Ethiopia facing new famine with 4.5 million children in danger of starvation

By Caroline Gammell

06/06/08

Ethiopia is facing a new famine as drought and rising food prices threaten starvation for 4.5 million children, aid agencies warned.

Children under five are worst affected with more than 75,000 suffering from severe malnutrition and in need of urgent care, according to Unicef.

An estimated 3.4 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid over the next three months while nearly double that figure are at risk of malnutrition.

The World Food Programme estimates that £75 million is needed to help look after those children at risk of hunger.

Eritrea Immigrants found hiding in trailer

By Marissa Carruthers

06/06/08

A GROUP of illegal immigrants have been arrested after they were discovered hiding in a trailer on Wearside.

The group of six men and women from Eritrea in the North East of Africa were found by police at Stephenson Industrial Estate in Usworth, Washington, yesterday at 3.20pm

But after arriving, they found people had in fact been living there.
After a search of the area, police found three women and three men, aged between 20 and 32, who were arrested in Heworth Road, Usworth, on suspicion of illegally entering the country.

Police have not yet managed to establish whether the driver of the vehicle was involved in the operation.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “At about 3.23pm officers attended a report of potential criminal damage to a heavy goods vehicle at Stephenson Industrial Estate, Usworth.

“On arrival officers found the curtains of a heavy goods vehicle slashed and evidence that people had been occupying the trailer.

“After a short search of the area six people were arrested. It is not known where they bordered the heavy goods vehicle or whether the driver was aware of their occupancy.”

The arrests come less than three months after police caught a group of Indian nationals who had been hiding in the back of a delivery van.

Officers made seven arrests after the group tried to flee the vehicle at traffic lights on Ferryboat Lane, Castletown on Friday, March 7.

All seven were detained and quizzed by the Border and Immigration Agency.

The Agency say that last year, overseas immigration controls in France and Belgium stopped 18,000 people crossing the channel illegally and refused more than 6,500 people entry.

During the next 12 months, tougher measures will be introduced, including creating a single border force, meaning a more visible policing presence at Britain’s ports and airports.

Police investigations into the latest incident are continuing. Anyone with information should contact police on 03456 043043

First picture of choirgirl ’stalker’ as he appears in court charged with her murder

By Liz Hazelton

06/06/08

Posing confidently in a leather jacket, this is the first picture of the man accused of stabbing to death 15-year-old choirgirl Arsema Dawit.

Thomas Nugusse, 21, appeared in court today charged with the teenager’s murder.

Her blood-drenched body was found slumped in a lift at the tower block where she lived on Monday afternoon.

She had been stabbed up to ten times.

Police charged Nugusse last night after arresting him in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing.

Nugusse, wearing a white long-sleeved top and grey tracksuit bottoms, stood in the dock with his arms folded flanked by two male guards and one female.

He spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

He was remanded in custody to appear before the Old Bailey on August 21.

Arsema had been on her way home from school when she was attacked just a short distance from her door.

 She was found, still dressed in her pink and blue school uniform, by a mother and her child.

Since her brutal death, it has emerged her family had complained to the police that she was being stalked over a month before her death.

But her mother  Tsehainesh Medhani has since claimed that officers had taken no action.