Ethiopia, a country which suffers from a perennial food insecurity problem, has been struggling to address

this problem ever since the 1984 drought. Currently, there are at least 6.2 million people in the country that are seriously threatened by hunger and malnutrition, and require urgent food assistance. Faced with such a massive predicament, it is an irony that the country is involved in giving away large tracts of land, the main means for food production, to foreign buyers. Based on data released; the federal Government so far leased a total 350,099 hectares of land. With a total of 3 million hectares of agricultural land, an area around the size of Belgium, so far designated to be leased to incoming foreign investors, it is a crucial matter to ascertain whether the land agreements are drafted to benefit the country. The appraisal of the agreements reveals a number of shortcomings. For a start, their rent fees are low when compared with international prices, besides the exemption from fees they enjoy. What’s more, there is no mechanism for compensating for this by securing infrastructures for the local population since these are written as a right for the lessee not as an obligation. Furthermore, there is a lack of common understanding on how much produce can be exported and how much will stay in the country (for food security purposes). On top of this, almost all agreements reviewed contain no mention of the relationship between the firms and the local farmers/pastoralists as enshrined in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The dispute settlement provisions are also not with out defects: some refers to the ICSID additional facilities but it seems unlikely if this can be applied in these specific situations because of the nationality of the investors and the non-membership of the countries involved in the ICSID. The land agreements seem simplistic and lack some important elements that could help the country in attracting investment and employment. The urgent matter of addressing the food security concern of the country, through these agreements, has also fallen in doubt since they don’t explicitly address this matter. Indeed, the agreements have the potential in attracting investment and employment but it remains questionable if these can be achieved in their present form. This study is an examination of the large land agreements signed by the Ethiopian government and whether they fulfill the aspirations of the country, including becoming food self sufficient. In this study 22 large land lease agreements between the Ethiopian government and investors will be assessed.

Cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) is a critical condition induced by a cascade of cytokine activation, characterized by overwhelming systemic inflammation, hyperferritinaemia, haemodynamic instability and multiple organ failure. At the end of 2019, the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China, and rapidly developed into a global pandemic. There is a dramatic increase of inflammatory cytokines in patients with COVID-19, suggesting the existence of cytokine storm in some critical illness patients. Here, we summarize the pathogenesis, clinical manifestation of CSS, and highlight the current understanding about the recognition and diagnosis of CSS in COVID-19.