https://www.scmp.com/rss/321564/feed On November 13, 2015, the worst attack on French soil since the second world war resulted in the deaths of at least 129 people in Paris. Islamic State jihadists said they were behind the gun and suicide attacks at a sold-out concert hall, restaurants and bars, and outside France's national stadium. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists was convicted on Wednesday of murder and other charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole in the 2015 bombings and shootings across Paris that killed 130 people in the deadliest peacetime attacks in French history. The special court also convicted 19 other men involved in the assault following a nine-month trial. Chief suspect Salah Abdeslam was found guilty of murder and attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise.... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3183567/lone-surviving-attacker-paris-massacre-guilty-murder-jailed-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3183567/lone-surviving-attacker-paris-massacre-guilty-murder-jailed-life?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jun 2022 19:47:56 +0000 Belgium on Tuesday opened a trial of 14 people alleged to have assisted jihadists who carried out deadly bomb and gun attacks in Paris in 2015. Proceedings began under high security in Nato’s former headquarters and are expected to last until May 20, with a verdict likely to take several more weeks. The hearings are happening in parallel with a trial in Paris of 20 suspects charged in France in connection with the same killing spree. That trial opened in September and is expected to run until... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3174826/suspected-paris-attack-accomplices-go-trial-belgium-over-2015?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3174826/suspected-paris-attack-accomplices-go-trial-belgium-over-2015?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Apr 2022 16:23:38 +0000 Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the sole surviving member of the group of Islamist militants that killed 130 people in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris in 2015, apologised to the victims during his trial on Friday, French media reported. Investigators believe Abdeslam was part of the squad that assaulted six restaurants and bars, the Bataclan concert hall and the national soccer stadium. Among the 20 defendants, he is the only one directly accused of murder, attempted murder and hostage... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3174476/paris-attacks-suspect-cries-he-apologises-victims-asks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3174476/paris-attacks-suspect-cries-he-apologises-victims-asks?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Apr 2022 22:45:56 +0000 A senior French surgeon faces legal action and a possible disciplinary charge after attempting to sell an X-ray of a concertgoer who was shot during the 2015 attack on the Bataclan music hall in Paris. Orthopaedic surgeon Emmanuel Masmejean, who practises at the Georges Pompidou public hospital in southwest Paris, was first reported by the Mediapart website on Saturday to be selling an image of the X-ray as a digital artwork, without the patient’s consent. The picture shows a forearm containing... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3164464/french-surgeon-tries-sell-x-ray-2015-bataclan-concert-victim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3164464/french-surgeon-tries-sell-x-ray-2015-bataclan-concert-victim?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jan 2022 19:36:44 +0000 France is moving to shut six mosques and break up several associations suspected of producing radical Islamic propaganda, Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Tuesday. A third of the 89 places of worship “suspected of being radical” and flagged by the intelligence services had been checked since November 2020, he told Le Figaro newspaper. Of those, action to shut down six – in five different departments across France – had been launched, he said. The authorities would also request the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3150505/france-moves-shut-mosques-move-against-radical-muslim-groups?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3150505/france-moves-shut-mosques-move-against-radical-muslim-groups?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Sep 2021 23:01:12 +0000 Survivors of the November 2015 Paris attacks began testifying at a historic trial on Tuesday, facing the ordeal of reliving that night of horror in the presence of more than a dozen accused in court. One by one over the coming weeks, 300 survivors as well as family members of the victims of the murderous assault are to take the stand. The suicide bombing and gun assaults by three teams of jihadists on bars, restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium – planned in Syria and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3150494/survivors-2015-paris-attacks-relive-horror-trial-testimony?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3150494/survivors-2015-paris-attacks-relive-horror-trial-testimony?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Sep 2021 17:45:19 +0000 The key defendant in the 2015 Paris attacks trial said on Wednesday the coordinated killings were in retaliation for French air strikes on the Islamic State group, calling the deaths of 130 innocent people “nothing personal” as he acknowledged his role for the first time. Salah Abdeslam, who wore all black and declined to remove his mask as he spoke in a custom-built courtroom, has been silent throughout the investigation. Observers were waiting to see if he would offer any details during the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148904/suspect-2015-paris-attacks-says-deaths-130-were-nothing-personal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148904/suspect-2015-paris-attacks-says-deaths-130-were-nothing-personal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Sep 2021 18:10:59 +0000 The main suspect in a jihadist rampage that killed 130 people across Paris described himself defiantly as “an Islamic State soldier” on Wednesday, upsetting some survivors who took it as a threat at the start of the trial into the 2015 attacks. Salah Abdeslam, 31, who appeared in court dressed in black and wearing a black face mask, is one of 20 men accused of involvement in the gun and bomb attacks on six restaurants and bars, the Bataclan concert hall and a sports stadium on November 13,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148058/france-opens-trial-over-2015-paris-attacks-main-suspect-saying-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3148058/france-opens-trial-over-2015-paris-attacks-main-suspect-saying-he?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Sep 2021 16:00:23 +0000 Authorities in France on Saturday detained a fourth person as anti-terrorism investigators questioned three others, seeking to establish a motive and uncover any possible ties to extremism after a police official was fatally stabbed at a police station outside Paris. French police killed the Tunisian suspect in the Friday slaying of an unarmed administrative employee at the entrance of her police station in the town of Rambouillet. The suspect’s father is among the four currently held, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3130960/france-reviews-terror-threat-after-police-employee-killed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3130960/france-reviews-terror-threat-after-police-employee-killed?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Apr 2021 19:12:35 +0000 Dozens of French police officers carrying placards depicting themselves as targets demonstrated on Monday outside a station that was attacked with fireworks in an eastern Paris housing estate known for drug trafficking. Champigny-sur-Marne on Saturday night saw the latest in a string of assaults on the security forces, who have been repeatedly targeted, by jihadists and youths in gritty suburban areas. Around 40 people armed with steel bars besieged the station, smashing car windows and the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3105229/dozens-french-officers-protest-paris-following-fireworks-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3105229/dozens-french-officers-protest-paris-following-fireworks-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:13:24 +0000 Swiss voters on Sunday approved a measure to tighten the Alpine nation’s gun laws, bringing the country in line with many of its European partners despite the objections of local gun owners, official results showed. The Federal Chancellery said provisional results showed nearly 64 per cent of voters nationwide agreed to align with European Union firearms rules adopted two years ago after deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Germany and Britain. The vote was part of Switzerland’s regular... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3010874/swiss-voters-approve-tighter-gun-laws-falling-line-eu-wake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3010874/swiss-voters-approve-tighter-gun-laws-falling-line-eu-wake?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2019 23:44:48 +0000 If Industry 4.0 is about how every device and industry is now connected, “Terrorism 4.0” is about how we are all now connected in a battlefield that looks to span the entire globe. This does not mean we are all soldiers in that war; it merely means we are all in the line of fire. Where terrorism was once predominantly about relatively localised violence in pursuit of relatively localised goals, it now does not seem to matter where the victims are located, as long as they fit a broad profile. If... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3009354/line-fire-how-terrorism-links-world-internet-age?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 May 2019 00:30:11 +0000 A painting in homage to terror victims by famous street artist Banksy has been stolen from the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where 90 people were killed in 2015 in a jihadist attack. The white stencilled oeuvre showing a sad-faced girl on one of the emergency doors of the famed Parisian venue was cut out and taken away. “Banksy’s work, a symbol of recollection and belonging to all: locals, Parisians, citizens of the world has been taken from us,” the establishment said, stressing the staff’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2183781/banksy-work-stolen-paris-terror-attack-venue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2183781/banksy-work-stolen-paris-terror-attack-venue?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Jan 2019 20:57:34 +0000 US President Donald Trump sparked anger in France and Britain by suggesting looser gun laws could have helped prevent deadly attacks in Paris in 2015, and linking a wave of knife crime in London to a handgun ban. In a speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Friday, Trump mimicked the shooting of victims in the Paris rampage, and said if civilians had been armed “it would have been a whole different story”. The French government issued its strongest criticism of Trump since he took... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2144852/anger-france-after-donald-trumps-boom-boom-gun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2144852/anger-france-after-donald-trumps-boom-boom-gun?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 May 2018 03:58:41 +0000 A Belgian court on Monday found Salah Abdeslam, the last surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, guilty of terrorism-related attempted murder over a shoot-out with police in Brussels days before his capture in 2016, and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. Of Abdeslam and co-defendant Sofiane Ayari, judges at the court in Brussels said “there can be no doubt about their commitment to radicalism” as they handed down the maximum jail term demanded by Belgian prosecutors at the trial in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142959/paris-attacks-suspect-sentenced-20-years-over-brussels-shoot-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2142959/paris-attacks-suspect-sentenced-20-years-over-brussels-shoot-out?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:22:16 +0000 The only surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, defied Belgian judges on Monday and said he put his “trust in Allah” on the opening day of his trial for a shoot-out that led to his capture. The 28-year-old, who was transferred under heavy security from a jail near the French capital overnight for the trial, refused to answer questions about the gun battle in Brussels or stand for the court. “I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of your allies,” said a defiant Abdeslam,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2132082/salah-abdeslam-sole-surviving-suspect-2015-paris-attacks-goes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2132082/salah-abdeslam-sole-surviving-suspect-2015-paris-attacks-goes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2018 08:53:13 +0000 He is the silent survivor of the 10-man Islamic State cell that terrorised Paris in November 2015, refusing all pleas to shed light on the attack that killed 130 people in the French capital or the one in Belgium four days after his arrest. After spending nearly three years jailed in isolation, Salah Abdeslam is set to go on trial Monday in his hometown of Brussels for his role in a shoot-out with police during which he fled. The man who covered his getaway with a spray of automatic gunfire... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2132019/sole-survivor-paris-terror-cell-road-islamic-state-began-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2132019/sole-survivor-paris-terror-cell-road-islamic-state-began-life?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2018 04:49:45 +0000 A suspected arson attack on a French kosher grocery store revived fears over anti-Semitism on Tuesday, three years to the day since an assault on a Jewish supermarket by an Islamist gunman. Prosecutors said the store in the southern Paris suburb of Creteil caught fire overnight, days after it was daubed with anti-Semitic graffiti. “The damage is believed to be very severe,” said Creteil prosecutor Laure Beccuau. A source close to the police probe said it was “too soon to discuss motives” though... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2127515/french-kosher-store-burns-down-anniversary-islamist-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2127515/french-kosher-store-burns-down-anniversary-islamist-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jan 2018 11:11:41 +0000 French public television has put a controversial film about the Bataclan massacre on ice “until all of the victims’ groups are consulted”. Ce soir-la (That Night), starring Sandrine Bonnaire, is a love story set on the fateful night in November 2015 when Paris was hit by a wave of terror attacks that left 130 people dead. But Claire Peltier, the partner of one the people murdered at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan – where 90 people were killed by extremist gunmen – called for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2126178/controversial-french-film-2015-bataclan-attacks-postponed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2126178/controversial-french-film-2015-bataclan-attacks-postponed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Dec 2017 10:35:05 +0000 The Paris and Brussels attacks, a botched shooting on a high-speed train and a foiled plot in Belgium may have all been part of one big Islamic State (IS) operation, Belgium’s federal prosecutor said Monday. Speaking on the second anniversary of the November 13 Paris attacks, chief prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed for the first time what investigators have been saying privately about the possible links. “We indeed realise that Verviers, Thalys, November 13 and the March 22 attacks may... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119756/islamic-state-attacks-france-and-belgium-may-have-been-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119756/islamic-state-attacks-france-and-belgium-may-have-been-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:50:28 +0000 France marked two years on Monday since its worst ever terror attacks, releasing colourful balloons into the sky to remember the 130 people killed on a Friday night out in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron laid wreaths at the six locations where gunmen and suicide bombers struck on November 13, 2015, targeting the national stadium as well as bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall. Two members of Eagles of Death Metal – the Californian band who were on stage at the Bataclan when the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119724/france-remembers-victims-two-years-after-paris-attacks-killed-130?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2119724/france-remembers-victims-two-years-after-paris-attacks-killed-130?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Nov 2017 14:28:29 +0000 Two years after militants killed 130 people in coordinated attacks across Paris, France officially ended a state of emergency, replacing it with the introduction of a new security law which critics say undermines civil liberties. The new anti-terrorism law, effective from Wednesday, gives police extended powers to search properties, conduct electronic eavesdropping and shut mosques or other locations suspected of preaching hatred. “Some dread that now that we are out the state of emergency there... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2118001/level-threat-high-everywhere-world-two-years-after-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2118001/level-threat-high-everywhere-world-two-years-after-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 11:55:36 +0000 The European Commission pledged €118.5 million (US$139.2 million) on Wednesday to help Europe’s cities guard against attacks and outlined how EU countries could do more to curb the sale of bomb-making materials. After a dozen cases in Europe of drivers using vehicles to plough into pedestrians, like the August attack in Barcelona, authorities have struggled to protect public spaces without disrupting cities’ open character or busting tight budgets. Security Commissioner Julian King said €18.5... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2115964/we-cant-deliver-zero-risk-we-can-make-it-harder-terrorists-eu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2115964/we-cant-deliver-zero-risk-we-can-make-it-harder-terrorists-eu?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:29:59 +0000 As graphic images of yet another terror attack – this time in Barcelona – flash across the television screen, I’m compelled to ask: could the rise in terrorist organisations and plots be linked to the 24-hour news cycle? Each time a van mows down pedestrians, or white supremacists march down the street, cable news channels inundate the public with all the lurid details, replaying graphic video imagery that often includes the very slogans these organisations are bent on voicing. When cable news... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107982/barcelona-charlottesville-are-islamic-state-and-white?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107982/barcelona-charlottesville-are-islamic-state-and-white?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Aug 2017 03:30:05 +0000 A hammer-wielding assailant shouting, “This is for Syria!” attacked police outside Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday, setting off a security scramble at one of Paris’ best-known landmarks. But he was wounded by police gunfire before he could seriously injure anyone. The abortive attack marked the second strike in four days at a landmark site in a European capital, coming on the heels of a far more serious assault that left seven people dead and dozens hurt in London. French authorities identified... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2097198/police-shoot-injure-attacker-outside-pariss-notre-dame-cathedral?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2097198/police-shoot-injure-attacker-outside-pariss-notre-dame-cathedral?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jun 2017 15:41:12 +0000 France was on edge Saturday on the eve of its most unpredictable presidential election in decades, which will take place under heightened security after the jihadist killing of a policeman. The Islamic State-claimed slaying of the officer on Paris’ Champs Elysees avenue thrust questions of security to the fore of campaigning after nine months of relative calm. Analysts say Thursday’s attack could shake up the four-way contest between far-right leader Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089829/france-edge-presidential-vote-looms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089829/france-edge-presidential-vote-looms?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:11:34 +0000 Police in France have searched a property believed to be the home of a known terror suspect who shot dead one police officer and seriously wounded two more in an attack two days before voting begins in an already tense presidential election. The gunman stepped from a car and opened fire on a police van with an automatic rifle outside a Marks & Spencer store on the Champs Elysees in central Paris at about 9pm on Thursday. The attacker, a 39-year-old man widely named as Karim Cheurfi, was known to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089623/pro-note-found-near-paris-gunman-who-had-served-15-years-attempted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089623/pro-note-found-near-paris-gunman-who-had-served-15-years-attempted?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Apr 2017 11:45:15 +0000 A known terror suspect gunned down a police officer and wounded two others on Thursday on Paris’s Champs Elysees in an attack claimed by Islamic State days before France’s presidential election. France has been alerted about a new suspect by the Belgian security services but it was not immediately clear if he was linked to the late-night shooting in Paris, a ministry official said on Friday. “It is too early to say” if the man signalled by Belgium was involved in the shooting, interior ministry... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089391/paris-shooting-kills-one-police-and-another-wounded-just-days?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2089391/paris-shooting-kills-one-police-and-another-wounded-just-days?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Apr 2017 20:00:45 +0000 A French soldier patrolling at the Louvre museum Friday shot and seriously injured a machete-wielding man who yelled “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) as he attacked security forces, police said. Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attack, less than 80 days before presidential elections, was “terrorist in nature”. The man rushed at police and soldiers before being shot near the museum’s shopping mall, police said, adding a second person had also been detained after acting... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2067874/french-soldier-shoots-and-wounds-knife-wielding-attacker-paris?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2067874/french-soldier-shoots-and-wounds-knife-wielding-attacker-paris?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Feb 2017 10:00:00 +0000 The main suspect in the Paris attacks said he was “not ashamed” in a letter to a woman who has been writing to him in prison, according to extracts published in the French press on Friday. First of all, I’m not afraid of letting anything slip because I’m not ashamed of what I am Terrorist suspect Salah Abdeslam Salah Abdeslam has refused to respond to questions from French judges about the November 13, 2015 attacks in which 130 people died at the hands of Islamic State group jihadists. But in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2061898/im-not-ashamed-paris-attacks-suspect-wrote-prison-letter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2061898/im-not-ashamed-paris-attacks-suspect-wrote-prison-letter?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jan 2017 06:28:32 +0000 French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says 17 attacks have been thwarted in the country so far this year and he is asking Parliament to extend the state of emergency until July 15. Speaking after an extraordinary cabinet meeting, Cazeneuve said Saturday that Parliament will vote on the bill next week. He said the extension for seven more months is “absolutely necessary” to ensure the highest possible level of protection in the country in the context of next spring’s presidential and general... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2053561/french-government-seeks-extension-state-emergency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2053561/french-government-seeks-extension-state-emergency?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Dec 2016 13:51:16 +0000 French President Francois Hollande on Sunday began commemorations for the first anniversary of the Paris attacks by unveiling a plaque in memory of a man killed by suicide bombers at the Stade de France. Manuel Dias, 63, died outside the national stadium where France were playing Germany in a football match during the first attack of a series on the evening of November 13, 2015, that killed 130 people. Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went on to unveil plaques at bars and restaurants in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045564/france-marks-first-anniversary-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045564/france-marks-first-anniversary-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Nov 2016 09:46:37 +0000 Members of Eagles of Death Metal, the US group who were playing when jihadists attacked Paris’ Bataclan concert hall last year, were turned away from the venue’s reopening show Saturday over controversial remarks by their lead singer. “They came, I threw them out - there are things you can’t forgive,” Bataclan co-director Jules Frutos said, as Sting was wrapping up an emotional reopening show to mark a year since 90 people were massacred there during a gig by the Californian band. Eagles... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045527/bataclan-bars-eagles-death-metal-reopening-show-over-conspiracy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045527/bataclan-bars-eagles-death-metal-reopening-show-over-conspiracy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Nov 2016 03:32:42 +0000 Rock star Sting headlined a concert in Paris’ Bataclan music hall to mark the venue’s reopening a year after three Islamist militants gunned down 90 revellers in France’s bloodiest terror attack. Sting, who fronted the hit pop band The Police before a long solo career, opened the emotionally charged gig with a minute’s silence, telling the crowd: “We will not forget them.” “Tonight we have two tasks to achieve: first to remember those who lost their lives in the attack, and then to celebrate... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045523/never-forget-sting-reopens-paris-bataclan-one-year-after-music?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045523/never-forget-sting-reopens-paris-bataclan-one-year-after-music?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Nov 2016 03:19:00 +0000 The main Paris attacks suspect, Salah Abdeslam, has become even more radicalised since being imprisoned for his alleged role in the killing of 130 people a year ago, his former lawyer has said. “He’s got a beard, he’s become a true fundamentalist whereas before he was a kid wearing Nike trainers,” Belgian lawyer Sven Mary told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam ‘wanted to blow himself up’ at stadium but backed out Belgian-born French national Abdeslam is believed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045454/paris-attacks-suspect-radicalised-arrest-says-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2045454/paris-attacks-suspect-radicalised-arrest-says-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Nov 2016 14:40:11 +0000 Outside the Carillon bar, where flowers piled up over bloodstains almost one year ago, the pavement tables are packed again with regulars from the hipster Parisian neighbourhood. Drinks, cigarettes and laughter outside the red-fronted cafe suggest a recovery from the November 13, 2015, attacks, which saw it sprayed with automatic gunfire. Opposite sits the Petit Cambodge restaurant, another business thriving again after being targeted by the Islamic State (IS) extremists who killed 130 people... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2044758/neither-war-nor-peace-how-paris-terror-attacks-one-year-ago?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2044758/neither-war-nor-peace-how-paris-terror-attacks-one-year-ago?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Nov 2016 05:48:23 +0000 Lawyers for the only known survivor of a group of Islamist militants who killed 130 people in Paris last year on Wednesday resigned from the role, saying his continued refusal to testify was due to the conditions of his detention. Salah Abdeslam, who has been held in solitary confinement near Paris since he was captured earlier this year, does not want to talk and no longer wants legal representation, his lawyers Frank Berton and Sven Mary said on BFM Television. He will not talk and will use... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2027408/paris-attackers-lawyers-resign-say-his-silence-due-constant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2027408/paris-attackers-lawyers-resign-say-his-silence-due-constant?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Oct 2016 08:05:19 +0000 A French parliamentary investigation found multiple intelligence failures before the Islamic extremist attacks that killed 147 people in Paris last year, lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging the creation of a US-style counterterrorism agency to better prevent further violence. All the extremists involved in the 2015 attacks – on newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher market, the national stadium, Parisian cafes and the Bataclan concert hall – had been previously flagged to authorities, said conservative... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1985794/french-lawmakers-call-us-style-counterterror-agency-after-paris?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1985794/french-lawmakers-call-us-style-counterterror-agency-after-paris?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jul 2016 13:02:22 +0000 After a frantic manhunt and a rapid extradition from Belgium, Salah Abdeslam was helicoptered on Wednesday into solitary confinement at a high-security jail outside the French capital. But legal experts say families of the victims of the November 13 Paris attacks will now have to wait years before the only surviving suspect goes on trial. “Even in a simple case of armed robbery in a bakery it takes a year to get a verdict,” according to Pascal Jakowlew-Poisson, from the law-enforcement trade... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1940124/bureaucracy-red-tape-paris-attacks-familes-may-face-five-year-wait?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1940124/bureaucracy-red-tape-paris-attacks-familes-may-face-five-year-wait?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Apr 2016 04:15:33 +0000 Salah Abdeslam, suspected of playing a major part in November’s attacks in Paris by Islamist militants in which 130 people were killed, has been extradited to France from Belgium, prosecutors in both countries said on Wednesday. Abdeslam, 26, was Europe’s most wanted fugitive until his capture in Brussels on March 18 after a four-month manhunt. He was due to appear before French judges later on Wednesday. “Salah Abdeslam has been handed over to the French authorities this morning,” Belgium’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1939360/paris-attacks-suspect-extradited-france-belgium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1939360/paris-attacks-suspect-extradited-france-belgium?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Apr 2016 11:19:39 +0000 The arrest Friday of five men suspected of links to the Brussels bombings, including the last known fugitive in last year’s Paris attacks, raised new questions about the extent of the Islamic State cell believed to have carried out the intertwined attacks that left 162 people dead in two countries. After weeks of speculation about a mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the Brussels attacks while three suicide bombers blew themselves up, authorities were checking whether that man was indeed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states/article/1934788/five-linked-brussels-bombings-arrested-including-attacker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states/article/1934788/five-linked-brussels-bombings-arrested-including-attacker?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Apr 2016 22:30:45 +0000 The 12th China International Press Photo Contest shone the spotlight on leading events and issues around the world in 2015, including the European refugee crisis and the Tianjin Port explosions. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1934085/press-photo-awards-put-china-frame?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1934085/press-photo-awards-put-china-frame?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Apr 2016 00:17:56 +0000 Belgian authorities have approved the extradition of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to France, with his lawyer claiming that Abdeslam was committed to co-operating with French investigators. Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, was arrested in Brussels on March 18 after four months on the run as Europe’s most wanted man. Four days after he was arrested, the Belgian capital was struck by co-ordinated Islamic State group bombings at... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932845/belgium-extradite-paris-terror-suspect-abdeslam-france-his-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932845/belgium-extradite-paris-terror-suspect-abdeslam-france-his-lawyer?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Apr 2016 06:21:41 +0000 French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday he was scrapping contested constitutional reforms proposed after the Paris attacks, in an embarrassing U-turn for his already beleaguered government. The reforms included a plan to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality which led to howls of protests from the left flank of his Socialist party. Hollande also wanted to enshrine in the constitution a state of emergency adopted after the November 13 Paris attacks, in which suicide... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932182/french-president-francois-hollande-forced-abandon-reforms-would?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1932182/french-president-francois-hollande-forced-abandon-reforms-would?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Mar 2016 14:34:56 +0000 Suspected Paris bombing plotter Salah Abdeslam has told investigators that he was planning new operations from Brussels and possibly had access to several weapons, Belgium’s foreign minister said on Sunday. Minister Didier Reynders said Abdeslam had claimed that “he was ready to restart something from Brussels, and it’s maybe the reality”. Reynders gave credence to the suspect’s claim because “we found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations, and we have seen a new network of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1928102/paris-terror-suspect-was-planning-new-attacks-belgium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1928102/paris-terror-suspect-was-planning-new-attacks-belgium?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Mar 2016 15:05:47 +0000 The lawyer defending the prime surviving suspect for the Novemver 13 Paris attacks said on Sunday he would sue a French prosecutor for divulging Salah Abdeslam’s private admission that he planned to blow himself up with fellow Islamic State militants. Speaking two days after Abdeslam was captured during a police raid in Brussels, his lawyer Sven Mary accused the lead French investigator of violating judicial confidentiality by quoting Abdeslam’s statement to a magistrate in Brussels at a news... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1928089/paris-attack-suspects-lawyer-sue-french-prosecutors-violating?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1928089/paris-attack-suspects-lawyer-sue-french-prosecutors-violating?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Mar 2016 12:53:27 +0000 Captured fugitive Salah Abdeslam initially planned to blow himself up outside the Stade de France during the Paris attacks but changed his mind, a prosecutor said on Saturday, after Europe’s most wanted man was charged with “terrorist murder” for his role in the November assaults. Abdeslam, who was caught after being shot in the leg in a dramatic police raid on Friday, was also charged in Brussels with participating in a terrorist group. He was then taken to a maximum security prison in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/us/article/1927620/paris-attacks-suspect-salah-abdeslam-wanted-blow-himself-stadium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/us/article/1927620/paris-attacks-suspect-salah-abdeslam-wanted-blow-himself-stadium?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Mar 2016 02:13:12 +0000 Beardless, with short-cropped hair and a mild manner, Salah Abdeslam slipped from one world to another as easily as he slipped for four months through an international dragnet. The fugitive who evaded several close calls with police – until he was caught on Friday in the neighbourhood where he grew up – remains perhaps the biggest mystery among the cohort of men who brazenly attacked Paris cafes and restaurants, a noted concert hall and France’s main sports stadium on November 13, killing 130... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1927483/paris-terror-attacks-suspect-salah-abdeslam-captured-during-raid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/1927483/paris-terror-attacks-suspect-salah-abdeslam-captured-during-raid?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Mar 2016 01:29:21 +0000 Belgian and French police launched a vast manhunt for suspects late Tuesday after a Kalashnikov-wielding assailant was killed and four officers were wounded during an anti-terror operation in Brussels linked to the Paris attacks. Armed police came under fire as they carried out a daylight search on a property in the quiet suburb, sparking a series of gun battles that wounded four officers and left children trapped in nearby schools. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said operations were... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1925710/paris-attacks-raid-gunman-killed-and-four-police-wounded-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1925710/paris-attacks-raid-gunman-killed-and-four-police-wounded-brussels?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Mar 2016 01:56:16 +0000 As Eagles of Death Metal return to Paris on Tuesday to ‘finish’ their fateful November rock concert that ended with jihadi gunmen killing 90 of their fans, survivors are torn over whether to go to the gig. Many fans who lived through the carnage will be there, including some still being treated for their injuries. But one said he was unsure if he could bear to go, even though he has tickets to see the American band. “I want to go,” said Guillaume Munier, who escaped the gunmen with a friend by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1912528/survivors-torn-eagles-death-metal-prepare-return-site-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1912528/survivors-torn-eagles-death-metal-prepare-return-site-paris-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Feb 2016 22:01:50 +0000