By Sun Media

WINNIPEG, CANADA – Police have indentified the woman killed on Balmoral Street this weekend and charged a man with murder for her death.

Police say the incident was reported as a domestic disturbance around 3:50 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of Balmoral.

Valerie Ann Paypompee, 36, was located and taken to hospital in critical condition where she later died from stab wounds to the lower body.

Mulugeta Geddy Gillamichael, 34, an immigrant from {www:Ethiopia}, has now been charged with second-degree murder in her death.

The killing occurred at the same inner-city property where a man was murdered just two months ago.

The witness, who didn’t want to be named, said there was a lot of wrestling-like noise coming from the woman’s room, then paramedics carried her out.

“I heard a lot of wrestling in her room,” the witness said of the incident. “I saw paramedics carry her out on a stretcher out the front door and they were trying to revive her. I asked police what happened and they were saying she got stabbed.”

The witness said he believed the victim was aboriginal and resided on the third floor of the rooming house, located across the street from the Balmoral Motor Hotel.

Police said the woman was taken to hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to her injuries. Police did not release any other details of the incident, noting that the official cause of death has yet to be confirmed by an autopsy.

Mulugeta Geddy Gillamichael has been arrested in connection with the crime, said Const. Chris Wingfield, a spokesman for Winnipeg police.

HOUSTON — Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga broke the 20-year-old Chevron Houston Marathon course record by more than two minutes en route to winning the 37th annual race with the fastest marathon run in Texas.

Aided in the early stages of the race by three pacesetters, Merga, 28, set a blistering pace, which, at mile 18, found him in range of running the fastest marathon ever on U.S. soil. When the final pacesetter stepped off the course after mile 17, Merga ran solo to hit the finish line in 2:07:52, breaking the course record of 2:10:04 set by Richard Kaitany (KEN) in 1989.

“I really tried to get the record,” Merga said through a translator of his attempt to run under 2:05:42, the fastest marathon run in the U.S. by Khalid Khannouchi in 1999. “I can run better next year.”

Merga’s winning time was nearly four minutes faster than runner-up Benson Cheruiyot (KEN), who ran 2:11:33. Yuriy Abramov (RUS) finished third in 2:12:21.

The course record in the women’s race also fell, as Teyba Erkesso (ETH) made it an Ethiopian sweep of the marathon titles. Running her debut marathon, the 26-year-old Erkesso won in 2:24:18, 22 seconds faster than the time fellow Ethiopian and training partner, Dire Tune, ran in Houston in 2008. Erkesso’s time also set a new marathon standard for Texas.

Romania’s Nuta Olaru finished second in 2:27:25, a time that would have won all but two previous women’s marathons in Houston, while Lioudmila Kortchaguina of Canada was third in 2:30:43.

Both Merga and Erkesso earned $35,000 for their victories and bonuses of $10,000 for the course records.

Keflezighi, Boulet set personal bests en route to USA titles.

Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) rebounded from an injury-plagued 2008 to win the 2009 USA Half Marathon Championships, hosted by the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.

Keflezighi, 33, who suffered a serious hip-flexor injury following the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon, took the lead within the first mile of the race and ran to the finish virtually unchallenged to win his first U.S. championship since 2007.

“I’ve won 15 or 16 national championships, but this one is the most special,” Keflezighi said after setting a personal half-marathon record by three seconds. “It feels good to be healthy again.”

Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.), the race’s No. 1 seed, was second in 1:01:35. Brett Gotcher (Flagstaff, Ariz.) was third in 1:02:09, which established a personal record by nearly two minutes.

Magdalena Boulet (Oakland, Calif.) broke from a pack of about five at mile 10 and went on to win the women’s USA Half Marathon Championships in 1:11:47, 19 seconds in front of second-place finisher Kelly Jaske.

The victory earned Boulet, a naturalized citizen born in Poland, her first national title. Jaske produced the surprise performance of the race. While unable to track down Boulet late in the race, Jaske’s runner-up finish came in her first U.S. championship road race. Colleen De Reuck (Boulder, Colo.), the 2004 Aramco Houston Half Marathon champion, was third in 1:12:16.

Including participants in the EP5K, more than 22,000 runners competed in the three Chevron Houston Marathon weekend events, establishing a participation record for the event for the eighth consecutive year.

Runners in this year’s race are expected to raise $1.5 million for 45 charities as part of the event’s Run for a Reason program.

The Chevron Houston Marathon, a Running USA founding member, is the nation’s premier winter marathon, annually attracting participants from all 50 U.S. states and nearly 30 foreign countries. In 2008, more than 23,000 runners took part in four marathon weekend events (marathon, half marathon, 5K and children’s run). The Chevron Houston Marathon offers the only closed marathon course in Texas and is ranked among the top five in the nation by the Ultimate Guide to Marathons for fastest course, organization and crowd support. More than 5,000 volunteers organize the race, which is Houston’s largest single-day sporting event.

– abc13.com

YEMEN (AP) – Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after boats carrying about 400 African migrants capsized near Yemen on Saturday, the UN says.

At least a dozen bodies have washed ashore in Yemen, said Laila Nassif, who heads the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in the coastal city of Aden.

Nassif said two boats carrying some 300 migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia capsized in the Red Sea. Only 30 people have been rescued so far, and rescue efforts were complicated by bad weather in the area, Nassif said.

In another incident, a boat carrying 120 migrants capsized in the Arabian Sea and 80 of the migrants made it safely to shore, Nassif said.

All of the ships originated in Somalia, the UN official said.

Hundreds of Africans die every year trying to reach Yemen, with many drowning or being attacked by pirates and smugglers in the dangerous waters separating Somalia and the Arabian peninsula.

The UN refugee agency last year reported that more than 43,500 migrants – mostly Somalis – arrived illegally by boat to Yemen.

In 2007, Yemen had reported more than 1,400 dead and missing while crossing into its shores from Africa.

U.S. Senators Russell D.Feingold, Johnny Isakson, Patrick J. Leahy, and Richard J. Durbin wrote the following letter to Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi [pdf]:

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

We write to express our concern about several recent developments in your country, which we fear could make the important partnership between the United States and Ethiopia more difficult. We are deeply troubled that these events together appear to indicate an erosion of political freedom and the rule of law in Ethiopia.

First, we are concerned by the re-arrest of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party leader Birtukan Midekssa and reports that her life sentence in prison has been reinstated. As you know, a political opposition with the right to freedom of speech, press and association is essential to any vibrant democracy. We worry that Birtukan’s re-arrest signals your government’s waning commitment to those democratic principles. This is a disappointing signal in advance of your country’s elections next year, which we believe have great potential.

Second, we were disappointed to learn of the passage of your government’s law restricting civil society groups receiving more than 10percent of their funding from sources outside Ethiopia from doing any work related to human rights, gender equality, the rights of the disabled, children’s rights or conflict resolution.

While we respect your government’s right to regulate non-governmental organizations operating within Ethiopia, we fear that as written, this law will undermine the important work done by many organizations in those respective fields. We hope you will ensure that the broad discretionary powers granted to the government by this law are not used as a political tool to impede the independence of civil society.

Third and finally, we are concerned by reports over the last year that several civil society leaders and traditional elders in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia have been detained for extended periods without charge and then tried without due process.

Many of those arrested have reportedly been involved in important and much needed peace efforts in the region. We appreciate the fact that Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns in the Ogaden, but fear that this pattern of arrests, if true, risks exacerbating local grievances and contributing to radicalization rather than effective counter-insurgency and stabilization. As you know, civil society is a critical partner in the work of building peace, and we urge you to work with it as much as possible.

We feel strongly about the importance of our countries’ partnership and hope it will continue in the years ahead. That is why we are writing to you now to raise our concern about these troubling developments in your country that risk undermining democratic progress and the rule of law. If these trends persist, we believe they will have adverse impacts on our close relationship. We hope this is not the case and look forward to working together toward our shared goals of peace and prosperity.

Sincerely,
Russell D. Feingold
Chairman, Subcommittee on African Affairs
United States Senate

Johnny Isakson
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on African Affairs
Committee on Foreign Relations Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate

Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, State & Foreign Ops Subcommittee
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate

Richard J. Durbin
Chairman, Human Rights & the Law Subcommittee
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

CC:
1. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
2. U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Haile Gebrselassie easily won the Dubai Marathon on Friday, but said steady rain throughout the race hampered his bid to claim the $1 million bonus on offer for breaking his own world record.

Gebrselassie finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 29 seconds — just 90 seconds off his record — to narrowly beat compatriots Deressa Edae Chimsa (2:07.54) and Wendimu Tsige (2:08.41).

The Ethiopians also dominated the women’s event, with Bezunesh Bekele Sertsu winning in 2:24:02 after pulling away from countrywoman Atsede Habtamu Besuye (2:25.17) in the final stretch. Kenya’s Helena Loshanyang Kirop was third (2:25.35).

“Everybody was expecting me to break the world record here, but I am very pleased with the time I ran today,” said the 35-year-old Gebrselassie. “This is my best time in wet weather. It could have been much worse, but I’m really happy with the time.”

Gebrselassie was on pace to challenge his world mark of 2:03:59 set last year in Berlin. But he struggled against the rain in the second half of the race, which began at dawn along Dubai’s Gulf coastline.

“I saw the clouds ahead and it looked like it was going to be difficult,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not just about defeating time, sometimes you defeat yourself. When I saw the rain coming, I defeated myself. But it (a new record) will happen. I will come back next year.”

Sertsu, who finished second last year in Dubai, said the rain forced her to set a slower pace, but she had plenty left in the final stages to build her lead.

“Today was definitely one of the best races I’ve run,” said the 25-year-old.

Gebrselassie said his next goal is to attempt to reclaim the half-marathon record in The Hague, Netherlands, in March. Then there’s the 2012 Olympics, when he’ll be about eight months short of his 40th birthday.

“There’s a lot to look forward to in the future. We have the Olympic games in three years’ time and before that the 2010 Dubai Marathon. If you think about stopping somewhere it’s no good. You’ve got to think about doing more,” he added.

“If you set a date to retire; if you say you’re going to retire in two years’ time, you actually end up retiring at that very moment. So, I haven’t put any time (on retirement).”

Dubai is the world’s richest marathon. The $1 million world record bonus was in addition to the $250,000 winner’s check.

——-

Gebrselassie Wins Rain-Lashed Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon

Haile Gebrselassie won a rain-soaked Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon yesterday (Friday) storming home in a time of 2h:05m:29s – over a minute outside of his own world record but still the eighth fastest time ever.

The flying Ethiopian went into the race with high hopes of breaking the 2h:03m:59s world record he set last year in Berlin.

But a torrential downpour late into the race and a slight headwind on the return leg along the Beach Road put paid to his record chances, despite a blistering first half that was 20 seconds inside world record pace

“When conditions get like this and you see the rain, you don’t think about records only about doing the best you can,” admitted Gebrselassie after finishing over two minutes ahead of runner-up Deressa Edae Chimsa (2h:07m:54s). “But there are always positives and this is my best ever time in conditions like these.”

Despite missing out on the US$ 1 million world record bonus on offer from Dubai Holding, Gebrselassie collected a cheque for US$ 250,000 and the winner’s trophy from Mattar Al Tayer, Vice President of Dubai Sports Council. Making it an Ethiopian clean sweep in third place was Eshetu Wendimu in a time of 2h:08m:41s.

Although Gebrselassie put a brave face on failing to beat his world best, there is no doubt he came into the race confident of what would have been world record number 27.

The early splits were good. Geb had indicated that a half marathon mark of 61m:45s would see him bang on record pace and at the half way point the time was exactly that, the pacemakers keeping the legendary runner on course some 20 seconds ahead of his record time.

Unfortunately, the head wind took its toll over the closing 10km, while his troubles increased with a torrential downpour that followed him all the way to the 2,000 cheering Ethiopians gathered at the finish line.

“The weather was not good to the spectators but still the sang to me as I came to the end of the race and I thank them for that,” added Gebrselassie. “I have no complaints today – the race organisation was fantastic but it was not to be.”

Making it an Ethiopian double, the diminutive Bezunesh Bekele claimed the Women’s US$ 250,000 first prize in a time of 2h:24m:02s, with compatriot Atsede Habtamu Besuye in second (2h:25m:17s) and Kenya’s Helena Kirop in third (2h:25m:35s).

Sponsored by Standard Chartered for the past five years and held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon saw around 10,000 runners take to the streets of Dubai for the Marathon, the 10km and the 3km Fun Run.

Edging the honours in the men’s 10km was Eritrea’s Habtai Kifetsion who clocked the same time as Moussie Weldemichael (30m:12s) with Othmane Chaibi of Marocco third in 30m:32s.

In the women’s event, Emma Philips of Great Britain took first place in 37m:25s, more than two minutes ahead of Finland’s Anne Mari Hyrylainen (40m:12s) with Australian Amanda Peters in third in 41m:31s.

“Haile has again shown what a great champion he is,” said Event Director Peter Connerton. “The weather was terrible over the last portion of the race yet he still set the eighth fastest time in history – and the top three times are his already. I’m sure we all look forward to seeing him come back and win the Dubai event for a third time in a row.”

PUMA once again helped to encourage all the runners by drawing crowds to the PUMA Turn at the half-way point of race. The spirits of the runners were kept sky high as they were met with cheerleaders, music and crowds of supporters to push them on to the second half of the run, while PUMA’s focus on encouraging women to participate was well received at the Puma Women’s Marquee, where all female runners received free pampering treatments.

One female who captured the imagination was Jordanian Abeer Alsharif of the Achilles Track Club, the only female in the wheelchair Marathon, who completed her first ever event in a time of 2h:34m:07s

The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is supported by Dubai Holding, The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina, PUMA, Arab Media Group (AMG), TNT and Fitness First with assistance provided by Dubai Sports Council, RTA, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police.

– Dubai City Guide