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March 2012

Kiya Tsegaye

Not so long ago, legally backed death penalties were embedded in constitutions of many countries around the world.

But as of late the number of countries employing the death penalty is declining. It is possible that worldwide pressure may gradually influence all countries to abandon the practice. For now the world has not formed a common consensus against its use. The most populous country in the world, China, executes more than a dozen people every year, and some states in the United States use it regularly. Luckily Europe has long freed itself of this cumbersome practice.

More often than not, a cup of tea is all that what your body needs 

Faben Getachew

‘Tea is a cup of life,’ so goes an ancient saying.  It indeed is. The Chinese knew all too well about the health benefits of tea since ancient times, and have used it to treat many diseases ranging from headaches to depression. Nowadays tea consumption has markedly increased all over the world.

Tea is obtained from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant but we can find many varieties of it depending on growing conditions, harvesting time and the way the leaves are processed. Currently all teas fall under three big categories: Oolong, Black, and Green tea. Oolong tea is partially fermented and black tea is fully fermented. Green tea, on the other hand, is the least processed and thus rich in health promoting antioxidants.

Darfur, an area the size of France, had gripped the world when a civil war broke in 2003 and lasted for three years claiming the lives of an estimated 300, 000 Darfuris and 2.7 million Drfuries internally displaced.

It’s a complicated civil war with complicated players involved, and any peace mediation efforts had to involve a complex web of players with countries like Chad, Uganda and South Sudan taking their own share of the blame.