Ethiopia

‘Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets,’ fretted Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, as he summed up the informative powers of an independent press.

'There are lies, lies and implausible lies,' to quote Meles Zenawi, the dictator-cum-economic spinmeister of Ethiopia.

‘Lies, lies and implausible lies,’ blasted Meles Zenawi, the enfant terrible of Ethiopia, in describing the 11 March 2010 US State Department’s ‘Report on Human Rights Practices’ in Ethiopia.

When Meles Zenawi, the arch dictator in Ethiopia, was asked about Birtukan Midekssa’s health in her prison on 23 March 2010, he was comically philosophical about it. He said Birtukan's health was in 'perfect condition', except that she may be putting on some weight.

It is a staple of the criminal defense bar to represent thieves, robbers, burglars, muggers, pickpockets, shoplifters, embezzlers, con men, fraudsters and swindlers. It is also the ineluctable lot of the defense lawyer to learn about the M.O.