ABC News The U.S. military has conducted its first offensive airstrike against the jihadist fundamentalist group al-Shabaab in Somalia, targeting the group under the new authorities given by the Trump administration in March that allows offensive airstrikes. “On June 11, at approximately 2 a.m. eastern daylight time, the Department of Defense conducted a strike operation…
The Independent Only Shakespeare’s plays could come close to describing such treachery – the comedies, that is The nation is now embroiled in a crisis – but what part is Saudi Arabia playing in stoking it? Reuters The Qatar crisis proves two things: the continued infantilisation of the Arab states, and the total collapse of the Sunni Muslim…
By Politico Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates | Stephen Voss/REDUX Some billionaires are satisfied with buying themselves an island. Bill Gates got a United Nations health agency in Geneva. Over the past decade, the world’s richest man has become the World Health Organization’s second biggest donor, second only to the United States and just…
By Jean Gasho |Modern Ghana When I became a born-again Christian in 2008, I started studying the bible word for word. I would spend hours a day reading all commentaries for all the verses I studied. The more I studied the bible the more I realized that most of the Christians around me did not believe everything…
Aljazeera A decade of development in Ethiopia, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is at risk if the country continues to ban political opposition and muzzle the media, the UN has warned. Ethiopia is now in its eighth month of emergency rule, which was imposed in October last year to crush its biggest protests…
The many motivations behind Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy The Economist explains By J.P. | The Economist OVER the weekend Xi Jinping welcomed 28 heads of state and government to Beijing for a coming-out party, which continues today, to celebrate the “belt and road” initiative, his most ambitious foreign policy. Launched in 2013 as “one belt,…
By NANCY JOSEPH PERSPECTIVES NEWSLETTER It’s an important language for the study of late ancient Christianity and early Islam. It’s the language of some of the earliest Judeo-Christian writings. Its vocabulary can be found throughout the Quran. Yet the classical language Ge’ez is little known beyond the Horn of Africa and taught at just two…
NYT ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Teddy Afro, Ethiopia’s superstar singer, is topping the Billboard world albums chart with “Ethiopia,” which less than two weeks after its release has sold nearly 600,000 copies, a feat no other artist here has achieved. Known for the political statements he makes in his music, an infectious mix of reggae…
BY ALEMAYEHU G. MARIAM, The Hill © Getty Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited the Middle East and Africa to “reaffirm key U.S. military alliances” and engage with strategic partners.” Mattis only visited the tiny nation of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa where the U.S. maintains its largest military base. Ethiopia was…
The disciplining of a professor raises an old philosophical question The conundrum of whether Christians and Muslims revere the same God By Erasmus, Economist EVERY so often a question that seems purely abstract and philosophical passes into the realm of hard reality where people’s lives and destinies are determined. One such conundrum is whether or not Christians…