Hailemariam Desalegn has been sworn in as the prime minister of Ethiopia today, 21 September 2012, by the parliament. Hailemariam’s first act as prime minister today was to nominate the deputy prime minister. Demeke Mekonnen’s nomination has been approved unanimously by the parliament and he became the deputy prime minister. ETV reported that the new prime minister will form a new cabinet in the coming few days. Watch below the swearing in ceremony and Hailemariam’s acceptance speech.

ESAT reported today that a TPLF-dominated kangaroo court in Ethiopia has ordered the confiscation of properties that belong to political prisoners Andualem Aragie and Eskinder Nega.

Tomorrow, Friday, the new prime minister of Ethiopia will be sworn in and on the eve of this important event, the TPLF judges decide to confiscate properties that belong to the most prominent prisoners of conscience in the country. Any one with an average intelligence can understand that this is done by those evil Woyanne judges to undermine Hailemariam Desalegn. After 20 years of deceit and trickery, now every one understands how TPLF operates. Only a dimwitted person buys their cheap tactics any more.

There are already some signs that the TPLF junta has started working to sabotage the new prime minister. Two days ago, for example, they were distributing a letter among OPDO members questioning the legitimacy of Hailemariam’s election. The letter was supposedly written by OPDO members, but we know who is really behind it.

The people of Ethiopia must unite and protect the new prime minister against TPLF’s sinister plot to return to power. As long as the security and the military is in the hands of mass murderers like Debretsion Gebremichael, Samora Yenus, and Saere Mekonnen, every atrocity that is being committed, every injustice that is being committed against the people of Ethiopia should be attributed to them, not to Hailemariam.

If TPLF succeeds in overthrowing Hailemariam and come back to power, we Ethiopians are the biggest fools in the planet.

Members of the TPLF tribal gang are acting like a headless chicken these days.

TEXAS (CBSDFW) – Facebook awards a grant to University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to make the social media site faster.

“We are very excited to be part of Facebook,” says Dr. Dereje Agonafer from University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).

Agonafer says data centers account for roughly 2 percent of all U.S. energy use. That’s enough to power a couple of cities the size of Austin for most of a year.

“You are able to put more servers (online), which means you can get better information, or more information — more data,” says Dr. Agonafer.

What that translates into is a faster Facebook, and the savings for Facebook and other companies involved could be in the millions, Agonafer said.

“(On) Facebook there is a lot of downloading of pictures and uploading of pictures; this takes time,” says Agonafer. “It’s going to be maybe a thousand times faster.”

For the group of students at UTA who are part of the project, it’s a chance to influence the social phenomenon of their time. Their goal is to figure out a way to quickly cool massive data centers for Facebook and 14 other large-scale corporations.

On the social networking landmark, more than 800 million users interact with 900 million other pages, groups and events, uploading an average of more than 250 million photos each day. Those steep usage numbers have spurred the students to help match the site’s soaring demand.

Facebook is pledging $50,000 to the research. That pledge is renewable for up to five years.

The social networking company is one of 15 that UTA will be doing research for. Other data heavyweights include Microsoft, General Electric and Bloomberg.

(MercuryNews.com) — An international incident of sorts arose over an Ethiopian flag raising at San Jose City Hall to honor the African country’s New Year, which begins on Sept. 11. And it wasn’t over the unfortunate coincidence with what is now a day of infamy and national mourning in the US.

Rather, the dispute was over whether or not the city raised the right green, yellow and red Ethiopian flag.

Yohannes Mesfine, an Ethiopian-American businessman who lives in Palo Alto, says it didn’t. The banner that went up lacked the national emblem — a light-blue disk with a yellow pentagram symbol — which the country adopted in 1996. That’s the flag that the U.S. State Department recognizes.

Nonsense, says Abebe Hailu, who represents the Ethiopian American Council in San Jose. He said the plain tricolor “heritage flag” that went up is just as acceptable, arguing it doesn’t change with the political winds in their native country. A city resolution allows San Jose to recognize that flag.

Mesfine — who attended the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, the day before Sept. 11, out of respect for the victims of 9/11 — was so put off that he alerted Mayor Chuck Reed and city Councilman Sam Liccardo, both of whom attended the ceremony along with Hailu and dozens of local residents of Ethiopian descent.

With no reaction from either city official, both of whom noted the city’s resolution, Mesfine contacted the Ethiopian Consulate General in Los Angeles. An email to Reed from the consulate general’s office thanked the mayor for honoring the occasion but pointed out that any flag that doesn’t contain the emblem is illegal under the Ethiopian constitution.

City officials say similar debates have surfaced involving the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam and the Pan African flag.

“My decision to support the flag-raising has nothing to do with any feeling that I have toward any regime or government,” said Liccardo, whose district includes the Ethiopian American Center and many of its members. “It has everything to do with our solidarity with a community of people living here in our city. What’s far more relevant to me is the identity chosen by our community, and not that chosen by any foreign entity.”

San Jose Public Works Director Dave Sykes said the city will evaluate the issue before whatever version of the Ethiopian flag goes up next year.

“We want to be respectful of the concerns and address them appropriately,” Sykes said.