The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says it is deeply concerned by the recent violent attack on Araya Tesfa Mariam, a journalist working for the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop. On October 1, unidentified assailants attacked and brutally beat Mariam near his home in the capital, Addis Ababa. According to local journalists, Mariam is still receiving medical attention for severe injuries to his skull, hands, and legs sustained during the assault.

Ethiopia said on Wednesday a ruling on its new border with Eritrea was a "recipe for disaster", upping the stakes in its dispute with the international boundary commission that defined the frontier. Ethiopia has repeatedly objected to the new frontier drawn up by the commission under a peace deal ending its 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea, clouding efforts to bring a final resolution to the conflict that cost 70,000 lives.

Ethiopian wildlife experts have appealed for more support to help crack down on ivory smugglers after returning 37 seized elephant tusks to Kenya. Mohamed Abdi, from the Ethiopian Wildlife and Conservation Organisation, told IRIN the country needed more support to combat poachers and smugglers.

Corruption is worsening in Ethiopia and the levels are higher than in previous years, according to the anti-graft watchdog Transparency International (TI). Ethiopia was listed joint 92 on an index of 133 countries, scoring 2.5 on a scale of 10. TI, which is based in Germany, said a lack of coherent rules and regulations, red tape and poorly trained staff were contributing to corruption.

Two brothers aged three and four were among eight Eritreans and one Ethiopian reunited with their families last week after being separated during the bitter war between the two countries. The boys were flown to the Eritrean capital Asmara via Nairobi in Kenya as part of an operation organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Africa must “seize” the opportunity offered by controversial genetically modified food, a conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa heard on Tuesday. Biotechnology can boost food production and cut back environmental degradation, Kingsley Amoako, who heads the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), told a three-day conference on sustainable development.

Araya Tesfa Mariam, a journalist with the Amharic-language weekly newspaper "Itiop", was beaten up by unidentified individuals on 1 October 2003, while on his way home. He sustained very serious physical injuries and is receiving medical treatment at Addis Ababa's Menelik Hospital.

Are you ready to act with poor people as a force for change in addressing the causes of poverty, suffering and injustice, and alleviating their symptoms? We are looking for someone like you to fill the position of Country Director in Ethiopia.

The UN Security Council has rejected calls by Ethiopia for a new body to rule on contested areas of the border with neighbouring Eritrea. In a one-page response, the UN body expressed “deep regret” at the move by Ethiopia and urged it to implement the controversial April 2002 border ruling.

In a paper released last week at two major AIDS conferences in Kenya and the United States, the United Nations World Food Programme demonstrates how food aid can bring hope to a generation of orphans and other vulnerable children whose lives are scarred by HIV/AIDS.

A 226-strong contingent of Ethiopian soldiers led by Lt-Col Meley Amare arrived in Bujumbura, capital of Burundi, on Saturday to begin peacekeeping duties. "We are awaiting for another 226, due to arrive on Monday or Tuesday," Amare told reporters at the International Airport of Bujumbura. "The force is due to be complete by Saturday or Sunday next week, when a 900-soldier contingent will be here in Burundi."

The next few weeks will go far to determining whether Ethiopia and Eritrea resume a path toward war – which took some 100,000 lives between 1998 and 2000 – or solidify their peace agreement. Ethiopia must decide whether to allow demarcation of the border to begin in October 2003 even though the international Boundary Commission set up under the Algiers agreement that ended the fighting has ruled that the town of Badme – the original flashpoint of the war – is on the Eritrean side. The outcome will have profound implications for both countries and the entire Horn of Africa, as well as for international law and the sanctity of binding peace agreements and arbitration processes, says the International Crisis Group.

According to official statistics, there are 2.2 million HIV infected people in Ethiopia, out of a population of 67 million. Ethiopia ranks third after South Africa and Nigeria in sub-Saharan Africa in absolute numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS. The United Nations agency, UNAids estimates that 91 percent of reported AIDS cases are within the age group of 15 to 49, the most economically active and productive age group in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process is at a “critical” juncture with demarcation of the contested 1,000-kilometre border between the two countries just weeks away, the United Nations stated on Thursday.

Ethiopia has been awarded US$5 million to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies, officials announced on Monday. Health Minister Dr Kebede Tadesse warned that HIV/AIDS could soon become the biggest killer in children under five years old in Ethiopia.

Everyday about 10,000 people pass through the cross-country bus station in the Ethiopian capital to visit relatives, do business or simply search for a better life. And it is at the bus station where many young girls get drawn into prostitution. According to a recent survey carried out in Addis Ababa, child prostitution is on the rise.

Plans to relocate thousands of Sudanese refugees from an area in western Ethiopia where ethnic clashes killed some 100 people a few months ago have been abandoned, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Tuesday. However, an alternative site is being sought and the relocation should be done by the end of the year, UNHCR said.

Almost a million children are being vaccinated in Ethiopia as part of the global polio eradication campaign which aims to eliminate the crippling disease by 2005. Tens of thousands of children aged between six months and 14 years are being targeted under the joint government and United Nations campaign in remote Somali Region.

Malaria and water borne diseases are compounding the famine in Ethiopia and sparking misdiagnosis of food crisis areas, the UN has warned. Poor health and water facilities are also “undermining” the food aid response aimed at combating the unprecedented crisis that has hit the country.

This World Bank paper reports on a study which addresses the challenges of child stunting in Ethiopia. At present, the report notes that stunting in Ethiopia has persisted at around 60 percent since the early 1980s and is among the highest in the world. The study integrates three different national surveys from Ethiopia conducted over the period 1995-96.