Ex- TPLF members have formed a new party (Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty); which yesterday received license to operate in Ethiopia. ____________________
ETHIOPIA 123rd IN ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS 
The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Singapore, respectively.
At the bottom of the list were countries primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Chad.(See List)
Also See:
Website: The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008
US recaptures 'competition crown' (BBC)
US on Top in Economic Competitiveness (AP)
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The Academy (and scholarships) is being partially financed by a grant to investigate and debate about the concept of equal opportunities. Thus, a number of our motions will be about this concept, which is of increasing importance in the European community.
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Also see:
-VOA REPORT: Delegation's final Public Meeting - AUDIO
-ETN REPORT: Delegation's final Public Meeting - VIDEO
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SOMALIA'S PRESIDENT NAMES NEW PREMIER
Somalia's president named a caretaker prime minister on Tuesday, a day after the outgoing premier lost a power struggle in the government and resigned. Officials said Salim Aliyow Ibrow (Seen here), will temporarily replace Ali Mohamed Gedi.(More...)
THE DEMOCRATIC TARGET IN TUESDAY’S DEBATE
In an interview last week, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois telegraphed his intention to sharpen his distinctions with Mrs. Clinton. At the same time, though, he said he had no plans to “kneecap the front-runner.”(More...)
October 27, 2007
OTTAWA -- The Harper government yesterday introduced legislation requiring all voters - including veiled Muslim women - to show their faces before being allowed to cast ballots in federal elections.
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SOMALIA: Prime minister quits; violence rocks Mogadishu 
Ali Mohamed Gedi has resigned as Somalia's prime minister after an ongoing power struggle between him and the country's president Abdullahi Yusuf Hassan. "He handed in his letter this morning and the president has officially accepted his resignation," minister of information Madobe Nuunow Mohamed told IRIN.(More...)
Also see:
Ethiopian Govt. reaction on Ghedi's resignation -
Profile: Ali Mohamed Ghedi -
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_____________________Egypt Announces Nuke Power Plants Plans
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday announced plans to build several nuclear power plants, joining several Arab countries in the Middle East that recently have broadcast their own atomic energy ambitions.
Mubarak said in a speech broadcast live on national television that the decision to build these nuclear power stations was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve the country's oil and gas reserves for coming generations.(More...)
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Chicago-based chamber pop collective The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir aren’t your typical debauched rock stars reveling in a pastiche of self-destructive clichés. Leading a band that’s shared the stage with both the Arcade Fire and Ira Glass, Spoon and Dave Eggers, it’s clear that lead singer, guitarist, and keyboard player Elia and his scrappy group are comfortable straddling the divide between the debased rock ‘n’ roll world and the high-minded literati. As it turns out, both shoes fit. Not content with merely performing with some of the most notable names in independent music, the band has explored their connections with the literary and theatrical worlds, performing with Eggers, DeRogatis, This American Life’s Glass, author Joe Meno, and Saturday Night Live regular Fred Armisen.
Mr. [Lee] Lorenzen and other Silicon Valley investors are often dismissive of MySpace, Facebook’s larger rival, which has more than 110 million active users and is owned by the News Corporation. “MySpace is not based on authentic identities. Facebook is based on who you really are and who your friends really are. That is who marketers really want to reach, not the fantasy you that lives on MySpace and uses a photo of a model,” he said.
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* ETHIOPIAN AMERICAN CIVIC ADVOCACY (EACA): LETTER TO SENATOR JIM INHOFE
* OBANG ON SENATOR INHOFE’S SPEECH
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Note: Readers are encouraged to FAX senator Inhofe's office demanding an apology for his offensive remarks about Ethiopia/Africa.
-Sample letter to fax to Sen. Inhofe’s office
-Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam's letter to Senator Inhofe
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AUDIO – VOA Panel discussion on the Kinijit Crisis
Engineer Seyoum Gebeyehu
Professor Berhanu Abegaz
Dr. Berhanu Mengistu
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ETHIOPIA RE-ERECTS ANCIENT AXUM OBELISK 
Ethiopia started re-erecting its famed Axum obelisk 30 months after it returned to the country from Italy where it stayed for 70 years, a UN expert said Wednesday. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which is overseeing the operation, said preliminary work to restore the 1,700-year-old obelisk on its original site has been completed.(More...)
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AUDIO - SIYE ABRAHA VOA INTERVIEW (PART 2)
AUDIO - Dr. BERHANU NEGA VOA INTERVIEW (PART 2)
VIDEO - BIRTUKAN MIDEKSA MINNEAPOLIS SPEECH
AUDIO - SIYE ABRAHA VOA INTERVIEW (PART 1)
AUDIO - Dr. BERHANU NEGA VOA INTERVIEW (PART 1)
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TIME - Relief may be in sight for one of the most challenging wildfires in southern California's history. The flames are still burning out of control in the San Diego area, where more than 500,000, perhaps as many as 950,000, have been evacuated and hundreds of home destroyed. But the hot desert winds that fueled the flames began to ease Tuesday night, giving hope that the quick westerly progress of the fire would finally slow. (More...)____________________ 
Stephen Colbert Moves Ahead of Richardson, Closes in on Biden, in National Poll
He's been "in" the race for less than a week, and already faux-pundit Stephen Colbert has surged ahead of longtime candidate Gov. Bill Richardson in one national poll gauging the race for the Democratic nod for president. And watch out Joe Biden!(More...)
Also see:
Colbert Ahead of 3 Democrats in Presidential Poll-
Poll Tries to Measure Colbert Effect-
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Laura Bush helps women in Saudi Arabia
First lady Laura Bush helped launch a screening facility in Saudi Arabia Tuesday as part of a U.S.-Saudi initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in the kingdom where doctors struggle to break long-held taboos about the disease.
Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia, her first to the oil-rich kingdom, is part of a regional tour that aims to highlight the need for countries to share resources and unite in the fight against breast cancer.
"Breast cancer does not respect national boundaries, which is why people from every country must share their knowledge, resources and experience to protect women from this disease," Bush said in a speech at the King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh.
"The cure for breast cancer can come from a researcher in Washington or a young doctor in Riyadh," she added.
Bush, who wore a navy blue pant suit, arrived in Riyadh from the United Arab Emirates, her first Mideast stop. Visiting female dignitaries are not required to don the traditional black cloak that all women in Saudi Arabia must wear in public. She was greeted by Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, the king's son, who is honorary president of the Saudi Cancer Society.
Bush visited the Abdul-Latif cancer screening center, the country's first, where she met with Saudi women affected by breast cancer.
She later witnessed the signing the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research agreement at a packed auditorium at the King Fahad Medical City.
Saudi became the third country to take on the program, which was organized by the State Department and includes the Susan G. Komen Foundation with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Before the agreement was signed, Dr. Samia al-Amoudi, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April, spoke about the pain she felt when her 10-year-old daughter asked her if she would one day be stricken with the same disease.
She said she told her daughter "hopefully you will be able to tell your children there was once a disease called breast cancer that killed women, but it no longer is the problem it once was."
Al-Amoudi, a gynecologist, said about 70 percent of breast cancer cases in Saudi Arabia will not be reported until they are at a very late stage, compared with 30 percent or less in the U.S. She also said 30 percent of Saudi patients are under 40 years old.
Al-Amoudi said many of the hurdles in Saudi Arabia are not medical. For instance, until recently, it was widely considered socially improper to refer to the disease by name in the kingdom, she said.
"People would refer to breast cancer as 'the bad disease' or 'that disease,'" said al-Amoudi.
"But today, when we talk to the highest levels of authority or are speaking in front of all kinds of media about this issue we name the disease for what it is: breast cancer," she added.
Dr. Abdullah al-Amro, head of the King Fahad Medical City, said that almost one-fifth of all women with cancer in Saudi Arabia have breast cancer.
Bush, whose mother and grandmother suffered from breast cancer, was also scheduled to meet with King Abdullah and with breast cancer survivors during her visit. She will then travel to Kuwait, where she will meet with women democratic reformers, legal advocates and business leaders.
Laura Bush last visited the Middle East in 2005, stopping in Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories to promote freedom, education and the role of women.
I don't understand why I need to explain why a woman being kidnapped should not be filed under "odd news," but, because I evidently do, here's the lowdown (again): In recent months, I've read under the heading of "Odd News" stories about a man branding his wife with a hot iron, a man coercing his wife into having plastic surgery to look like his deceased first wife, wives/girlfriends/exes being held against their will in various "odd" places including a coffin, women being traded for "odd" objects or offered as reparations for "odd" transgressions, "odd" forms of abuse against women, and women doing notable things good and bad, that, while newsworthy, only seem to be "odd-worthy" because they were done by women, all reported alongside such frivolous fare as "Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from shop".
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Note from ETP - Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma believes that the Government of Ethiopia is respectful of human rights. He also believes that global warming is a myth and Iraq is a “huge success story”.
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AFRICAN REGGAE STAR SHOT DEAD IN FRONT OF HIS CHILDREN
[Audio Report from VOA]
BBC - The South African reggae musician, Lucky Dube, has been shot dead in front of his children in Johannesburg during an attempted car hijacking. He had been dropping his teenage son and daughter off in the suburb of Rosettenville on Thursday evening.(More...)
Also see:
ANTI-APARTHEID REGGAE ICON MURDERED (AGI)
African reggae icon dead (Guardian)
Lucky dead (AFP)
South African star shot dead (Reuters)
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Don't we have a system that is essentially using the criminal justice system to do what the Jim Crow system did in the past? Isn't it just an extension?
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Ethiopian biodiversity institute awarded UN environmental prize
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Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub
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Hint: last week, before he announced his candidacy, he said:I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative.
Today is some kind of blogging for the environment blog action day. So in that spirit, here are some excerpts from a speech by Van Jones (I've seen him - he is an amazing speaker): "Spiritually Fulfilling, Ecologically Sustainable AND Socially Just?" I want to suggest that there's a communication problem and there are two things that are happening. Number one: it's just very, very hard for white people to hear the pain of the subjugated people in this country.
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So we live together in these bubbles that touch, and we call that diversity, but we don't know each other. And when that bubble breaks for just a second and we're face to face with each other, it's very, very hard to hear that reality.
But white supremacy, to use the provocative term, will reinterpret that experience for you; and make it not be about your inability to hear, but be about other people's inability to speak. This is one of the most remarkable things: if you can get this, all doors open. There is the assumption - this is deep, this is deep - there is the assumption that when there’s a breakdown in communication between people of color and white people, that there is an deficiency but that the deficiency is not in white listening, that the deficiency is in black speech. "Why are they so angry?" People start critiquing, and then you find somebody who keeps themselves together just for a little bit and it's, "Oh that one's very eloquent, that one’'s very articulate." Right? Always the assumption is that the deficiency lies with the people of color. "Why don't they care about the environment? What wrong with them, don't they see the big picture? ... What's wrong with them? Maybe they are just too poor or busy, because certainly there is nothing wrong with our speech!"
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If it was just that you could show up and be heroic and save the polar bears that would be a boring ass movie. That's not the movie! You show up to be the hero and you discover just like Luke Skywalker, "Wait a minute, the dark side is in me! Wait a minute; my father is the originator of many of the problems that I am now trying to solve. Wait a minute, I can't just fight now the war monger without, the polluter without, the incarcerator without, the clear cutter without - I've got to fight the war monger within. I've got to fight the polluter within."
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People are always talking about their comfort zones, you ever heard that expression: "this is outside of my comfort zone"? Grow your goddamn comfort zone then, okay? 'Cause we are running out of time.
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I've sat with all these people who we think are in charge, and they don't know what to do. Take that in: they don't know what to do! You think you're scared? You think you're terrified? They have the Pentagon's intelligence, they have every major corporation's input; Shell Oil that has done this survey and study around the peak oil problem. You think we've got to get on the Internet and say, "Peak oil!" because the system doesn't know about it? They know, and they don't know what to do. And they are terrified that if they do anything they'll lose their positions. So they keep juggling chickens and chainsaws and hope it works out just like most of us everyday at work.
[...]
There's a pathway back to community that we have to walk. I have to give up something, I have to give up my right to be mad at white folks, 'cause that's not going to make a difference for my child. But white people have to give up something too, which is their right to stay ignorant about all of this. You have a perfect right to be ignorant about all of this and you'll be great people, honestly. You could lead big environmental organizations, you could lead spirituality retreats, you could do all kinds of stuff and you will get cookies and congratulations and people will cry at your funeral. You have a perfect right to not care about any of this. There just won't be any human family left.
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IPU Says Parliament Members Disappeared in Eritrea
[Click here for AUDIO report]
Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs says 11 Eritrean members of parliament have been held incommunicado since 2001 after they called for Democratic reforms. "they have literally disappeared off the face of the earth" She says "We know nothing about these individuals. We have asked to take a mission to Eritrea. So far, we have not been able to do that." (More...)
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China's Hu says Communist Party must stay in charge
China's Communist Party must stay firmly in charge as the nation embraces economic and social change, President Hu Jintao said on Monday in an agenda-setting speech vowing tightly controlled political reforms.(More...)
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1. Roles of the speakers: What is each speaker supposed to do? What kind of skills are most required for different speeches?
2. Strategy: How do we debate when we do not have a clue about the topic? What do we do when the first government comes out with a really bad case?
3. Preparations between the tournaments, preparation in debate club, individual preparation.
4. Debating internationally as an English Foreign Language speaker.
5. Administering a university debate club: keep them coming, keep them staying, keep them motivated.
6. Fundraising for the university debate club.
7. Organising a debate tournament.
8. Organising a public debate.
9. The myth of the conventional wisdom.
