The attention-grabbing piece of the Kenyan Lawyer, Mr. Kipkorir published in Kenyan Paper of Daily Nation on 03/10 has been a blessing for us as it awakened Somalis from a deep slumber of taking everything for granted with the belief that a change will descend from heaven without changing our hearts and minds. Hardly has Daily Nation been circulated throughout Nairobi when I received an e-mail from a brother in Africa with an attachment of above-mentioned´s article, advising me to read and distribute it to other Somalis worldwide. I have detected a grain of discomfort in his message and in the next twenty four hours I learned that the anger has degenerated into a full blown storm of unity. More on The cat is out of the bag

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 10 (Reuters) – The number of Ethiopians needing emergency food assistance has jumped to 6.4 million from 4.6 million in June, the aid agency Oxfam said on Friday.

Drought and high food prices have both contributed to the worsening crisis in Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa like Somalia and north Kenya, aid workers say. More on Number of hungry in Ethiopia jumps to 6.4 mln-Oxfam

HWASSA, 9 October 2008 (IRIN) – Ethiopia’s schools have opened for the new academic year, but severe food insecurity in some regions has kept thousands of children out of class.

“This time last year we had already enrolled 2,300 students,” said Solomon Desta, director of Bashiro primary school in Bona district of Sidama zone in the Southern region. “Now we have registered 1,800.”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Virginia hasn’t backed a Democrat for president in 44 years, but economic concerns and changing demographics are giving Sen. Barack Obama a chance to steal the once reliably red state from Republicans.