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HODEIDAH, Yemen, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A container ship carrying general commercial goods docked at Yemen's main port of Hodeidah for the first time since at least 2016 on Saturday as parties in Yemen's eight-year war are in talks to reinstate an expired U.N.-brokered truce deal. Goods arriving at Hodeidah have to be vetted by a U.N. body established to prevent arms shipments from entering Yemen. In the past seven years, Djibouti-based UNVIM has given approval only to ships carrying specific goods like foodstuffs, fuel and cooking oil. Port officials said the SHEBELLE, which according to ship tracking data is an Ethiopian-flagged general cargo ship, was given clearance by United Nations inspection body, the Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM). [1/2] Commercial ships are docked at the Houthi-held Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen February 25, 2023.

"There have been a number of approaches, but so far without getting any response" from the government, the source added. But progress has been complicated by a two-year civil war that broke out in November 2020, killing thousands of people and displacing millions. The international bond only makes up a small part of the country's total external government debt, which stood at $27.4 billion in the third quarter of last year, according to World Bank data. International bondholders have not formed a private creditors committee for the extension proposal because Ethiopia has continued to service the bond normally, two of the sources added. Recent filings show that Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group and Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC are some of the holders of the bond, according to EMAXX data.

☆ Biden to announce $34 billion Boeing and Air India deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Nikki Carvajal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Air India will purchase more than 200 planes from Boeing, a White House official says President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday. The agreement will include 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 20 Boeing 787s, and 10 Boeing 777Xs – a total of 220 firm orders valued at a list price of $34 billion, the official says. The purchase will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s, totaling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at list price. The company has not announced any sales to a Chinese passenger airline since November 2017, and the country banned the Boeing 737 Max for much longer than most countries. A Boeing 737 Max finally took off in China in January for the first time since 2019.

☆ Social media restricted in Ethiopia after church rift turns violent
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Access to social media platforms has been restricted in Ethiopia, Internet watchdog NetBlocks said, following violent protests sparked by a rift within the country's Orthodox Church. The protests broke out in the Oromiya region when three church officials declared themselves archbishops last month and set up their own governing body. At least 30 people have been killed in protests since Feb. 4, the church said in a statement on Thursday. The Ethiopian state has traditionally maintained close ties to the Orthodox Church, to which more than 40% of the population adheres. The Orthodox Church vowed in its statement that Sunday's protest would go ahead.

☆ Eritrea president says rights violations by Eritrean troops in Ethiopia "a fantasy"
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Ayenat Mersie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NAIROBI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki said on Thursday that reports of Eritrean troops committing human rights violations during the conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region were "a fantasy" and "misinformation". Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the bloody two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray. In November, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. During the war, Eritrean troops were accused by residents and human rights groups of various abuses, including the killing of hundreds of civilians in Axum during a 24-hour period in November 2020. At a news conference in Nairobi Afwerki called the allegations of human rights abuses by Eritrean troops "a fantasy of those who went to derail the peace process... a factory of fabricating misinformation."

☆ Meta can be sued in Kenya by ex-content moderator, the country's court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoNAIROBI, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A labour court in Kenya ruled on Monday that Meta (META.O), the parent company of Facebook, can be sued in the East African country after a former content moderator filed a lawsuit against it alleging poor working conditions. The lawsuit was filed by one person on behalf of a group and was also filed against Meta's local outsourcing company Sama. The decision from Kenya's employment and labour relations court could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally. The U.S. company works with thousands of moderators around the world, tasked with reviewing graphic content posted on its platform. Meta is also facing another lawsuit in Kenya.

☆ Ethiopian PM meets Tigray region leaders for first time since peace deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attends his last campaign event ahead of Ethiopia's parliamentary and regional elections scheduled for June 21, in Jimma, Ethiopia, June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File PhotoADDIS ABABA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met senior leaders of the Tigray region forces on Friday for the first time since they signed a peace deal with the national government ending two years of war, the state-run broadcaster said. The Addis Ababa government and forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) signed agreements in November to permanently cease hostilities, ending fighting that killed tens thousands and displaced millions. Friday's meeting was Abiy's first with senior administrators of the northern Tigray region since the fighting broke out. Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I followed Nancy Pelosi's diet of breakfast ice cream and hot dogs for a week, and I ping-ponged between euphoria and the depths of despair
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Sophie Kleeman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

My research found that Pelosi eats ice cream for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, pasta, and chocolate. Chocolate ice cream for breakfast, rich and creamy pasta, and lots of snacking chocolate. She claims she does not exercise; her daughter once arrived home to find her mother eating chocolate ice cream while using a stationary bike. I save the ice cream for later to avoid a massive sugar crash and start out with a cup of black tea instead. However, I don't want to slack off after the ice cream episode, so I slather it on.

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☆ I used to work as a chef in Philadelphia. Here are the 12 restaurants I always recommend to first-time visitors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Grace Kennedy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

I'm a Philadelphia native who used to work as a chef and baker in restaurants around the city. Philadelphia is known for its cheesesteaks, but it also has great Mexican, Italian, and Thai food. There are too many restaurants in Philadelphia worth trying to list them all here. However, these 12 restaurants are my tried-and-true favorites that every first-time visitor should try during a trip to Philadelphia. In my opinion, it serves some of the best Thai food in the country.

☆ Eritrea troops still on Ethiopian soil - U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray. In November, however, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. The possible continuing presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray thus has been seen as a key obstacle to effective implementation of the deal. A senior Ethiopia military officer briefing foreign officials on Saturday denied there were any Eritrean troops in the country. A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, Getachew Reda,dismissed claims that the Eritrean troops had left Tigray and said "thousands" were still there.

☆ Lavrov shores up Eritrean support for Russia over Ukraine conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Duncan Miriri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NAIROBI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Thursday on a tour of Africa to shore up support for Russia, focusing on the "dynamics of the war in Ukraine", Eritrea's information minister said. "We are thankful to Eritrean friends for their consistent support of Russian initiatives in the UN," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency TASS. The talks in Eritrea also explored ways of enhancing ties in energy, mining, information technology, education and health, Information Minister Yemane Meskel said on Twitter late on Thursday. "The sad fact is that Ukraine is both a pretext and victim of this policy," Osman said during the speech delivered in Massawa. There was no mention of the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where Eritrean troops fought alongside their Ethiopian federal counterparts against rebellious Tigrayan forces.

☆ U.S. safety board chair rebukes Ethiopia over Boeing 737 MAX report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday faulted Ethiopia's final report into the March 2019 Boeing 737 MAX fatal crash and said investigators did not adequately address the performance of the flight crew. NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said in an interview that Ethiopia's Aircraft Investigation Bureau (EAIB) had made errors in its report. "It's unprecedented -- under ICAO we get a right to review the report and to provide comment," Homendy said. The NTSB said the Ethiopian report's finding that aircraft electrical problems caused erroneous AOA output was "unsupported by evidence." The NTSB added that the Ethiopia report's finding that MCAS documentation for flight crews was "misleading since Boeing had provided the information to all 737 MAX operators four months before the Ethiopian Airlines crash."

☆ Eritrean Troops Endanger Ethiopian Peace Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A peace accord meant to end Ethiopia’s civil war is hitting a stumbling block, as troops from neighboring Eritrea who had been fighting on the side of the federal government have failed to withdraw, local and international officials say. Two-and-a-half months after rebel leaders from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the federal government signed a cessation-of-hostilities agreement on Nov. 2, Eritrean soldiers still control more than a dozen towns across Tigray, where they have continued to kill and abduct civilians and block aid for millions of people, local and international officials say.

☆ Eritrean troops seen leaving Ethiopian town of Shire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Tigray war is believed to have resulted in tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of deaths and forced millions to flee their homes. Witnesses and an Ethiopian official reported last month that Eritrean soldiers were leaving Shire and two other major towns, but many ended up staying behind. A Shire resident said the Eritrean convoys were seen leaving the town from early in the morning until about 5 p.m. on Friday. All Eritrean troops in the town seemed to have left by Friday evening, he said. A second aid worker said hundreds of Eritrean vehicles had left Shire but that some soldiers remained in the town.

☆ Boeing's long road to the 737 MAX's return in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is seen grounded at a storage area in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, July 1, 2019. AUG. 11 - A Boeing MAX test plane flies in China as the manufacturer works with the regulator on its return. JUNE 15 - A China Southern MAX conducts test flights for the first time since March. SEPT. 14 - China's aviation regulator meets with Boeing about the MAX's return. 2023JAN. 11 - China Southern schedules commercial flights with the MAX for Jan. 13JAN. 13 - A China Southern MAX flies from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou, marking the model's return to Chinese passenger service.

☆ Africa should not be arena for international competition, says Chinese foreign minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang addresses delegates at the inauguration of the new Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, which China is building and equipping in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Tiksa NegeriADDIS ABABA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Africa should not be an arena for competition between world powers, China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Wednesday, opening a new headquarters for a pan-African health body at the start of five-country Africa tour. "Africa should be a big stage for the international cooperation, not an arena for major countries competition," Qin said at a news conference with AU Commission chair Moussa Faki. A trusted aide of President Xi Jinping and former ambassador to the United States, Qin was appointed foreign minister last month. Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said the choice of countries reflected China's diversity of interests in Africa.

☆ Tigray forces begin handing over heavy weapons to Ethiopian army
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Abandoned ammunition boxes lie on the ground following a battle between the Ethiopian military and Tigray forces along the road between the village of Sheweate Hugum and Yechila town in south-central Tigray, Ethiopia, July 10, 2021. REUTERS/Giulia ParaviciniADDIS ABABA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Tigray forces, who fought a two-year war against Ethiopia's federal government, began handing over heavy weaponry to the national army as part of an African Union-led peace process on Tuesday. The demobilisation of Tigray forces is seen as central to the Nov. 2 ceasefire agreement, alongside the restoration of services, resumption of humanitarian aid and withdrawal of Eritrean troops, who fought alongside Ethiopia's army but were not party to the truce. The conflict created famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands of Tigray's population, killed thousands and displaced millions across northern Ethiopia. At the ceremony, Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) representative Mulugeta Gebrechristos said the start of the disarmament would play a major role in restoring peace.

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☆ Eritrean soldiers leave major towns in northern Ethiopia - witnesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Eritrean soldiers, who fought in support of Ethiopia's federal government during its two-year civil war in the northern Tigray region, have pulled out of the major towns of Shire and Axum and headed toward the border, three witnesses told Reuters. It was not immediately clear if the Eritrean troops were leaving Tigray entirely or just pulling back from certain towns. Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, and Ethiopian national security advisor Redwan Hussien did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Aid workers in Axum and Shire said they saw several trucks and dozens of cars packed with Eritrean soldiers on Thursday leaving toward the border town of Sheraro. Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war between 1998 and 2000, when the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which now leads the Tigrayan forces, dominated the federal government.

☆ U.S. safety experts dispute aspects of Ethiopia 737-MAX air crash findings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in dissenting comments included in the Ethiopian report, disagreed with at least two key findings of the investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737-MAX flight. Boeing has previously said the MCAS was a safety feature and the issues identified after the crash of flight 302, which followed one of a similar plane in Indonesia five months earlier, have been rectified. "Discussion of crew resource management and performance were still not sufficiently developed in the draft final report," the NTSB said. The accident involving Flight 302 followed another incident five months earlier, when the same model crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people.

☆ Exclusive: U.S. lawmakers set to back Boeing 737 MAX certification extension
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Congressional leaders have agreed to attach the extension to a bill to fund U.S. government operations and to require new safety enhancements for existing MAX aircraft proposed by U.S. Cantwell proposed requiring retrofitting existing MAX airplanes with an "enhanced angle of attack (AOA) and a means to shut off stall warnings and overspeed alerts, for all MAX aircraft," Reuters reported on Nov. 30. Faulty data from a single sensor that erroneously triggered a software function called MCAS to repeatedly activate played critical roles in the fatal 737 MAX crashes. Boeing declined to comment, but Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal said last week the planemaker supported Cantwell's safety retrofit proposal. Boeing said in October it expects the 737 MAX 7 to be certified this year or in 2023 and last week Boeing's Deal said he thinks the MAX 10 could receive certification in late 2023 or early 2024.

☆ Ethiopian Airlines sees passenger rebound from COVID this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Duncan Miriri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NAIROBI, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Airlines (ETHA.UL) expects its passenger business to recover to pre-pandemic levels in its financial year ending in June, its chief executive told Reuters. Africa's biggest carrier will ferry 12.7 million passengers during the year, Mesfin Tasew Bekele said in an interview, up from 8.6 million passengers in the previous financial year and 12.1 million before the pandemic struck. Any delays in re-opening of China could however curb the projections, Mesfin said, since it is a key market for both passengers and cargo. Ethiopian fared much better than other African carriers during the pandemic, thanks to its cargo business that was able to compensate for a steep drop in passenger traffic. "Unless we grow, we cannot be successful," Mesfin said, adding that a larger network will give the business economies of scale.

☆ WHO chief says his uncle was murdered in Ethiopia's Tigray
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Eritrean troops "murdered" his uncle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. The Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed in November to cease hostilities last month in a major breakthrough. However, troops from Eritrea, to the north, and forces from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Amhara, to the south, who fought alongside Ethiopia's military in Tigray were not party to the ceasefire. That followed the killing of his cousin last year in Tigray when a church was blown up, he said, without giving further details.

☆ Meta lawsuit: An Ethiopian professor was murdered by a mob. Son alleges Facebook fueled the violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The case is a constitutional petition filed in Kenya’s High Court, which has jurisdiction over the issue, as Facebook’s content moderation operation hub for much of east and south Africa is located in Nairobi. “They have suffered human rights violations as a result of the Respondent failing to take down Facebook posts that violated the bill of rights even after making reports to the Respondent,” reads the complaint. The legal filing alleges that Facebook has failed to invest adequately in content moderation in countries across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, particularly from its hub in Nairobi. In a statement to CNN, Meta did not directly respond to the lawsuit:“We have strict rules which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook and Instagram. Last year, whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, told the US Senate that the platform’s algorithm was “literally fanning ethnic violence” in Ethiopia.

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