Ethiopian polls open

Voting is underway in Ethiopia, in legislative elections that are set to be a stiff test of the country's democracy.

Menes Zelawi, the current prime minister, is expected to be returned as leader, after 19 years in power.

But the opposition is already crying foul, with memories of the 2005 election that led to widespread bloodshed still fresh in the minds of many Ethiopians.

While the opposition parties are already making claims of unfairness, the public mood does not seem to be in any way as charged as it was in the disputed 2005 poll.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from Addis Ababa.

Kate Kainja passes away

Nyasa Times "Minister of Women and Child Development Kate Kainja-Kaluluma has passed away in United Kingdom. “Indeed Hon Kate Kainja Kaluluma has died,” confirmed family friends in London. The 57-year-old minister was admitted to a North England hospital – York Hospital. Diplomatic sources at Malawi High Commission in London have said arrangements are being made to send her remains to Malawi. Kainja who was Dedza South West Constituency parliamentarian flew to United Kingdom for medical attention after a long-illness. She is survived by a husband, Emanuel Kaluluma and three children."

Dream takes off for unemployed man who built helicopter

News24 : "Rustenburg - The unemployed man who built a helicopter from recycled material outside his shack in the Siza informal settlement near Rustenburg is beaming with excitement after News24 users offered to change his life."

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