NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Taliban attack: An Afghan official says Taliban attacks have killed at least 10 soldiers and two policemen. Provincial council chief Farid Bakhtawar in Farah province says that Taliban fighters tried to overrun the army base in Pusht Road district on Thursday. He says they were using artillery to attack the troops and at least 10 soldiers were killed and three wounded in the four-hour gun battle. Also 22 Taliban were killed, and another Taliban attack on a police security post in Bala Buluk district Farah province killed three policemen.
Terrorism trial: An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamic militant on Thursday to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty of conducting training in preparation for a terrorist attack. Wawan Kurniawan was arrested along with four other militants last October by the antiterror squad in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. Wawan, 43, was the local leader of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with the Islamic State that has been implicated in attacks in the country. Wawan was accused of having provoked a riot in May at a high-security police detention center in which six officers were killed by Islamic inmates who took control of part of the prison near Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta. One militant was also killed.
System of torture: French President Emmanuel Macron has formally recognized that the French state was responsible for the death of a dissident mathematician in Algeria in 1957, admitting for the first time the French military’s “system” of torture during Algeria’s independence war. Macron paid a visit on Thursday to the widow of Maurice Audin, a French communist mathematician and anti-colonial activist. Audin was arrested in 1957 by the French military during the battle of Algiers. His body has never been recovered. Macron told the widow “the only thing I am doing is to acknowledge the truth.” Audin has become the symbol of France’s abuses during the war in its former colony in the 1950s and 1960s.
Annan funeral: United in sorrow, world leaders and international dignitaries came to Ghana to pay their last respects to the late United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan who was honored with a state funeral Thursday, as many lauded him as an exceptional man and leader. Annan died on Aug. 18 in Bern, Switzerland at age 80. The grandson of tribal chiefs, he was the first black African to become the U.N. leader and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Presidents from across Africa joined current U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Annan’s family and many others in a ceremony that concluded two days of viewings. The presidents of Namibia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone attended, along with Niger’s prime minister and Angola’s vice president. Bulletproof backpack: An Israeli company says it has come up with a first-of-its-kind protection gear against the threat of school shootings — a bulletproof backpack. Masada-Armour says its backpack can transform into a bulletproof vest in less than two seconds by flipping out an armored plate from a concealed compartment. The standard protection claims to stop handgun bullets while upgraded versions can block rifle fire. Co-owner Yair Rosenberg says the product was designed to provide schoolchildren defenses against mass-shooting attacks. The basic version weighs 6.6 pounds and sells for $500. The heavier, upgraded version costs $750.