The Woyanne-controlled Electoral Board of Ethiopia has once again postponed its decision on the legal status of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (Andinet). The Board officials told Andinet Party officials to come back on Friday. This is the fourth time for the election board to postpone its decision giving flimsy reasons. Andinet Party’s council will meet tomorrow to reconsider its options.
By Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle
UNION CITY — A teenage boy accused of fatally shooting a recent Union City high school graduate at a party last summer is now facing charges as an adult, records show.
Roberto Moreno, 18, is being held in connection with the June 22 slaying of Biniam Yifru, 17, in Union City, according to Alameda County jail records.
Moreno had originally been charged as a juvenile but was transferred to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin earlier this month. He has been charged with murder, attempted murder, assault with a firearm and weapons violations.
Biniam, an Ethiopian native and a recent graduate of James Logan High School in Union City, had been attending a graduation party for a fellow student at a house owned by an assistant principal at the high school.
Gang members arrived uninvited, prompting a bloody melee that injured five people, police said. Two were shot, including Biniam, whom officers found lying on a front walkway with a wound to the head. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Moreno was arrested two days after the shooting. He was four months shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the slaying.
Biniam had registered for classes at Ohlone College in Fremont, secured a job as a law clerk, and gotten a haircut for the first time in two years shortly before he was killed, friends said.
Five months before the shooting, Biniam’s 24-year-old brother, Travis Yifru, died from diabetes, family members said.
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E-mail Henry K. Lee at [email protected].
By Ivy Revereza
When it comes to what we eat, men and women really are different according to scientific research presented today at the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.
In general, men are more likely to report eating meat and poultry items and women are more likely to report eating fruits and vegetables.
The findings come from the most recent population survey of the Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet). From May 2006 to April 2007 over 14,000 American adults participated in an extensive survey outlining their eating habits, including high risk foods for foodborne illness.
‘There was such a variety of data we thought it would be interesting to see whether there were any gender differences. To our knowledge, there have been studies in the literature on gender differences in eating habits, but nothing this extensive,’ said Beletshachew Shiferaw, a lead researcher on the study.
Shiferaw and her colleagues found that men were significantly more likely to eat meat and poultry products especially duck, veal, and ham.
They were also more likely to eat certain shellfish such as shrimp and oysters.
Women, on the other hand were more likely to eat vegetables, especially carrots and tomatoes. As for fruits, they were more likely to eat strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and apples.
Women also preferred dry foods, such as almonds and walnuts, and were more likely to consume eggs and yogurt when compared with men.
There were some exceptions to the general trend. Men were significantly more likely to consume asparagus and brussels sprouts than women while women were more likely to consume fresh hamburgers (as opposed to frozen, which the men preferred).
The researchers also looked at reported behavior in regards to consumption of 6 risky foods: undercooked hamburger, runny or undercooked eggs, raw oysters, unpasteurized milk, cheese made from unpasteurized milk and alfalfa sprouts.
Men were significantly more likely to eat undercooked hamburger and runny eggs while women were more likely to eat alfalfa sprouts.
This information is important to public health officials because better understanding of gender differences in eating habits can help them create more targeted strategies for prevention.
‘The reason we looked at consumption and risky behaviors was to see if there was a statistically significant difference between men and women and if there is this information could be used by health educators to target interventions,’ said Shiferaw.
Source: American Society for Microbiology
The International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases is organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Society for Microbiology, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the World Health Organization. More information on the meeting can be found online at www.iceid.org.
Woyanne’s solution for every thing is the barrel of the gun.
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By Peter Heinlein, VOA
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has introduced tough measures to stabilize soaring prices, including a crackdown on what he called “economic criminals,” but he says the African nation’s economy is essentially sound. From Addis Ababa, VOA’s Peter Heinlein reports opposition leaders ridiculed the claim of economic health in a country facing drought and a massive financial scandal.
Meles Tuesday declared war on what he referred to as greedy business people, blaming them for sharp price increases that boosted Ethiopia’s inflation rate to 20 percent. In a speech to parliament, he lashed out at what he called “fraudsters” who recently caused a five to 10-fold increase in the price of salt in a single day.
Meles announced establishment of a task force to prosecute businesses engaging in what he called “persistent illegal exploitative activities.”
“Such greedy and illegal business persons will only respond when each has been identified and punished,” he said. “As a result, the government has decided to completely change its approach toward those committing economic crimes. A task force comprising members of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the federal police and the National Security and Intelligence service has been set up to permanently monitor illicit activities and take prompt legal measures as necessary.”
Meles urged all citizens to cooperate by providing information about those engaging in price gouging.
Meles also announced two other inflation fighting measures; an immediate end to sales taxes on food grains, and sharp restrictions on the growth of the money supply.
At the same time, he described Ethiopia’s economy as “healthy.” He predicted the country’s economic growth rate would top 10 percent for the fifth year in a row.
Opposition leaders questioned the claim of economic health. Lawmaker Temesgen Zewdie pointed to recent reports that nine million Ethiopians are facing drought-induced famine. He called Meles’s response “unacceptable.”
Lidetu Ayelew of the Ethiopian Democratic Party called the report of 10 percent economic growth misleading because the growth does not touch millions of impoverished people.
“There are people who are being left behind. So there’s a problem with distribution, of reaching everyone,” Lidetu said. “Therefore, the economy is not fully healthy. So someone with high blood pressure cannot be seen as fully healthy. He can fall… So if this problem is not resolved, we cannot say the economy is healthy.”
Meles shrugged off the criticisms. In his rebuttal likened Ethiopia’s economic condition to a common cold. But he acknowledged several setbacks, including a recent discovery that a significant portion of the country’s gold reserves was fake, and the arrest of several people allegedly involved in a black market money-changing scheme.
(Shabait.com) Asmara – Six defecting soldiers who arrived in Eritrea recently disclosed that members of the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) regime’s army are abandoning the regime in opposition of its massive round-up of members of the army and its racist policy. They stated that the dire situation in Ethiopia is escalating from bad to worse.
The defecting soldiers further indicated that at a time when the HIV/AIDS epidemic is gaining momentum in the country, especially in the towns of Mekele and Addis Ababa, many officials of the regime have already deposited 15 to 20 million dollars each in different foreign banks. Moreover, the soldiers noted that members of army have been banned from listening to the Eritrean radio Dimtsi Hafash, in particular, and other international media outlets, in general. They went on to say that the army is complaining as to why the regime is not complying with the EEBC ruling that awarded Badme to be sovereign Eritrean territory.
The Ethiopian soldiers who arrived here are Abdu Abamecha Abawaji, Abiot Tsega Buru, Abulu Angaso Hundesa, Gendela Kolalo Keshila, Adnew Takele Gobona, and Kasahun Tora Koira.
They also disclosed that a number of soldiers are in detention in Mekele, Shire-Endasilassie and the Hurso centers, and that the number of deaths is increasing.
The defecting soldiers also pointed out that there exists tension and distrust among members of the army as a result of the regime’s racist policy.
Is there any group that is more terrorist than Woyanne? The fact that the State Department ignores Woyanne’s crimes against humanity, including forced starvation, mass murder of civilians, rape, torture, etc. (all reported by Red Cross and other international organizations), and instead goes after a small Somali militant group shows how misguided and destructive its policy on Africa is. The State Department is the worst representative of American values. It has caused more damage to America’s credibility and image around the world than any one else.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has added a group of Somali Islamic militants to the US list of terrorist organizations, the State Department said on Tuesday.
“Al-Shabaab is a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda,” it said in a statement.
“Many of its senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,” it added.
The decision, made February 29, blocks any financial support the group and freezes its assets in the United States, the statement said.
The United States said Al-Shabaab “has claimed responsibility for shooting Deputy District Administrators, as well as several bombings and shootings in Mogadishu targeting Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials.”
“Given the threat that Al-Shabaab poses, the designation will raise awareness of Al-Shabaab’s activities and help undercut the group’s ability to threaten targets in and destabilize the Horn of Africa region,” the statement said.