Ivory Coast safety warning

FRANCE asked its citizens to leave Ivory Coast, and the World Bank froze funding to the West African state yesterday, as a violent power struggle deepened between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival presidential claimant, Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo has refused to quit following a November 28 election that African countries and western powers say he lost to Ouattara, in a dispute that has killed 50 people and threatens to restart a civil war. Britain and Germany advised against travel to the country.