About 200 containers of Ethiopian imports are at stake at the Hong Kong waters, as the vessel on which they are loaded is in danger after the ship struck an underwater object and later berthed at the port of Hong Kong for a month now.

The Singapore-registered vessel, Kota Kado, hit a snug while transiting the strait between the Miaowan and Beijing islands, with over 1500 containers and twenty-two crew members on board. The vessel was supposed to call at the port of Djibouti days ago as its final destination, according to informed sources.

Deliberately run aground in the waters in an attempt to avoid capsizing, the ship was guided into harbor where it still stands after a month. No one was injured and the crew members were transferred to another vessel.

The United West Somali Liberation Front signed a peace treaty with the government of Ethiopia. In a peace treaty signed on Thursday at Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa, the front agreed to shun from its anti-peace actions. The leader of the front, Sheik Ibrahim Hussein, said he will work on the peace and security of the Somali region with the government of Ethiopia.

The Minister of Federal Affairs, Dr. Shiferaw Tekle-Mariam, on his part, said the Ethiopian government had pledged that resistance fighters would be given a chance to blend with the community if they changed their destructive ways. According to him, such acts will help rebuild peace and security in the region.

Resistance fighters from different regions as well as different government officials, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s advisor, Abay Tsehaye, were present during the signing of the treaty.

Although some of the African leaders had made an attempt to alter the status quo from peacekeeping to peacemaking, the 15th African Union (AU) summit, which was held recently in Kampala, Uganda, ended by bolstering the number of peacekeepers in the war-raged Somalia. Indeed, the leaders' proposal of launching an offensive against the extremist al-Shabab was also a subject for debate at the summit. The AU heads of state and government meeting, which was widely covered in the world, grasped the attention of both the local and the international community to a large extent. In Ethiopia too, the meeting was drawing the attention of some Somali refugees, local people and political analysts.

Mohamad Nur, 34, a Somali refugee living in ‘Little Mogadishu’ (Bole Michael), located in Kebele 20 of Bole sub-city, Addis Ababa, appreciated the leaders’ approach for an offensive attack against al-Shabab. With a little room of reservation, he also supported the declared agenda of the summit, which was to bolster the number of AU peacekeepers in Somalia. Unless the responsible body, including the United Nations (UN), the AU and the international community search out and freeze the financial as well as technical basis of the extremists, the AU plan could bluntly be irrelevant, Mohamad said.

It seems that the problem of foreign currency is going be with Ethiopia for a while. During the past few years the problem was more pronounced. A lot of studies, discussions, and conferences dwelt with the problem but were unable to come up with a lasting solution.

All kinds of challenges could pop up in an economy like ours (heated-up economy). In general, the solutions could not be far from two options. The first one is to hit the problem head on and come up with a remedy while the other is just to accept it and try to find ways around it. In fact, the decision to be made depends on the nature of the problem and the time needed to solve it. So, to take a logical and informed action, it is imperative to understand the root cause of the problem and to remedy it.

If one views Ethiopia’s currency problem in this frame, the most essential question is; “For how long would the shortage be there?”
Pundits have long defined foreign currency as nothing but the price changed by one country for another. Unfortunately for a developing economy like ours, the rate (price) is determined by the cross-border trade interaction between countries. It is unfortunate for us because both in terms of value and quantity of traded commodity, we yield to our partners. On the ground we import far more than we export, maintaining a rather persistent and adverse term of trade making our currency attract less demand and hence commanding small price (exchange rate) than that of our trading partners. The same thing is true for the currency

Legatum, a privately owned international investment group based in Dubai, and Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm has selected Ethiopia for the 2010 African entrepreneurship award due to be held in December this year in Ghana, Accra.

The announcement to select Ethiopia among 15 African states were made on Tuesday during the launching of the 2010 Legatum Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship, which claims to be one of the continent’s most prestigious business awards.

The 2010 award ceremony is scheduled to be held in Accra, Ghana, next December where African business people and invited guests are expected to attend the award ceremony.

The Legatum Africa Awards program recognizes and rewards African business leaders who embody the entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrate the qualities required to succeed in business - determination, a commitment to excellence, innovation and profitability, according to the organizers of the award.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia beat world champion Linet Masai of Kenya in the women's 10,000 meters at the African Athletics Championships on Saturday.

Dibaba trailed for most the race before outsprinting Masai on the last lap to win in 31 minutes, 51.39 seconds.

Fellow Ethiopian Haileyesus Melkamu was second in 31:55.50 and Masai third in 31:59.36.

Dibaba said it was especially rewarding to win in Kenya, Ethiopia's traditional rival in track.

A fatal traffic accident has occurred in a locality known 18 Mazoria here in Kolfe Kerayo sub city of the metropolis on Saturday has killed more than 20 people, the city administration policy commission said.

Commission public relation acting head sergeant Assefa Mezigebu told ENA that the tragic accident had occurred in the morning 4:30 am local time and the death toll has reached more than 20 until 11:00 pm local time.

He said the accident was occurred when the low bed heavy Track clashed with Midi bus.

He said victims who are suffering heavy and light injuries are receiving treatment in various health facilities in the city.