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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian authorities have arrested hundreds of people in different parts of the country, stepping up a  crackdown on suspected supporters of a failed regional coup attempt over the weekend. The office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said  on Friday on Twitter  that  212 suspects had been apprehended in connection with the June 22 coup bid in the region of Amhara, with 43 others held in the capital, Addis Ababa. The investigations were “still ongoing with potential for more arrests”, it added. The statement came amid reports that Christian Tadele, spokesman of the National Movement of Amhara (NAMA), a n ethnocentric opposition party that has become increasingly popular with many Amhara people, was also arrested.  Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday, Christian  h ad accused authorities of engaging in mass arrests of the party’s supporters and sympathisers. “Fifty-six NAMA members have been arrested in Addis Ababa with dozens of ot...

Diplomats meeting in Vienna in a bid to save a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran  and world powers made progress but it was “not enough” to stop Tehran scaling back compliance with the accord, according to the Iranian deputy foreign minister. Officials from the deal’s remaining signatories –  China , Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Iran – held talks in the Austrian capital on Friday after Tehran warned that it would soon breach a limit on the amount of enriched uranium set out in the agreement. “It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters. “I don’t think the progress made today will be enough to stop our process but the decision will be made in Tehran.” The meeting took place amid growing concern that the deal could collapse, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord, which limits Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for ...

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi ‘s health is improving and the 92-year-old is expected to be discharged from hospital soon, according to his office. The update on Friday came a day after the country’s first democratically elected president  fell ill , prompting rumours across Tunisia about his death.  Essebsi h ad already been briefly hospitalised last week. “His state of health is improving,” presidential spokeswoman Saida Garrach told Tunisian public radio. “He had a meeting with the defence minister at about 7:45am (06:45 GMT), and they exchanged information on the situation in the country,” she said. The spokeswoman gave assurances that Essebsi, who has been in power since 2014, should be released from hospital “soon”, without providing further details. On Thursday, the presidency said Essebsi “was taken seriously ill and transferred to the military hospital in Tunis”. Firas Guefrech, his adviser, said initially that the president’s condition was “critical” be...

Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused President Donald Trump ‘s son-in-law of conducting diplomacy behind his back when he was in the administration, leading to a number of embarrassing incidents. Tillerson, who was fired by Trump in March 2018, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month about several episodes involving Jared Kushner, according to a transcript of a congressional hearing released on Thursday. The former top US diplomat and CEO of ExxonMobil happened to be dining in the same restaurant while Kushner and Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray were having a private meal. Tillerson had not been informed his Mexican counterpart was in the US capital. He said he “could see the colour go out” of the Mexican official’s face when Tillerson greeted them at their table with a smile. “And I said: ‘I don’t want to interrupt what y’all are doing’,” Tillerson recalled. “I said ‘Give me a call next time you’re coming to town.’ And I left it at...