The letter urges the US government to hold the Meles Zenawi regime accountable for its widespread and gross violation of human rights against thousands of innocent civilians in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia as in other places of Ethiopia.

It also urges the US to send a fact finding mission to the region in order to conduct an investigation of the wide spread and systematic human rights violations by the security forces of the Meles regime, identify those who are directly involved, and ensure that they receive no assistance or training from the United States, as required under the “Leahy law”.

Djibouti’s president has said his country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the UN acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute.

Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.

The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable. More on NY Times : Barack Obama for President

In light of the development of several critical issues that include U.S. economic volatility and the new political direction it’s likely to turn towards, it’s not farfetched to predict that Washington-supported Ethiopian occupation of Somalia will soon come to an end.

(CBS) With just twelve days left until Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama holds a 13-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows.

Obama now leads McCain 52 percent to 39 percent among likely voters nationwide, roughly the same lead he held last week. Just five percent are undecided, and more than 9 in 10 of each candidate’s supporters say their mind is made up.

Obama’s lead among independent voters, who have swung back and forth between the candidates, has fallen 12 points since last week – though the Democratic nominee still holds a 45 percent to 39 percent edge among the group.

Adolph Hitler was once quoted as saying,” Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you.” But that does this diabolical trap always work? If the art of deception failed any group, it certainly not only botched NSPU cliques’ tireless efforts to distort Somaliland history and the reasons that compelled it to withdraw from its emotional union with Somalia, but also the NSPU members’ lies have caused more embarrassment than comfort among themselves. For the NSPU coteries—so pathetic are their lies that the readers must willing to take pity on them [NSPU] instead of getting flustered with them. More on Somalia: NSPU’s deception exposed

HARGEISA, (IRIN) – More and more children are missing out on childhood as conflict continues in war-torn Somalia. Families who fled the violence have been separated from their children and, as poverty bites due to drought and hyperinflation, many children have taken to the streets to fend for their families. Nasir Ahmed, 12, is one such child in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland.

Somali refugees living in Nepal have been demonstrating in the capital Kathmandu to gain official recognition by the government.

They say their lives are miserable because they are not allowed to work and are threatened with heavy fines if they try to leave the country.

Karl Marx is back in fashion, says one German publisher, who attributes his new popularity to the economic crisis.

Publisher Karl-Dietz said it sold 1,500 copies of Das Kapital this year – up from the 200 it usually sells annually.