Police, yellow vest protesters clash in France
PARIS — Thousands of yellow vest protesters marched Saturday through Paris and other French cities for a ninth straight weekend to denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, and repeated tensions broke out with police.
Sporadic violence broke out during protests in Paris, Bourges, Bordeaux, Rouen, Marseille and Toulouse.
Protesters walked peacefully through central Paris from the Finance Ministry in the east of the French capital to the Arc de Triomphe in the west.
Scuffles between police and activists then broke out near the monument at the end of the march. Police used tear gas, water cannon and flash-balls to push back some people throwing rocks and other objects at them.
French security forces equipped with armored vehicles blocked protesters from going onto nearby Champs-Elysees Avenue.
21 killed in China mine
BEIJING — Twenty-one coal miners were killed when a mine collapsed in northern China, state media reported Sunday.
The disaster occurred Saturday in Shenmu in Shaanxi province in the heart of the country’s coalmining belt, according to state TV and the Xinhua News Agency.
Sixty-six other miners were rescued, the city government said in a statement.
The number of fatalities reported in cave-ins, explosions and other disasters in Chinese coal mines had fallen sharply over the past decade.
Deadly checkpoint attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least five Afghan security forces were killed after their checkpoint came under attack by insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar, according to a provincial official.
Aziz Ahmad Azizi, the provincial governor’s spokesman, said that two other police were wounded in Saturday’s attack took place in the Spin Bolduk district. He said seven Taliban insurgents were killed and six others were wounded in the fighting.
Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, a Taliban’s spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack in Kandahar.
Orbiting telescope control
MOSCOW — Russia’s space agency said its specialists are attempting to fix problems that have blocked control of an orbiting radio telescope.
The Spektr-R satellite is continuing to transmit signals, but scientists have been unable to control the satellite since Friday.
The satellite is used to study radio sources within and outside Earth’s galaxy.
Congo election recount
KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s presidential runner-up, Martin Fayulu, has asked the constitutional court to order a recount in the disputed election, declaring on Saturday that “you can’t manufacture results behind closed doors.”
He could be risking more than the court’s refusal. Congo’s electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa has said there are only two options: The official results are accepted or the vote is annulled — which would keep President Joseph Kabila in power until another election. The Dec. 30 election came after two years of delays.
“They call me the people’s soldier ... and I will not let the people down,” Mr. Fayulu said.