At least 18 die in car bomb attack on Nigeria UN HQ

ABUJA (Reuters) - A car bomb ripped through the United Nations' headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Friday, killing at least 18 people, in an attack reminiscent of a June blast claimed by a local radical Islamist group.  U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the final casualty toll was likely to be considerable and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered tighter security around the capital after what he called a "most despicable assault". Security sources and witnesses said the car rammed into the building and blew up, badly damaging parts of an office complex where close to 400 people normally work for U.N. agencies. "We do not yet have precise casualty figures but they are likely to be considerable," Ban said.  "This was an assault on those who devote their lives to helping others," he said in a statement. "We condemn this terrible act, utterly." Body parts were strewn on the ground as emergency workers, soldiers and police swarmed around the building, cordoned roads and rushed the wounded to hospital.

Uganda rebels continue central Africa attacks

A coalition of nearly 40 human rights groups called on the U.S. to step up efforts to fight against a brutal Ugandan-led rebel group that has intensified its attacks in central Africa, especially in Congo's volatile northeast.  In a statement late Monday, the groups, which include New York-based Human Rights Watch, said a special envoy should be appointed for the African Great Lakes region. That envoy, they said, should have a mandate that extends to areas where the Lord's Resistance Army is most active, "to support stronger United Nations peacekeeping and to intensify efforts to arrest" LRA leaders being sought by the International Criminal Court.

Japan Finances Human Security Project in Ethiopia

The Japanese government provided the first Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP) in the Japanese fiscal year 2011 to a hospital in Ethiopia.   The Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital in Bahir Dar was invited as the project partner to attend the signing ceremony on August 3, 2011 at the Japanese Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The amount of funding extended was 113,208 US dollars.  The Project is for the improvement of the condition of the inpatient wards at the Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital in Bahir Dar, Amhara National Regional State. In Ethiopia, many medical institutions are invariably dilapidated and ill-equipped.  Even at the Felege Referral Hospital, one of the core hospitals in the region, its medical facilities are in a state of disrepair and need urgent improvement.  In particular, beds are in short supply, and every day, about 30 patients are forced to lie on mattresses, stretchers or even just cloth on the floor as substitutes for proper medical beds.  There are six inpatient wards in the hospital with 350 beds in total.  However, 30 of these are not usable and another 90 beds are in use but are in very poor condition.  By providing 120 refurbished Japanese hospital beds, this project will improve the hospital’s capacity to treat inpatients.

Thousands of Ethiopians Immigrating to Israel

Jerusalem, Aug. 4 – Hundreds of Ethiopians are migrating to Israel this summer, as part of a plan to bring up to 8,000 people to the Jewish state.

The mass emigration comes as Ethiopia and the broader the Horn of Africa suffer their worst drought in 60 years.  Israel is absorbing the Ethiopians at a rate of 200-250 each month.  “It’s important to reunify them with their families already in Israel,” said Jewish Agency Ethiopian Desk Head Ofer Dahan.

At the end of last year the Israeli government approved the immigration of 8,000 Ethiopians claiming to be of Jewish descent.  The Falash Mura’s ancestors converted to Christianity under domestic pressure in Ethiopia in the 19th Century, complicating their status as Jews and their rights under the law of return.  Under Israel’s Right of Return law, Jews from anywhere in the world have a right to move to and live in Israel.