Opponents of Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo yesterday vowed to try again to march in the main city Abidjan, despite vicious clashes in which at least 25 people were killed.
Opposition groups in the West African country attempted to hold a rally in the city center on Thursday, ignoring a ban by authorities, but as they gathered in different suburbs clashes broke out with security forces and Gbagbo supporters.
Two policemen were shot and hacked to pieces while 12 other people died from machete wounds, police and army officials said.
Military helicopters clattered overhead, soldiers sealed off the city center and gunshots rang out in several districts.
The death toll -- state radio said it was 25 but the opposition put the figure at nearly 40 -- was the highest in the city since a failed coup attempt in September, 2002 sparked civil war in the world's top cocoa grower.
The conflict was officially declared over in July last year but rebel forces still control the north of the country and most of the peace accord has yet to be implemented.
The rebel movement and two opposition parties suspended their participation in a power-sharing government in protest at Thursday's violence, accusing security forces of shooting unarmed demonstrators. Police said they were fired on first.
The PDCI froze its participation in the government.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
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