Fighters trying to install Ivory Coast’s democratically-elected president descended on its largest city and seat of power, poised for a final push to oust the entrenched ruler.

An anti-terrorism team bringing together the US, France and four other countries to fight al-Qaida has been based in Paris since 2003, it was reported.

Trains, planes and buses slowed to a fraction of regular traffic as workers across France walked off the job today in a nationwide strike against a new jobs law.

FRENCH police patrolled suburban trains yesterday and studied video from surveillance cameras, trying to track down six men who allegedly attacked a young mother and scrawled swastikas on her stomach.