The head of Ivory Coast’s electoral commission on Thursday declared opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the winner of the West African country’s contested presidential election in comments that were not broadcast on state TV, before ruling party loyalists called the announcement an “attempted coup” and took to the airwaves to denounce them as unofficial.
Youssouf Bakayoko said Ouattara had won with 54.1 percent of the vote, compared with 45.9 percent for Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo after days of backroom wrangling during which the ruling party had physically prevented other commission members from announcing the election outcome.
The race is far from over because the victory must be validated by the country’s constitutional council, which is led by ruling party loyalist Paul Yao N’Dre. N’Dre appeared on state-controlled television where he said that the electoral body’s results were not valid because the commission had missed a constitutionally mandated midnight deadline on Wednesday.
Soon after, two separate decrees read on state TV announced that all foreign radio and TV broadcasts are being banned indefinitely and that the country’s air, land and maritime borders had been closed.
The development heightens uncertainty and casts a shadow over the country’s first election in 10 years, which was meant to restore stability after political infighting plunged it into civil war in 2002.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number