INSIDER
Nile basin nations say water-sharing accord has come into force without Egypt's backing
Read full article: Nile basin nations say water-sharing accord has come into force without Egypt's backingA regional partnership for Nile River basin countries says an agreement on the equitable use of water resources has come into force despite the notable opposition of Egypt.
Justice Department defends Boeing plea deal against criticism by 737 Max crash victims' families
Read full article: Justice Department defends Boeing plea deal against criticism by 737 Max crash victims' familiesThe Justice Department is defending a plea deal it struck with Boeing over planes that crashed and killed 346 people.
Mudslides in Ethiopia have killed at least 229. It's not clear how many people are still missing
Read full article: Mudslides in Ethiopia have killed at least 229. It's not clear how many people are still missingMudslides triggered by heavy rain in a remote part of Ethiopia have killed at least 229 people.
Former Boston and Chicago marathon winner Lawrence Cherono banned for doping and fake documents
Read full article: Former Boston and Chicago marathon winner Lawrence Cherono banned for doping and fake documentsA Kenyan runner who won the Boston and Chicago marathons has been banned for seven years for doping and trying to use fake documents to explain his failed drug test.
Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department says
Read full article: Boeing accepts a plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over 737 Max crashes, Justice Department saysThe Justice Department says Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners.
Somalia announces deal with Turkey to deter Ethiopia's access to sea through a breakaway region
Read full article: Somalia announces deal with Turkey to deter Ethiopia's access to sea through a breakaway regionSomalia has announced a defense deal with Turkey that includes support for the Horn of Africa nationโs sea assets and appears aimed at deterring Ethiopiaโs efforts to secure access to the sea by way of the breakaway region of Somaliland.
Ethiopia's government recaptures Amhara region towns from militia, government and residents say
Read full article: Ethiopia's government recaptures Amhara region towns from militia, government and residents sayEthiopiaโs government and residents say the military has recaptured several areas in the embattled Amhara region from local militia fighters.
UN agency suspends food aid to Ethiopia's Tigray amid theft
Read full article: UN agency suspends food aid to Ethiopia's Tigray amid theftThe United Nations food relief agency has suspended aid deliveries to Ethiopiaโs northern Tigray region amid an internal investigation into the theft of food meant for hungry people, according to four humanitarian workers.
UN, others cite new displacement from Ethiopia's Tigray
Read full article: UN, others cite new displacement from Ethiopia's TigrayAid workers in Ethiopia say Amhara's regional forces have displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans from disputed territory in the north of the country in recent weeks, despite a peace deal last year.
China FM on Africa visit sidesteps call for UN council seat
Read full article: China FM on Africa visit sidesteps call for UN council seatChinaโs new foreign minister has sidestepped a new call by the African Union for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council during his visit to Ethiopia.
East Africa bloc says 50 million face acute food insecurity
Read full article: East Africa bloc says 50 million face acute food insecurityMore than 50 million people in the wider East African region are expected to face acute food insecurity this year, a regional bloc said Friday, warning that some 300,000 in Somalia and South Sudan are projected to be under full-blown famine conditions.
East and Horn of Africa prep for worst drought in decades
Read full article: East and Horn of Africa prep for worst drought in decadesAgricultural workers in the east and Horn of Africa are preparing for their most severe drought in forty years, as authorities warn that higher temperatures and less than normal rainfall was recorded by weather agencies in March and April this year.
WHO Chief: World's worst health crisis is in Ethiopia
Read full article: WHO Chief: World's worst health crisis is in EthiopiaAs much of the worldโs attention is focused on the bloodshed in Ukraine, the head of the World Health Organization saya there is โnowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat" than Ethiopia's Tigray region.
US, Egypt tackle myriad irritants in strategic talks
Read full article: US, Egypt tackle myriad irritants in strategic talksThe United States and Egypt are putting a brave face on strains in their relationship as domestic Egyptian developments and regional crises test long-standing ties between the countries.
Ethiopia's Oromo protest, demand freedom for jailed leaders
Read full article: Ethiopia's Oromo protest, demand freedom for jailed leadersMembers of Ethiopiaโs largest ethnic group, the Oromo, are protesting against the government and have called for the release of jailed opposition figures as they gathered for their annual Thanksgiving festival of Irreecha.
Barega shocks Cheptegei for 10K gold, first Tokyo track medal
Read full article: Barega shocks Cheptegei for 10K gold, first Tokyo track medalHis triumphant victory returns Ethiopia atop the men's 10K podium for the first time since Gebrselassie and Bekele's four straight Olympic golds from 1996-2012.
UN says its food aid runs out this week in Ethiopia's Tigray
Read full article: UN says its food aid runs out this week in Ethiopia's TigrayThe head of the United Nations World Food Program says the agency will โrun out of foodโ in Ethiopiaโs conflict-hit Tigray region on Friday, while hundreds of thousands of people there face the worldโs worst famine crisis in a decade.
UN chief: World faces a `hurricane of humanitarian crises'
Read full article: UN chief: World faces a `hurricane of humanitarian crises'The United Nations chief is warning that a โhurricane of humanitarian crisesโ around the world has left civilians in conflict areas paying the highest price and is compounded by a relentless wave of attacks on humanitarian and medical workers.
Ethiopia's ruling party wins national election in landslide
Read full article: Ethiopia's ruling party wins national election in landslideEthiopiaโs ruling Prosperity Party has been declared the winner of last monthโs national election in a landslide, assuring a second term for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Oxfam: 11 people die of hunger each minute around the globe
Read full article: Oxfam: 11 people die of hunger each minute around the globeOxfam says that 11 people die of hunger each minute and that the number of people facing famine-like conditions around the globe has increased six times over the last year.
Leaders agree in Paris on helping African economies revive
Read full article: Leaders agree in Paris on helping African economies reviveMore than 20 African heads of state and top officials from European governments, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to seek an additional $100 billion for reviving Africaโs economies crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN, Ethiopia sign deal for aid access to embattled Tigray
Read full article: UN, Ethiopia sign deal for aid access to embattled TigrayTigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray carry their furniture on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. For weeks, the U.N. and others have pleaded for access amid reports of supplies running desperately low for millions of people. โWe have been urging, waiting, begging for access,โ another aid official, Jan Egeland with the Norwegian Refugee Council, told the AP. The ICRC, the rare organization to travel inside the Tigray region and its borderlands, has reported coming across abandoned communities and camps of displaced people. Inside Tigray, and among the majority ethnic Tigrayan refugees in Sudan, people are exhausted.
Ethiopian leader rejects international 'interference' in war
Read full article: Ethiopian leader rejects international 'interference' in warโWe respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference," the statement from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmedโs office said as government forces encircled the Tigray capital, Mekele, with tanks. โThe international community should stand by until the government of Ethiopia submits its requests for assistance to the community of nations." The Tigray regional leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, could not immediately be reached Wednesday as tensions were high among Mekele's residents. The international community has urgently called for communications to be restored to the Tigray region so warring sides' claims can be investigated, and so food and other desperately needed supplies can be sent as hunger grows. Misery continues for the refugees in Sudan, with little food, little medicine, little shelter, little funding and little or no contact with loved ones left behind in Tigray.
Ethiopia warns Tigray residents that 'anything can happen'
Read full article: Ethiopia warns Tigray residents that 'anything can happen'NAIROBI โ Ethiopiaโs government is again warning residents of the besieged capital of the embattled Tigray region as the clock ticks on a 72-hour ultimatum before a military assault, saying โanything can happen.โSenior official Redwan Hussein told reporters Monday that the Tigray regional leaders are โhiding out in a densely populated city; the slightest strike would end up losing lives.โHuman rights groups and others were alarmed over the weekend when Ethiopiaโs military warned civilians in the Tigray capital, Mekele, that there would be โno mercyโ if they donโt โsave themselvesโ before the offensive to flush out defiant regional leaders. Amnesty International warns that deliberately attacking civilians and civilian objects โis prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitutes war crimes.โAbiy Ahmed, Ethiopiaโs Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister, issued a 72-hour ultimatum Sunday for the leaders of the Tigray Peopleโs Liberation Front, or TPLF, to surrender. Redwan said that Mekele, a city of around 500,000 people, is now encircled at a distance of about 50 kilometers (30 miles), and with rougher terrain left behind โwhat remains is the plain land, easier for tanks.โHe added, โby providing a brute fact, it is letting people to understand the reality and make the right choice.โ Ethiopiaโs government is urging Mekele residents to separate themselves from the TPLF leaders in time.
Ethiopia warns civilians of 'no mercy' in Tigray offensive
Read full article: Ethiopia warns civilians of 'no mercy' in Tigray offensiveTigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray arrive on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The U.N. refugee agency says Ethiopia's growing conflict has resulted in thousands fleeing from the Tigray region into Sudan as fighting spilled beyond Ethiopia's borders and threatened to inflame the Horn of Africa region. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia's ruling coalition for a quarter century before Abiy took office and introduced dramatic political reforms and sidelined TPLF leaders. With communications and transport to the Tigray region almost completely severed, it's difficult to verify the warring sides' claims. And inside the Tigray region, the fighting has come close to camps that are home to nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea.
Official: Ethiopia's latest airstrike hits Tigray university
Read full article: Official: Ethiopia's latest airstrike hits Tigray universityNAIROBI โ A university official says the latest airstrike by Ethiopiaโs military has struck the school in the capital of the defiant Tigray region and caused major damage, while the United States says neither side in the conflict is heeding calls for de-escalation. The senior official described Thursdayโs airstrike in an email shared with The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from Ethiopiaโs government, which has been fighting the Tigray regional forces since a Nov. 4 attack on a military base there. While Abiy's government rejects urgent international calls for dialogue, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding as food, fuel and medical supplies run desperately short in the Tigray region. Eritrea has remained largely silent while the TPLF accuses it of entering the conflict at Ethiopia's request.
Ethiopia to replace Tigray region leadership as forces clash
Read full article: Ethiopia to replace Tigray region leadership as forces clashEthiopia moved Saturday to replace the leadership of the country's defiant northern Tigray region, where deadly clashes between regional and federal government forces are fueling fears the major African power is sliding into civil war. (AP Photo/Samuel Habtab)NAIROBI โ Ethiopia moved Saturday to replace the leadership of the countryโs defiant northern Tigray region, where deadly clashes between regional and federal government forces are fueling fears the major African power is sliding into civil war. Clashes began early Wednesday when Abiy accused the TPLF forces of attacking a military base in Tigray. A new United Nations assessment lists eight โrecent military confrontationsโ across Tigray, most near its southern border with the Amhara region. Dino Mahtani with the International Crisis Group, in comments posted Friday, said that if the Tigray forces come under pressure they may "punch into Eritrea, which would then internationalize this conflict."
Ethiopian PM announces airstrikes in country's Tigray region
Read full article: Ethiopian PM announces airstrikes in country's Tigray regionEthiopia's prime minister says airstrikes have been carried out against the forces of the country's Tigray region, asserting that the strikes in multiple locations "completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons." (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)NAIROBI โ Ethiopia's prime minister on Friday said his government has carried out airstrikes against the forces of the country's well-armed Tigray region, asserting that strikes in multiple locations โcompletely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons" and made a retaliatory attack impossible. The northern Tigray region is increasingly cut off. The federal police asserted that its members guarding 22 locations throughout Tigray had came under attack from TPLF forces in recent days. The Tigray government and Eritrea don't get along, and the TPLF this week accused Eritrea of teaming up with Ethiopia's federal government to target it.
Ethiopia near civil war as PM sends army into defiant region
Read full article: Ethiopia near civil war as PM sends army into defiant regionFILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, file photo, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, center, arrives for the opening session of the 33rd African Union (AU) Summit at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. โWe have to guard against โjust another tribal African war,โโ former U.S. diplomat Payton Knopf told The Associated Press. The prime minister announced โseveral martyrsโ in the overnight attack in Mekele, the northern Tigray regionโs capital, and Dansha town. The region is Ethiopiaโs most sensitive, neighboring Eritrea, which fought a long border war before the two countries made peace in 2018. The TPLF dominated Ethiopiaโs military and governing coalition before Abiy took office in 2018 and announced sweeping political reforms that won him the Nobel last year.
The Latest: Boris Johnson to urge global unity against virus
Read full article: The Latest: Boris Johnson to urge global unity against virus___5:50 p.m.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell the U.N. General Assembly that the coronavirus pandemic has frayed the bonds between nations and will urge world leaders to unite against the โcommon foeโ of COVID-19. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also used his U.N. speech this week to describe the dam, Africaโs largest, as an existential threat. Khan has frequently criticized the decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2019 to strip Jammu and Kashmirโs statehood, scrap its separate constitution and remove inherited protections on land and jobs. The United Kingdom is a founding nation of the United Nations and a member of the Security Council, and the country has been a global diplomatic juggernaut for centuries. Michelโs ire was raised when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would contemplate breaking an agreement he signed with the EU.
That time when an Olympic marathoner won a gold medal running barefoot. Yes, barefoot.
Read full article: That time when an Olympic marathoner won a gold medal running barefoot. Yes, barefoot.Abebe Bikila was the only marathoner in history to win an Olympic gold medal running barefoot, but that fact hides the more significant question: Someone actually won an Olympic gold medal in the marathon running BAREFOOT?
Ethiopia's leader hails 1st filling of massive, disputed dam
Read full article: Ethiopia's leader hails 1st filling of massive, disputed damADDIS ABABA Ethiopias prime minister on Wednesday hailed the first filling of a massive dam that has led to tensions with Egypt, saying two turbines will begin generating power next year. "We have successfully completed the first dam filling without bothering and hurting anyone else. Ethiopia has said it would begin filling the reservoir this month even without a deal as the rainy season floods the Blue Nile. There are other sticking points, but if we agree on this basic principle, the other points will automatically be solved, he said. Years of talks with a variety of mediators, including the Trump administration, have failed to produce a solution.
Ethiopia denies reports government has started filling dam
Read full article: Ethiopia denies reports government has started filling damADDIS ABABA Ethiopias water minister denied reports Wednesday that the government had begun filling a massive hydroelectric dam that has caused severe tensions with Egypt and led some to fear military conflict. Media outlets reported the government had begun filling after Minister Sileshi Bekele confirmed to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation that satellite images from recent days showed the dams reservoir swelling. The minister told The Associated Press, however, that the images reflected heavy rains, saying that inflow was greater than the outflow. Ethiopia has said it would begin filling the dam's reservoir this month even without a deal as the rainy season floods the Blue Nile. Ethiopia says the colossal dam offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of its nearly 110 million citizens out of poverty and become a major power exporter.
Kenya runner destroys women's world record at Chicago Marathon
Read full article: Kenya runner destroys women's world record at Chicago MarathonCNN image(CNN) - Kenya's Brigid Kosgei beat the women's marathon world record by more than a minute Sunday in winning the Chicago Marathon. Her unofficial time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds beat Paula Radcliffe's record, set at the 2003 London Marathon, by 81 seconds. It was almost 7 minutes before the second-place runner, Ethiopia's Ababel Yeshaneh, followed Kosgei across the finish line. Kosgei also handily beat Radcliffe's record in the Chicago Marathon, which she set in 2002. Kosgei and Cherono were among 23 Kenyans in the 42nd Chicago Marathon, which boasted more than 45,000 runners.