International

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — One of Africa's best-performing economies, Ethiopia, has declared a state of emergency, its first in a quarter-century, after months of widespread, often deadly, protests demanding greater freedoms. On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn during a three-nation tour of Africa and said her country has offered to help mediate in the troubled region. Here's a look at why this East African country, a security ally of the West, is now a target of its criticism.

BERLIN — A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony's state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday.

LONDON — British police have made an arrest in the case of a person in a clown costume who deliberately frightened people on London streets.

HANOI, Vietnam — The United States and the European Union have called on the Vietnamese government to release a popular blogger arrested earlier this week for alleged anti-state writing.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. special adviser on Myanmar called on civilians in troubled Rakhine state on Tuesday to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from responding to recent fighting that led to the deaths of security personnel as well as civilians.

UNITED NATIONS — The electoral crisis in Congo has become a constitutional crisis resulting in increasing political polarization and with no immediate end in sight, the U.N.'s special representative for Congo said Tuesday.

BISMARCK, North Dakota — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won't yet authorize construction of the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline on federal land in southern North Dakota, it said Monday, along with reiterating its earlier request that the pipeline company voluntarily stop work on private land in the area.

DAME MARIE, Haiti —€” In this most western tip of Haiti, 300 patients with festering wounds lay silently on beds at the main hospital in the seaside village of Dame Marie waiting for medicine a week after Hurricane Matthew hit the remote peninsula.

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung said Tuesday it is halting sales of the star-crossed Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a spate of fires involving new devices that were supposed to be safe replacements for recalled models.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia's government on Monday blamed Egypt for supporting outlawed rebels and forcing the declaration of the country's first state of emergency in a quarter-century as widespread anti-government protests continue.