Ethiopia-Defense Modernization: Field Marshal Birhanu Jula signed an MoU with the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute to integrate AI into ENDF modernization, including logistics, training, cybersecurity, military healthcare, air force and electronic warfare. BRICS Finance Diplomacy: Ethiopia used the BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Jaipur to call for stronger BRICS cooperation on debt, fiscal space, borrowing costs, climate shocks and financial fragmentation, while signaling progress toward accession to the New Development Bank. Water & Resilience Spending: Ethiopia’s Water and Energy Ministry signed a 933.6 million Birr contract for a climate-resilient WASH project in Angacha woreda, targeting safer drinking water within 18 months. Sudan Humanitarian Fallout: UN-linked reporting says renewed fighting and drone strikes in Sudan’s Blue Nile and North Kordofan have killed civilians and displaced about 2,500 people, with some crossing into Ethiopia. South Africa Migration Cost-Recovery Row: South Africa’s Home Affairs says it spent nearly $18m on repatriations and is seeking reimbursement from countries including Ethiopia, while Ghana says it funded its own evacuation and won’t pay. AI Ethics Spotlight: Timnit Gebru, founder of DAIR, discusses “Deep Unlearning,” AI ethics and algorithmic racial bias in a high-profile interview. Legal Accountability for Ethiopian Airlines Crash: A US jury awarded $29m to the family of an Irish UN worker killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash.