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Thursday, May 5, 2016
Public smoking ban for Ethiopia's capital
Public smoking ban for Ethiopia's capital
May 4, 2016
A ban on smoking at public gatherings has been announced by the mayor of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, according to local media reports on Wednesday
The new law makes smoking illegal in bars, cafés, restaurants, schools, hospitals and stadiums as well as cultural and religious events, but smoking on the streets is still permitted. Tobacco advertising is also banned, according to the state-controlled Fana Radio.
"Due to tobacco, people are dying and being exposed to several health hazards," said mayor Diriba Kuma. "For these reasons, the public have the responsibility to fight tobacco smoking in public gatherings.
Offenders face a fine of 2,000 Ethiopian biir ($92), rising to 2,500 Birr ($116) for smokers who send children under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes for them.
Addis Ababa is applying a law passed by Ethiopia's parliament in 2014 that has so far only been implemented in the northeastern town of Mekelle, where it has been rigorously enforced with local authorities reporting a sharp decline in tobacco consumption.
The law will be more difficult to apply in the large and growing capital, home to around four million people.
Tobacco use in Africa (excluding South Africa) increased by nearly 70 percent between 1990 and 2010, according to research by the American Cancer Society.
With the number of African smokers predicted to increase by 40 percent by 2030 many tobacco companies see Africa as a growing market with fewer restrictions than in parts of Europe and North America.
Several countries, including Kenya and Niger, have introduced restrictions on smoking in public places in recent years, but enforcement of the bans is often lax.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016
Uber's $84M Settlement Keeps Drivers as Contractors
The ride-hailing company will stump up $84 million as part of the settlement, which will be distributed to 385,000 drivers that were represented in the two cases. It’ll pay out a further $16 million if it “goes public and our valuation increases one and a half times from our December 2015 financing valuation within the first year of an IPO.”
The company will also: make it easier for its drivers to find and compare ratings; introduce clear policies about how and why their accounts can be deactivated (in those two states only); and help them create driver’s association.
Which is a lot of things! But in the world of purely rational calculation it must be totally, completely worth it for Uber—because by ensuring that drivers remain as contractors and not employees it avoids paying minimum wage and social security for each of its drivers.
It allows Uber to continue to move a huge chunk of financial risk away from the company and place it on the back of the worker—and, ultimately, in some cases the state. For those reasons, there’s a long and ongoing slog being fought by lawyers and labor groups to try and make Uber—and others like it—treat their workers as employees rather contractors.
Uber’s counter point, which its CEO Travis Kalanick made yet again in a blog post announcing the settlement, is that “drivers value their independence—the freedom to... drive most of the week or for just a few hours.” And the settlement does go some way to supplementing that freedom with reassurances and securities more akin to being an employee.
But ultimately, it’s in Uber’s interest to keep its drivers as contractors. And this settlement is an indication that it seems to be getting its way.
[Uber and NYT]
Monday, April 4, 2016
ቴሌ ቫይቨርን (viber) እና መሰለ አፖችን ለመጠቀም ሊይስከፍል ነው።
Ethio telecom to charge for VoIP apps
Using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications free of charge may no longer be possible as Ethio Telecom is in the process of implementing new technology that would charge users for services such as Viber and Whatsapp. According to Andualem Admassie, CEO of the telecom company, a new technology called Policy Charge and Control system (PCC) will be implemented to control VoIP services that people use via the telecom operator’s network.
“We are not saying we will ban these services. We will implement this technology so that we can control the use of these services through our network,” the CEO stated. He also said that the technology would allow the telecom company charge for the VoIP services.
Although the use of VoIP applications is not technically free as it would still require the use of an internet connection provided by the telecom monopoly, Ethio Telecom has stated that it has been losing revenue due to the applications. Services provided by applications such as Viber, WeChat and Whatsapp are popular amongst people as they are a cheaper alternative to connecting with friends and families as compared to a direct call.
To curb the inflow of untaxed mobile phone apparatus entering the country illegally, Ethio Telecom is also implementing another technology called Equipment Identity Register (EIR).
“This technology will have the capacity to not only shut down the sim-card but also stop the apparatus from working, it will be out of the network system completely. This system is also good because if a person’s phone is stolen, the owner can shut the system down so that the stolen phone cannot be used,” said Andualem.
The implementation of the technology expected to be in effect as soon as within weeks will mean that phones that came into the country without being taxed, may not be able to function.
“Once this technology is implemented, shops that sell phone apparatus and distributors that have phones in their possession that have entered the country illegally will become useless because they will not work. With regards to the phones that are already in the hands of our customers, we are discussing if we should buy new mobiles and provide it to them or leave the ones that are already in use and focus on the new phones entering the country,” Andualem also said.
The CEO further underlined that before the technology is implemented, there will be discussions held with stakeholders to make sure the move is understood clearly.
Ethio Telecom (et) has targeted to amass 38 billion birr of gross revenue in the current budget year. According to its half-year performance, the enterprise has amassed 10.09 billion birr of gross profit, meeting 111 percent of its target.
Aiming to accumulate significantly more revenue than its 21.5 billion intake in the past budget year, the enterprise is expanding the supply of mobile and landline phone apparatus. It also targets to boost mobile network access to 113 million people in the GTP II period, while the actual subscription is expected to be 91 million.
Broadband internet data subscription is projected to grow to 39 million by the end of GTP II, which currently stands at 3.2 million. Comparing with the end of the past year the broadband internet users have significantly increased in the first six months of the current budget year.
Until June 2015 the number of broadband internet subscribers was 1.9 million. Mobile internet data coverage will also reportedly grow from 8.5 million to 16.9 million users, while overall internet data coverage is forecasted to reach 10 percent from 3.3 percentage of the end of last GTP.
The technology that would see VoIP service users charged is expected to be implemented within the next couple of monthsg
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Source . Capital
Friday, April 1, 2016
Ethiopia and Eritrea may not share a border anymore
Uder , Lypt will be banned in California starting from May 1, 2116 and replaced by houses
Mugabe has Appointed Former Ethiopian President Mengistu Hailemariam to Lead African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
This has been a fabricated news. 100 % false new.We hope we fouled you. Share it April Fool!
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
ETHIOPIAN MOVIE FORMULA ONE
Let me confess, I love Ethiopian movies and I missed them a lot because I did not watch all the movies before
But I don't want to leave with out adding few feedback for all Ethiopian movie makes or people in the movie industry. I see lots of similarities in most movies like the opening seen in most Ethiopians movies is an Addis Ababa road, you will see a bear drinking guy or girl, a bar, a disco night club, beautiful girl, a poor good looking guy, a diaspora with broken English, a middle age wealthy dude, an Addis Ababa police officer, a poor mother, a wedding or funeral. All these in Addis Ababa. if the movie is some kind of Balager AKA countryside you see a Woloye or Gojame, a reach uncle, a hooker or resort,
In general 99.99% of Ethiopian movies can be categorized as romantic genera. Come on, were are other genera such as mystery,documentary,Comedy,History, Biography, Crime , Fantasy , Musical, Sci-Fi, , Thriller , War,Horror or Action. I see lots of copying duplicating and mimicking each other. Yes we need to see more works and we need to see diverse works. Also most actors and actresses are concentrated from one region or from Addis. Well, we are creating a min Hollywood in our Addis or BoleWood. Bring more new faces and discover talent from other parts of Ethiopia. If you don't do that now the Ethiopian movie will have one face and one genera.