American, US Airways Pull Business from Orbitz

Maybe it’s only temporary.

Maybe it’s just a negotiating ploy.

Nonetheless, in an industry-shocking move Tuesday that could have a domino effect, American Airlines announced it has pulled its fares off of online travel agency Orbitz.com and its affiliates, effective immediately.

American’s merger partner, US Airways, will pull its fares from Orbitz effective Monday, Sept. 1. Combined, American and US Airways account for 25 percent of the domestic air travel market.

American said it could not come to an agreement with Orbitz on a new contract. That also might bode well for traditional travel agents, something American Airlines president Scott Kirby alluded to in a statement.

“We have worked tirelessly with Orbitz to reach a deal with the economics that allow us to keep costs low and compete with low-cost carriers,” Kirby said. “While our fares are no longer on Orbitz, there are a multitude of other options available for our customers, including brick and mortar agencies, online travel agencies, and our own websites.”

That Orbitz will not be able to sell flights on American and US Airways is not only costly to the online portal, but ironic. American was one of several airlines that invested in Orbitz when the company was created in 2000.

Orbitz downplayed the significance of American’s ploy.

“Our sites offer hundreds of airlines which are eager to capture the revenue American is choosing to forego, and we will continue to show our customers a broad range of flight options to thousands of destinations in the U.S. and worldwide,” Orbitz said in a statement.

Nonetheless, the news shook Orbitz. Shares of Orbitz Worldwide closed at $8.04 on Tuesday, down 4.63 percent – and at one point it was down more than eight percent before rallying at close.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Orbitz’s 2010 annual report noted that for American Airlines, “tickets booked on our Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business sites, including ancillary revenue from associated hotels, car rentals, travel insurance and destination services revenue, represented approximately 5 percent of our total net revenue.”

Whether this is a negotiating tactic on the part of the airline remains to be seen. American pulled this maneuver before, in 2010, in a similar contract dispute but did eventually return its fares to the online booking agent.

Italy recovers 24 bodies in deadliest refugee days

Italy recovers 24 bodies in deadliest refugee days

ROME (AP) — Another 24 bodies were recovered Tuesday from an overturned fishing boat off Italy's southern coast as would-be refugees fleeing increasing instability in Libya saw their deadliest few days this year with more than 300 drowned.

The U.N. refugee agency said the worst incident occurred Friday near Garibouli, east of Tripoli. That boat was reportedly carrying at least 270 people when it overturned and sank. Only 19 people survived, according to Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

On Tuesday, the Italian navy said two of its patrol boats recovered 24 corpses from a capsized smuggler's boat Sunday night. Their remains, as well as 364 survivors, were headed toward Augusta on Sicily's east coast.

The U.N. agency said more than 300 would-be refugees have been killed since Friday and that 1,889 have died since the start of the year, including 1,600 since the beginning of June when the influx grew exponentially as the security situation in Libya deteriorated.

More than 100,000 people have arrived in Italy so far this year thanks to increasing instability in Libya, where human smugglers operate. Some 42,000 had arrived in all of 2013. Most of the migrants hail from Eritrea, Syria, Somalia and other African nations. They pay hundreds or thousands of euros apiece to Libyan-based smugglers to make the treacherous crossing to Europe.

At a meeting Wednesday with the EU's home affairs commissioner, Italy's interior minister is expected to demand that the European Union do more to help Italy rescue the migrants. Italy launched the 9.5 million euro ($13 million) a month "Mare Nostrum" operation last year after more than 360 migrants drowned when their boat capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

"As more refugees and migrants risk their lives at sea to reach Europe ... urgent action is needed including in finding legal alternatives to these dangerous journeys," Fleming said, according to a U.N. summary of her remarks.

ሳንድያጎ የኢትዮጵያ ቀን እና የቡሄ በአል በደማቅ ስነ ስርዓት ተከበረ

ሳንድያጎ የኢትዮጵያ ቀን እና  የቡሄ በአል በደማቅ ስነ ስርዓት ተከበረ

Ethiopian Day Celebration. Photo Credit Yedidaya

(Yebbo.com San Diego Aug 8 25, 2014)  በኢትዮጵያ ኮሚኒቲ ሳንድያጎ አስተባባሪነት የተዘጋጀው የኢትዮጵያ ቀን ቁጥሩ እጅግ ከፍተኛ ኢትዮጵያውያን በተገኘበት በታዋቂው የሰላማዊ ውቅያኖስ ዳርቻ ላይ ትናንት እሁድ ነሃሴ 24፣2006 ዓም በታላቅ ድምቀት ተከበረ። በዚህ ዝግጅት ላይ  የእግር ኳስ ጨዋታ ግጥሚያ፣ ጭውውት፣ ሙዚቃ፣ ነፃ የምግና መጠጥ፣ ባህላዊ የኢትዮጵያ ቡና፣ የበቆሎ እሽት ጥብስና የተለያዩ ባህላዊ ጭፈራዎች የተደረጉ ሲሆን በእለቱም የክብር እንግዳ  የቀድሞው የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ እግር ኳስ ቡድን ተጫዋች አቶ ሽዋንግዛው አጎናፍር የማበረታቻ ንግግር ሲያደርጉ የማህበረሰቡ ፕሬዘዳንት አቶ ተረፈ መኮንንም በቦታው ለተገኙት የበአሉ ተሳታፊዎች ታላቅ ምስጋና አቅርበው ይህ በሀል የጋራችን የሆነ አንድ የሚያደርገን የኢትዮጵያውያን መመኪችን በመሆኑ ለወደፊቱ ከዚህ በበለጠ ለማክበር የማንኝውም ኢትዮጵያዊ ተሳትፎ ወሳኝ መሆኑን አስታውቀው ምሽቱ የቡሄ ችቦ በማብራት ተጥናቋል።
Attn: Did you take some pictures of video and would like to share it with others, tag us #yebbo from your facebook or email it to info@yebbo.com

ይሁኔ በላይ አዲስ ሙዚቃ አወጣ

Yihune Belay is one of few Ethiopian authentic  Amharic transitional singers who is still keeping his root,  now he is  ready to bless us with his new release album entitled Siyamer Chewataw". ሲያምር ጨዋታው . Yehune is becoming  the best role model for several upcoming Amharic traditional singers,  with his unique and melodically reach songs he is becoming the stepping stone for several new Ethiopian artists. One of the best quality for Yihune's artistic sophistication is his selection of lyrics and melody which pinpoints the traditional Ethiopian Amharic locales. This time instead of relaying on camera techniques  and  green-screen manipulation, Yehune traveled to Ethiopia (on-site) to shoot some of the clips  for his upcoming video release. By doing this expensive trip he is able to capture the best of the best original Amharic traditional songs  and ready to share with us. Enjoy!

ቴዲ ለአዲሱ አመት ስጦታ ለጆሯን በ፸ ደረጃውን ይዞ ብቅ አለ

ቴዲ ለአዲሱ አመት ስጦታ ለጆሯን በ፸ ደረጃውን ይዞ ብቅ አለ
Teddy Afro released his single hit song titled "Be Seba Dereja " or Via the Seventy Steps named after an Addis Ababa's neighborhoods AKA SEBA DEREGA, don't confuse SEBA with SHEBA. As usual, Teddy will hit the chart right on the target. We have all the lyrics for your convince. By the way the song is also dedicated to Ethiopian New Year which will be on Sep. 11, 2014. As Ethiopian tradition I want to say Happy New Year or ENQUTATASH!  Enjoy. Teraram.. Tararam, tararam..

Ethiopian to Decide on Plane Soon

Ethiopian Airlines will soon decide the planes it will purchase from Co and Airbus Group NV. The Airline is planning to add as many as 70 new jets to its fleet.

Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, noted his company will also later commit to adding 20 more long-haul planes to its fleet.

The deal is said to have a total list price of over U.S $ 11 Billion.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian is considering to buy either the Boeing 777X or Airbus' A350-1000. The deal would have a list price value of about U.S $ 8 billion, depending on which model it settled on.

There is some difference on the date the deliver will be made by the airplane manufacturers. Airbus plans to deliver the A350-1000 beginning in 2017. However, Boeing will deliver 777X a few years later.

According to Tewolde, Ethiopian was also considering placing 20 firm orders for either Boeing's 737 Max planes or the Airbus A320neo, with options to take 10 more planes.

Source: Reuters Africa

EBOLA UPDATE (ETHIOPIA)