National Dialogue: Ethiopia opened its National Dialogue Conference in Addis Ababa, bringing 4,000 grassroots delegates to deliberate for three weeks on political, social, and economic fault lines—an effort framed as a homegrown path to lasting peace and state-building. Digital Transformation Finance: Ethiopia’s House of People’s Representatives approved €124.6m in concessional loans from Italy and France, including budget support for homegrown economic reforms and funding to modernize command-and-control and asset management systems. Enterprise Tech Push: Ethio telecom and Huawei expanded their digital partnership, aiming to accelerate SME and enterprise growth with connectivity plus cloud, AI, cybersecurity, IoT, and telebirr-linked payments and e-commerce tools. Water Diplomacy/GERD: An American analyst renewed claims that Ethiopia has the right to equitably use the Abay River and accused Egypt of escalating “information warfare” over GERD negotiations. Food Security Aid: The USDA will provide up to $235m via Catholic Relief Services for emergency food and nutrition assistance in Sudan and Ethiopia. Climate Skills for Youth: Ethiopia-linked Green Africa Youth Organization trained young climate negotiators across Africa to strengthen youth participation in UN climate decision-making. Public Health & Climate Finance: A new report highlights that climate change is worsening health risks, while only a tiny share of climate finance reaches health systems. Vaccination Gap: The UN warned that 13.5m children missed routine vaccines, with Ethiopia among the worst-affected countries. Biodiversity/Science: Researchers reported extracting ancient DNA from a 50,000-year-old African antelope tooth, showing DNA can persist far longer in sub-Saharan conditions than previously thought.