Blog Entries Posted on August 21 2012 :

(PHOTO: Lt .Col. John Tshibangu, 44, second-in-command of the FARDC

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And continuing the series in Huffington Post, here is another installment. This one exploring what the writer, Barbara Hannah Grufferman, has discovered about having a sister in her 50-something years.

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In light of the recent Julian Assange controversy, I wrote an article on the Nigerian attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko and return him to Nigeria to face trial. The article was published yesterday in the UK's Independent newspaper:   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/umaru-dikko-the-man-who-was-nearly-spirited-away-in-a-diplomatic-bag-8061664.html?origin=internalSearch "Umaru Dikko, the man who was nearly spirited away in a diplomatic bag One of [...]

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reversed views of Morsi almost overnight. Only two weeks ago, most analysts had written Morsi off as a weak and ineffective executive boxed in by the ascendant military leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). After his bold move against the SCAF and reversal of its constitutional decrees, many now fear that he and the Muslim Brotherhood stand at the brink of nigh-totalitarian domination. [[BREAK]]

Both the earlier dismissal and the current exaggerated fears seem premature. Egypt's politics remain polarized, its economy staggering, its institutions decayed. Rules of the game remain in flux, with the constitution still unwritten, parliament dissolved, and the judiciary viewed through a partisan lens. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood's accelerated push for power risks ...

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After fighting a undisclosed illness Ethiopia Prime Minster Meles Zenawi died at hospital in Brussels Monday. "Prime Minister Zenawi suddenly passed away last night. Meles was recovering in a hospital overseas for the past two months, but died of a sudden infection at 11:40," stated Ethiopian TV. Although Ethiopia is at a mourning stage, leaders around [...]

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There's been a lot of talk about how the London Olympics will best be remembered as the Women's Olympics. Not only because of the individual performances of gymnast Gabby Douglas, or swimmer Missy Franklin, or heptathlete Jessica Ennis, but because of the collective achievements of women who participated in these London Games.

The statistics are amazing: Two thirds of the gold medals, and more than half of all medals won by Team USA, were won by American women. And this was despite the fact that women were eligible for 30 fewer medals than the men! The American women did not stand alone in leading their countries to the top of the medal tables. Women from China and Russia (#2 and #3 behind the U.S. in the total medal count), also took home more medals than their male counterparts.

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I just came across a very neat example of crowdsourced, community-based crisis response in this excellent report by the BBC World Service Trust: "Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive--And How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help." I ... Continue reading →

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ETHIOPIA'S prime minister, Meles Zenawi, died late on August 20th, following a long illness. After more than two decades in power, he had not been seen in public since mid-June, and uncertainty over his ill-health and possible successor had been causing jitters in the country's ruling circles. Ethiopia boasts one of Africa's fastest-growing non-oil economy, and it has been galloping ahead of late, developing its shipping and making its mark on the shoe industry among others. But the country's human-rights record paints a much grimmer picture--one in which young women are easy prey for human traffickers, and in which a journalist can be jailed for doing his job. As for Ethiopia's neighbours, there are fears that Mr Meles's death could herald further instability for the Horn of Africa ...

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By Sara Morrison There's a new Slatest in town: the third version of Slatest, Slate's aggregated news blog, launched Monday. Though some Slatest readers were only just getting over the changes between Slatest's first and second versions after the April 2011 revamp (and some still mourn the pre-Slatest Today's Papers), editor Josh Voorhees...

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I won't be blogging for the next week or so. I'm unplugged and out of touch. Enjoy the "dog days"...

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I just came across a very neat example of crowdsourced, community-based crisis response in this excellent report by the BBC World Service Trust: "Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive--And How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help." I ... Continue reading →

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Protesting students have forced the closure of Swaziland's only state university after they refused to attend classes in a dispute over scholarships.

Three students were shot with rubber bullets at close range by police, including two who were hit in the head, when they attempted to march on the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to deliver a petition last week.

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This article appears on the Guardian Development website today: Could Malawi's empty grain stores signal return to the bad times? The potential food crisis is very worrying and the fact that the devaluation has pushed already sky-high food and fuel prices up still further is a serious problem. Last year's July 20 protests were about food and fuel prices, as well as concerns about the way the

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