Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan.

Today's three stories you should know.

Ethiopia

"There is no hunger in Tigray.” - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

As mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, it’s election day in Ethiopia. The country votes against a backdrop of conflict and warnings of impending famine, and there are concerns about whether the poll will be free and fair. Voting will not take place in the Tigray region, where a war between the government and a former regional administration continues and where the UN says about 350,000 people are living in famine conditions. Given that, many observers will find remarks made today by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to the BBC extraordinary. "There is no hunger in Tigray,” Abiy said after he voted. "There is a problem and the government is capable of fixing that."

That BBC piece here.

Iran

Iran’s president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi, has given his first international news conference since emerging victorious in a presidential poll last week. He addressed the tattered nuclear accord between Tehran and Western powers, saying that Iran was ready to rejoin the 2015 deal but that the US must first lift unilateral sanctions. He also responded to a question about his role in mass executions of political prisoners in 1988 and said that everything he has done in his career has been “to protect human rights.”

More from Al Jazeera here.

Jordan

A former top royal adviser and a minor member of the royal family have gone on trial in Jordan accused of plotting to overthrow the nation’s leader King Abdullah. Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid both pled not guilty. The king’s half-brother and former crown prince of the kingdom, Prince Hamzah, is accused of coordinating the plan but he has been placed under house arrest and will not face charges after publicly pledging his allegiance to the king.

More from Middle East Eye here.