Month: July 2017
- Africa
Commentary: On Khat (Chat): Should Ethiopia criminalize it or Not?
A trader carries bundles of Khat (Chat) for the market Hewan Semon Addis Abeba, July 27/2017 – Increasingly popular among the youth of Addis Abeba, Khat, commonly known as Chat by Ethiopians, is a controversial perishable stimulant. Attempts, albeit unsuccessful, have been made to link the use of Khat with serious health issues such as psychosis, insomnia, paranoia, and…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
News: Co-defendants say Ayele Beyene died of ‘torture and neglect’ in prison, express fear of similar fate
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, July 26/2017 – The body of Ayele Beyene, who died while in police custody at Qilinto prison, a maximum prison facility on the southern outskirt of Addis Abeba, was buried yesterday in his home town in Gidami, east Wallaga zone of western Ethiopia. Before he was detained in September 2016, Ayele, 29, was the head…
Click Here to read more. - Addis Abeba
Analysis: The ailing state of health care in Ethiopia’s state-run hospitals: who takes the blame?
Dagmawi Melnilik Hospital, which was later upgraded to a referral hospital, is the nation’s first hospital built in 1909 Samuel Bogale Addis Abeba, July 25/2017 – “You have to apologize to the health professionals as we believe that you disrespected the professionals and the improvements made in the health sector,” reads a letter written in Amharic on 3…
Click Here to read more. - Addis Abeba
Pictorial: Businesses in Merkato, Addis Abeba’s bustling business district shut to protest tax hike
Addis Abeba, July 24, 2017 – Several business centers inside Merkato, the bustling business district in the heart of Addis Abeba city, remained shut throughout today. This includes almost all shops inside the Tana mall, the oldest shopping mall in Merkato. These business owners are protesting the recent increase in presumptive tax for small businesses in Ethiopia. They…
Click Here to read more. - Addis Abeba
News: Alarmed by growing defiance government scraps presumptive tax for small businesses
Etenesh Abera Addis Abeba, July 23/2017 – Following days of defiance by small business owners in Oromia regional state and in the capital Addis Abeba against the newly introduced presumptive tax system, Kebede Chane, Director General of the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ECRA), said the government was now scraping its implementation. The revised presumptive tax system concerns category…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
News: New tax hikes pushing Ethiopians to protest the government
Etenesh Abera Addis Abeba, July 17/2017 – Frustrated by a recent significant tax increase in category “C” tax payers, which consists small businesses with an annual turnover of up to 100,000 Birr, cities in various parts of the Oromia regional state are seeing protesters testing the streets again. On Thursday July 13, Addisu Arega, Oromia state public relations head,…
Click Here to read more. - Addis Abeba
Analysis: Addis Abeba: A city struggling under the weight of its failures triggers fresh minefield
Addis Abeba, July 10/2017 – Wednesday December 02/2015: it was not an ordinary day for five of six university students who were shuttling between the court room and their prison cells for nearly twenty months prior to that sunny morning. The university students were part of hundreds of Oromo university students rounded up by police during the April-May 2014…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
Breaking News: Federal court rules opposition leaders to defend prosecutors’ charges, reduces Bekele Gerba’s terrorism charge to crime
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, July 13, 2017 – In what was seen as a key decision involving the high profile terrorism charges against 22 mostly opposition party leaders and members, the federal high court 4th criminal bench has today acquitted five of the 22 defendants, reduced the terrorism charge against Bekele Gerba to crime charges, and ordered the…
Click Here to read more. - #StateOfEmergency
News: Court refers Dr. Merera’s request to House of Federation, rejects the other
Mahlet Fasil Addis Abeba, July 07/2017 – The Federal High court 19th criminal bench has referred Dr. Merera Gudina’s request to get the list of prosecutors’ witnesses to the House of Federation (HoF). The court referred the request to the House for interpretation on whether the court has legal jurisdiction to give the list of prosecutors’ witnesses to the…
Click Here to read more. - Africa
I don’t know about Paris, but Harar is a city of love
Ed’s Note: The beautiful city of Harar, in Eastern Ethiopia, 522 km from the capital Addis Abeba, is celebrating the 1010 anniversary of its birth. In celebration of this event, we are re-publishing an article originally published on Addis Standard in March 2012. Henok Wondyirad (PhD) It is easy to think of the city of Harar as an…
Click Here to read more.
