TURKEY: Dozens of people including journalists appeared before a court in Istanbul today, accused of attending banned demonstrations and disobeying police orders to disperse during anti-government protests that were triggered by the jailing of the city’s opposition mayor,  Ekrem Imamoglu.

A total of 189 defendants, most of them university students, began defending themselves over charges of participating in banned protests and non-compliance with orders to disperse. Some have also been charged with carrying arms.

HAITI: French President Emmanuel Macron said that a historic injustice was imposed on Haiti when it was forced to pay a colossal indemnity to France in exchange for its independence 200 years ago.

President Macron also announced the creation of a joint French-Haitian historical commission to “examine our shared past” and assess relations, but did not address demands for reparations. 

CONGO: More than one million Congolese, including around 400,000 children, have been victims of forced displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it was reported on Thursday.

Unicef director Catherine Russell said most displacements, caused by the fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 militia, have been reported in the provinces of Ituri , North Kivu and South Kivu in the east of the African country.

COLOMBIA: A bomb attack on a police station in the Colombian department of Huila left at least two dead and around 24 injured on Thursday.

Colonel Carlos Sierra, acting commander of the Huila Police confirmed that two people were killed in the incident, while 24 were injured and taken to medical centres for treatment.