PRESIDENT’S POWER PLAY

ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he will contest tense presidential polls in October, which come after years of political turbulence and civil war in the world’s top cocoa grower.

The presidential race was transformed after Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, seen as Ouattara’s anointed successor, died of a heart attack on July 8, aged 61.

“I am a candidate in the presidential election of October

31,” Ouattara told public broadcaster RTI. “I have decided to respond favourably to the call of my fellow citizens.”

Ouattara’s decision will likely spark accusations of abuse of democracy under the country’s two-term presidential limits. He has argued that a constitutional change has reset the clock, enabling him to potentially run again.

The election comes after a low-level civil war and unrest that claimed some 3000 lives.

WASHINGTON: The camera maker Canon has become the latest big company to be hit by a ransomware attack, as researchers reveal that such demands by hackers have risen threefold in the past year.

The Japanese tech company’s online systems have been affected by a large outage, taking down its US website along with its email and other internal services.

The disruption is believed to have been caused by a piece of software called Maze. It may also have facilitated the theft of large amounts of personal data, according to the tech website Bleeping Computer.

Bleeping Computer released a ransom note it reported had been sent to Canon that said: “We hacked your network and now all your files, documents, photos and databases and other important data are safely encrypted with reliable algorithms.”