Warnings of ethnic Central African Republic cleansing

     In Dakar, Senegal tens of thousands of  Muslims have been forced by Christian militias to flee the Central African Republic. Human rights groups and the top United Nations officials characterized this as de facto ethnic cleansing.

        Entire neighborhoods in the capital, Bangui, have been emptied because of the attacks by the Christian militias. What's up also been chased in large numbers from town in the provinces. As little shops have been looted and burned, mosques have been demolished, and homes inhabited by Muslims destroyed. The anti- balaka Christian militias turned into a violent, undisciplined gang apparently focused on revenge attack against Muslim civilians over the little rule of Seleka. It's been going on since December and hundreds have been killed. Government officials are trying to keep the peace between the two sides by making peacekeeping operations but  human rights groups do not have a clear picture of who their leaders are, whether they have a chain of command, and whether they the often gruesome attacks against Muslims.

        The anti-the balaka group often you are a list and necklaces a supernatural protection against attacks. Often armed with AK-47s, daggers or machetes, and many other dangerous weapons. Dispersed in the population these vigilante fires have proved impossible for the French forces or their African peacekeeping counterparts, 5,500 strong, to move out.

        The lynching of a suspected Seleka rebel by soldiers last week immediately after speech by the country's new interim president, which gathered everyone together to hear, created violence by anti-Balaka of forces the victim was life and stoned to death and cut up with daggers and machetes and what remained of his body was burned. Amnesty international to the killing of at least 100 Muslims on January 18 in Bossemptélé, western part of country, as one of the worst attacks by anti- balaka forces to date. Many women and old men were Among the victims, Amnesty said. About fifteen percent of the country population of about 4 million was Muslim.

        In the meantime the United States nations began one of the largest ever food airlifts on Wednesday sending 82 tons of rice into Benewah on the first of about 25 flights as food stocks in the capital dwindled
       

Stray dog danger

SOCHI, Russia:,Sochi's stray dogs keep popping up in unwanted places, this time on the cross-country skiing track.

In another incident that highlights the possibility of the uncontrolled animals interrupting an Olympic event, a dog was filmed by a Russian website barking at skiers at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon center during Thursday's training session. As skiers turned their heads in surprise, the dog walked alongside the track while three security guards watched a few meters away.

Pelle Johansson, a Swedish newspaper journalist who was by the finish area at the time, said the dog later walked down into the stadium, where a number of skiers were training, and marked his territory next to the main bleachers.

''He stayed out of the skiers' way,'' Johansson said Friday. ''He was very calm.''

Thousands of stray dogs live in and around Sochi, and have already been spotted in the Olympic Stadium, inside security zones and even in a hotel. Local organizers declined to give details on their measures for preventing a similar incident during a race, but said any dogs found on an Olympic venue are captured and given a full veterinary check, then released if healthy.

U.S. cross-country skier Kikkan Randall, one of the favorites in the women's individual sprint, said she hasn't seen any dogs during her training sessions - ''or any other wildlife'' - and wasn't worried they might interrupt the races.

''I grew up in Alaska where you have to be prepared for a moose running out of the forest,'' Randall said. ''So I feel like I'm ready for anything.''

Many people are complaining that they can smell " death" as in the deaths of the dogs but many have also indeed said that though the stray dogs are stray they aren't bothering any tourists because they are dead. While others feel there is another way to go about getting rid of the dogs rather than just killing them. One woman said that she saw two stray dogs laying in the sun outside of her hotel room and they weren't dead they were left there to die in the hot sun, she felt it was a inappropriate way to get rid of the dogs and was highly upset that they didn't take care of the fact that they were in front of the left to die. 

While many to send Russia saying that they are trying their best to clean up, many people feel as though there's more that can be done- not only for sanitary reasons but for safety.

Russians hope for a new turn out!

MOSCOW — After almost a decade without any top-level women’s figure skaters, Russia suddenly has more than it can use. Discovered in distant provinces and aging rinks, trained by the country’s leading coaches and eyeing one another’s every move, the skaters have a surprising leader in Julia Lipnitskaia, the newly crowned European champion. Only 15, Lipnitskaia is two years younger than her Olympic teammate, Adelina Sotnikova, and much younger than the top medal contenders.Over the past year, Lipnitskaia and Sotnikova emerged from an intense competition for the two places on Russia’s Olympic team from a talent pool that includes Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, 17, and two more 15-year-olds, Anna Pogorilaya and Elena Radionova. And while the pressure is intense on all Russian athletes to succeed in Sochi, the skaters’ rapid rise has some observers contemplating one prize the country has never won at the Olympics: a gold medal in women’s singles.

“There were two, then three, and now there’s already really a lot of competitors, and so Russian figure skating is blossoming,” said Tuktamysheva, rolling through Moscow on a bus after a training session. “In order to be selected, you need to be able to do the more complicated moves, and so that was a sort of stimulus from the very beginning”

Sotnikova, who won Russia’s national championship at age 12, said: “It’s competitive at every stage. All the girls watch each other.”

The exceptional competition for places has raised the level of all the skaters, giving Russia a good chance for an Olympic medal. Although not expected to beat the favorites, South Korea’s Kim Yu-na and Japan’s Mao Asada, who are both 24, the young Russians are strong contenders for at least a bronze. Russia has won only two medals in the event at the Games, and never the gold. They are hoping this year will be a completely different turnout.