THE speed of events caught Ethiopians off guard. When Abiy Ahmed took office as prime minister on April 2nd he did so as the head of a deeply divided ruling coalition. The inexperienced 42-year-old, who came from the Oromo wing of the ethnically based coalition, was viewed with deep suspicion by many of his establishment colleagues. He was taking charge …

YEMENI forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on a roll lately. Over the past month the coalition has pushed 80km north (see map), repelling the Houthis, a group of Shia rebels that chased the government out of Sana’a, the capital, in 2015. It is now 12km from Hodeida, the main port, which is …

Mr Calil, dapper and brazen THE sudden, violent death of a man who had prospered for decades from oil brokering in Africa is not necessarily suspicious. Ely Calil was Nigerian-born, of Lebanese descent, and well known to African presidents, European ministers and Western oil firms. He died on May 28th, reportedly from a broken neck after falling down the stairs …

THE holy month of Ramadan used to be an occasion for royal amnesties in Saudi Arabia. But instead of granting pardons, Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince and power behind the throne, has added to the 2,000 or so political prisoners detained since September. Over the past month his goons have arrested 17 liberal activists. Nine are women, some of …

MARIS GIDWELL unwinds the bandage from her forearm and removes a wooden splint. Two fingers are missing. Her arm shakes as she tells how, as dawn broke, she heard shouts warning the residents of Lawaru, in Adamawa state in north-east Nigeria, to flee. She ran towards a neighbouring village with her 25-year-old son. Tragically, men wielding machetes caught them. They …

A recent controversy triggers long-standing debate over subscription vs open- access journals. Fatima Arkin reports.

Oil industry had criticised decision to exclude Iranians from conference over sanctions

Blow to private equity firm’s attempts to sign a restructuring deal with creditors.

Angry protests across Middle East focus on economic grievances amid austerity cuts

Craig Garthwaite, a health economist at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, who also studies medical debt, offered a more negative assessment: “There are no reputable economists who I deal with who believe the number in the paper or the methods in the paper are appropriate in trying to get at the true underlying question.” Writing in Health Affairs …