Somali Security forces ban, burn Muslim veils

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Also in the news:
[Eritrea Dismisses UN Call for Border Peace] - [CPJ mourns death of AP African correspondent Anthony Mitchell] - [Saudi Arabia beheads Ethiopian woman] - [Ethiopia among the Worst Countries to Be a Mother]

International:
[4 U.S. Workers Seized in Nigeria] - ['It's game time' as Cheney arrives in Iraq] - [Blair set to announce Thursday when resigning ] - [Maryland Governor Endorses Sen. Clinton] and more of today's top stories!


New York: Rebecca is having her first reading and book-signing in New York on Monday, May 21, 2007, from 6pm to 8pm, at Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe, 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd, between 124th and 125th Streets.

Washington DC: she is having two readings and book-signings in Washington, DC. The first is on Thursday, June 7, 2007, at 7pm, at Olsson's Bookstore (The Lansburgh), 418 7th Street NW, and the second is on Saturday June 9, 2007, from 2pm to 4pm, at Sankofa Bookstore and Cafe, 2714 Georgia Ave N.W. [Held at a Distance]



CPJ mourns death of AP African correspondent Anthony Mitchell

New York, May 8, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists extends its condolences to the colleagues and family of respected Associated Press reporter Anthony Mitchell, who was killed in a weekend plane crash in Cameroon.

Mitchell, 39, a staff reporter with the AP’s Kenya bureau, was among 114 passengers killed when a Kenya Airways aircraft crashed early Saturday shortly after takeoff from the coastal city of Douala, Cameroon, according to news reports. He was returning to Nairobi after completing a weeklong assignment in the Central African Republic on international animal smuggling, AP reported.(More...)

Somali Security forces ban, burn Muslim veils

Two hand grenades have gone off in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where government soldiers were confiscating and burning face veils worn by women.

A BBC correspondent says one woman was injured in the explosions at a junction near the city's main Bakara market. Eyewitnesses say soldiers were ordering women in burkas to remove their face veils on Tuesday, but the operation was later stopped by their superiors.(More...)

Eritrea Dismisses UN Call for Border Peace

The government of Eritrea is defending its right to send troops into the disputed border region with Ethiopia.

Eritrean officials told a government-run newspaper Wednesday they blame the United Nations for the region's instability, saying it has failed to implement a five-year old border agreement.

On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council said it is "deeply concerned" by growing tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The council urged both countries to withdraw their forces from within and near the buffer zone.(More...)

Saudi Arabia beheads Ethiopian woman

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi authorities beheaded Wednesday an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was found guilty of fatally stabbing Mohammed Kamal Shaheen, according to the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Moussa had stabbed Shaheen in the neck while he was asleep and then beat his head with a glass bottle. She was executed in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. No other details were known.(More...)

Eritrea, Ethiopia: UN worried

Geneva - The Security Council huddled behind closed doors on Tuesday to review a report by UN chief Ban Ki-moon voicing "deep concern" over growing tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The 15-member council was considering adopting a non-binding statement on the volatile situation exacerbated by the failure of the two Horn of Africa neighbours to implement an international ruling on a festering border dispute.

Ban said: "I am deeply concerned by the impasse in the Eritrea-Ethiopia peace process.(More...)

Ethiopia among the Worst Countries to Be a Mother

Save the Children, a U.S.-based independent global humanitarian organization, today released its eighth annual Mothers’ Index that ranks the best — and worst — places to be a mother and a child and compares the well-being of mothers and children in 140 countries, more than in any previous year.

Sweden, Iceland and Norway top the rankings this year. Niger ranks last among countries surveyed. Ethiopia was in the 10 bottom-ranked countries, performing poorly on all indicators.

The issues that children in Ethiopia face are some of the most challenging in the world. Even in an "average" year, the education, health and economic situation for millions of Ethiopian children can only be described as a crisis.

Numbers at a Glance

• Only 6 percent of births are attended by a skilled health professional
• 1 in 4 women dies in pregnancy or childbirth
• 4 million children are orphaned, nearly 1 million by AIDS
• Only 18 percent of children reach grade five

Frequent food shortages and periodic famine-like conditions continue to put children at risk. With inadequate health care services, many children die before reaching the age of 5. Of those that survive, only 36 percent of children attend primary or secondary school. In addition, the HIV/AIDS crisis is devastating families at a rate that is destabilizing entire communities, leaving many children orphaned and at risk for exploitation.[see full report]

Today's Top International Stories

-4 U.S. Workers Seized in Nigeria
-Electricity rationed in Zimbabwe (Households in Zimbabwe are to be limited to four hours power supply a day)
-Blair set to announce Thursday when resigning
-'It's game time' as Cheney arrives in Iraq
-Maryland Governor Endorses Sen. Clinton
-Prominent Iranian-American Academic Is Jailed in Tehran
-Life after death proves tricky for Korean abductee



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