Word: shum
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...decades, the Emperor has maintained control by playing the game of shum-shir (up-down in Amharic), a technique of raising and lowering his subordinates' status so as to maintain their loyalty without letting them become overly powerful. In the same way he balances his security forces against each other. In Eritrea, for example, there are two ranking generals but only one division, a paramilitary force of 5,000 field police to balance the division and a smaller force of home guards to balance the police. The inescapable conclusion is that the Emperor's fear of an internal...
First, Surgeon Norman E. Shum-way's team concluded that Kasperak's life was threatened by liver and pile-duct trouble, for which they must operate. They found that Kasperak's main bile duct had been blocked by internal bleeding. They removed the gall bladder and inserted a tube to keep the duct open, and thus keep bile flowing to the small bowel, and to permit drainage if necessary...
...officers are now on trial in Addis Ababa). He is, in fact, as close to an absolute ruler as the century will allow. Although he has permitted a Parliament to function for the past twelve years, he alone has the power to choose his Prime Minister. He regularly plays shum-shir-the Ethiopian equivalent of musical chairs-to prevent his top ministers from gaining too much power, and he still serves as his nation's highest court: any subject in the land can appeal his grievances to the Emperor and get a personal hearing. To maintain his authority...
Passing the Buck. In Hong Kong, sentenced to six months in jail for making bank-note plates in their apartment, Wong Shum and Lam Hin-shun explained that the plates were for Christmas cards...
Died. Sri Sri Sri Sri Sri Tribhubana Bir Bikram Jung Bahadur Shah Bahadur Shum Shere Jung Deva, 49, King of Nepal, whose proposed (but never accomplished) visit to the U.S. last November caused a stir because he planned to bring both of his queens; of a coronary occlusion, in Zurich...