French troops on Monday began disarming fighters in the Central African Republic after a swell in sectarian violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and terrified inhabitants.

Pro-EU Ukrainian demonstrators on Monday kept up their protest against President Viktor Yanukovich as the authorities sent internal troops and riot police into central Kiev in an increasingly tense showdown.

A group of anti-government protesters on Sunday toppled the statue of Vladimir Lenin in Kiev, the national capital, to vent their anger toward their government’s decision to seek closer economic ties with Russia instead of with the European Union (EU).