Roadside bomb targets Ethiopian forces in Somalia

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news:
[Unicef: Malnutrition Still Prevalent in Tigray, Other Regions] - [Ethiopia places 103rd on Global Peace Index] - [MAHMOUD AHMED of Ethiopia winner of World Music Award 2007] - [ACLU sues Boeing subsidiary on behalf of Binyam Mohamed of Ethiopia and others]

International:
[U.N. Resists U.S. on New Sudan Sanctions] - [UN Security Council Approves Hariri Assassination Tribunal] - [Putin says test missile is signal to U.S.] - [U.S TB patient's name released] and more of today's top stories!

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Kinijit Chairman Hailu shawel’s eye surgery a success
(The US embassy in Addis was instrumental in making this medical procedure possible)

Kinijit International Australia tour
(June 16 - 24)

Destruction Begins
(More than 205 residents in the Bole district have seen their dwellings destroyed as the city attempts to shape the Capital according to the Master Plan. FORTUNE chronicles the plight of those left in the wake of the operation)
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Roadside bomb targets Ethiopian forces in Somalia

MOGADISHU -- A roadside bomb blast tore through a convoy carrying Ethiopian troops in a central Somali town on Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed, witnesses said.

Baladwayne resident Osman Adan said he could see thick black smoke billowing from the scene of the explosion, which a security source said was caused by a remote-controlled landmine.


"An Ethiopian truck was blown up ... The Ethiopian troops immediately opened fire indiscriminately with heavy machine-guns ... I do not know if any soldiers were wounded or killed," Adan said, adding that two civilians were hurt in the shooting.(More...)

Also see:
-Five Ethiopians wounded in Somali attack: government
-Ethiopian troops kill 5 Somali civilians
-Five die in Somalia convoy attack
-Ethiopian troops killed dozens after blast-rebels

ACLU sues Boeing subsidiary on behalf of Binyam Mohamed of Ethiopia and others
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. on behalf of Binyam Mohamed of Ethiopia, Italian citizen Abou Elkassim Britel and Ahmed Agiza of Egypt
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. of San Jose, Calif., on behalf of alleged victims of U.S. government torture.

Jeppesen DataPlan is part of aviation-data provider Jeppesen Sanderson Inc. of Colorado. Based in Englewood, Jeppesen Sanderson is a subsidiary of aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co.

The ACLU alleges in its suit, filed in Northern California federal court, that Jeppesen knowingly provided flight services to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which enabled the secret transport of three terrorism suspects to overseas locations for interrogation and torture.

The terrorism suspects are Binyam Mohamed of Ethiopia, Italian citizen Abou Elkassim Britel and Ahmed Agiza of Egypt.(More...)

Also see:
-ACLU: Boeing offshoot helped CIA
-ACLU files suit against Boeing subsidiary
-Firm sued over secret CIA flights

Ethiopia places 103rd on Global Peace Index

In the first study of its kind, Ethiopia has placed 103rd on the Global Peace Index. The Index is a ranking of 121 countries - from Algeria to Zimbabwe - listed according to their peacefulness. It was compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit and is comprised of a broad range of 24 indicators measuring both the internal and external peacefulness of nations.

The publication of the Global Peace Index comes just a week before the leaders of the world’s richest countries gather for the G8 summit in Germany.

The Index has won the backing of an influential and distinguished group of supporters including the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Noor of Jordan, former United States President Jimmy Carter, and former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Professor Joseph Stiglitz, who are today calling for an increased focus on peace.

African media on Blair's legacy

(BBC) ...Meanwhile, African interest in Mr Blair's Commission for Africa seems to declining three years after its launch.

Critics seem vindicated that one of the panel's leading commissioners, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has come under international criticism over the deaths of dozens of opposition supporters during the disputed parliamentary elections in May 2005 as well as Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia in December 2006.(More...)

Unicef: Malnutrition, Stunted Growth Still Prevalent in Tigray, Other Regions
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More than 41 percent of children under five experience stunted growth in Tigray and an estimated 11.6 percent suffer from acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF-Ethiopia.
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(Picture - Ethiopian child suffering from severe malnutrition. VOAnews)

In a press release sent to The Daily Monitor, the UN agency said the deplorable situation in the region was revealed during a visit by the Head of European Commission and Tim Clarke, Head of European Commission in Ethiopia to UNICEF - supported child nutrition sites in Tigray- Mekele on May 29, 2007.

UNICEF says the problem of malnutrition was the case with other regions of the country where it said a large scale intervention was needed to save millions of vulnerable children.

"We have just seen a child here who is 18 months old. Her normal weight should be 13 Kilos; but she is only five kilos-highly at risk and we can give her therapeutic feeding in order to give her a chance to survive," Tim Clark said during the visit.(More...)

Ethiopian elephants, lions face extinction

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A thousand rare black-mane lions -- an Ethiopian national symbol -- and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was part of their sanctuary was cut down, a wildlife expert said on Thursday.

(Picture - Black mane Ethiopian lion (Barbary), from a distinct but very rare sub-species thought to be extinct, but recently discovered in the region. Fortean Times magazine)

The land was cleared from a designated conservation area at Midiga Tola, adjacent to the Babile Elephant Sanctuary located 557 km (346 miles) east of Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Wildlife Association President Yirmed Demeke said.

Flora EcoPower Holding AG, a German biodiesel producer, cleared the forest after it was granted 10,000 hectares of land, Yirmed said.(More...)

Also see:
-Ethiopian wildlife at risk as forest cut

MAHMOUD AHMED of Ethiopia winner of Radio 3's Award for World Music 2007
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(Video) Watch Mahmoud accepting Award
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When Mahmoud Ahmed took the stage at Womad 2005 many looked at this grey bearded (yet regal) figure and wondered if he could still touch the heights of those immaculate recordings he cut from 1971-1975.

(Mahmoud Ahmed)
No worries: as his band locked into one of those rolling, eerie Horn Of Africa-grooves Ahmed opened his mouth and that great, mysterious horn of a voice sailed forth just as it had done all those years ago.

Mahmoud Ahmed is both a living legend and something of a mystery in the West. Undeniably Ethiopia’s most famous singer of its “golden era”, the three albums reissued of his recordings by French label Buda Musique as part of their Ethiopiques series have captured Western listeners in the same way that, say, the reissues of Robert Johnson’s Delta blues did a previous generation. Yet where Johnson was long dead Ahmed is alive and in fine voice.(More...)

UN Security Council Approves Hariri Assassination Tribunal

NEW YORK -- A sharply divided UN Security Council voted Wednesday to establish an international criminal tribunal to prosecute the masterminds of the February 2005 suicide-bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.

The vote will lead to the creation of the first United Nations-backed criminal tribunal in the Middle East, raising expectations that Hariri's killers will be held accountable.


But that has stoked fears among Lebanese authorities and some council members that supporters of Syria -- which has been linked to the assassination -- will plunge Lebanon's fledgling democracy into a bloody new round of strife.

Fearing unrest, authorities imposed a partial curfew in Beirut, leaving the streets deserted. Lebanese placed lit candles on boulevards and balconies to celebrate the outcome and sent congratulatory text messages countrywide.(More...)

Also see:
-Un Tribunal Condemned By Syria, Others
-Supporters Cheer UN Approval of Tribunal for Hariri Assassination
-Hariri son hails UN court move

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*(Update)* When Bill Gates met Steve Jobs... (The hugely anticipated meeting was seen as a long overdue opportunity for two of the greatest pioneers in the industry to go head to head. But, The question and answer session turned out to be more of a love-in between old pals)
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Bush names Robert Zoellick as next World Bank chief

US President George W Bush on Wednesday nominated former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick as the next World Bank head, replacing Paul Paul Wolfowitz, who was forced to resign over a favouritism scandal.


The formal announcement was made at the White House by the President who praised the former United States Trade Representative as a "committed internationalist" and a person "deeply committed" to the cause of defeating poverty.

"He is deeply devoted to the mission of the World Bank. He wants to help struggling nations defeat poverty, to grow their economies and offer their people the hope of a better life. Bob Zoellick is deeply committed to this cause" Bush said.(More...)

Also see:
-Zoellick has new agenda for World Bank
-A Diplomat for the World Bank
-Stiglitz calls new World Bank boss "protectionist"

Today's Top International Stories

-U.N. Resists U.S. on New Sudan Sanctions
-Blair urges G8 to keep African promises
-'Law & Order' star Thompson inches closer to Prez bid
-U.S TB patient's name released
-Putin says test missile is signal to U.S.
-Alexander Litvinenko was British spy, claims alleged killer




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