ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — Ethiopia’s [tribal junta] (the Woyanne regime) said on Friday it arrested three Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels who beat up Chinese technicians in a raid on a dam construction site in the west.
State TV said three Chinese were in hospital after being badly beaten by the OLF gang during the attack this week at the Neshie Dam. The statement said they were planning “terrorist activities” there, and were later caught by security forces.
“The culprits beat Chinese technicians working at the site, robbed laptops, printers, digital surveying machines and other equipment at the site,” it said.
The three were paraded on TV, together with guns, communications equipment and bomb-making materials.
Prime Minister Warlord Meles Zenawi’s government blames the OLF, which has fought for autonomy for its southern homeland since 1993, for various explosions in the capital Addis Ababa.
[The Woyanne regime in] Addis Ababa accuses arch-enemy Eritrea of training and funding the OLF and other small rebel groups in Ethiopia’s remote, outlying areas. Asmara says that is an excuse to mask popular unrest with Meles’ government.
(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse, Writing by Andrew Cawthorne)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following update was posted today by New Wineskins blog:
It should have happened an hour ago. Not clear yet what’s going on, but I’ll update this post as often as I can throughout the day. Nothing scheduled on Vatican TV.
Bob Cornuke, biblical investigator, international explorer and best-selling author, has participated in more than 27 expeditions around the world searching for lost locations described in the Bible… Next week, Cornuke will travel to Ethiopia for the 13th time since he began his search for the Ark. He told WND he believes this artifact may be authentic.
“They either have the Ark of the Covenant or they have a replica that they have believed to be the Ark of the Covenant for 2,000 years,” he said.
“The Ark could have been taken out of the temple during the time of the atrocities of Manasseh,” he said. [link added] “We have kind of a bread crumb trail that appears to go to Egypt, and it stayed on an island there for a couple hundred years called Elephantine Island. The Ark then was transferred over to Lake Tana in Ethiopia where it stayed on Tana Qirqos Island for 800 years. Then it was taken to Axum, where it is enshrined in a temple today where they don’t let anybody see it.”
Cornuke said he traveled to Tana Qirqos Island and lived with monks who remain there today.
“They unlocked this big, four-inch thick wood door,” he said. “It opened up to a treasure room, and they showed me meat forks and bowls and things that they say are from Solomon’s temple. When the History Channel did this show, they said it was one of the largest viewed shows. People were fascinated.”
He said Ethiopians consider the Ark to be the ultimate holy object, and the church guards the suspected artifact from the “eyes and pollution of man.”
“In Ethiopia, their whole culture is centered around worshipping this object,” Cornuke said. “Could they have the actual Ark? I think I could make a case that they actually could.”
However, he said reports about Friday’s unveiling are somewhat perplexing because Ethiopia has traditionally shielded it from public view.
“That’s the surprise for me,” Cornuke said. “I have always thought that they would keep it under wraps.”
He explained that a special guardian lives inside the church [Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia] and never leaves. Once a guardian is appointed, he stays until he dies and another man replaces him.
“We know for a fact that there have been 30 guardians in history who have never left that enclosure,” Cornuke said. “I know the guardian. When CNN and BBC went over there, he wouldn’t see anybody but me. So I went and talked to him, and he’s getting very aged. He told me they have the real Ark and he worships 13 hours a day in front of it. When he gets through, he is covered in sweat and he’s exhausted.”
He said he met a 105-year-old man who claimed to have seen the Ark 50 years ago when he was training a replacement guardian.
“It frightened him to death when he got a glimpse of it.”
Cornuke is also featured on the Koinonia House podcast series I linked on Tuesday. Although he doesn’t say a lot more in it than is outlined above in terms of the evidence itself, the podcast provides more Biblical context. I found it useful.
As several of our Ethiopian brothers have pointed out here, the unveiling is not without controversy, skepticism, disgust and fears of cascading consequences as a result of its unveiling. The Ethiopian Review writes, in a Thursday article that:
Abuna Pauolos Aba Gebremedhin (aka Aba Diabilos), the illegitimate Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, was in Rome this week to meet with Pope Benedict XVI.
The claim that the Biblical Holy Ark has been kept at the Church, in the city of Axum, is an old one, but this is the first time that the Church plans to actually reveal the actual container, or news of it. It is not known whether the Church claims that the actual Tablets of the Law are inside it.
Copies of the alleged Ark are kept in many other churches in Ethiopia.
This clip, out of Belgium, translated from the Dutch by Google doesn’t break any new ground, however it does give a glimpse as to how the world is likely to view this. In perhaps one of the greatest understatements of all time, they write: “the relic has major cultural-historical value”. And that’s all, in their view. The secular world insists on putting God (and His box) in their box. He won’t fit.
CLARKSON, GA — In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town’s young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.
There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That’s why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.
In Minneapolis, as many as 20 young men have been reported missing from their homes since last fall. They are thought to have been lured into the ranks of al-Shabaab in Somalia. That group got a terrorist designation from the U.S. State Department, which ties it to al-Qaeda, bombings, assassinations and attacks on peacekeepers. A powerful faction fighting Somalia’s transitional government, al-Shabaab’s agenda is extremely strict Sharia law.
To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an “outreach” program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.
Supervisory special agent Andrew Young said radical violent Islamist recruiters use the same strategy as a street gang recruiter, or even a little league coach.
“From what we know about recruiters, whether they’re Islamic, drug gangs or the coach, they’re looking for those kids who are looking for something deeper inside. To one it could be geopolitics. To one it could be a friendship. They’re all looking for something,” he explained.
And terror recruiters are quickly becoming adept at online tactics, noted Young.
“That’s what we see as a trend hitting home,” he said. “We see a lot more Internet recruiting being targeted to our youth.”
If young people go to Somalia, the FBI’s biggest worry is that they may return with dangerous souvenirs, like bomb-making or demolition skills and a radical anti-U.S. agenda.
Atlanta’s Somali-American community mushroomed after 1991 with arrivals of war refugees. Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement sent some 3,000 Somalis to Atlanta.
Because so many suffered in the war, they’re unlikely to see much appeal in returning to war, say Somali-American leaders in Clarkston.
But the alleged Minneapolis recruits spent little or no time in war-ravaged Somalia or in refugee camps. That may make young people vulnerable to a dramatic, nationalistic appeal, according to one Georgia leader.
“If al-Shabaab says, ‘We’re fighting Ethiopians,’ then they’ll have sympathy,” declared Omar Shekhey, president of the Somali-American Community Center, a statewide umbrella group.
Somalia’s transitional government is supported in part by the army of Somalia’s number one enemy, Ethiopia. The two countries have fought two formal wars in 40 years.
Al-Shabaab has no sympathizers in Clarkston, Shekhey insisted, but suggested that the other side -– the transitional government –- is frustrating, ineffective and unpopular. He jumped to criticize the transitional government’s power-sharing formula that he says reduces some Somalis to half-citizens, or non-citizens because it fixes quotas for parliamentary seats by clan.
U.S. support for that interim government rouses ire in some, Shekhey said, especially young people who reject the costs of that U.S. strategy.
“They can be angry,” he said. “‘Why is the U.S. doing this?’ they ask.”
Sharmarke Yonis, of the Georgia Somali Community, a non-profit headquartered in Clarkston, says that anger doesn’t always translate into a violent act.
“We might have some people who have sympathy, but not anyone who will commit a hate crime,” he said.
There’s sympathy because every religion spawns radicals who commit hate crimes, such as a person who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity, he suggested, but emphasized that he sees no danger in Atlanta.
“In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening,” Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands.
No Somali-Americans are reported missing in the Clarkston area. A four-month police and FBI joint operation of surveillance and confidential informants turned up nothing, according to the police chief.
But “the word ‘FBI’ scares people,” said Hussien Mohammed, the director of Sagal Radio, a Clarkston-based station that broadcasts in English plus four languages spoken in east Africa: Somali, Afaan-Oromo, Amharic and Swahili.
“They’re coming from a country that has no law. They’ve been beaten, abused, harassed by security forces in their country … Some have been taken away in the middle of the night. People fear the same here.”
Mohammed seemed conflicted about the level of FBI involvement.
“Too many visits from the FBI have been seen in our community,” he said, but later added, “It’s their job. It’s why we’re safe.”
He’s very adamant on one point, which is backed up by other Somali-Americans and law enforcement: “These people are very peaceful like any other community. They’ve been terrorized at home enough. They want to be Somali-Americans, not just Somalis.”
(Maggie Lee (www.bottleofink.com) is a freelance writer in Atlanta.)
Washington (DPA) – Physicians at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles worked for more than an hour to resuscitate pop icon Michael Jackson, according to his brother Jermaine Jackson in broadcast remarks Thursday.
The sudden death of the rock star on a hot Thursday afternoon triggered not only worldwide mourning but also an odd disconnect as he came back to life with his star power in nonstop broadcasts of file footage.
Paramedics answered an emergency call at Jackson’s rented mansion outside Los Angeles to find him unresponsive, officials said.
“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest at his home,” an emotionally-wrought Jermaine told reporters. “Upon arriving at hospital at 1:14 pm, a team of doctors including emergency physicians and cardiologists attempted to resuscitate him for a period of more than one hour.”
The Los Angeles County coroner Fred Corral confirmed Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm (2126 GMT), but would not comment on the likely cause of his death.
A Los Angeles police official said that given the “high-profile nature” of the death, the case had been assigned to the robbery and homicide team. An autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of death, with results to be released on Friday.
Fox News showed live images of the Los Angeles police helicopter delivering Jackson’s remains to the medical examiner’s office.
If cardiac arrest is confirmed, medical experts said there were a variety of possible causes, including a heart attack, an aneurism or a blood clot. One physician told CNN that the heart simply stops beating and only quivers in full cardiac arrest.
Jermaine, a one-time member of the Jackson 5 and Michael’s older brother, refused to take questions, ending his remarks to reporters with his own tribute: “We all will be with you Michael, always.”
ET that Jackson was transported from his residence in full cardiac arrest on Thursday. They say life-saving efforts were made by paramedics throughout transport to the hospital and efforts in the hospital emergency room continued on unsuccessfully.
Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The King of Pop, who will be forever immortalized for his world-famous, trademark dance moves and chart-topping success, was arguably one of the most popular recording artists of all time, his success peaking during the 1980s.
Jackson was born in Gary, IN on August 29, 1958. Before he became a solo artist, Jackson was the youngest member of the Jackson Five, the explosive ’60s band formed by his four older brothers — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon Jackson — put Jackson on the path to stardom.
Jackson’s talent was brought to the attention of producer Quincy Jones, who cast him in the role of Scarecrow in ‘The Wiz’ (1978), a musical based on ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The film also featured Diana Ross and Richard Pryor. The rising pop star reunited with Jones in 1982 with the mega-hit album, Thriller. The title track, along with “Beat It,” “The Girl is Mine,” and “Billie Jean,” would make him an indelible icon of pop culture. The album garnered seven Grammy awards. His unmatchable musical talent was coupled with an intriguing idiosyncratic image that, in later years, overshadowed the singer’s own success. But the ’80s marked Jackson as a contemporary legend.
Jackson’s eccentric persona was perpetuated with the help of his one-gloved hand. In 1993, a mother accused Jackson of molesting her 13-year-old son during a visit. The case was eventually settled out of court for a reported $20 million. Still, America remained enamored with the pop star; a reported 62 million viewers tuned in to his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. The later years of his career and personal life proved to be a tumultuous affair. The change was perhaps foreshadowed most significantly a year after he married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley. His album, HIStory, released in 1995, failed to become the success it was anticipated to be. His 2001 album, Invincible, which reportedly cost $30 million to produce, would suffer the same fate.
During the same year, in November, he married former nurse Debbie Rowe. She gave birth to Prince Michael Jackson I in 1997. Two years later Jackson and Rowe filed for divorce. In November 2003, more legal trouble emerged when a 12-year-old boy claimed that Jackson molested him at his Neverland Valley Ranch. A year later Jackson gave his DNA sample to authorities after police searched his estate for evidence.
In 2005, Jackson was tried and exonerated of child molestation, conspiracy and alcohol charges that could have sent him to prison for nearly 20 years.
Despite the tribulations in his personal life, Michael Jackson’s mark in history never faded. He has inspired young pop stars like Justin Timberlake and Usher, and his classic, instantly recognizable songs continue to be heard in dance clubs and households across the world.
Jackson is survived by his three children: Prince Michael Jackson I, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
PRESIDENT OBAMA APPOINTS 2009-2010 CLASS OF WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS
WASHINGTON, DC – The White House announced today the appointment of 15 outstanding men and women to serve as White House Fellows. The 2009-2010 class of White House Fellows represents a diverse cross-section of professions including medicine, business, media, education, non-profit and state government, as well as two branches of the U.S. military. The 2009-2010 class of Fellows and their biographies are included below.
“We are thrilled that these exceptional men and women will be joining us here in Washington for the next year,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “The program not only allows for a variety of perspectives to come together, offering expertise and experience to benefit the administration’s efforts, but these Fellows in turn carry what they’ve learned to their own communities to benefit Americans far beyond the walls of the White House.”
The White House Fellows Program was created in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to give promising American leaders “first hand, high-level experience with the workings of the Federal government, and to increase their sense of participation in national affairs.” This unique position in our nation’s government encourages active citizenship and service to the nation. The Fellows also take part in an education program designed to broaden their knowledge of leadership, policy formulation, military operations, and current affairs. Community service is another important component of the program, and Fellows participate in service projects throughout the year in the Washington, DC area. Since 1964, over 600 outstanding American men and women have participated in the White House Fellows program, each chosen because of their extraordinary leadership ability and service to others.
Selection as a White House Fellow is highly competitive and based on a record of remarkable professional achievement early in one’s career, evidence of leadership potential, a proven commitment to public service, and the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute successfully at the highest levels of the Federal government. Throughout its history, the program has fostered leaders in many fields including Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, U.S. Representative Joe Barton, writer Doris Kearns Goodwin, former Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso, former CNN Chairman and CEO Tom Johnson, former Univision President Luis Nogales, and U.S. Court of Appeals Judges M. Margaret McKeown and Deanell Tacha.
Additional information about the White House Fellows program is available here: www.whitehouse.gov/fellows.
2009-2010 Class of White House Fellows
Mehret Mandefro, 32. Hometown: Alexandria, VA. Mehret Mandefro is a primary care physician and HIV prevention researcher. She most recently was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Her research addresses the intersection of violence prevention and HIV prevention and the application of digital media in translating research. She completed a Primary Care internal medicine residency at Montefiore Hospital where she founded a nonprofit called TruthAIDS that is focused on health literacy efforts among vulnerable populations. Mehret is the managing editor for www.truthaids.org and conducts workshops on HIV prevention, health disparities, and the public health uses of media nationally and internationally as part of TruthAIDS’ outreach efforts. Her ethnographic work about HIV positive women’s lives in the South Bronx and Ethiopia is the subject of a full-feature documentary film entitled All of Us, which premiered on Showtime Networks for World AIDS Day and is used nationwide by community-based organizations and universities as an educational tool. Mehret received a BA cum laude in Anthropology and a Medical Doctorate from Harvard University, and a Masters of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Fulbright Scholar.
Laura Bacon, 29. Hometown: Weymouth, MA. Laura Bacon is a recent graduate of Harvard Kennedy School, where she studied political and economic development on a Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship. While at Harvard, Laura served as a Technical Advisor and Researcher for Liberia’s Women’s Legislative Caucus, helping draft gender parity legislation. As a Cultural Bridge Fellow, Laura worked at Liberia’s Ministry of Gender and Development, where she closely advised the Minister, wrote speeches for Ministry leadership, and designed leadership workshops for senior management. Laura was a Research Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, where she co-authored several works, including the National Leadership Index: A National Study of Confidence in Leadership and a chapter in Women and Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change. Laura has also conducted research for US News & World Report’s “America’s Best Leaders” project. Laura was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, where she was the National Coordinator of the Young Girls’ Scholarship Program and founded a community-run grain bank. A cycling enthusiast, she has completed AIDS rides from New York to Boston and across Niger. Laura performed as a cellist in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and her photography has been featured in several exhibitions, publications, and calendars. She graduated with honors from Harvard College, Phi Beta Kappa, with an A.B. in Psychology.
Nicole Campbell, 30. Hometown: Brooklyn, NY. Nicole Campbell is Vice President of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation where she has developed and executed the Foundation’s education investment strategy. In her role, Nicole attracted new, external financial support and created innovative ways for the Bank to meet its Community Reinvestment Act obligations. She created College Ready Communities which facilitates partnerships between housing developers, local education advocacy organizations, and public schools to improve academic outcomes in low-income neighborhoods. Nicole has recruited partners ranging from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the New York City Department of Education. Her prior experience includes work with the New York City Department of Education as well as with government and nonprofit organizations in the Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Nicole is a founding board member of Achievement First Brownsville, a charter school in Brooklyn, New York. She received a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School where she founded the annual Harvard Black Policy Conference and received the Julius E. Babbitt Alumni Award for Service. Nicole received her B.A. from Amherst College where she received the John Woodruff Simpson Fellowship and was a two time NCAA Division III National Triple Jump Champion in Track & Field.
Jonathan Finer, 33. Hometown: New Haven, CT. Jonathan Finer was a correspondent for The Washington Post. He has reported on conflicts in Iraq, Gaza, Georgia/Russia and Israel/Lebanon. He spent more than 18 months based in Baghdad, and was embedded with the U.S. Marines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also covered the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. Prior to the Post, Jon spent a year reporting and editing for the Far Eastern Economic Review, a Hong Kong news magazine, as a Henry Luce Foundation Scholar. He received the 2002 Young Journalist Award from the Society of Publishers in Asia. While on leave from the Post, Jon earned his J.D. in 2009 from Yale Law School, where he founded the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, an organization that advocates on behalf of civilians who fled the war. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford in 2001 and an undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1999. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Truman Security Fellow. Jon was raised in Norwich, Vermont, where his parents still live, and has three younger siblings.
Zheng Huang, 32. Hometown: San Jose, CA. Zheng Huang is a co-founder of Business Connect China, a provider of expert consultation, market intelligence, advisory services, and investments for the China market. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at Intel Corporation, responsible for Intel’s telecommunications business in China. Under his leadership, Intel struck a number of collaborations and partnerships in China that successfully charted a new path for long term technology standards cooperation and intellectual property resolution between US and China. He holds a MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, as well as a M.S. in Computer Science (elected President of Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honors Society), a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, and a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University. While at Stanford, he founded the Stanford Society of Asian American Engineers, sending Stanford students to Asia to work with their university counterparts on entrepreneurial projects and selecting student leaders to participate in week-long summits to discuss high technology trends across the Pacific. Today, offshoots of SSAE have established chapters in 15 universities across ten countries. He has lived and worked in Germany (for Bosch), Japan (for Hitachi), India (for Infosys), and China and traveled to over 40 countries.
Kellee James, 32. Hometown: Chicago, IL. Kellee James is an Economist at the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). Her responsibilities include research, state-level public policy outreach and business development at the United States’ first greenhouse gas emissions exchange and cap-and-trade system. Prior to joining CCX, Kellee worked for the World Bank as part of its technology group, as well as for the Inter-American Foundation where she evaluated agriculture, tourism and microfinance projects in Brazil, Mexico and Honduras. Kellee is a co-founder and Board member of Levantamos, a non-profit that works to develop partnerships between Americans and Brazilians of African descent. She also currently serves on the Board of Net Impact, a membership organization of over 12,000 MBA professionals committed to sustainability through corporate responsibility; and is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a leadership training institute. Kellee is a lifelong equestrian, and has trained in the discipline of show jumping under the direction of a former U.S. Olympian. She received her MBA and MA in International Development from American University in Washington, D.C., and completed a BA in Spanish and International Studies from the University of Kentucky.
Sarah Johnson, 29. Hometown: Lexington, KY. Sarah Johnson is a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, where she pursues research at the nexus of biology and planetary science. For the past two years, Sarah has helped develop a life detection instrument for a future mission to Mars; prior to that, she completed field seasons in Antarctica, Australia and Madagascar, conducted research at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and worked at mission control for the NASA Opportunity and Spirit Mars Rovers. Her publications address topics ranging from global warming on early Mars to biodiversity in inaccessible ecosystems on Earth, and in 2007 she published a paper announcing the discovery of the world’s oldest living organism. Sarah also co-founded Common Hope for Health, a non-profit organization dedicated to alleviating healthcare deficiencies in Kenya, and she serves as a consultant at United Nations climate change negotiations. She is a Goldwater, Truman and Rhodes Scholar, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. She holds a B.A. in mathematics and environmental studies from Washington University in St. Louis, a second B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics and an M.Sc. in biology from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. in planetary science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rob Lyman, 38. Hometown: Walkersville, MD. Rob Lyman is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. His sixteen year career includes a tour as a squadron commander, plus deployments throughout Southwest and Central Asia. He has served at the U.S. Central Air Forces Combined Air Operations Center supporting Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan and as the Director of Communications for a deployed Joint Special Operations Task Force. As a Captain he was selected for the Air Force Intern program, where he received his master’s degree in organizational management from George Washington University. Rob has been a consistent community volunteer with youth leadership organizations and has supported scholarships for technical education. He has received the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal twice, and was presented the 2008 Leadership Award by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, International. A graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, he holds additional qualifiers as a Strategist, Joint Planner, and Air Operations Officer. He was an Air Force ROTC cadet at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. His military decorations include three awards of the Bronze Star Medal.
Anish Mahajan, 34. Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY. Anish Mahajan is an internist and health services researcher. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and completed a Master of Science in Health Services at UCLA. Dr. Mahajan is committed to the ideal that health policy formulation should be informed by scientific evidence and stakeholder engagement. He has led innovative research collaborations between academic, government, and relevant stakeholder organizations on an array of domestic and international health policy issues. He has given presentations and published numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics including HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, the private sector response to the South African AIDS epidemic, high-deductible health plans, and adherence to medications for chronic illnesses. His work has addressed health care challenges in the U.S., India, and South Africa and he has previously served as a consultant to The Ford Foundation and RAND Corporation. Dedicated to public service, he is currently serving a 2-year term as a publicly elected council member on a City of Los Angeles neighborhood council. He is Vice-Chair on the council’s Public Policy Committee. Anish received a B.A. in Public Policy and M.D. from Brown University. He also earned a M.P.H. in International Health from Harvard School of Public Health.
Annie Maxwell, 30. Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA. Annie Maxwell is the Chief Operating Officer of Direct Relief International, a nonprofit that through humanitarian assistance improves the quality of life for people affected by poverty or disasters in 59 countries including the U.S. Annie joined Direct Relief in 2002 and now oversees the day-to-day activities of the organization. From 2005 to 2006, Annie was seconded to the United Nation’s Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, led by Special Envoy President Bill Clinton. She served as Partnerships and Outreach Officer, focusing on environmental issues and the role of NGOs in the recovery effort. Annie served as chair and vice chair of the Alumni Board of Governors at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and as a member of the founding Board of Directors for the nonprofit Wizzy Digital; she also volunteers as a youth volleyball coach. In 2007 she was selected for the Marshall Memorial Fellowship. Annie received her Master’s in Public Policy and B.A. in English and Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Michigan. She attended the university on a full athletic scholarship and was captain of the university’s Division I volleyball team.
Emil Michael, 36. Hometown: Miami Beach, FL. Emil Michael is Founder and President of Venture Consulting. He works with promising technology start-ups on their business strategy, corporate development activities and executive recruiting. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President of Field Operations at Tellme Networks where he led various departments throughout his tenure including account management, business and corporate development, legal, procurement, project management and sales. Starting with Tellme while operating out of a garage in 1999, he helped grow the company to over 350 employees and $100 million in annual revenue through its acquisition by Microsoft in 2007. He was also an investment banker with Goldman Sach’s Communication, Media and Entertainment Group from 1998 to 1999. Emil is the Founder of Twin Lakes Investments, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to teach families how best to save for college by providing individualized mentoring and matching funds. Leveraging his experience as an immigrant from Egypt, Emil counsels immigrant families on how best to assimilate to America. He speaks Arabic and passed both the New York State Bar Exam and the NASD Securities License 7 exam. Emil received his B.A. in Government cum laude from Harvard University and his J.D. from Stanford University where he graduated with honors.
Kendric Robbins, 38. Hometown: Albion, ME. Kendric Robbins is a Major in the United States Army. He has held a variety of staff and command positions throughout his fifteen year career. Most recently, he served as the operations officer and later executive officer of Task Force 2-6 Infantry while deployed to Iraq. Prior to that he commanded a cavalry troop serving as part of the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia, and as a platoon leader, he operated a remote observation post on the Macedonian and Serbian border conducting UN peacekeeping operations. Ken also served as an assistant professor and executive officer in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, were he taught courses on American politics and mentored future officers. In addition to his professional pursuits, Ken ran the Boston Marathon twice to bring attention to the plight of homeless veterans and is a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charitable organization. He earned a B.S. in American Politics from the United States Military Academy and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government where he was recognized for academic and leadership excellence. Ken and Heidi Robbins are the proud parents of two girls.
Marc Sternberg, 36. Hometown: New York, NY. Marc Sternberg is the Founder and Principal of the Bronx Lab School. Bronx Lab is a non-selective college preparatory high school that serves 430 students from the Bronx and upper Manhattan. Founded in 2004, Bronx Lab has been called one of New York’s high profile new schools by The New York Times, and has earned praise from, among others, the Gates Foundation, The Economist, and Education Week Magazine. The school graduates its second class of students in June 2009. In a borough with a graduation rate of less than 40%, more than 90% of the Bronx Lab Classes of 2008 and 2009 have graduated having earned more than $4 million in scholarship dollars and nearly four college acceptances per graduate. Bronx Lab graduates attend Middlebury, Brandeis, Connecticut College, Syracuse, SUNY Binghamton and scores of other colleges and universities. After earning a B.A. from Princeton University in 1995, Marc served as a Teach for America corps member in the South Bronx where he taught for three years. He then earned a joint MBA and Masters in Education from Harvard University, after which he returned to New York City as Vice President of Victory Schools, an organization that launches and manages charter schools.
Adam Taylor, 33. Hometown: Washington, DC. Adam Taylor is the Senior Political Director at Sojourners. He is responsible for leading the organization’s advocacy, coalition building, and constituency outreach. He formerly served as the Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that educates and mobilizes students around global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, he worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights and as an Urban Fellow in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City. Adam served as the co-chair of the Jubilee U.S.A. Network and on the Advisory Board of the Global Interdependence Initiative. He currently serves on the boards of Micah Challenge USA and Africa Action. Adam serves as an Associate Minister at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington DC. Adam graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Masters in Divinity from the Samuel Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in 2009. He received a Masters in Public Policy from the JFK School of Government, Harvard University in 2001. He graduated Cum Laude with a BA in international studies from Emory University in 1998, where he was the recipient of the Marion Luther Brittain Award, the University’s highest student honor.
Presiliano (Raúl) Torrez, 32. Hometown: Albuquerque, NM. Raúl Torrez is an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Prosecutions Division of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. He prosecutes complex felony cases including violent crimes, white collar, voter fraud, and Internet Crimes Against Children. He is also the only cross-designated Special Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the firearms section of the United States Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque where he prosecutes felons in possession of firearms and armed career criminals. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Torrez worked for an Internet startup company in New York and Silicon Valley, and he also served as the Development Officer for the César E. Chávez Foundation in Los Angeles. He is an American Bar Association / Young Lawyers Division Scholar, a Deputy Regional President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, and a board member of the Rio Grande Community Development Corporation. Mr. Torrez is also the founder of Albuquerque KIPP, a non-profit organization dedicated to the establishment of a premiere, college-prep charter school for Albuquerque’s low-income students. He received his A.B. in Government, Cum Laude, from Harvard University, his M.S. in International Political Economy, with Merit, from The London School of Economics, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Washington (DPA) – Physicians at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles worked for more than an hour to resuscitate pop icon Michael Jackson, according to his brother Jermaine Jackson in broadcast remarks Thursday.
WASHINGTON, DC – The