CBC News - World - A country you can never stop worrying about

CBC News - World - A country you can never stop worrying about Ethiopia is one country that I can never stop worrying about. Nor can the world. Each time that I have gone back over the past 25 years I am encouraged to see so much has changed since the great famine of 1984-85 that shocked the world and so moved us Canadians. Yet there is also much here that is alarmingly similar. This time old friends — survivors of that earlier tragedy — are proud to show me the signs of progress in the northern province of Tigray, the very epicentre of a famine that killed over a million people. In the countryside, small catchment dams have been built to trap rainwater and reforestation projects are underway; in the small provincial capital of Mekele, they can now show off a modern university, busy markets and a vibrant youth culture. A boy eats raw chickpeas from the family plot in Ethiopia's drought-stricken Oromiya region in January 2009. (Ho New/Reuters) Still, for all these encouraging signs I know there remain two constants here. Shared via AddThis

Joke of the day

A motorist was driving in the country when he came upon a priest and a rabbi standing on the shoulder of the road, fishing. Next to them was a sign that read "Turn Around. The End Is Near." The motorist didn't like to be preached to, so he rolled down the window and yelled, "Mind your own business, you religious nuts!" A few seconds later the two fishermen heard tires screech, then a splash. The rabbi turned to the priest and said, "I told you we should've just written, 'Bridge Out.' "