MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somaliland's defense minister has resigned to protest his government signing an agreement to allow landlocked Ethiopia to access Somaliland's coastline. Ateye asserted that in an earlier meeting with Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi, he expressed his belief that stationing Ethiopian troops in Somaliland was fundamentally inappropriate. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland's president signed the memorandum of understanding for access to the sea last week. As part of the deal, Somaliland would lease a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) stretch of its coastline to Ethiopia. Somaliland’s defense minister accused Ethiopia's prime minister of attempting to acquire the stretch of coastline without proper negotiations.

Ethiopia said it held talks Monday on military cooperation with Somaliland, just a week after a deal with the breakaway Somali region on sea access stoked tensions in the Horn of Africa. Somalia is seeking international support over the controversial January 1 agreement between Ethiopia and Somaliland -- a separatist region over which Mogadishu exercises little real authority. The central government has branded the memorandum of understanding (MoU), which gives landlocked Ethiopia access to the Red Sea via Somaliland, an act of "aggression" and a violation of its sovereignty. The January 1 pact gives Ethiopia access to commercial maritime services and a military base, with Somaliland leasing it 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline for 50 years. Just days before the Ethiopia deal, Djibouti had hosted talks that saw Somalia and Somaliland agree to resume dialogue after years of stalemate.

Ethiopia's agreement with breakaway region Somaliland, seeking port access in exchange for potential sovereignty recognition, could cause upheaval in the Horn of Africa. Under different circumstances, the kind of deal agreed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland would have been relatively straightforward. Besides using the port for international trade, Ethiopia also wants to lease land from Somaliland to build a naval base. In addition to the full-scale war in 1977-78, Somalia has deployed rebel militias in what is now Ethiopia's Somali region. Ethiopia's Somali region, which used to be a point of conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, has suffered long droughts as well as floodings in the last years.

Alaska Airlines had placed restrictions on a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft following three pressurization warnings in the days before the plane was involved in a mid-air door-covering blowout on Friday, investigators say. Homendy said pilots reported pressurization warning lights on three previous flights made by the specific Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 involved in the incident, according to BBC News. The incident prompted Alaska Airlines to ground all of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes. The plane involved in the incident was new and delivered to Alaska Airlines in October. The flight that left Portland on Friday reached 16,000 feet before it began its emergency descent, according to flight tracking data.

The inflight blowout on an Alaska Airlines' plane on Friday night is prompting scrutiny of the aircraft involved, the Boeing 737 Max 9. The Boeing 737 Max 9 is part of the aircraft manufacturer's Max line of jets, introduced with the 737 Max 8 jets, which first took to the air in 2016, according to Airways Magazine. Currently, there are only two airlines in the U.S. that fly the Boeing 737 Max 9: Alaska Airlines and United Airlines. The Boeing 737 Max line has a troubled history, with two fatal crashes of the Max 8 model within five months of each other, in 2018 and 2019. In response to those crashes, the FAA in 2019 grounded the 737 Max 8 and Max 9 while it investigated.

Democrat Tom Suozzi Monday called progressive critics of Israel “clueless” as he pushes for Jewish support in the special election battle for the Long Island seat once held by disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos. They don’t understand what a serious threat this is to not only Israel and Jews throughout the world, but to America and our allies,” Suozzi told Politico. “They’re just not educated about the issues.”Suozzi journeyed to Israel recently and visited some of the villages that were attacked by terrorists on Oct. 7. Suozzi urged voters to prioritize expanding the ranks of pro-Israel Democrats to counter progressive critics. “If you care about Israel and you want bipartisan support for Israel to continue into the future, you need strong, outspoken pro-Israel Democrats,” Suozzi said.

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Regulatory bodies swiftly grounded some versions of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 jet pending inspections after the emergency, which miraculously saw no major injuries. The incident is the latest setback for the manufacturer, particularly over the 737 MAX. Story continuesThey both occurred on 737 MAX 8 planes, which are slightly smaller than the MAX 9. After the Alaska Airlines incident, the FAA said that around 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 worldwide would be grounded for inspections, with each check taking four to eight hours. In October, Boeing executives said they were focused on increasing output to 38 MAX planes per month.

Deribew also mentioned the Human-Well pharmaceutical company, which is present in Ethiopia. “These companies have significantly contributed to job opportunities for Ethiopian youth and have generated additional revenue for the country’s economy,” he stressed. The Ethiopian ambassador recalled that we are working closely with the leaders of Wuhuan Engineering Group to construct a fertilizer factory in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has developed 29 public and private industrial parks to provide investors with ready-made production plants with integral services, adequate infrastructure, and waste treatment facilities. The diplomat reiterated his Government’s commitment to fostering and improving the existing cordial relations with Hubei Province and China.

After Friday's incident in the US, the European Union's regulator followed the example of its US counterpart. But it expected disruption to be minimal as it believed no European airlines used Max 9s with the configuration covered by the FAA order.

Brest, France: Six sailors set out on the 40,000km around-the-world Ultim Challenge from France on Sunday, hoping to complete one of the sport’s “biggest challenges” inside 50 days. Under bright winter sunshine in the Brittany port of Brest, the first such race on super-powerful but relatively fragile trimarans got underway. The Edmond de Rotshchild, helmed by Charles Caudrelier, was the early evening leader with an advantage of a few nautical miles. The most recent was Francois Gabart, who set the record for the enterprise in 2017 after 42 days spent at sea. “There’s impatience, stress, concentration, emotion, a little bit of everything... I’m going to make the most of it,” said Laperche.

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Alaska Airlines has grounded its entire fleet of 65 Max 9s for inspections and maintenance. United Airlines, the world's biggest operator of Max 9s, grounded its entire fleet of 79 Max 9s and is seeking to "clarify the inspection process and requirements for returning" them to service. Six other airlines use the Max 9: Panama's Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, Turkish airlines, Icelandair, flydubai, and SCAT Airlines in Kazakhstan, according to Cirium. Copa said it had temporarily suspended 21 Boeing 737 Max 9s to comply with the FAA's order. The incident has also renewed questions about the safety of Boeing's Max aircraft, which the newest version of the company's storied 737.

With those and other enabling factors in place, could Ethiopia be Africa’s next big fintech giant? Those telcos will play a critical role in establishing an Ethiopian fintech ecosystem too. One of the key avenues it’s identified for doing so is by scaling digital payments through mobile money services. GSMA figures show that just 4.2% of adult women and 5.1% of adult men had mobile money accounts in 2022. As more and more of those solutions fall into place, Ethiopia will be well on its way to unlocking its potential and becoming Africa’s next fintech giant.

Ethiopia Coffee's Woldemanuel Getu topped the list of Ethiopia Premier League sanctions after he was suspended for four games following hearings. The Ethiopian Premier League Competition Leadership and Disciplinary Committee held a meeting on Monday , January 7, 2016 after examining the disciplinary reports submitted by referees and observers in the Ethiopian Premier League match(s) held in the 9th week. One of the games held this week,Ethiopia Coffee played against Hawassa city, Ethiopian Buna's Woldemanuel Getu was sent off for hitting an opposing player and the player was suspended for 4 games and fined 3 thousand birrs according to the disciplinary guidelines of the EFE.