NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region killed at least 60 Orthodox Christians, the country’s Orthodox Church said, urging authorities to protect civilians and bring those responsible to justice.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s Holy Synod said Monday that 14 people were killed in Merti district on Oct. 20 and a further 46 in Shirka district on Oct. 24. Both districts are in Oromia’s Arsi Zone.
More than 20 people were seriously wounded and 20 homes were burned down, the church said, describing the killings as “brutal and merciless massacres.”
Oromia regional government spokesperson Hailu Adugna blamed the Oromo Liberation Army, or OLA, for the attacks. He accused the rebels and their allies of trying to provoke ethnic and religious conflict to divert attention from military losses in northern Ethiopia. He presented no evidence supporting the accusations in the statement.
Adugna expressed sorrow over the deaths and destruction and said that regional authorities had begun taking action against those responsible. He pledged assistance to people wounded or displaced.
The OLA couldn't be reached for comment. Its leader, Kumsa Diriba, also known as Jaal Marroo, denied that his fighters target civilians in an interview with The Associated Press published in February.
“Our war is not against the people,” he said at the time.
The OLA is one of seven groups in the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, formed in September with the aim of removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Other members include the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Amhara Fano National Movement.
The church said that the attacks violated constitutional protections for religious freedom and the right to life. It called on authorities to publicly condemn the killings and prevent further violence.
Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region and home to roughly 40 million people, has endured a conflict between government forces and the OLA since 2018. Other armed groups and criminal gangs also operate there, with civilians facing killings, extortion and kidnapping.
U.N. investigators have accused the OLA of killings, rapes and kidnappings. Human rights monitors have also documented abuses by government forces, including indiscriminate drone strikes, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
Sarah Kimani, Amnesty International’s media manager, told the AP in a January interview that the organization’s research documents summary executions, torture, abductions and rape by both government forces and the OLA.
She said that internet blackouts and restrictions on independent media and civil society concealed the extent of civilian suffering.
“What we have been able to document now is just the tip of the iceberg,” Kimani said.
Amir Aman Kiyaro contributed to this report from Hamburg, Germany.
FILE - Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) fighters attend an orientation session in western Oromia, Ethiopia, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is holding relatively steady Tuesday as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry help support the market, at least for now.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and pulled within 1.5% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.
The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 were falling, but gains for influential AI-related stocks made up for that. It's a calm moment for such stocks following weeks of swerving on worries about whether their boom is under threat because of how expensive it’s become for companies to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.
Broadcom climbed 3.3% after announcing a $63 billion financing deal where several Wall Street firms will help Anthropic get access to its XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions.
Elsewhere in the industry, Nvidia rose 0.8% and was the second-strongest force lifting the S&P 500 behind Broadcom. CoreWeave, a company that’s borrowed money to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud, rose 3.3%, though it’s been careening between big gains and losses almost minute by minute in recent days.
General Motors climbed 4% after saying it’s moving its stock from a listing on the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq. The automaker said the Nasdaq, which is home to several of the world’s biggest technology stocks, is a fit for its tech-driven strategy. The move could also allow GM to join the Nasdaq 100 index, which would force investment funds that mimic the index to buy it.
GM began trading on the NYSE in 1911.
JetBlue Airways flew 11.5% higher even though it reported a larger loss for the summer than analysts expected. CEO Joanna Geraghty said it expects to make more in operating profit off each $1 in revenue during the final three months of the year, even though fuel prices remain high.
Investors may have been bracing for something worse after the airline’s stock came into the day with a loss of nearly 48% for the year so far.
Another travel company, Royal Caribbean, also helped lead the market and rose 7.5%. The cruise operator delivered a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, while raising its profit forecast for the full year.
They helped offset a drop of 1.6% for Boeing, which reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Coca-Cola slipped 0.4% even though its profit and revenue for the third quarter topped analysts’ expectations.
Sherwin-Williams fell 2.8% after delivering a weaker profit than analysts expected. High mortgage rates have helped chill the housing industry, which in turn pressures demand for the paints and coatings the company sells.
“Customer sentiment and the leading indicators we track point to muted demand over the remainder of the year and into 2027,” CEO Heidi Petz said. At the same time, her company is dealing with inflation pushing up costs for raw materials.
Companies overall are under pressure to deliver big growth in profits. Expectations are high among financial analysts and investors, and that’s what allowed their stock prices to run to records recently despite high inflation, high interest rates and other concerns weighing on the market.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady a day before the Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates. The Fed last month hiked the fed funds rate for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing inflation, but the widespread expectation on Wall Street is that it will hold rates steady this time.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.99% from 5.00% late Monday.
Helping to keep yields in check was a dip for oil prices. The price for a barrel of Brent crude slipped 0.4% to $110.24.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 3.1% in Seoul and fell 1.3% in Shanghai for two of the bigger moves.
AP Writers Elaine Lai and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
FILE - Trader Daniel Kryger works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - Trader Joel Lucchese works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)
A dealer walks near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
