UNITED STATES: A group of federal employees targeted for dismissal because of their involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion activities has filed a class action complaint against the Trump administration.

The complaint filed on Wednesday alleges that the ongoing mass firings unlawfully target federal employees based on their perceived political views, infringe on their first amendment rights and violate anti-discrimination laws by disproportionately affecting workers who are not white men.

CAMEROON: At least 12 Cameroonian soldiers were killed on Monday night in an attack by Islamic militants on the border with Nigeria, according to a statement from the Cameroonian Ministry of Defence.

The attack also left over a dozen soldiers wounded and occurred in the Lake Chad area near the town of Wulgo, the ministry said on Thursday.

While no group was initially blamed for the attack, officials later said it was suspected to have been carried out by extremists from the Boko Haram group.

GERMANY: The German and Austrian interior ministers broke off a planned trip to Syria today because of a possible terrorist threat to their delegation, German authorities said.

Germany’s Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner and delegations into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning.

FRANCE: Paris’s public prosecutor today requested that French actor Gerard Depardieu be found guilty and given a 18-month suspended prison sentence on the last day of the four-day trial over accusations by two women of sexual assault on a film set.

The actor is accused of having groped a set dresser and an assistant director during filming in 2021 of the movie The Green Shutters. He denies the accusations.