Family of barefoot marathoner sues shoe maker over use of name

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - The family of an Ethiopian runner who famously won an Olympic marathon barefoot is suing Vibram, the maker of a popular line of minimalist running shoes, saying it used his name without permission.

Abebe Bikila, who died in 1973, was a last-minute entrant in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and didn't like the fit of the shoes he'd been provided. Running barefoot over the cobbled streets, he shattered the existing Olympic record, finishing in just over two hours, 15 minutes.

Vibram named some models of its Five Fingers foot-glove style running shoes after him, and even trademarked the name "Bikila" in 2010 as barefoot or nearly barefoot running became more popular in the United States.

But in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Tacoma, Bikila's son, Teferi Bikila, of Tigard, Oregon, said the company didn't have permission to do so.

Ethiopian Tsgabu Grmay bagged Gold in African Continental Championships 2015

The riders at the Confederation of African Cycling Road Championships in Pietermaritzburg were given some respite from the weather on Wednesday for the Individual Time Trials of the Elite Men and Women and it was South African star Ashleigh Moolman Pasio who added a continental champs title to her impressive list of achievements in recent times with Ethiopian Tsgabu Grmay claiming the Elite Men’s title.

The men’s Individual Time Trial was just as exciting and with a strong South African contingent the odds would have been in their favour but it was Ethiopian rider Tsgabu Grmay who was the fastest over the two laps to claim the continental crown.

Moolman Pasio went into the Individual Time Trial with the Team Time Trial winners medal already in her hands and added the individual gold to that when she cruised to victory over fellow South African Heidi Dalton and Aurelie Halbwachs who finished second and third respectively.

The Bigla Pro Team rider was happy that she could add another continental gold medal to her impressive record of late and was glad that there was a little bit of a change from the intense heat that the riders had to ride in over the first two days.

Ethiopian leading gang of maid traffickers arrested

The gang involved in trafficking of housemaids in police custody. An Ethiopian woman was leading the group and supplying maids to citizens and expatriates

KUWAIT CITY,  Officers from the General Department for Residency Affairs Investigations arrested a gang led by an Ethiopian woman for housemaid trafficking in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh area.

According to a press statement issued by Ministry of Interior, the arrested gang members included a driver and 12 housemaids. When the department received information from a reliable source about the gang swindling a number of residents of Kuwait after creating an impression that it is affiliated to a domestic labor bureau, a team was formed for investigations.

Ethiopian shop owners shot dead in KZN

Distraught relatives of Getechaw Paulos and Deselegn Daniel in the shop in which they were killed.

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Safety and Community Liaison MEC Willies Mchunu has slammed the spate of attacks and killings of foreigners in the province after two Ethiopians were shot dead in their shop in Inchanga on Monday.

“We are extremely disappointed and angered by these latest murders.

“They come at a time when we were convinced that we were making progress in amicably resolving these attacks,” said Mchunu.

Shop owners Getechaw Paulos, 32, and Deselegn Daniel, 30, were both shot in the head.

A relative, Eshetu Zewde, said it had been three months since the two had started working, and he was shocked because they were liked.

Body found in Fredericton fire IDed as Ethiopian man, friend says

Selamneh Techane, of Ethiopia, seemed to disappear about five years ago, according to his friend, Jennifer Zilliac

Selamneh Techane was found in attic of Aberdeen Street house on Sunday, says Jennifer Zilliac

The body discovered in a suspicious house fire in Fredericton over the weekend has been identified as a man from Ethiopia, who seemed to disappear about five years ago, according to a friend.
Jennifer Zilliac, of Oakland, Calif., says she was shocked and heartbroken to learn the body found in the attic of a house on Aberdeen Street on Sunday evening was that of Selamneh Techane.
Zilliac says she received a call from the New Brunswick coroner's office on Monday after identification was discovered on the body. Officials are still using DNA and medical records to confirm the identity, she said.
Fredericton Police Cpl. Sean Clark has said the body was unrelated to the fire and that foul play was not suspected in the person's death.
Zilliac had put up a Facebook site dedicated to finding Techane after he seemed to disappear five years ago. She says he was instrumental in helping her adopt a daughter from Ethiopia in 2005.

'He was loved by so many'

"He was a taxi driver in [Ethiopia's capital city] Addis Ababa and he was connected with people who were adopting children from Ethiopia and connected to everybody," she told CBC News in a telephone interview from her home in Oakland.

Ogaden-Ethiopia Peace Talk may Resume, Ogadentoday says

Ogaden and Ethiopia had agreed to meet in Nairobi again to resume the peace talks that stalled in October 17, 2012, following ONLF's refusal to accept a precondition imposed by Ethiopian negotiation team, which was a violation to initial agreement according to a report by Ogaden Today Press.

The news follows days of fighting in Ogaden region at Sagag District and Suban-balal and Bod'ano, the outskirts of the Southern Ogaden town of Gode.

Representatives from Ogaden Nation Liberation Front (ONLF) and Ethiopia government are already in Nairobi and the talks may resume within this week, Dhanaan Media, a pro-Ethiopian Site said Sunday.

Citing from reliable sources , the site said the talks that will resume this week may end decades of conflict in the Ogaden region since it is different from previous talks because international negotiators intended to participate in and the experiences gained from the past talks.

Ethiopia’s stifled press

 

By Editorial Board February 8 at 8:37 PM

WHILE ENJOYING its status as an international development darling, Ethiopia has been chipping away at its citizens’ freedom of expression. The country now holds the shameful distinction of having the second-most journalists in exile in the world, after Iran. That combination of Western subsidies and political persecution should not be sustainable.

According to a new report by Human Rights Watch, at least 60 journalists have fled the country since 2010, including 30 last year, and at least 19 have been imprisoned. Twenty-two faced criminal charges in 2014. The government closed five newspapers and a magazine within the past year, leaving Ethiopia with no independent private media outlets. With the country headed toward elections in May, the pressure on the media has undermined the prospect of a free and fair vote.

Ethiopia has long been known for its censorship and repression of the media, but the situation has deteriorated in recent years. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the country has since 2009 “banned or suspended at least one critical independent publication per year.” After the death of prime minister Meles Zenawi in 2012, successor Hailemariam Desalegn has tightened the regime’s stranglehold on the press. Even Ethiopia’s rival Eritrea looks better: It released several imprisoned journalists last month.