Ethiopia is to be the headquarters for the newly formed Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism for the regional body, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Ethiopia needs at least US $166 million a year to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis that is devastating the country, a government official has said. It also needs food aid for orphans and victims of the virus, Abebe Kebede from the metropolitan HIV/AIDS secretariat, told IRIN.

A United Nations report has highlighted the development and environmental problems facing farmers in Ethiopia. The report stresses the devastating impact of high debt and falling crop prices, while calling for a ban on making charcoal out of virgin forests to halt deforestation and massive soil erosion.

Ethiopia is in imminent danger of losing its rare wildlife, the national Institute of Biodiversity Conservation and Research (ICBR) has warned. At least four mammals and two bird species are facing extinction, the Ethiopian-based wildlife institute said. According to experts the Walia ibex, Ethiopian wolf, mountain nyala and Grevy zebras as well as the white-winged fluff tail and Ankober Serin bird species are all threatened.

Japan has pledged more than US $26 million for a major road construction project in Ethiopia. The project will spur economic development and help reduce poverty in the area.The project is expected to be completed within three years.

Ethiopia’s first-ever team of youth counsellors who will help combat HIV/AIDS was launched on Friday. The members of the 30-strong team, which specialises in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), will return to their local communities to teach youth counsellors in the fight against the virus.

The Ethiopia government has demanded that the military head of the United Nations peacekeepers be removed from his post after a row over the disputed border with Eritrea. It accused Maj-Gen Patrick Cammaert of "serious mistakes" after journalists were flown into a disputed village on the border. "He did not do his job properly, so we want him to be removed," Netsannet Asfaw, Minister of State for Information, told IRIN on Wednesday. "If he is doing his job properly, it is amazing that journalists would enter Ethiopian territory without a visa. What is he doing?"

Ethiopia has been awarded more than US $7 million as part of the Global Fund to tackle diseases, backed by computer billionaire Bill Gates. The award is part of a multi-million dollar package announced in New York recently, and which gives a large proportion of the money to African countries.

Record numbers of children are ending up on the streets of Ethiopia, the ministry of labour and social affairs revealed on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of youngsters – some as young as four – are being forced to eke out a squalid and often dangerous existence on the streets. According to the ministry, numbers in Ethiopia have reached alarming proportions, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 street children.

Zerihun Mamo and Weinshet Asfaw, who are both 15 and have never travelled outside Ethiopia before, are to act as special ambassadors for every child in their country. They will fly to the UN headquarters in New York in May and urge member states to help end the suffering of children in their country.

Sudan announced a "new era" in relations with Ethiopia on Thursday and said it wanted to improve ties with all its neighbours. Speaking at the end of a four-day official visit to Ethiopia, Sudanese First Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha said that closer relations would be "conducive" to all countries in the Horn of Africa. He said both countries had reached a "common understanding" on many issues.

As much as US $2 billion of Ethiopian debt could be wiped out after the completion of the much-heralded Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), Ethiopian officials said.

The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa is all too evident. Millions have died, their children orphaned and entire communities destroyed. But it is the crippling effect of AIDS on African economies that is now starting to ring alarm bells.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a programme to bring HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling and testing to migrant populations in Ethiopia. These mobile units provide information on HIV/AIDS, distribute male and female condoms, offer voluntary counselling and testing, and provide treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to those most at risk, the IOM said. These include truck drivers, commercial sex workers, itinerant labourers, refugees and internally displaced people.

Several thousand Ethiopians on Sunday gathered in Meskel Square, the central square of the capital Addis Ababa, to celebrate a ruling on the border with Eritrea. Both sides were claiming victory, following Saturday's announcement of the crucial ruling on border delimitation by an independent Boundary Commission in The Hague. The countries fought a bloody two-year war, triggered by a border dispute in May 1998 which claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Five members of the radical Somali Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya group were on Thursday sentenced to death for committing "terrorist acts" in Ethiopia. The men face death by hanging after being convicted of killing 27 people in the attacks, according to the sentence handed down by Ethiopia's Federal High Court in Addis Ababa.

The First Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court on 3 April 2002 sentenced Ms Lubaba Sa-id, former Editor-in-chief of Tarik newspaper, to one year inprison for disseminating "fabricated news that could have negative psychological effect on members of the Defence Army and cause disturbances in the minds of the people."

On 1 April 2002, the Third Criminal Bench of the Federal High court ordered Melese Shine, editor-in-chief of "Ethiop" newspaper and magazine, to appear in court on 17 May for a third criminal charge that has been filed against him. Shine is presently remanded in custody because he has been unable to pay bail of 10,000 birr (approx. US$1,200) for a previous charge.

Ethiopia has handed over complete details of where it laid thousands of mines during the war with Eritrea, the UN announced on Friday.

UNICEF has donated $2.2 million to support Ethiopian efforts to eradicate polio by 2005. The agency said that the country is entering the final stretch in its race to wipe the disease out.