Finally our founding forefathers can rest in peace: Men and women are created equal in American politics

Dear Bashir,

Well, you did ask for it…my reflections on politics. First, as a disclaimer, let me say that I take everything in Life personally. Hard as I might try to be logical and objective, what I usually come up with are opinions based on personal experience and bias. I think I might head up a new, international organization called Agnostics Anonymous. Our motto will be “I’m an Agnostic. I don’t know; but neither do you!” More on Ruth Shanor : Reflections of an American Grandma, stretching one acre of land around the world

One of the unfolded issues in the mysterious government of Ethiopia is how much money the so-called elected leaders are earning.

Ever since the TPLF rebel fighters took over the leadership, their earnings have never been disclosed. There has never been a single elected public servant who registered his/her assets prior to taking public office. More on Ethiopian Leaders Must Disclose Their Assets

In the past four years, the rain fell in torrents, Demeke Hafiso’s crops sprouted like clockwork, his three-acre plot filled the stomachs of his nine children – and millions of farmers like him powered the Ethiopian economy to double-digit growth.

This year the rain came too late, he has abandoned his field of dead maize, and is sitting by the bedside of his motionless son in a medical centre run by Médecins Sans Frontières. The 16-year-old’s hollowed-out cheeks betray the starvation that has brought him here. More on FT: Ethiopia hungers for food crisis solution

 A new spate of violence has hit Mogadishu and its Indian Ocean waters as various warlords try to position themselves ahead of the expected withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia. More on Editorial: Resolve Somalia crisis now