Man arrested for allegedly raping Ethiopian woman

BEIRUT: Police detained two employees at an employment agency for domestic workers over the rape of an Ethiopian woman, the Internal Security Forces said in a statement Sunday.

On March 17, a 33-year-old Ethiopian woman, identified as B.E., on a domestic worker contract in Lebanon, filed a complaint at the Tripoli police station, claiming she was raped by an employee at the agency.

B.E. and her employer had gone to the agency’s office in the northern town of Koura in a bid to resolve problems between them, the ISF said. The agency’s secretary, identified as L.S., 24, phoned A.Z., 40, an employee at the office, to settle the dispute.

Ethiopia insistent on dam talks with Egypt: MENA

Ethiopia's foreign minister says his country insists on continuing talks with Egypt on controversial dam issue
Ethiopian Minster of Foreign Affairs
Tedros Adhanom said on Thursday that his country is adamant about holding talks with Egypt about Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Renaissance Dam.

In a meeting with a European Parliament delegation, Adhanom said that Ethiopia must find a solution on water allocation based on mutual benefit, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt insists that the hydroelectric dam, currently under construction on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, may have negative consequences for Egypt’s share of the Nile waters.

Ethiopia however has repeatedly claimed the dam will not harm Egypt.

Recent talks between both countries fell through.

Cairo Analyst Says Ethiopia Dam Won’t Hurt Egypt

VENTURES AFRICA – A water expert from the AUC University in Cairo has confirmed that Ethiopia’s hydroelectric dam will not hurt Egypt’s share of the Nile waters. According to the Egypt-based water resource management specialist Richard Tutwiler, the Ethiopian dam will never stop the flow of water downstream to Egypt.

“It is unlikely that Ethiopia will severely choke or stop the flow of water. Ethiopia needs the electricity…and hydroelectric dams don’t work unless you let the water through” said Mr. Tutwiler.

The Sudanese government has also supported the Ethiopian dam because “the dam would have minimal impact on its (sudan’s) water allotment…and the mega-project’s other benefits became clear. ”

The In-Between Space of Meklit Hadero

Ethiopian music, jazz, and Eighties radio hits find their way onto the singer-songwriter's second solo album.

Meklit Hadero's singing voice has a fast-fluttering vibrato that's reminiscent of a cat's purr. Some have likened it to that of Eartha Kitt, the seductive 1950s chanteuse of "C'est Si Bon" and "Santa Baby" renown. Meklit (who recently stopped using her last name professionally) is flattered by the comparison, but she considers her tone to be more akin to those of the Ethiopian singers she heard as a child growing up in Brooklyn.

"I bring an influence of Ethiopia into everything I sing, whether it's in Amharic or English," the 33-year-old Addis Ababa-born singer, guitarist, and songwriter said over a dinner of pizza and gnocchi at a cafe just down the hill from her Bernal Heights home in San Francisco.

       
          

"Another thing is that I'm really interested in expressing multiple tones," she added, naming veteran East Bay jazz and blues singer Faye Carol as one of her "vocal heroes." "She blows my mind every time I see her — not just her range sonically, but her capacity to express different tones is remarkable," Meklit said. "Another singer who is like that is Lila Downs. You have to be able to express very different types of sounds, to capture a kind of wide breadth of what you sing about. That's a goal of mine."

Ethiopia lashes out at Eritrea, Egypt

ADDIS ABABA – An Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman has lashed out at longstanding rival Eritrea, accusing the latter of destabilizing the East Africa region, while also blasting Egypt for the latter's "malicious" media campaign against Ethiopia's multibillion-dollar hydroelectric dam project.
"Eritrea's involvement in regional conflicts has been the case for long now," Ambassador Dina Mufti told foreign journalists at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.
According to Mufti, Eritrea has played a role in the ongoing conflict in South Sudan.
"We have circumstantial evidence of Eritrea's involvement [in the South Sudan crisis]," the spokesman said.
Tensions between Addis Ababa and Asmara have persisted since a bloody two-year border war – in which tens of thousands were killed – ended in 2000.
As for the row with Egypt over the Nile dam, Mufti said Cairo had launched a media campaign aimed at turning international opinion against the dam project.

Transport: Riding the rails in Ethiopia and Kenya

Ethiopia and Kenya are in a race to complete ambitious railway projects, but while Addis Ababa is in a frenzy of construction its East African neighbour may have hit the buffers.

At Meskel Square, in the heart of Addis Ababa, traffic is even more chaotic than usual as cars, buses and pedestrians weave around the 5.5m-high pillars now straddling an eight-lane highway.
Confusion reigns too at Mexico Square to the west and Megenagna round-about to the east – evidence that work on the city's light rail transit (LRT) system is progressing at a phenomenal pace.
Bringing in the resources from the rural areas for processing is a problem. Part of that is transportation costs being high
East Africa is home to a series of promising rail projects, from Kenya's standard gauge line to the railroad linking the Ethiopian capital to the port of Djibouti.
Ethiopia's projects are far more advanced – they benefit from the wholesale support of the government – while Kenya's are lagging behind.

‹‹ኢትዮጵያ የመድበለ ፓርቲ ሥርዓት የሰፈነባትና ሰዎች በነፃነት ሐሳባቸውን የሚገልጹባት እንድትሆን ምኞቴ ነው››

ዶ/ር ፍራንክ ዋልተር ስተይንመር፣ የጀርመን የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር

የጀርመን የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ዶ/ር ፍራንክ ዋልተር ስተይንመር የአንድ ቀን የኢትዮጵያ ጉብኝት፣ በመንግሥት ባለሥልጣናትና በመንግሥት ሚዲያዎች ከፍተኛ ትኩረት የተሰጠው ነበር፡፡

ዶ/ር ስተይንመር ከጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ኃይለ ማርያም ደሳለኝ፣ ከፕሬዚዳንት ሙላቱ ተሾመና ከውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትሩ ዶ/ር ቴድሮስ አድሃኖም ጋር ተገናኝተው በሁለትዮሽ ግንኙነትና በአካባቢያዊ የደኅንነት ወቅታዊ ጉዳዮች ላይ መምከራቸው፣ ጀርመን ለኢትዮጵያ ያላት ግምት ከፍተኛ መሆኑን አመላካች ነው፡፡

በአፍሪካ በሦስት አገሮች ወሳኝ የተባለለትን ጉብኝታቸውን በኢትዮጵያ የጀመሩት ዶ/ር ስተይንመር፣ አገራቸው ከኢትዮጵያ ጋር የምታደርገው ኢኮኖሚያዊና ፖለቲካዊ ትብብር ከሁለትዮሽ ግንኙነት በላይ መሆኑ አመላካች እንደሆነ ለጋዜጠኞች ተናግረዋል፡፡

በጀርመን ከመራሄ መንግሥት አንገላ መርከል ቀጥለው ወሳኝ እንደሆኑ ተደርገው የሚታዩት ዶ/ር ስተይንመር፣ አንድ ትልቅ የባለሀብቶች ቡድን መርተው የመጡ ሲሆን፣ መንግሥታቸው በኢትዮጵያ ያየው ከፍተኛ የኢኮኖሚ ዕድገት ኢንቨስትመንት እንዲያፈስ አነሳስቶታል፡፡