Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed says he's heading to the "battlefront" in war with rebels: "Martyrdom is needed"
CBSN
Nairobi, Kenya — Ethiopia's Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister says he will lead his country's army "from the battlefront" beginning Tuesday, a dramatic new step in a devastating yearlong war. "This is a time when leading a country with martyrdom is needed," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement posted on social media Monday night. With rival Tigray forces moving closer to the capital of Addis Ababa, his government declared a state of emergency earlier this month. An estimated tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war between Ethiopian and allied forces and fighters from the country's northern Tigray region, who long dominated the national government before Abiy took office. The United States and others have warned that Africa's second-most populous country could fracture and destabilize the Horn of Africa.
The U.S. military was closely monitoring the situation in Ethiopia, an official told CBS News on Monday, while "conducting prudent planning," but there has been no indication that American forces are preparing for a mass-evacuation akin to what happened in Kabul following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
The State Department has, however, made it very clear that any U.S. citizens still in Ethiopia — and it's unclear how many people that is — should leave without delay.
Berlin — A recent survey conducted for a sports program that airs on a regional public broadcaster in Germany revealed that one in five Germans (21% of respondents) would prefer to see more White players on the German national soccer team. The survey conducted for Western Germany's WDR network's "Sport Inside" show has drawn sharp criticism, with the national team's coach Julian Nagelsmann among those expressing shock.
Just hours after NASA was forced to scrap the Florida launch of the Boeing Starliner for the second time, a Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.