The Embassy of the United States of America today announced that the beginning of the 2012 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery application season. Applications for the 2012 DV Program will be accepted from October 5 to November 3, 2010. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) at dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter as heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), on November 3, 2010.

On 14 December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly designated 1 October the International Day of Older Persons. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the UN International Day of Older Persons. The theme of the year 2010's commemoration is “Older persons and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has called on international development partners to support Ethiopia’s growth and transformation over the coming five years thorough releasing budget aid. He said Ethiopia expects increased aid from traditional and new donors. The Premier on Thursday held a consultative meeting with the donors on his government’s new five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP).

A team of 22 Sudanese nationals drawn from a range of professions has paid a 7-day visit to Ethiopia. Kuriftu Resorts PLC organized the visit in collaboration with the Ethiopian Embassy in Sudan. The team comprising Journalists, Musicians, university deans, government officials and prominent individuals visited Bahirdar, Hawassa and Bishoftu towns from September 22-28 September 2010.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi the transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia should get a new prime minister immediately so as to be able to effectively fight back pressure from terrorists operating in that country. The statement came up during talks with TFG President, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. He said Ethiopia is ready to contribute its part towards a strong TFG in Somalia. Sheik Sharif for his part stressed on the irreplaceable role of Ethiopia for the strengthening of the TFG.

A model donning green synthetic grass in the shape of a dress, with adey abeboch (little, yellow flowers) in a basket on her back, carrying a sign wishing everybody a “Happy New Year,” ended the catwalk fashion show of Sewasew Design on the evening of Thursday, September 23, 2010, at Ethiopia’s first Hub of Africa International Fashion Week.

Star Alliance announced that Ethiopian Airlines will become a member of the alliance as its Chief Executive Board has unanimously approved Ethiopian Airlines' joining application. Ethiopian Airlines is expected to become a Star Alliance member within the next 12 months.SAS already code-shares with Ethiopian Airlines on the Stockholm-Addis Ababa route since earlier this year, but the partnership has now been expanded to include a number of Ethiopian's African destinations, suchas Ambouli (Djibouti), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Entebbe (Uganda), Mombasa (Kenya), Nairobi (Kenya), and Zanzibar (Tanzania).

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold and nickel explorer Nyota has raised £21,58-million through a placing of shares to fast track exploration and development work at its Tulu Kapi deposit in Ethiopia, it announced on Tuesday. The deposit remains open in three directions and at depth and the additional funding would allow the company to continue with the four on-site drill rigs working 24-hour shifts.

Nine nominations for the 2010 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought have been tabled by EP political groups or groups of over 40 MEPs. The nominees are the “Access” movement, Haytham Al-Maleh, Israeli NGO “Breaking the Silence”, Guillermo Fariñas, Aminatou Haidar, Dawit Isaak, Birtukan Mideksa, Father Thadeus (Nguyën Van Ly) and the Christian mission “Open Doors”.

World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday donated agricultural equipment valued at 200,000 USD for three local organizations. The recipients were Addis Ababa Grain Traders Association, South Ethiopia Peoples' State (SNNPR) Cooperatives’ Federation and Gode (integrated project).

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Wednesday called for the quick appointment of the Somalia premier after Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke resigned from his post earlier this month. The Ethiopian leader met Somalia President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed here on Wednesday after Sharif recently named a caretaker prime minister to stand in before elections.

GAMBELLA, 27 September 2010 (IRIN) - Huge bonfires mark the Orthodox Christian feast day of Meskel on 27 September, which coincides with the end of the rainy season in the highlands of Ethiopia. This year rains were good; too good in some places. The residents of the Cheffa Valley, some 350km northeast of Addis Ababa, will no doubt celebrate the end of the rains. When floods hit the area in late August [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90287 ], buildings collapsed, houses filled with mud and some villages had to be abandoned while women and children camped at a school and men slept out with their livestock.

Columbia University's World Leaders Forum. "The Current Global Environment and its Impact in Africa" Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia September 22, 2010. Meles was asked tough question from the audience. One audience member asked how Meles was able to get 99.6 percent of the votes in the last Ethiopian election, a question that was met with applause from the room.

The Nile River is almost always associated with Egypt. Think back to Herodotus, who called Egypt the "gift of the Nile.” Or to baby Moses, whose river-borne bassinet made it all the way to Pharaoh's inner circle. Egypt still draws more water from the Nile than any other country. But it doesn’t contribute any water to the Nile.Egypt is mostly desert, so rivers and rain from eight or nine other countries make the Nile flow. And those other countries want some of their water back.

Westminster Abbey has been accused of sacrilege over its refusal to return a "looted" sacred object to the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The object is a tabot, a small tablet that symbolises the Ark of the Covenant. Tabots are regarded by 35 million Ethiopian Christians as so sacrosanct that only priests are allowed to look at them. Such is their significance that they must never be displayed or photographed. The abbey has a stone tabot inlaid at the back of an 1870s altar in the Henry VII Lady Chapel, where it is visible to anyone peering around its left side.