VOA Reporter Detained in Ethiopia

(May 25, 2012, VOA)--Voice of America reporter has been detained in the Ethiopian capital while trying to cover a demonstration Friday.  Witnesses to the arrest said that reporter Peter Heinlein and his translator Simegineh Yekoye were detained while seeking to interview protesters during a Muslim demonstration following Friday prayers in Addis Ababa.

A Powerful Piece of Paper

(May 25, 2012, USAID)--A USAID-backed land-certification scheme has not only transformed property rights for men and women alike, but has also addressed declining agricultural productivity, resource degradation and conflict over boundaries. With certificate in hand, new rights-holders agree: “There is nothing better than land.”

Catching Ethiopians Before They Fall

(May 25, 2012, USAID)--Despite one of the region’s worst droughts, no famine struck rural Ethiopia last year. The drought’s impact was lessened by a food-and-cash-for-public-works program USAID supports and helped design. Today, one of Africa’s largest social safety nets does not just protect against chronic food insecurity, it helps communities weather the future.

The Female “Army” Leading Ethiopia’s Health Revolution

(May 25, 2012, USAID)--Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, is also overwhelmingly rural. Bucking the global trend of mass migration to cities, over 80 percent of Ethiopians still live in hard-to-reach areas.

Eight Reasons for Kenyan and Ethiopian Dominance

(May 25, 2012 , Runners World: Sweat Science)--There's a very interesting review paper in next month's issue of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, from two well-known scientists -- Randy Wilber of the USOC's Athlete Performance Lab and Yannis Pitsiladis of the University of Glasgow -- called "Kenyan and Ethiopian Distance Runners:

What Makes Them So Good?" Now there's a topic that can spark some arguments! To start, the authors lay out the eight possible factors most commonly cited as a reason for the dominance:

Since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Kenyan and Ethiopian runners have dominated the middle- and long- distance events in athletics and have exhibited comparable dominance in international cross-country and road- racing competition. Several factors have been proposed to explain the extraordinary success of the Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners, including