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The Great Rift Valley extends some 4,000 miles southward from Syria north of Israel, through the Gulf of Aqaba, through Ethiopia, and all the way to Mozambique in southeast Africa. It harbors a giant fault, which has been under investigation as a model for sea floor spreading. A recent geologic event rent a gaping crack through the desert of Ethiopia, causing safety concerns for locals. These crustal plate motions may foreshadow rifting events further north in the Great Rift Valley...

Volcanic activity in 2005 accompanied the formation of a deep, wide rift in Ethiopia on part of the 4,000-mile-long north-to-south trending Great Rift Valley fault. Studies show that the injection of mantle material that “unzipped” the earth along the fault operated the same way as similar material does in less-accessible undersea rifts. Scientists knew that rifts were formed in this manner, but the suddenness of this one’s formation astonished them...

Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says failures in the U.S. financial system are largely to blame for Africa's economic crisis in a keynote address to the annual African Economic Conference.Speaking to an audience of academics and policymakers, Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi painted a gloomy picture of Africa's economic outlook.Mr. Meles, a former Marxist rebel leader, launched a blistering attack on what he called "discredited neo-liberal economic policies" imposed on Africa from outside. He said unsustainable consumption by the United States when times were good had condemned Africa to a protracted period of low growth ahead."The United States has hitherto...

Eritrea has a deserved reputation as an arms depot for various radical and rebel groups around the world. Sri Lanka's government has accused Eritrea of providing arms to the recently defeated LTTE rebels (who fought for over two decades to partition the island nation). Now an Eritrean dissident is accusing Eritrea of supplying rebels in Yemen with weapons and ammo. Sure, it is an accusation, but the charge likely has merit. Eritrea has made noises for several years that it could close access through the Red Sea, and having allies across the water in Yemen would make that act easier....

Ardipithecus ramidus is an extinct primate whose fossilized remains were first found along the Awash River in Ethiopia about fifteen years ago. Many fragments were collected, including shattered bones from a four-foot-tall female nicknamed "Ardi." She was chosen to represent her kind, apparently because of the comparative completeness of her remains. Now Ardi's discoverers believe they have collected enough data to reconstruct her history--but what does their data actually reveal? ...

Oct 2, 2009 — A new fossil human ancestor has taken center stage. Those who love Lucy, the australopithecine made famous by Donald Johanson (and numerous TV specials), are in for a surprise. Lucy is a has been. Her replacement is not Desi Arnaz, but is designated Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus – the new leading lady in the family tree. Actually, she has been around for years since her discovery in Ethiopia in 1992. It has taken Tim White and crew 15 years to piece together the bones that were in extremely bad condition. But now, Ardi has made...

Bones of “Ardi,” New Human Evolution Fossil, “Crushed Nearly to Smithereens” Another new alleged missing link has been found, if you consider something discovered in the early 1990’s new. This fossil seems to have spent almost as much time under the microscope at Berkeley as it did in the ground in Ethiopia, when it was first buried about 4.4 million years ago. Why did it take over 15 years for the reports on this fossil to finally be published, besides the fact that it allowed more time for planning the now-customary PR campaign? A 2002 article in Science explains exactly...

Prison Terms Upheld for Two Christians in Ethiopia Judge rejects appeal of evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money, gifts. NAIROBI, Kenya, September 25 (CDN) — An Ethiopian court on Monday (Sept. 21) threw out an appeal by two evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money and gifts to people to convert to Christianity, thus upholding their six-month prison sentences. Temesgen Alemayehu and Tigist Welde Amanuel of Wengel Lealem church in Addis Ababa went to Debiretabor, Amhara state, to plant a church in July. After a week in the area, according to area Christian sources, their...

Three Ethiopian exchange students 'vanish' during trip to Houses of Parliament By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 24th July 2009 Three African exchange students have vanished during a trip to the Houses of Parliament. The three Ethiopian men were among a group of nine visitors who were staying with families in Hartlepool as part of a three-month visit to the UK. But at the end of a day's tour in the Houses of Commons and Lords, the trio failed to turn up and organisers Global Xchange were forced to report them missing. Missing: Muluneh Tilahun Abera (left) and Habtamu Debela have not...

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God...

A few days ago it was reported that an Ethiopian Patriarch was considering revealing the secret of the Lost Ark, and the Ark itself, and how his church has been holding it for thousands of years, and would likely do so on Friday in Italy. Turns out he preferred keeping the secret (or had nothing to show) and said nothing on Friday. He had not even scheduled a press conference. World Net Daily has the whole story. Nobody knows what is true and what is not, but it is definitely a fascinating story.... The agency had reported an announcement would...

The leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church today backed off on a much-anticipated announcement about the Ark of the Covenant -- the ancient container holding the Ten Commandment -- which he claims to have seen. But no other evidence or, indeed, even any announcement, was made public today when word had been expected.

Bible buzz begins as hunters wait to view Ten Commandments box Ark hunters and Bible enthusiasts are buzzing about a report that the Ark of the Covenant, the ancient container that holds the Ten Commandments, is expected to be unveiled in Rome today. As WND reported, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world the unveiling of the Ark, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this...

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia..... Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of...

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God...

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God...

Somali residents say heavily-armed Ethiopian soldiers have crossed into central Somalia by entering a border town controlled by a pro-government militia. "They came with battle wagons and trucks all full of soldiers and guns," said Hassan Abdi, a resident in the town of Balanbale in Galgadud region. "Everybody is very worried." Ethiopian troops were setting up positions in the center of the town, residents said according to Reuters. Central Somalia has been the scene of heavy fighting between insurgents and the pro-government groups. "We are ready to fight the Ethiopians if they come close to our forces, we will...

The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia's revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site legend says was "built by angels". The team will have full access to the network of 10 Orthodox chapels chiseled out of volcanic rock -- some standing 15 metres (42 feet) high -- in the mountainous heart of Ethiopia. Local lore holds they were built in less than 25 years by their namesake, the 13th-century King Lalibela, with the help of angels after God ordered him to erect...

May 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "There have been a number of reports of foreign fighters, with possible links to al-Qaeda, fighting alongside hardline Islamists of al-Shabaab and Hisbul-Islam, said Mr Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. "We're extremely worried about the reports." "There seem to be fairly serious and creditable reports that al Shabaab does have, amongst its fighters, a number of individuals of South Asian and Chechen origin," said Mr Carson. "This is a very disturbing situation and reflects the seriousness of the problem in Somalia." Mr Carson also expressed concern about flights from Eritrea were...

Islamist militants took almost full control of Mogadishu on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia's capital, a witness reported. The Ethiopian forces pulled out their last remaining bases in the city late Wednesday after two years propping up Somalia's transitional government. Forces from different Islamist groups -- including the hard-line al-Shabab, which the United States has designated a terror organization -- immediately seized every base the Ethiopians abandoned. "The city is almost under Islamist rule," said a local journalist who did not want his name revealed. "You can hear different names of the Islamist groups...

Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives in a quest for details of financial transactions between the U.S. and several African nations. Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson confirmed the searches but wouldn't elaborate on the reason.

SNIPPET: "Oops, they keep doing it again and again. The web site of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington D.C (ethiopianembassy.org) has been compromised and is currently iFrame-ed to point to a live exploits serving URL on behalf of Russian cybercriminals, naturally in a multitasking mode since the iFrame used to act as a redirector in several other malware campaigns. Despite that the iFrame domain (1tvv .com/index.php) is already "taken care of", details on the original campaign can still be provided."

Politics Home » First100Days Chicago Man Arrested for Allegedly Targeting Obama With HIV-Infected Blood It's only the second time ever that HIV-infected blood has been sent with malicious intent through the U.S. mail system, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said. By Mike Levine FOXNews.com Friday, February 27, 2009 0 x in order to recommend a story, you must login or register. 6 Comments | Add Comment ShareThisA man from President Obama's hometown of Chicago has been arrested for allegedly sending Obama and his staff envelopes containing HIV-infected blood, in the hopes of killing or harming them. It's...

The U.S. State Department says one of its diplomats has been found dead in his home in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. A State Department official, who asked not to be identified, said 25-year-old Brian Adkins was found dead Saturday. The official says U.S. diplomatic security is investigating the death as a suspected homicide. The State Department has not officially released details of Adkins' death. Adkins was a foreign service officer in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa. He was on his first diplomatic assignment."

Zimbabwe's MDC plan to extradite Mengistu Haile Mariam to Ethiopia Martin Fletcher in Harare For 17 years Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former Ethiopian dictator who slaughtered opponents on an industrial scale in the “Red Terror”, has lived in Zimbabwe as the honoured guest of Robert Mugabe, dividing his time between a heavily guarded villa in Harare, a farm near the capital and a retreat on glorious Lake Kariba. Last year an Ethiopian court sentenced the “Butcher of Addis” to death after convicting him of genocide in absentia but Mr Mugabe flatly refused to extradite the man who helped to arm...

Even in the United States, the Utopian economic and political system known as socialism remains attractive to those who are not familiar with its track record of broken promises.  "The free market for all intents and purposes is dead in America," said Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). "The action proposed today by the Treasury Department will take away the free market and institute socialism in America." Senator Bunning's comments, made in the wake of the bank bailout, and followed by the election of a president who has openly advocated redistribution of wealth, should make Americans pause, for the formerly unthinkable is...

Christians in Ethiopia have long claimed to have the ark of the covenant. Our reporter investigated"They shall make an ark of acacia wood," God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus, after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites built an ark, or chest, gilding it inside and out. And into this chest Moses placed stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, as given to him on Mount Sinai. Thus the ark “was worshipped by the Israelites as the embodiment of God Himself,” writes Graham Hancock in The Sign and the Seal. "Biblical and other archaic...

Fierce fighting between Ethiopian troops and Al-shabaab insurgent group erupted near Dinsor town some 30 km south of Baidoa, the seat of the transitional parliament, witnesses said on Wednesday. On Tuesday the Ethiopian troops with more military trucks attacked Dinsor district and captured the town from Al-shabaab insurgent group. "The Ethiopian troops vacated Dinsor town early on Wednesday and they were heading to Baidoa when insurgents attacked them," said Ali Meer, a resident. Officials from Al-shabab told radio Shabelle they have burnt a military vehicle from the Ethiopian troops and claimed they have inflicted heavy casualties to them. There are...

A Somali Islamist hardliner who lives in exile in Eritrea has said the war against the Somali interim government will continue "even if Ethiopian troops withdraw," Radio Garowe reports. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the Eritrea-based ARS faction, said on Thursday that he is "doubtful" that Ethiopian forces will withdraw from Somalia. "The men who returned to Mogadishu made friends with the enemy, and I believe the enemy is using them," Sheikh Aweys said, while referring to Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia's (ARS) Djibouti-based faction. He described the enemy as "Ethiopian soldiers...

Religious leaders in Ethiopia on Monday urged lawmakers to amend the country's constitution to ban homosexuality in a move they argue could further strengthen existing codes. At a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, nearly a dozen religious figures, including heads of Ethiopia's Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, adopted a resolution against homosexuality, which they termed as "the pinnacle of immorality." They also blamed homosexuality for the rise in sexual attacks on children and young men. "This is something very strange in Ethiopia, the land of the Bible that condemns this very strongly," said Abune Paolos, the patriarch of Ethiopia's...

eavy fighting erupted today in Mogadishu between insurgents and AMISOM peacekeepers at a base of the African Union peace mission in Somalia, witnesses told the local media. Based on these accounts, a commando fired rocket propelled grenades in the KM4 base, a key crossing in southern Mogadishu. Radio Shabelle reports that it is unknown if there were any casualties. News is also unclear from the Afgoi district, in the Lower Shabelle region that surrounds Mogadishu: according to some local reporters, a blast severely damaged an Ethiopian military truck. Somalia, torn by a never resolved civil war since 1991, is in...

His Holiness Abune Dioskoros, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, who is currently in Europe on spiritual visit, said that the Eritrea people have religions of their own dating back to centuries on the basis of which they have been coexisting in peace and harmony. And as such, they are not in need of any religion from foreigners, he elaborated. During his stay in the Italian city of Milan from December 5 to 8, the Patriarch was accorded warm welcome by heads of the Office of the Eritrean Consul General, the Synod of the St. Mary Church and a...

Somalia: Islamist Leader in Hiran Region Declares 'Jihad On Ethiopia' AllAfrica.com, Washington December 10 2008 The top leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) militia in central Somalia's Hiran region has declared 'jihad' on Ethiopian troops amassing along border towns, Radio Garowe reported Tuesday. Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma'ow, the ICU chief in Hiran, told reporters via a telephone press conference that Ethiopia does not support the interests of the Somali people. "I urge the Muslim people of Hiran [region] to join the jihad against Ethiopia, because the enemy of Islam has returned to our (...)

Right Side News previously published a Refugee Resettlement Watch paper exposing the security breach in the P-3 Program which has allowed thousands of illegal aliens from Islamist activist countries like Somalia. Fraud Pervasive in African Refugee Program FairUS.org The State Department has suspended the Africa Priority Three (P-3) Program because of an investigation into the refugee family reunification program that revealed that less than 20% of the African applicants were able to prove familial ties. Since it began in 2003, nearly 36,000 African nationals have come to the United States as P-3 Program refugees. The State Department report also indicates...

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates holding a Saudi supertanker after the largest hijacking in maritime history have reduced their ransom demand to $15 million, an Islamist leader and regional maritime group both said on Monday. The November 15 capture of the Sirius Star -- with $100 million of oil and 25 crew members from Britain, Poland, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines -- has focused world attention on rampant piracy off the failed Horn of Africa state. Scores of attacks this year have brought millions of dollars of ransom payments, hiked up shipping insurance costs, sent foreign naval patrols rushing...

"Sir, you have done India proud." That was how the anchorman of a television channel in Delhi addressed the Indian navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, on the victorious sea battle by warship INS Tabar with would-be hijackers as dusk was falling on Tuesday evening in the Gulf of Aden. Those words would have made Sir Francis Drake, the 16th-century British navigator and slaver-politician of the Elizabethan era, truly envious. Sir Francis had bigger claims to fame in a life cut short by dysentery while attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1595. Unsurprisingly, the patriotic Indian media dutifully expressed its gratitude...

The article link goes to the article with the comparative images from space. The image below is the full-size picture at quarter-size; click for full-size. At some point in the future I'm sure there will be an expedition to get pictures on the ground, but this is a pretty inhospitable location. The new lava flow is the very dark area spreading northward from the white volcanic peak (Dalaffilla). The article has a labeled image showing where the apparent eruptive fissure was located.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have seized a Chinese fishing boat and 24 crew including Vietnamese, Philippine and Japanese citizens, Chinese state media reported on Friday. The Chinese vessel was held off the coast of the southern Somali port of Kismanyu late Thursday, the government's official Xinhua news agency reported from Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The agency quoted an unidentified pirate leader as saying on the local Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu that the 24 crew were all "fine." The pirate leader claimed that he seized the vessel 30 miles (48.2 kilometres) off Kismanyu because it was fishing in...

Two very interesting links below. Ethiopia reports record volcanic eruption First paragraph: "A volcano in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region erupted on Monday, researchers said Wednesday, prompting a minor earthquake and record lava flows covering 300 square kilometres (115 square miles)." Meteosat-8 Rapid Scan captures asteroid impact First paragraph: "On 7 October, asteroid 2008 TC3 entered the atmosphere over northern Sudan and exploded. Amazingly, the Meteosat-8 Rapid Scanning Service managed to capture the impact."

The Somali government and the Islamist opposition agreed to implement a dormant ceasefire deal, paving the way for pro-government Ethiopian troops to quit the country. The accord calls for the ceasefire, which was first signed in June, to finally come into force November five, said Susannah Price, spokeswoman for the UN envoy to Somalia. The deal also calls for Ethiopian troops to pull out of areas in Mogadishu and the central town of Beledweyne by November 21, leaving them under the control of African Union troops in Somalia (AMISOM), said Price. The agreement said "the second phase of Ethiopian troop...

Islamists in a town in southern Somalia have imposed Sharia law in line with their vow to bring back Islamic theocracy to areas where they were ousted two years ago, a spokesman said Friday. The Mujahideens of Southern Somalia, a group allied to the radical Shebab movement on Thursday named a 23-member board to enforce the law in Celwaq, about 650 kilometres (400 miles) southwest of Mogadishu. "This administration will govern the town using laws of the Holy Koran," its spokeman Mohamed Osmail Indhobur told AFP. Celwaq, near the border with Kenya, is home to tens of thousands of people,...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

On the other side of the Red Sea in the south-west corner of the Arabian peninsula, Yemen has natural gas reserves and is trying to lure investment from its wealthy neighbours. But the country suffers from a shortage of fresh water and is beset by economic hardship, a persistent al-Qaeda menace and a Shia rebellion in the north. It takes a leap of faith to believe that a private initiative can raise $200bn for what would be the world's biggest engineering project to link the two countries. Plans are afoot for such a scheme, however. The grandiose project is the...

A roadside explosion in Mogadishu on Sunday killed at least 13 people, most of them women who were sweeping a street, witnesses said. Residents said a remotely detonated device exploded in Waberi district along a main road leading to the presidential palace. Nearly 50 people were wounded... Four people died in the emergency room at the main Madina hospital... Insurgents have launched near-daily attacks on the transitional administration and its Ethiopian military allies. Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991. On Friday a roadside bomb killed a Ugandan member of a small African Union peacekeeping force based...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

That is, Ethiopia has effectively gained the entire population of the United Kingdom since the famine. But at least 80pc of Ethiopian girls are circumcised, meaning that no less than 24 million girls suffered this fate, usually without anaesthetics or antiseptic. The UN estimates that 12pc of girls die through septicaemia, spinal convulsions, trauma and blood-loss after circumcision which probably means that around three million little Ethiopian girls have been butchered since the famine -- roughly the same as the number of Jewish women who died in the Holocaust. So what is the moral justification for saving a baby from...

Ethiopia says its forces have killed 71 Islamist fighters and leaders in Somalia in a joint operation with the Somali government. State media Friday say the joint operation was launched June 29 to stop what it called a "planned terrorist offensive" in the Meteban and Gura'el areas. The reports say 13 of those killed were leaders of Somalia's Islamic Courts Union or the al-Shabab militant group. They say one of those killed was a Canadian colonel whose name is on a list of international terrorists. Reuters news agency quotes Sheikh Abdirahim Issa Adow, an Islamist spokesman, as saying only seven...

The Ethiopian Government has described as a fabrication a statement by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), that six million children need urgent help to save them from malnutrition. In a report last month, UNICEF blamed the malnutrition on poverty in areas of severe drought. The report received widespread international attention at the time and prompted calls for action. But Health Minister Tewodros Adhanom says UNICEF's estimate is exaggerated. "The total affected is 4.5 million population. How can you have six million children out of 4.5 million total affected during drought?" he said. "[This] doesn't make any sense. So...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Monday it planned to produce biofuels to cut high oil import bills, but dismissed fears the strategy could hit food production in a country suffering a severe drought. Some 4.5 million Ethiopians need emergency food aid due to failed rains and high food prices, reviving grim memories of the country's 1984-1985 famine, which killed more than 1 million. But the government also faces an annual fuel bill of up to $900 million, and aims to reduce that over time using biofuels. "There is no shortage of agriculture land in Ethiopia for food production,"...

LA JOYA, Texas — Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings, but they were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a red Suburban near this small border town. The vehicle appeared abandoned when police rolled up early on a recent Saturday morning. But when Border Patrol agents arrived and swung open the double rear doors, the Chinese immigrants tumbled out, squinting in the sunlight. "They were in bad shape," said La Joya Police spokesman Joe Cantu. The immigrants were silent, able to communicate only with hand gestures. One man...