses Arab-African peace force for Somalia
-Shabelle Media Network Closes Radio Station
-Envoy Cites 'Lack of Confidence’ in Somali Government

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"The Failure of 'Reconciliation' and 'Reconstitution' Opens Up a Political Vacuum

(Independent analysis by PINR)

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR) is an independent organization that utilizes open source intelligence to provide conflict analysis services in the context of international relations. PINR approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader.(More...)
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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Violence reignites in Sierra Leone
-Bin Laden to declare war on Musharraf, al-Qaida says
-BURMA monks escalate pressure on junta
-EU urges Israel to reconsider Gaza "enemy" status
-New York: Iran's leader can't visit ground zero
-Thousands rally in La. to support Jena 6

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LEBANON REACTS TO YET ANOTHER POLITICAL ASSASSINATION

[Audio Report]

Stores, banks and some government offices were closed in many parts of Beirut to mourn the slaying of Christian member of parliament Antoine Ghanem in a car bomb explosion, Wednesday. Edward Yeranian reports from Beirut.(More..)

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PICTURE OF THE DAY - FACES OF ETHIOPIA^{Millennium edition}

(western Ethiopia, Anuak girl)

(The Anuak of Ethiopia reside in the Gambela Region. The Anuak live a tight-knit community life. The villages are run by headmen, but these can be removed if their behavior or judgment is considered unsatisfactory. Unsatisfactoriness includes being dictatorial, as according to Anuak philosophy there are no "God-men." All family and other disputes are resolved democratically within the village. The region is hot and tropical with rich, fertile, well-watered soil coming from the rivers originating in the mountains of the highlands where there is a much cooler, dryer climate.)

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Why I Am Not an Objectivist, #2311

Ayn Rand on the theft of Native American Lands:

They didn't have any rights to the land, and there was no reason for anyone to grant them rights which they had not conceived and were not using . . . . What was it that they were fighting for, when they opposed white men on this continent? For their wish to continue a primitive existence, their 'right' to keep part of the earth untouched, unused and not even as property, but just keep everybody out so that you will live practically like an animal, or a few caves above it. Any white person who brings the element of civilization has the right to take over this continent. <Lawyers, Gun$ and Money>

Hmm... Greenspan hearts Rand. Probably thinks they Iraqis live like animals in caves, too. Which is why the civilized Americans need to liberate their oil. Well, as long as we are all as selfish and greedy as possible, it will all work out in the end, right? ...right?

September 19, 2007 - My Well-Traveled Slides

Today I get a call from Angelica, who works for the stem-cell transplant program at Hackensack University Medical Center. I’d expected to hear the results of the Tumor Board’s review of my case, which was supposed to take place this morning. As it turns out, they’ve had a hard time locating the pathology slides from my most recent needle biopsy, and have postponed consideration of my case until next Wednesday.

Someone from the Hackensack staff called Ocean Medical Center, Angelica explains, only to find that the slides were still at Memorial Sloan-Kettering (Dr. Portlock’s staff had told me they were going to send them right back to OMC, but evidently they didn’t). The person then called the MSKCC staff, who located the slides in their archives and lobbed them across the Hudson.

“Hackensack’s a large hospital,” Angelica continued, apologetically, “and sometimes it’s hard to find things here.” By the time they'd located my slides, in the mailroom or wherever they'd landed, there wasn’t enough time for the pathologist to review them prior to the Tumor Board’s meeting. The Board will meet again next Wednesday morning, to consider my case.

The delay’s not a big deal, medically speaking. We’re in a slow-motion, “watch-and-wait” mode, after all. That’s not to say I haven’t been anxious to hear the results. But it’s OK, I can wait another week.

This story highlights how important medical records are to cancer patients. The last time I watched Dr. Lerner open my file, it had grown to 3 or 4 inches in thickness – all that paper, in less than two years! Everywhere I go, in my peripatetic quest for wellness, I seem to trail scan films, data CDs and microscope slides in my wake. I’ve tried to pick up after myself, making sure my primary records all end up at Ocean Medical Center, eventually, but that’s not always up to me. I’m just glad the Hackensack people located them eventually. I wouldn’t want to repeat a biopsy because slides have gone missing!

When most of us think of medical decision-making, we tend to picture a wise doctor with a stethoscope, poking and prodding and questioning a patient, then making some carefully reasoned but intuitive judgment. I’m sure some diagnosis still happens in that old-fashioned way, but you don’t have to venture very deeply into lymphomaworld before you discover the hands-on approach has been largely replaced by quantitative analysis. As the numbers are crunched, it’s not typically one individual leaping to a brilliant, intuitive conclusion. The work is done by interdisciplinary teams, weighing columns of data against established protocols.

Decisions are being made about my treatment plan by people I’ve never met, and probably never will meet – pathologists peering through microscopes, Dr. Donato’s unnamed colleagues on the Tumor Board, other specialists who may be called upon to review particular details.

At least the Hackensack staff seems pretty good at keeping me informed. I appreciate that.

Ethiopia's Opposition Wants U.S. Support for Democracy Struggle

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the Day - (millennium edition featuring Faces of Ethiopia)
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UN's FULL REPORT ON THE OGADEN (UN FACT FINDING MISSION TO THE OGADEN PUBLISHES FINDINGS)

LETTER TO THE NATIONAL BLACK CAUCUS (Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy, EACA)
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Ethiopia’s main opposition, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) says the struggle in Ethiopia is a struggle for democracy, and it hopes the United States will stand on the side of those fighting for democracy in Ethiopia.

In July this year, the Ethiopian government pardoned and released from prison 38 of the country’s top opposition leaders. They had been arrested and charged with treason in a government crackdown following the 2005 parliamentary elections. Now a five-man delegation of the opposition CUD is in the United States.

[CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO REPORT]

Spokesman Hailu Araaya told VOA that the delegation is here to thank the Ethiopian Diaspora for its support.

“You know we have been in prison for almost 21 months, and the Ethiopians in the Diaspora have been helpful, so supportive in many ways such as diplomatically, financially and so on. So we wanted to come to this country to meet them face-to-face and say thank you to them. The other thing is there is a struggle going on in Ethiopia to establish democracy there, and this democracy needs the support of the people not only in Ethiopia but also outside Ethiopia. And we are here to discuss with them how best we can work together to promote the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia,” he said.(More...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-UN fact-finders say situation in Ogaden deteriorating fast
-Ogaden NGO slams Ethiopian govt over U.N. visit
-Kinijit Leaders Continue in Ethiopia's Fight for Democracy
-Meles's bruised image recovering in Addis? (Fortune)
-EU urges Eritrea to charge or free detainees
-Police surround and fire upon Somalia ’s Radio Shabelle
-US Firm enters Ethiopia’s fuel-distribution market
-Uplift of Ethiopian plateau coincided with evolution (science)
-Africa: Many Modern Conflicts are Food Wars (Analysis)

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[VIDEO] - Finding the origins of humanity

Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged is looking for the roots of humanity in Ethiopia's badlands. Here he talks about what he has found -- including the oldest skeleton yet discovered of a humanoid child -- and how Africa holds the clues to what makes us human.[Watch Video]
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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Rice Begins Mideast Peace Mission
-Israel: Hamas-controlled Gaza 'hostile entity'
-Monks on march again in BURMA
-10 Musical Events that Changed the World
-10 Technologies That Will Change The World
-Study: L.A. drivers lose 72 hrs a year
-Kanye crushes 50 Cent in sales showdown

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Tutu calls for action on Zimbabwe

The former Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, has called for tougher action to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. He told a British television station that South Africa's "softly-softly" diplomatic approach had failed and more forthright measures were needed.(More..)

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PICTURE OF THE DAY - FACES OF ETHIOPIA^{Millennium edition}

(western Ethiopia, Nuer girl)

(The Nuer of Ethiopia are located in the western part of the country, there are also many Nuer in Sudan. Collectively, the Nuer form one of the largest ethnic groups in East Africa. Nuer warriors were noted as some of the most skilled in East Africa, with weapons made of fine crafted iron. Since the Nuer were so successful at fending off European powers, they spent much of their time interacting with bordering groups like those of the Dinka and Anuaks.)

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