WORLD BRIEFING / ETHIOPIA

Ethiopian authorities have arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian economist at a Pennsylvania university, a government spokesman said.

Spokesman Ermias Legesse said that a group called May 15, named after the date of controversial 2005 elections in Ethiopia, was behind the plot and that it was led from the U.S. by former opposition leader Berhanu Nega. He is an assistant professor of economics at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., according to the university’s website.

“If he comes to Ethiopia, we’ll arrest him,” Legesse said.