ETHIOPIA HUMAN RIGHTS BILL RE-INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE

Week in review plus weekend news

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Breaking News: hostages released says ETV

Ethiopian state TV said on Sunday eight nationals kidnapped in a remote northern desert region last month had been released in neighbouring Eritrea.

The statement, which quoted Ethiopian security sources, said further information, including on the health of the group, would be given on Monday.(More..)
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Weekend Top Stories:
[London Update: Gebrselassie drops out of marathon]
[Reuters: Even by Somali standards, Saturday's somali carnage shocking] - [Aspiring Ethiopian born Astronaut Commands Mars Training Mission]
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The Week in Review

TOP STORIES FROM THE PAST WEEK

• Amnesty Issues urgent appeal for over 80 detainees in Ethiopia
• Report says scores of Ethiopian troops flee Somalia to Yemen
• EU observers' report on the Ethiopia Trials SUPPRESSED
• 12th Annual GOTB highlights human rights violations in Ethiopia
• UN report says no military solution in Somalia

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Commentary on Coalition for H.R. 5680's Press Release
International Ethiopian Women Organization (IEWO)
Radio Program

YETESFA MELIKT
(by Tewodros Abebe)
April 20, 2007
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Gebrselassie drops out of marathon

LONDON (Reuters) - Ethiopia's pre-race favourite Haile Gebrselassie dropped out of the London Marathon shortly after the 30-km mark on Sunday. Television pictures showed Berlin marathon champion Gebrselassie, who has never won in London, holding his stomach as he stood by the side of the road (More...)

ETHIOPIA HUMAN RIGHTS BILL RE-INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE

The Coalition for H.R. 5680
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Coalition for H.R. 5680 is informed and believes that Congressman Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, introduced the “Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, April 20, 2007.

The official copy of the new bill will be available after the Clerk of the House issues a tracking number for it. Chairman Payne’s bill replaces H.R.5680, also known as the “Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Accountability Act of 2006”.

Chairman Payne’s bill maintains much of the substance of H.R.5680 in terms of legislative findings and provisions. However, Chairman Payne has re-drafted the new bill with regime accountability as a centerpiece of the legislation.(More...)

Reuters: Even by Somali standards, Saturday's somali carnage shocking

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Shells pounded Mogadishu on Saturday, killing at least 73 people to swell a death-toll already in the hundreds from this week's battles pitting militias and Islamists against Somali and Ethiopian troops.

The escalating war has also sent more than 321,000 residents fleeing in the biggest refugee movement in Somalia since the 1991 fall of a dictator ushered in 16 years of anarchy. Even by Somali standards, Saturday's carnage was shocking.

"I counted 20 dead in the street and the sidewalk. Some were missing heads, others were so mutilated you couldn't tell if they were men or women," resident Suleman Mohammed said from the Al Barakah market area where more than seven mortars landed.(More...)

Also see:
-At least 73 die in Mogadishu fighting
-Mogadishu war rages, shells kill civilians
-Mogadishu war escalates, hundreds dead

Aspiring Ethiopian born Astronaut Commands Mars Training Mission

The VOA Amharic program's Fregenet Asseged talked to aspiring astronaut Lealem Mulugeta, who recently commanded the Mars Society of Canada's Training Expedition known as Expedition Beta.

The expedition is a two-week training and research mission that simulates an actual mission to Mars, complete with geological exploration and studies of crew members physiology.

The mission, the second of its kind for the Mars Society of Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging exploration and eventual settlement on the Red Planet, took place at the Mars Desert Research Station.(More...)




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