Geography Teacher new Somali President

Somalia has elected a new leader.

FACTBOX-Facts about Somali Islamist leader | World | Reuters.

Among others:

• He studied in Libya and Sudan before becoming a geography teacher in a Mogadishu secondary school. He has said it was the kidnapping of a young student for ransom that drove him to set up an Islamic sharia court to rid the capital of banditry.

• In his mid-40s, the scholarly and softly-spoken Ahmed was chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that drove warlords from Mogadishu and ran the capital for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian troops ousted them.

And from Voice of America, with some background on recent events in the country.

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New Grandbaby

I will be gone the 1st week of this semester, helping to take care of my newest grandchild, Kate. I will return January 12th.