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Voting is under way in the first round of an unpredictable French presidential election whose outcome could prove crucial for the future of a deeply divided country and a nervous European Union.

Less than two days after a gunman shot dead a policeman on the Champs-Elysées in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, France’s 47 million registered voters – nearly a quarter of whom are still undecided – go to the polls amid heightened security.

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The United States has announced that a secret military ground operation killed an Islamic State operative seen as a close associate of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and linked to an attack on a Turkish nightclub that left 39 people dead.

Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, who was believed to be from Uzbekistan, was killed during the ground assault near Mayadin, Syria, on 6 April, said Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for the US military’s central command. Read more HERE.

Speaking at a joint press conference on Thursday, the US president rejected a plea from the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, for the US to maintain its “very critical” role in the country and help build political consensus around the struggling UN-backed government in Tripoli, which Italy has said represents the best long-term hope for stability.

“I do not see a role in Libya. I think the United States has right now enough roles. We are in a role everywhere,” Trump said. Read more HERE.