KUALA LUMPUR (Xinhua) — A German warship on Thursday foiled an attempt by pirates to seize an Egyptian bulk carrier off the troubled Somali coast, the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has said.

One of the crew was injured by gunshots during the attack as the carrier was passing through the Gulf of Aden toward Asia, said Noel Choong, chief of the reporting center of the anti-piracy IMB.

“The pirates were randomly firing at the ship, resulting in one of the crew members sustaining injuries to his leg,” he said.

The German navy frigate Karlsruhe dispatched a helicopter to the scene after receiving an alert from a passing ship and the pirates fled as the chopper arrived, according to a statement from the German military.

The injured crewman received medical treatment on the Karlsruhe, the statement said.

Choong warned that pirate attacks are still mounting despite recent international efforts to secure the Somali coast, one of the busiest marine channels in the world.

“Despite increased naval patrols, pirates are continuing to attack ships because the warships cannot be everywhere at the same time. But we are pleased with the quick assistance by the coalition force,” Choong said.

More than a dozen warships from countries including Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Iran and India are now patrolling the gulf. Two Chinese destroyers and a support vessel were to depart Friday from Sanya in southern China to join the international fleet of warships.

According to the IMB, more than 120 attacks have occurred in Somali waters this year and more than 240 crew members are still being held hostage by pirates.

BEIJING (Xinhua) — China and Ethiopia will join together in early 2009 to establish a vocational school for Ethiopians, the two ministries of education said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinsheng, China’s vice minister of education, said the school would enroll 330 students in the first term. It will offer courses including engineering, electrics, electronics, automobile, computer, textile and apparel.

Twelve teachers from the Tianjin University of Technology and Education had been dispatched to Ethiopia for teaching preparations, Zhang said.

As the largest China-foreign joint school to date, construction of the 114,000-square-meter building was financially supported by China’s Ministry of Commerce and completed in October of 2007.

Wondwossen Kiflu, Ethiopian education minister, said that he hoped the school would inspire more such cooperation between the two nations. He also noted that the school would set up Chinese language courses.

The joint school, which plans to enroll 3,000 students on campus in the near future, would add teaching subjects such as architecture, bridge and road construction, and cartography to cater to Ethiopia’s needs, said Zhang.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are set to spend Christmas in Ethiopia, according to a new report.

The Hollywood super-couple will fly out to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa – which is the birthplace of their adoptive daughter Zahara, reports Britain’s Sunday Mirror.

As well as Zahara, Pitt and Jolie have five other children – Maddox, Pax and Shiloh as well as twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.

Meanwhile, Brad and Angelina have been forced to deny recent reports they have hammered out a $200 million prenuptial agreement.

It was claimed Pitt wanted something in place that spells out everything – the couple’s finances, their property and who will raise their children in case something happens.

But Tomb Raider star Jolie’s rep said, “There is no truth to any of these claims.”

– Showbiz Spy

By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 22 (Reuters) – The African Union called on the Woyanne regime in Ethiopia on Monday to delay a move to withdraw its forces from Somalia to allow for reinforcements, but Ethiopia Woyanne said the decision was irreversible.

Ethiopia Woyanne said last month it would pull its troops out by the end of the year despite fears in some countries that Somalia could descend into anarchy unless more peacekeepers are sent.

“We appeal to Ethiopia Woyanne to consider phasing out withdrawal, until such time (when) more troops from Nigeria, Uganda and Burundi are deployed in Somalia,” the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU said in a statement at a meeting in Addis Ababa.

“The security situation in Somalia is alarming … piracy is escalating against the background of weakening leadership and insurgents control nearly all the country with the exception of Mogadishu and Baidoa.”

Ethiopia’s Woyanne minister of state, Tekeda Alemu, said: “The decision to withdraw troops from Somalia was a commitment made by the country’s authorities to parliament and will not be changed.”

About 850 Nigerian troops are expected to strengthen the 3,200 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi, to prevent a security vacuum when the Ethiopians Woyanne leave. The AU said they were expected soon but no concrete time has been given.

Feuding between Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf and Nur Hassan Hussein, who he sacked as prime minister, has brought the weak transitional government to the brink of collapse.

The Council asked the ministers to consider extending the mandate of the AU force for an additional period of six months, with effect from 17 July 2008.

(Editing by Wangui Kanina and Elizabeth Piper)

By Amnon Meranda | ynetnews.com

Several dozen Ethiopian protesters rallies outside the Likud party’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Sunday, in protest of the party Election Committee’s decision to disqualify the Ethiopian candidate’s win of one of the slots reserved for immigrants on its Knesset roster.

The party has secured the 21st and 28th slots on it roster for representatives of the Russian and Ethiopian immigrant communities.

The petition against Alali Adamso’s election, filed by two candidates who lost to him in the party primaries held earlier in December, said that since the Likud Codex states that only those who came to Israel after 1985 can bid for the slots, and Adamso came to Israel in 1983, he was ineligible to bid in the first place.

The committee granted the petition saying that “this is a difficult case, since even though Mr. Adamso received a large number of votes, which may be lost if he is disqualified, accepting his bid would be a deviation from the party code.”

The protestors gathering outside the offices called the decision discriminatory and waved signs reading “No Ethiopians allowed,” and “Likud members voted for an Ethiopian and got a Russian.”

“We are decent people and citizens of this State. This wrongs Adamso personally, but it wrongs the entire Ethiopian community as well. It is inconceivable that the Likud’s Knesset roster won’t have an Ethiopian representative,” said one of the protestors.

Adamso said he intends to appeal to the Likud Court in order to overturn the committee’s decision.

(Avi Cohen contributed to this report)