FOREX Africa: Is 2015 Ethiopian Birr’s Time To Shine?

As a frontier market, the countries of Africa represent both tremendous opportunities and tremendous risks. On the risk side of the ledger are all the usual complications of international trade and investment compounded by the problems inherent in a developing, emergent continental market consisting of 54 countries and 1.1 billion people – it’s a lot to keep track of.
Luckily, the ups and downs of the African currency markets aren’t one of them if you know where to look. To help with that, AFK Insider has compiled all the news you need to know now in order to slim down your currency risk in the week ahead. Let’s see what’s happening out there.
From Band Aid to Investor Darling
Early last month Ethiopia marked a remarkable milestone in its history. Thirty years ago the country was in the grip of a deadly, mostly man-made famine caused by civil war and government mismanagement.

Sisi to meet Ethiopia’s patriarch, church delegation

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is set to meet Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Mathias I on Monday, the presidency’s spokesman said.

Mathias I came to Egypt early Saturday with a large delegation for a six-day visit after an invitation from Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II, Ahram Online reported.

The Egyptian and Ethiopian churches mediated negotiations after spat between the two countries over the Grand Renaissance Dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.

Mathias I met with Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab Saturday.
http://english.alarabiya.net/

Egypt rejects Ethiopia dam storage capacity

Egypt's irrigation ministry says the current capacity of the Renaissance Dam will negatively affect its water share
Egypt has objected to the storage capacity of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, currently under construction, which it fears will negatively affect its Nile water share.

Alaa Yassin, spokesperson on the Ethiopia dam issue for Egypt's irrigation ministry, called for decreasing the dam's capacity, currently set at 74 billion cubic metres, saying this will have an adverse effect on Egypt’s water supply.

Yassin stated, according to state news agency MENA on Sunday, that his country's "studies" on the dam have shown that the capacity is "unjustified" and "technically unacceptable."

In October, Ethiopia said it had completed 40 percent of the construction necessary for its $4.2 billion dam project, adding that the first stage of the dam will be operational from June 2015. The 6,000 megawatt dam, set to be Africa's largest, is expected to be completed by 2017.

40 ETHIOPIANS INTERCEPTED FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY IN DOWA

Police officers in central region of Dowa recently intercepted and arrested 40 Ethiopian nationals and a Malawian national for allegedly assisting them to enter into the country illegally.
Wise Upambo, a Malawian national aged 21 and the Ethiopian nationals were intercepted by the law enforcers during a sweeping exercise held in the district.
Reports reaching FaceofMalawi indicate that the illegal immigrants were travelling in a three tonner Mitsubishi Canter registration MC 5278 that was later impounded by the enforcers.
http://www.faceofmalawi.com

Atlanta man pleads guilty to Ethiopian adoption fraud scheme

An Atlanta man who previously ran an adoption agency pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to his role in a scheme involving children from Ethiopia, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

James Harding, 55, admitted that between 2008 and 2009, he and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent documents to the State Department to facilitate adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents, according to Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell and U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles of the District of South Carolina. Harding was employed as the international program director for International Adoption Guides Inc. at the time of the crimes.

Ethiopian killer maid gets death sentence

A penal court in Taif has sentenced an Ethiopian maid to death for killing her woman sponsor with an ax.
The woman has launched an appeal against the verdict, according to a report in an online publication on Wednesday. The incident, which occurred in 2013, saw the maid strike her sponsor eight times on the head as she prayed Dhuhr in her house in Musailat village in southern Taif.

Ati bin Attiya Al-Qurashi, spokesman of Makkah Police, said investigations revealed that the maid, who is in her 30s, committed the crime with the intention to steal. A sum of SR7,000 was found in her possession when she was arrested.

Ethiopia's first hotel goes ablaze

The wooden structures of the two-story hotel, built in 1898, engulfed in fire from the inside as firefighters are trying to put it out

World Bulletin/News Desk

Itegue Taitu Hotel, Ethiopia’s first ever hotel, has gone ablaze, with no casualties reported, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reported Sunday.

The wooden structures of the two-story hotel, built in 1898 according to its official web page, engulfed in fire from the inside as firefighters are trying to put it out, according to the reporter.

No details have so far come out from the Addis Ababa firefighting department or police on the cause of the fire.