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An Ethiopian Airliner with 92 passengers and crew on board has crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from Beirut airport in Lebanon. Aviation sources said flight 409 was heading for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa when it crashed at 2:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) on Monday. According to Lebanon's Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi, the Boeing 737-800 disappeared from radar screens only five minutes after takeoff amid heavy rains and storms, and crashed into the sea about 12km (7 miles) south of the Rafiq Hariri airport. Witnesses who live near the coast have reported seeing a ball of fire as...

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."

Archeologist explains link between bones found in Ethiopia, Texas Lucy's bones on display at Houston museum By Pamela LeBlancAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFFSaturday, December 22, 2007 One roamed the forests of East Africa 3.2 million years ago. The other lived in Central Texas more than 9,500 years ago. What's the connection between two skeletons found a world apart? That was the question on a recent visit to Houston, where the famous older skeleton is on display. Though not complete, Lucy does have enough pieces, especially skull bones, for scientists to predict her measurements. This model at the Houston Museum of Natural Science shows...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian troops searched on Wednesday for seven Chinese and Ethiopian workers kidnapped in a rebel attack on an oilfield that killed 74 people in a remote and barren southeastern region. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), ethnic Somalis fighting for independence since 1984, claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn raid on the Chinese-run field that was one of the worst attacks to date on Beijing's growing interests in Africa. The rebels have repeatedly warned energy companies they will not allow oil and gas exploration in the area as long as the Ogaden people are "denied their rights...

Somali Islamic stronghold falls The Somali army is backed by Ethiopian heavy weaponry Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government says it controls the southern port city of Kismayo - which was the last stronghold of Islamist militiamen. The Islamists retreated as the army, supported by Ethiopian aircraft, tanks and artillery advanced on the city. The Somali prime minister urged the African Union to send peacekeepers and offered an amnesty to Islamic fighters. The Islamists had swept through Somalia last year, and their retreat from Kismayo is seen as a major reversal. Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi told AFP news agency: "Kismayo is...

Somalia Calls on Islamists to Surrender Islamic forces retreat in Somalia; government calls on them to lay down their weapons (AP) Islamic fighters retreated Tuesday as Somali government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn in the battle for control of this Horn of Africa nation. Somalia's internationally backed government called on the Council of Islamic Courts to surrender and promised amnesty if they lay down their weapons, spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said from Baidoa, the seat of the interim administration. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose military openly joined the war Sunday after weeks of quietly...

Ali KhameneiGuide of the Islamic Republic   Journalists live with the permanent threat of being imprisoned and tried without good reason. Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered in prison in July 2003. A total of 43 journalists were jailed in 2003, making Iran the Middle East's biggest prison for journalists.           Predators:There are instigators and powerful people behind press freedom violations whose responsibility is not always apparent. Whether presidents, ministers, chiefs of staff, religious leaders or the heads of armed groups, these predators of press freedom have the power to censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and, in the worst cases, murder journalists....