BBCnews is carrying this report on a birthday of a very special sort:

The team watched an 8m rift develop in the ground in just three weeks in the Afar desert region last September.

It is one small step in a long-term split that is tearing the east of the country from the rest of Africa and should eventually create a huge sea.

Afar is not just the potential birthplace of a sea. All of the oldest hominid remains come from the area, so in a funny way it's where we were born as well.