Taoiseach Bertie Ahern tonight left for the United States as he prepares for one of his last and most prestigious official engagements.

It is up to Africa to help Kenya resolve a dispute over elections that has sparked spiralling violence, the African Union chief said as the continent’s leaders converged in Ethiopia for a summit.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will address a joint session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords at Westminster today.

Ethiopian authorities said they have now freed more than 8,200 people who were seized after days of political unrest that claimed the lives of at least 46 people and rocked the nation.

IRISH singer Sinéad O’Connor says she has found solace in Jamaican music and the Rastafarian faith after recording her first reggae album on the Caribbean island.

Irish pop singer Sinead O’Connor says she has found solace in Jamaican music and the Rastafarian faith after recording her first reggae album on the Caribbean island.

Police in Ethiopia say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of the country.

Ethiopia’s main opposition coalition said today it will not accept election results for 84 seats that may hold the balance of power in the 547-strong parliament, increasing already high tensions as the nation awaits official results.

Ethiopia’s ruling party claims to have won just over half the seats in the country’s parliamentary election, but opposition leaders declared it was still too early to tell who would form the next government.

Late reggae legend Bob Marley's 60th birthday was celebrated by thousands of fans yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - the first time the event has been held outside of his Jamaican homeland.

Thousands of Bob Marley fans gathered in the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday for the start a month of festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the reggae icon's birthday.

Reggae star Bob Marley’s widow plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his “spiritual resting place”, Ethiopia.

A coalition of Jamaican Rastafarian groups wants the UN to pressure European countries, especially Britain, to pay billions of pounds in slavery reparations to followers of the faith.

PETER USTINOV, a brilliant wit and mimic who won two Oscars in an eclectic acting career has died. He was 82.

Six university students armed with hand grenades and pistols who seized an Ethiopian plane with at least 50 passengers and diverted it to Khartoum have released all their hostages and surrendered, officials said today.