Harar, Ethiopia (IAAF) – Ethiopia’s Olympic marathon bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede fine-tuned his preparations for April’s Flora London Marathon with a {www:comfortable} victory on Sunday (16) in the Major General Hayelom Araya Memorial, an annual 15km race that serves as the Ethiopian national championships, in Harar, east of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
In the women’s race, little-known runner Roman Gebru took a closely-fought contest from Terfe Tsegaye with race favourite Atsede Bayissa forced to settle for fifth.
MEN – Kebede dominates
As part of its efforts to promote athletics across all regions of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) organized this race for the first time in the Harari region which is one of Ethiopia’s iconic cultural and religious centres.
The race was an early chance for selectors to assess the prospects of up and coming runners, but it was also an opportunity for full marathon runners to test their speed ahead of big city marathons in March and April.
There was no doubt who the favorite in the men’s race was even before the onset. An Olympic bronze has transformed Kebede from a regular marathon runner to a public figure over the last six months since his Beijing success.
The 21-year-old, who improved his full marathon personal best to 2:06:10 in Fukuoka late last year, was in commanding form throughout the race and won by nearly thirteen seconds from fellow Defence Club runner Dereje Debele. Tariku Jufar, the other high-profile marathon runner in the field, had to settle for sixth.
WOMEN – Gebru shocks Bayissa
The domestic circuit in Ethiopia continued to {www:produce} shocks in the women’s race with little-known runner Roman Gebru beating Atsede Bayissa, who is the second fastest Ethiopian over the half marathon.
21-year-old Gebru took control of the race in the final kilometres before taking a decisive victory in 53:45.03. A struggling Bayissa had to settle for fifth.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Daily Monitor) – Climate change-induced livestock diseases are causing more illness and death of livestock in southern lowlands of the country, a study conducted to assess the local level of impacts of climate change said.
The study entitled: Climate Change-Induced Hazards, Impacts and Responses in Southern Ethiopia, carried out in the southern lowlands of Ethiopia’s three selected zones- Borena, Guji and Omo Zones- in the Oromia SNNP regions said climatic change impacts on livelihoods particularly increased vulnerability to poverty and food insecurity as livestock possession of households during the past 20 years shows an overall decline.
In Borena zone, for instance, the average number of livestock per household declined from 10 oxen, 35 cows and 33 goats to 3 oxen, 7 cows and 6 goats, the study said.
The study also showed similar outcome in South Omo pastoralists as “the number of livestock decreased from 30 cows, 38 goats and 36 sheep to 21 cows, 23 goats and 21 sheep at present.” “Tick and skin diseases on camels, cattle, goats and sheep as increasingly becoming common problems during severe droughts, the study found out, adding even camels and goats, considered more resistant to drought, are affected by the newly prevailing diseases,” the study pointed out.
The collaborative study undertaken by FSS (Forum for Social Studies) and Cordaid, indicated the declining in livestock productivity and reproduction is becoming the most serious risk households are facing today, exacerbated by shortage of health facilities and services and poor infrastructure.
The collaborative study undertaken by FSS (Forum for Social Studies) and Cordaid, indicated the declining in livestock productivity and reproduction is becoming the most serious risk households are facing today, exacerbated by shortage of health facilities and services and poor infrastructure.
The senior researcher Dr Aklilu Amsalu said over the past years, the incidence and distribution of diseases and pests has changed in the study area.
“Existing diseases known in the area are expanding and new types are emerging of which some types are not yet identified,” he said, adding unidentified new diseases were also causing sudden death of camels and goats.
Loss of livestock assets has led to increased poverty and dependency on external food aid and non-food assistance, the study found out, adding dry seasons triggered conflicts among the inhabitants, due to recurrent droughts and resource scarcity, in the area are not new phenomena.
Survey results indicate that more than 44% of the households in South Omo and about one-fourth in Borena and Guji have suffered from conflict related raiding in the last five years (2004-2008).
(Bloomberg) — A record 19 million U.S. homes stood empty at the end of 2008 and home ownership fell to an eight-year low as banks seized homes faster than they could sell them.
The number of vacant homes climbed 6.7 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period a year ago, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. The share of empty homes that are for sale rose to 2.9 percent, the most in data that goes back to 1956. The homeownership rate fell to 67.5 percent, matching the rate in the first quarter of 2001.
The worst U.S. housing slump since the Great Depression is deepening as foreclosures drain value from neighboring homes and make it more likely owners will walk away from properties worth less than their mortgages. About a third of owners whose home values drop 20 percent or more below their loan principal will “hand the keys back to the bank,” said Norm Miller, director of real estate programs for the School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego.
“When you’re underwater and prices continue to fall, you tend to walk,” Miller said in an interview. “It’s a downward spiral that’s tough to stop because it feeds on itself. Foreclosures encourage other foreclosures and falling prices discourage buying.”
Obama’s Plans
The figures demonstrate the intensity of the U.S. housing crisis as President Barack Obama considers ways to help homeowners.
The Obama administration is considering government guarantees for home loans modified by their servicers, seeking to stem the record surge of foreclosures that’s hammering U.S. property values.
The proposal, which may also have taxpayers share in the cost of reducing mortgage payments, is aimed at shielding lenders from default after they loosen loan terms for struggling borrowers. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, who regulates national banks, said yesterday that “working out the details of it is still something that’s ongoing.”
Congress and the new president are grappling with how to repair the housing market as the recession enters its second year and unemployment rises. The U.S. economy shrank the most in the fourth quarter since 1982, contracting at a 3.8 percent annual pace, the Commerce Department said on Jan. 30.
Legal Wrangling
The U.S. had 130.8 million housing units in the fourth quarter, including 2.23 million empty homes that were for sale, the Census report said. The vacancy rate was 3.5 percent in urban areas and 2.6 percent in suburbs, the report said.
In addition, the report counted 4.1 million vacant homes for rent and 4.8 million seasonal properties.
“Wealth loss and housing in combination with loss in the equity market will have ripple effects,” said George Mokrzan, senior economist at Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio. “The silver lining is that while home prices are coming down, incomes have stayed about the same, and in a lot of markets we’ll hit equilibrium this year. That’s a good sign for the long term.”
Most foreclosures are contained in the report’s “other” category, which includes homes tied up in legal proceedings as well as properties that are empty because the owner is renovating and living somewhere else, according to the Census Web site. There were 7.8 million homes in that category in the fourth quarter, up from 7.3 million a year earlier, the report said.
Bank Holdings
There were 2.22 million new foreclosures in 2008, an average of 6,090 a day, according to Washington-based Hope Now Alliance. Those resulted in 917,000 property sales, according to the group that represents 27 mortgage lenders and servicers.
U.S. banks owned $11.5 billion of homes they seized from delinquent borrowers at the end of the third quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Washington. That’s up from $5.4 billion a year ago.
The U.S. housing market lost $3.3 trillion in value last year and almost one in six owners with mortgages owed more than their homes were worth as the economy went into recession, Zillow.com said in a report today.
The median estimated home price declined 11.6 percent in 2008 to $192,119 and homeowners lost $1.4 trillion in value in the fourth quarter alone, the Seattle-based real estate data service said.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (APA) – Ethiopian security officials on Saturday arrested a South African man with over 70 capsules of suspected drug inside his stomach.
The arrest of the South African man happened a few days after the death of two Tanzanian men who were also arrested with over 60 drug capsules in their stomach.
The two Tanzanians died last after undergoing medical treatment in hospital in Addis Ababa.
According to the Ethiopian police, more than 77 drug capsules were found in the stomach of the South African who was traveling from Dubai to Tanzania on Ethiopian Airlines.
The man is reported to be safe and getting medical treatment at the Ethiopian Federal police hospital.
The Ethiopian Federal police crime prevention and control department said that the man was apprehended at the Bole International Airport by members of the Airport Drug Control Division.
“The individual was admitted to the hospital after he was apprehended with this huge amount of drug capsules inside his stomach. The capsules were taken out of the man’s stomach with medical treatment,” said police.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian federal police also announced the seizure of a large amount of cannabis while being smuggled to Britain in more than 40 mail bags via the Ethiopian postal service.
However, the police say no arrest has been made so far in connection with the postal cannabis mail and that they are continuing with investigations.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PANA) – Ethiopia’s financial sector will miss out on the possible investments from American major financiers because of its lack of a domestic stock exchange market to help attract foreign capital, an investor said.
An American investment consultant, Jonathan Auerbach, said in Addis Ababa Thursday that Ethiopia’s lack of a stock market was making it difficult to direct Amer i can institutional investors to put funds in the country’s vibrant economy.
“You have got to make a decision on whether you need a capitalist or a socialist system,” Auerbach said, adding “Ethiopia is the only country in the world with a big population that does not have a stock-market… you need to have a stock market.”
Ethiopia does not have a stock market but the country launched the first commodities exchange late last year, allowing for coffee trade.
The American says Ethiopia’s vibrant banking industry will inspire confidence fr om global investors if the country has a system of tapping in foreign direct investments into its economy.
“Major banks would be drawn back into Ethiopian market. Ethiopia is the fifth largest economy in the sub-saharan Africa in terms of the Gross Domestic Product,” he said at a press conference.
“There is no transparent platform to allow people and companies to invest in Ethiopia,” Auerbach, who is on an 11-country tour of Africa, said, noting that his firm was prospecting for business opportunities in Africa.
The firm of investment advisers is seeking to put its clients’ funds in Africa’s most promising sectors such as agriculture, finance and the telecommunication companies.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (EuroNews 24) – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has said the arrest of the country’s opposition leader was not a political decision, arguing the authorities were left with no other choice.
Authorities arrested and sentenced Birtukan Midekssa to life in prison in January after she reportedly said she never expressed remorse to obtain a pardon in 2007. She was given three days to deny or confirm the reports.
We were put in an almost impossible situation politically and legally. The law says if a pardon is given under false pretenses it has to be annulled, Meles told journalists late Friday.
The Ethiopian leader accused Birtukan of banking on support from powerful friends in powerful positions — presumably Western nations — when she made the comments during a recent trip to Sweden and Germany.
Had we indulged on her assumptions the message that we would have conveyed would be ‘nothing happens to you no matter what you do. If you have friends in all the right places, you can ride roughshod with everything’, Meles said.
That message I think is a very dangerous political message to convey in an emerging democracy. The rule of law and equality involves everyone.
Birtukan, the head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, had been detained with dozens of opposition figures and supporters following disputed 2005 elections.
The United States, a staunch ally of Ethiopia’s dictatorship and the country’s top aid contributor, has expressed concern over the arrest and called for more political freedom in the Horn of Africa nation.
Birtukan’s party made its most spectacular electoral gains ever in the 2005 polls and cried foul over reported fraud, claiming it was robbed of victory by Zenawi’s ruling party.
The ensuing unrest left close to 200 people dead and drew international condemnation.
Ethiopia’s next general elections are expected to be held in 2010.
