Addis Ababa /AFP Authorities have arrested more than 11,000 people since Ethiopia declared a state of emergency in early October amid violent protests, state TV said on Saturday. Ethiopia has been in political crisis for around a year with frequent outbreaks of violence as authorities have brutally cracked down on anti-government demonstrators. “Some 11,607 individuals have so far been ...

  The Hague/ AFP The Dutch national prosecutor said on Saturday that two Rwandans living in the Netherlands accused of participating in the country’s 1994 genocide would be extradited to their homeland. “Two Rwandan residents of the Netherlands, a 40-year-old from Voorburg and a 57-year-old from Leusden, will be extradited to Rwanda today,” the prosecutor said in a statement. Rwanda had ...

  Seoul / AFP Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children joined one of the largest anti-government protests ever seen in Seoul on Saturday, demanding South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s resignation over a snowballing corruption scandal. Police put the turnout at 260,000, while organisers said one million people took to the streets for what was the third in a series ...

  The Hague / AFP The main Paris attacks suspect, Salah Abdeslam, has become even more radicalised since being imprisoned for his presumed role in the slaughter of 130 people a year ago, his former lawyer has said. “He’s got a beard, he’s become a true fundamentalist whereas before he was a kid wearing Nike trainers,” Belgian lawyer Sven Mary ...

  Caracas /AFP Venezuela’s political rivals were expected to carry out more fraught Vatican-backed talks on Saturday as they struggle to stabilize a volatile country stricken by food shortages. The talks, which began late on Friday, could determine whether the sides maintain their fragile dialogue or the oil-rich South American country returns to antagonism and instability. “Progress was made on ...

  Hanoi / AFP Vietnam destroyed a huge stockpile of ivory and rhino horn on Saturday, urging the public to stop consuming illegal wildlife products driving several species towards extinction. The ivory and rhino horn trade is officially banned in Vietnam, but its use in traditional medicine and for decoration remains widespread, especially among the communist country’s growing elite. It ...

  AFP Candidates in Kuwait’s parliamentary elections have focused their campaigns on unpopular government austerity measures as the oil-dependent Gulf country faces financial stress due to low crude prices. Kuwait, which sits on around seven percent of the world’s proven crude reserves, has resorted to a series of measures to cut spending and boost non-oil revenues in a bid to ...

  AFP The International Monetary Fund approved a three-year, $12 billion loan for Egypt to help the country recover from its economic crisis amid soaring inflation and deficits. The IMF executive board said it would release $2.75 billion to Egypt immediately, while further disbursements will depend on the country’s economic performance and agreed milestones in implementing the reforms. The program ...

  Reuters Iran, which has said it’s exempt from OPEC’s accord to cut production, told the group it raised output by the most since international sanctions were lifted. Iraq, unwilling to curb its supplies, reported a higher level than OPEC’s estimates. Freed from curbs on its oil trade in January, Iran said it increased output by 210,000 barrels a day ...

  Bloomberg Oil dropped to the lowest in almost two months in New York on rising OPEC output after a volatile week driven by uncertainty about the group’s intentions and the surprise election of Donald Trump. Futures fell 2.8 percent Friday. Iran and Iraq, which want exemptions from an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries accord to cut production, told the ...