How Long Can Butter Be Out of the Fridge?

© Provided by TIME Inc.

Americans refrigerate a lot of things that other countries don't, like eggs and butter. Eggs you may have encountered before in your travels-in most European countries, eggs aren't refrigerated. But butter? Most Americans keep their butter in the refrigerator. Heck, there's even a compartment in many refrigerators explicitly for that purpose. If you're like me, you might even get nervous if the butter gets left out on the counter. It's dairy, right? Shouldn't that be chilled to keep out all the bacterial grossness? But it turns out that keeping butter in the fridge is a matter of preference, not of food safety.


There are some caveats, but, according to some experts, salted butter in an airtight container, like a crock, is perfectly fine to leave out on the counter for up to two weeks. That's right: two weeks that you can enjoy perfectly spreadable butter for your crumpets and muffins and toast and whathave you, without worrying about the dread block of chilled butter interrupting your spreading game. (Though there are some easy hacks for spreading cold butter too.) The USDA and FDA don't take a firm stance on how long butter last, and other experts recommend only leaving butter out for one or two days maximum. Regardless, it definitely means that you shouldn't be afraid to leave butter out for a few hours for optimal softening.

But for the butter to be safe for that long, it should be salted, pasteurized butter. It also won't work during the summer. If your kitchen is above 70 degrees, you should keep your butter in the fridge, no matter what kind it is. And if the butter goes rancid, then it's time to throw it out. How can you tell if butter is bad? Smell it. Like spoiled milk, rancid butter gives off a sour, unappetizing aroma, and may also have discoloration in spots. You won't want to eat it, so don't. But otherwise? Experiment with leaving out your butter, why not?

This article was originally published on ExtraCrispy.com

fat girl tweets her fat thing with her black guy

© Madison /https://twitter.com/madisonfaithhh_/status/858540273403559936This teen had the best response after being fat-shamed over her prom photosProm is a magical time. That’s why it’s a total bummer that one teen was fat-shamed after posting her prom photos online. While many of us would respond by removing the photos and feeling like total garbage, she proved that both her and her boyfriend are above the heartbreaking criticism that online bullies tried to hurl her way.

Meet Madison and Tre. The two lovebirds decided to hit the prom together, and looked absolutely stunning in the process. Seriously — the photos of the two are almost the exact definition of true love.

Madison hit up the event in a pink sparkly dress, while Tre had a bowtie to match.

The cute tweet above — specifying the “love of her life” — got over 232,000 likes on Twitter. And we can see why. Madison is beaming, and Tre looks incredibly impressed by his date.

Of course, one bad apple had to try and ruin it.

View image on Twitter

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madison @madisonfaithhh_

Don't see how people can be rude to people they don't even know

9:35 PM - 29 Apr 2017

 
•  6,9216,921 Retweets
 
•  15,71415,714 likes

It’s low for someone to call you fat on Twitter — or anywhere else — but Madison stepped up and defended herself.

Tre also managed to address the mean tweet.

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Tre Booker @BookerTb0303

Your not fat baby God made you just for me . Your perfect https://twitter.com/madisonfaithhh_/status/858540280261292032 …

9:39 PM - 29 Apr 2017

 
•  31,79531,795 Retweets
 
•  62,58462,584 likes

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Tre Booker @BookerTb0303

Every one is beautiful. God made us in his image he makes no mistakes 

9:01 PM - 1 May 2017

 
•  318318 Retweets
 
•  688688 likes

View image on Twitter

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Tre Booker @BookerTb0303

I love you Madison! No matter what people say or who tries to break us up, I'm not going no where.trust meBelieve me

2:34 PM - 2 May 2017

 
•  463463 Retweets
 
•  2,1662,166 likes

Looks like these two just proved what true love is all about.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Madison cleared up Tre’s tweets a little bit, and talked about the concept of beauty a little bit deeper.

“A person’s beauty isn’t all about their appearance. My boyfriend’s tweet was not saying fat women can’t be beautiful,” Madison said. “I’m sure he wants to make it clear that any shape and size can be beautiful and he never meant it to be taken in that way.”

The world needs more people like Madison and Tre. We’re so glad that the bullies didn’t tarnish an otherwise magical moment in their lives.

Ethiopia: Grenade attack kills two at a concert in Bahir Dar

Security tight in Bahir Dar following a string of grenade attacks

Two persons were killed and several others, including three police officer, were injured in Bahir Dar when a grenade exploded near the entrance to a concert hall on Saturday.

The concert, organized by Dashen Brewery, was under a boycotting campaign by the residents of Bahir Dar, who have also boycotted beer products by the Brewery, which is owned by the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), a member of the ruling coalition EPRDF.

The Brewery was promoting a new beer brand to give life to the loss of its business due to the boycotting campaign by the people, who see the Brewery as part and parcel of a business empire of a ruthless regime.

There is a strong anti-government stance in Bahir Dar, a city that has seen deadly anti-government protests last summer, where regime security forces killed at least 58 protesters in just one day.

Security forces in several convoys are patrolling the city and Bajaj taxis, the popular means of transportation, have been suspended. The attackers are said to have come and left on a Bajaj.

No party claimed responsibility for Saturday’s grenade attack.

A string of grenade attacks hit the cities of Bahir Dar and Gondar in recent months. A bomb was thrown at a gas station on Thursday killing one person and injuring four others, all employees of the gas station.

Over a dozen grenade attacks hit hotels and other targets in Gondar and Bahir Dar since January. At least three people have so far lost their lives in the grenade attacks.

ESAT News 

I Ate Pizza Every Day for Two Weeks and Lost 20 Pounds

It was August 2015. I had moved to America from Naples, Italy, and tipped the scale at an enormous 370 pounds, thanks to too many burgers, colas and fries. My doctor told me to stop eating so much. “If you keep this up,” she warned me, “you’ll be dead of a heart attack soon.” I had back pain, knee pain, acid reflux, chest pain, terrible migraines, and anxiety. I had dangerously high cholesterol and shockingly low good cholesterol.

My doctor pleaded with me, “Think about your wife, your young son, and the second child on the way.” That woke me up. I finally realized I had a responsibility to survive. And if I wanted to survive, I had to change.

So I worked with an expert nutritionist and developed an easy and effective meal plan that worked wonders for me. The results were spectacular: I lost 20 pounds in the first two weeks—and more than 100 pounds in nine months. It’s called The Pizza Diet. Because believe it or not, I ate delicious pizza. Every. Single. Day.My special meal plan and recipes—made with a quick and natural tomato sauce without sugar; a dough that you'll let ferment, to reduce gluten sensitivity; and delicious toppings—will help you become leaner and healthier, for life. Here’s what happened to me on the plan.


I ATE PIZZA EVERY DAY FOR TWO WEEKS AND LOST 20 POUNDS


By Pasquale Cozzolino, author, The Pizza Diet

Discover the secret that helped this professional chef take control of his health and happiness.

I woke up one day and I noticed I couldn’t see my feet. My stomach was in the way.

It was August 2015. I had moved to America from Naples, Italy, and tipped the scale at an enormous 370 pounds, thanks to too many burgers, colas and fries. My doctor told me to stop eating so much. “If you keep this up,” she warned me, “you’ll be dead of a heart attack soon.” I had back pain, knee pain, acid reflux, chest pain, terrible migraines, and anxiety. I had dangerously high cholesterol and shockingly low good cholesterol.

My doctor pleaded with me, “Think about your wife, your young son, and the second child on the way.” That woke me up. I finally realized I had a responsibility to survive. And if I wanted to survive, I had to change.

So I worked with an expert nutritionist and developed an easy and effective meal plan that worked wonders for me. The results were spectacular: I lost 20 pounds in the first two weeks—and more than 100 pounds in nine months. It’s called The Pizza Diet. Because believe it or not, I ate delicious pizza. Every. Single. Day.

My special meal plan and recipes—made with a quick and natural tomato sauce without sugar; a dough that you'll let ferment, to reduce gluten sensitivity; and delicious toppings—will help you become leaner and healthier, for life. Here’s what happened to me on the plan.

Every Touch Is Torture for Little Boy with different face color

Matt and Patrice have to be very careful how they touch their beloved son, even though he touches their hearts every day. Jonah suffers from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare skin disorder that causes his skin to blister or slide off at the slightest friction.


The couple lost their first child late in pregnancy. Two months later they conceived again, but when their baby was born his skin was missing in places and he was screaming in agony. “It wasn’t the normal newborn baby cry that you want to hear – it was agony.”

A pediatrician quickly diagnosed Jonah with epidermolysis bullosa, and told Patrice and Matt the bad news. There is no cure or treatment for the condition. “So is the only option prayer? Is that the only choice we’ve got?” Matt asked -- the doctor responded, “Yes.”

Jonah needs assistance in the bathroom, and his dressings must be changed three to four times a week. “There is no part of his body that doesn’t blister,” Patrice explains. Jonah also suffers internal complications, so he now has a feeding tube. “Jonah has never known a life without pain.”

However, Patrice says, “In spite of all the pain he goes through, he is just the funniest, most joyful, most charismatic little kid you’ll ever meet.”

Matt adds, “It’s kind of weird for a dad to say that their son is their hero, but Jonah definitely is my hero.” Says Patrice, “He doesn’t just survive – he thrives.”

ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork wonders how Matt and Patrice cope with not being able to hug and cuddle their son freely. “We’ve just learned how to do it,” Patrice explains. “We certainly don’t deprive him of touch or affection.” It’s difficult with Jonah’s four-year-old brother, though, who wants to rough-house with his big brother. “I just intervene a lot!” says Patrice.

Dermatologist Dr. Sonia Batra explains that there are several varieties of EB. In Jonah’s case, the upper layer of his skin, the epidermis, is not properly connected the layer below. So any touch can cause the two levels to shear and separate. Infection is a constant danger, and so is malnutrition because the body is constantly using resources to heal.

Patrice and Matt sponsor running events to raise funds for debra of America, the national advocacy organization for EB. “Most local doctors don’t necessarily know what it is either, so you have to have somewhere to turn and that’s what they are,” Patrice explains.

The Doctors have reached out to support their efforts. CVS Pharmacy and Molnycke Health Care have partnered to provide a year’s worth of bandages to debra of America! Molnycke will also provide a $1,000 CVS gift card to Matt and Patrice for Jonah’s medical supplies.© Provided by CBS Interactive Inc. (video)

But the best surprise is for Jonah himself! The little boy loves cars and racing, and has a list of favorite NASCAR drivers. Now drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Danica Patrick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne have made a video to thank him for being a fan, and to invite him and his family to join them at the races!

“That’s totally awesome!” Jonah exclaims. And it's not just racing tickets – he’s going home with NASCAR t-shirts, caps, toys, and more. “Will all that fit in our suitcase?” he wonders. “This is amazing!”

Explore state-sponsored censorship in Russia, China, Iran, Egypt and Cuba.

Mapping online censorship






Russia

FACTS
Several legislative measures passed ostensibly to counter terrorism and ‘extremist’ content are open to broad interpretation and have allowed for a sweeping crackdown on free media, civil society, and views that run counter to the Kremlin line.
Authorities from Roskomnadzor, a Russian agency tasked with overseeing mass media and electronic communications, carries out the work of implementing internet censorship, drawing from three sources: the courts, state regulators, and regular citizens.
From November 2012 – March 2015, Russia blocked 52,000 web sites.
Russia floods the internet with disinformation, propaganda, and pro-government content in attempts to drown out opposition voices and suppress the truth.
Russia continues to block access to LinkedIn after the US company refused to comply with the country’s new data localization laws that require storage of any personal data on Russian citizens inside Russia.

POPULAR CIRCUMVENTION TECHNIQUES
Russia is the second-most popular country for Tor users.
CDN browser plug-ins, which bypass the need to send a domain name system (DNS) request, are popular among Russian users.



China

FACTS
China’s Great Firewall is a multifaceted system that utilizes a mix of technological methods, tools, and manpower to restrict access to information in China and exert control over public opinion.
China reportedly employs millions of employees and civilian volunteers alike in its ‘50 cent party’ to surveil the internet, moderate discussion forums, censor messages, and post ‘opinions’ that are in line with Party ideology and effectively drown out dissent. While blocking and filtering countless websites, comments, and posts every day, the government also fabricates nearly 450 million social media posts per year.
China’s Great Cannon, a new ‘offensive’ censorship weapon, is capable of hijacking and redirecting millions of internet users’ traffic to launch “man-in-the-middle” style assaults on websites through sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Tightening its control, China is currently instituting a “clean-up” of the nation’s internet, cracking down on unregistered domestic companies that sell VPN services by now requiring them to obtain a government stamp of approval in order to operate. Unauthorized VPN options are rendered illegal by the move.
On the local level, authorities in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing have moved to bar its citizens from circumventing the Great Firewall by targeting individuals with fines for using circumvention services and punishing businesses that provide such services.

POPULAR CIRCUMVENTION TECHNIQUES
Many Chinese internet users rely on VPNs, or Virtual private networks, to “leap over” the Great Firewall. A VPN encrypts a user’s internet traffic and sends it onward via an intermediary computer. A user’s traffic flows through an encrypted “tunnel,” obscuring its content. A list of popular VPNs used in China can be found here. However, the Chinese government has been known to monitor VPN traffic and cut access when being used to access blocked websites. VPN providers can also log your internet activity.
Lantern is a free p2p (peer-to-peer) circumvention software that routes internet traffic through a relay of fellow trusted users, so internet users in uncensored regions can provide access to users in censored regions.



Iran

FACTS
Popular social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook remain blocked in Iran.
Iran is currently rolling out in phases its own ‘national internet,’ a sort of domestic, Iran-only intranet that cuts off Iranians from the outside world.
In the absence of popular foreign internet functions and tools, Iran has developed its own, such as Aparat, a browser developed and controlled by the government.
In the leadup to Iran’s presidential elections set for May 2017, authorities have begun requiring administrators of public Telegram channels with more than 5,000 followers to apply for government permits, while also arresting individual Iranian Telegram users for posting “lies” and “anti-cultural material.”
Twelve administrators of Telegram channels supporting opposition and moderate political candidates were arrested in March 2017.

POPULAR CIRCUMVENTION TECHNIQUES
For Iranian internet users, popular circumvention options include circumvention suite Psiphon and other popular VPN services.



Egypt

FACTS
During the Arab Spring in January 2011, scores of Egyptians turned to circumvention technology amid a massive internet shutdown to access social media platforms blocked by the government.
Five years later, circumstances have changed but a lack of free speech has remained constant, as critical bloggers and social media users face reprisal from Egypt’s military government under vague laws that empower authorities to censor at will.
In December 2016, Egypt blocked access to encrypted messaging app Signal. The makers of Signal responded by updating the app with enhanced circumvention technology so Egyptian users could get around the ban.
Prison terms have been handed down to Egyptian users for insulting religion online while LGBT netizens have been arrested for posting YouTube videos for the crime of “inciting debauchery.”
Egyptian NGOs have been repeatedly attacked by a sophisticated adversary in the form of a targeted phishing campaign called Nile Phish.
In 2016, Egypt jailed 25 reporters – third only to Turkey (81) and China (38).

POPULAR CIRCUMVENTION TECHNIQUES
In times of increased censorship, many Egyptian internet users have turned to Tor in the past, such as during the 2011 Arab Spring and the country’s 2013 military coup.
Use of secure messaging applications like Signal.



Cuba

FACTS
Internet penetration remains low in Cuba, with regular internet access attained by only about 5% of Cubans. Wifi hotspots are springing up, but the high cost of connecting remains a barrier for most Cubans.
Prohibitive costs aside, the Cuban internet is heavily filtered and monitored. The web sites of some dissident groups and independent media are blocked.
Cuba’s media environment is one of the world’s most repressive, as privately owned media are prohibited by the constitution.
To access the internet via an unreliable and censored public Wi-Fi network for one hour, Cubans pay about $2 USD – or a tenth of an average Cuban’s monthly salary.

POPULAR CIRCUMVENTION TECHNIQUES
Many Cubans are still able to access foreign media, news, and information via the ‘sneakernet’ – or offline internet – known as el paquete. Each week, a vast distribution network delivers USBs loaded with the latest foreign entertainment, news, movies, and music.
Connectify Hotspot is a popular tool that turns a PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing users to ‘share’ that single internet connection with multiple devices. This is especially useful to Cuban users given the high price of getting online.

Will Robots Replace Human Drivers, Doctors and Other Workers?

Will Robots Replace Human Drivers, Doctors and Other Workers?


The impact of automation on U.S. jobs is open to debate. Robots have displaced millions of manufacturing workers, and automation is getting cheaper and more common, raising concerns it will eventually supplant far more workers in the services sector of the economy, which includes everything from truck driving to banking.


University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Hess says we are just starting to see automation’s impact. “It is going to be broad and it is going to be deep,” he said, adding that “tens of millions” of jobs could be at risk.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared already.

While some politicians blame trade for the job losses, most economists say automation is mainly to blame as robots do routine factory tasks previously done by humans.

Hess calls self-driving cars and trucks a threat to millions of human jobs, and says fast-food workers are also vulnerable, as companies install electronic kiosks to take restaurant orders. McDonalds says displaced workers will be reassigned to other tasks.

will robots take humans job

robot film



FILE – Fast-food chain Wendy’s is installing self-ordering kiosks in 1,000 locations nationwide. (Wendy’s)

The professor says research shows nearly half of U.S. jobs could be automated, including retail store clerks, doctors who scan X-rays for disease, administrative workers, legal staffers, and middle managers.

Future of jobs

Starting more than a century ago, advancing technology changed the United States from an agrarian to a manufacturing economy. Displaced farm hands eventually found factory work, but the transition took years. This new transition may also take a time because, Hess says, “We’re not going to anywhere produce the number of jobs that we automate.”

But 50 years of experience in banking shows that while automation may change the industry, it does not necessarily end jobs for humans.

The first Automatic Teller Machines, or ATMs, were installed 50 years ago, and there are now 420,000 in the United States. International Monetary Fund analysis shows the number of human tellers did not drop, but rose slightly.

“Humans were doing mostly service and routine types of tasks that could be converted into more automated tasks,” Tremont Capital Group’s Sam Ditzion said. But “the humans then became far more valuable in customer service and in sales in these branches.”



FILE – A man uses an automated teller machine (ATM) machine at a shopping center in Yangon, Burma, May 27, 2012.

In a Skype interview, Ditzion said that while automation can be “scary,” the oversight of ATMs created new kinds of work for “tens of thousands of people.”

Automation grows

A report by Redwood Software and the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) says surging investment and falling prices will help robotics grow.

Redwood’s software handles business processes that are repetitive, rule-bound and tedious.

CEBR Economist David Whitaker says as growing fleets of robots take over mundane tasks, higher productivity could bring higher wages for some human workers. He says people who want to stay employed must hone skills that robots can’t handle, such as unpredictable work or the need for an emotional human connection.

One example, according to Alex Bentley of Blue Prism software, is a program that helps law firms examine visa applications. The robot enters data but gets help from a human partner with problems such as missing information. Bentley says some human jobs have been lost, but in other cases displaced workers move within the firm to new work, particularly jobs that are “customer-centric.”

U.S. Senator Chris Coons says Germany and other nations use training programs to help their citizens get and keep jobs in a changing economy. The Democrat says America’s competitors invest six times what the U.S. does in skills development and workforce training, while Washington has slashed funding for such programs. Coons and a Republican colleague, Senator Thom Tillis, are seeking more help for schools, companies, workers and government agencies operating programs to upgrade the workforce.



FILE – A laser-guided “parking robot” moves to slide under a car at a research and development center in Shenzhen, China, June 29, 2016.

New opportunities

While workers need to make some changes, philosopher and professor Ed Freeman of UVA’s Darden School of Business says companies also need to rethink their basic purpose. He says businesses must do more than just maximize value for shareholders.

“I need red blood cells to live,” he said. “It doesn’t follow that the purpose of my life is to make red blood cells. Companies need profits to live, it doesn’t follow that the purpose of a company is to make profits. We have to think through this idea about what purpose is in business.”

Freeman says he is “optimistic” because many jobs, such as creating applications for smartphones that would have been unimaginable a few years ago, are creating thousands of opportunities. He is also encouraged by his many students who, he says, bring new ideas, passion and energy to the task of starting businesses that will create new kinds of jobs.

Freeman is convinced that the problem isn’t the tsunami of lost jobs, it is the lack of “really good ideas” for creating a safety net for people who will lose jobs to automation.

Many experts worry about growing levels of automation — particularly advanced forms known as artificial intelligence — hurting employment for U.S. workers.

But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says it will be “50 or 100 years” before artificial intelligence takes American jobs. In an interview with Mike Allen of AXIOS, Mnuchin said, “I think we are so far away from that, [it is] not even on my radar screen.”

Ethiopia: Gondar bombed for the tenth time

File Photo

The resident of Ambaye Amare, in Gondar city, Kebele 15 district 1 at place near Fasiledes stadium was bombed. The individual is the chairperson of the district and president of Tigray People Liberation Front’s (TPLF), Tigray Development Association in South and North Gondar as well as West Gojjam. It is reported, the bomb attack on his house happened on 20 April 2017 at 8:47 PM local time.

In other news, a military contingent, full of oral truck, from Mussie Bamb military camp sent to control the civil disobedience in Gondar was attacked as well. The attack happened at 10:40 PM near the place called ‘Map of Ethiopia’. The truck which was shot at toppled and 4 soldiers died immediately and another 5 sustained severe injuries. According to the report, the oral truck was removed yesterday at 11:00 AM local time and taken to the nearby military camp. The injured are being treated at Azezo military hospital and the dead were buried at Azezo Loza St. Merry Church.

Boy, 8, learns to drive on YouTube, takes sister to McDonald’s

© Provided by AOL Inc.A small Ohio town is all abuzz after an enterprising young boy taught himself to drive by watching YouTube so he could run himself and his sister down to McDonald’s for a snack.



Research
According to the Weirton Daily Times, Patrolman Jacob Koehler of the East Palestine, Ohio, police department responded a series of calls from concerned citizens reporting a small boy tooling through town in a minivan on the evening of April 9. Eventually, Koehler tracked the culprit to the local McDonald’s. He was 8 years old.

When asked how and why he’d driven to McDonald’s, the boy said he really wanted a cheeseburger but his parents were asleep. So he watched a driving instruction video on YouTube, grabbed his dad’s keys, scooped some money out of his piggybank, packed his 4-year-old sister in the family minivan, and headed out. Throughout his drive of roughly a mile and a half, the boy followed traffic laws, stopped for red lights, and avoided hitting anything.

© Provided by AOL Inc.

Once he got to the McDonald’s, he pulled through the drive-through like a pro, ordering a cheeseburger, some chicken nuggets for his sister, and some fries. The McDonald’s employees thought they were being pranked.

“The workers thought that the parents were in the back, but obviously they weren’t,” Koehler told the Times.

A story with a happy ending: The kids got their late-night snack, no one was hurt, and no one got in trouble.

A Marytyr deid in Gonder Doctors gave wrongly injection

His name is Tatek Bekele, and was the anti Ethiopiean govrnment Activist in North Ethiopia, Gonder. He is problemof Appendix is known to Doctors but they inject him anathesia that killed him.

የነፃነቱ ፋና ወጊ ወጣት ታጋይ ታጠቅ በቀለ (ኩኩሻ) በሞት ተለየ። ጎንደር ሆስፒታል ውስጥ ለትርፍ አንጀት ህክምና ተብሎ የተሰጠው "ማደንዘዣ" ህይወቱን ቀጨው። ይህን በዝምታ አናልፈውም። የገቡበት ገብተን እናጣራዋለን።
እረፍት ሳያገኝ ለነፃነት እንደተንከራተተ አለፈ። የታጠቅን ህልፈት የዳባት ወጣት መቀበል ተስኖታል። ሃዘኑ መሪር ነው። ስርአተ ቀብሩ አሁን በዳባት መድሃኒአለም ቤ.ክ. እየተካሄደ ነው። በዳግሚያ ትንሳኤው ተለየን።
ለዳባት ህዝብ በሙሉ መፅናናትን እንመኛለን። 

Egypt pledges to stop anti-peace forces threatening Ethiopia

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Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, has told local media that north African neighbour Egypt had agreed to stop the activities of anti-peace forces who are behind protests in Ethiopia.

The premier was speaking at a press briefing to address major issues in the country. He said Egypt had pledged to stop any persons and activities related to fomenting violence in Ethiopia.

The state-owned ENA said the PM revealed that the two countries were committed to halting activities of media networks, specifically mentioning the Oromo Media Network and others that are considered terrorist institutions by Ethiopia.

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We will not harm the Egyptian people, but they should also help us in making use of our natural resources. I am here today to assure the Egyptian people that we must work together to accomplish our goals.

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Ethiopian FM in Cairo

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, was in Egypt to meet President Al-Sisi and his counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.

Gebeyehu assured that Ethiopia was ready to help Egypt achieve their goals. “We will not harm the Egyptian people, but they should also help us in making use of our natural resources. I am here today to assure the Egyptian people that we must work together to accomplish our goals,” he said.

The Egyptian leader for his part also said Cairo respected the sovereignty of all countries and it neither interfered in domestic affairs nor conspires against its neighbours.

Ethiopia had in the past accused Egypt and Eritrea of accommodating persons who were behind widespread anti-government protests that started late in 2015 and throughout most of 2016. The parliament imposed a state-of-emergency to help quell the protests in October 2016.

Egypt has in the past flatly rejected claims by Ethiopia. Eritrea, the other accused, have also rubbished the allegations which were recently reiterated by PM Desalegn in an interview with the BBC.

Another area of cooperation where Egypt and Ethiopia meet is with respect to the Nile Dam and construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Leaders of the two countries and Sudan signed a deal in 2015 in a bid to ease tensions over the dam.

The leaders signed the cooperation deal over the giant hydroelectric dam which will lie on a tributary of the river Nile, tensions had risen over regional water supplies. The leaders said the “declaration of principles” would pave the way for further diplomatic cooperation on the Grand Renaissance Dam, which has stirred fears of a regional resource conflict.