Christians
Many people in mostly Christian countries believe values clash with Islam — poll (LINK ONLY)
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France
Legal
Three men charged with supplying gun to Strasbourg market attacker
(AFP) Three men were Friday charged with supplying the weapon used by the gunman in the Christmas market attack in the French city of Strasbourg and placed in pre-trial detention, a judicial source said. The three suspects, from the same family and […]
Citizenship
Americans who thwarted train attack become French citizens
(AFP) Three Americans hailed as heroes for thwarting a jihadist attack on a train between Amsterdam and Paris were officially welcomed as French citizens on Thursday in a ceremony in the US state of California. Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, […]
Children & Teens
French jihadists in Syria may be allowed home, Paris says
(AFP) France on Tuesday opened the door to repatriating more than a hundred jihadists being held in Syria, in a marked change in stance brought about by the planned withdrawal of US troops from the country. Paris is worried that French prisoners […]
Arts & Entertainment
Banksy work stolen from Paris terror attack venue
(AFP) 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 […]
Immigration
UK starts returning cross-Channel migrants to France
(BBC) The UK has begun returning migrants, who cross the Channel in small boats, to France in a bid to deter others from doing the same, the Home Office said. On Thursday, a small number of failed asylum seekers, who landed on […]
Crime
Danes downplay seriousness of physical assaults on Jews
(JTA) Four years after a jihadist killed a Jewish guard outside a Danish synagogue, only 42 percent of Danes said that physical attacks on Jews were “a problem.” Respondents in Hungary, which has not had a fatal attack on a Jew for […]
Interfaith
Jewish museum attack victims shot with ‘surgical’ precision
(AFP) Victims of the Jewish museum attack in Brussels were shot with “surgical” precision, first responders said Monday at the trial of French national Mehdi Nemmouche. Nemmouche, 33, the alleged jihadist gunman, faces life in prison if convicted of the charges of […]
Legal
France to try 14 people over Jan 2015 Paris attacks: judicial source
(AFP) French anti-terror judges have recommended that 14 people be tried in connection with the January 2015 jihadist attacks in and around Paris, a judicial source told AFP Friday. The attacks against the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, a […]
Interfaith
Jewish museum attack victim’s mother tells Belgian court of horror
(AFP) The mother of a victim of Belgium’s Jewish museum attack faced her son’s alleged killer for the first time on Friday, as the terror trial turned harrowing when the court was shown footage of the anti-Semitic murders. The accused gunman, Mehdi […]
Academics & Education
Strasbourg: Capital of the EU and ‘the future of Europe’
(Gatestone) “New York, Geneva and Strasbourg are the only cities in the world which are home to international institutions without being national capitals,” an official page of the French city proudly proclaims. “The choice of Strasbourg as the European capital following the […]
Legal
Jihadi defence lawyer arrested for financing terrorism
(Breitbart) A French lawyer, well-known for taking on cases in which he defended radical jihadists, has been arrested by French security services after being accused of helping to finance terrorist activity. Paris lawyer Bruno Vinay was arrested on Tuesday by members of the Directorate-General of Internal Security […]
Interfaith
Nemmouche — the five pillars of the defence case
(Brussels Times) Mehdi Nemmouche, the man accused of carrying out the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in which four people died in May 2014, spoke briefly at his trial in Brussels yesterday, as we report elsewhere, and then took a […]
Interfaith
Accused accomplice to Jewish museum murders denies charges
(AFP) A man on trial as the alleged accomplice to the Jewish museum murders in Brussels denied any role in the 2014 shootings and said he was not a jihadist. Prosecutors told the court that Nacer Bendrer had been flagged years before […]
Interfaith
Frenchman denies Jewish museum murders
(AFP) The Frenchman on trial accused of murdering four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium denied Tuesday he was the gunman and alleged the court had robbed him of defence witnesses. Asked by the judge whether he accepted the evidence linking […]
Interfaith
Brussels museum gunman linked to other jihadists
(AFP) The Frenchman accused of murdering four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium had links with other jihadists, including those behind the Brussels and Paris attacks, investigators say. At least one lawyer wants to see if defendant Mehdi Nemmouche sheds more […]
Interfaith
Defendant at Belgian Jewish museum killings trial inventing conspiracies, Jews say
(JTA) On the opening of a murder trial over the 2014 slaying of four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, a leader of Belgian Jewry accused the defendant’s lawyers of spreading conspiracy theories. Yohan Benizri, president of the Coordinating Committee of […]
Interfaith
Frenchman’s DNA, fingerprints on Brussels museum attack weapons: prosecutor
(AFP) A Frenchman on trial for shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels left his fingerprints and DNA on the weapons used in the terror attack, prosecutors said Friday. Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, listened to the case unfolding against him […]
Clerics & Preachers
French Muslim women push for ‘inclusive’ mosque in Paris
(Radio France) Two Muslim organisations in France have launched projects to create “inclusive” mosques: spaces where women and men can pray together, and where female imams would be able to lead Friday prayers. Kahina Bahloul conducts her prayers at home, in her […]
Interfaith
Jewish museum terror attack trial opens in Brussels
(AFP) A Frenchman accused of shooting four people dead at a Jewish museum in Brussels went on trial on Thursday, allegedly the first Syria jihad veteran to stage a terror attack in Europe. Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, who was in court, faces a […]
Interfaith
On supermarket siege anniversary, French Jews resolutely insist they are not afraid (LINK ONLY)
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Legal
New suspect charged in Belgium over Paris 2015 terror attacks
(AFP) Belgian authorities have arrested another suspect in connection with the Paris terror attacks of November 2015, charging him with participating in the activities of a terrorist group, prosecutors said Wednesday. The suspect is believed to have been involved in the supply […]
Arts & Entertainment
Punching down at dead cartoonists The response to the attack on Charlie Hebdo was a pivotal moment that foreshadowed the political crisis in Western societies
(Tablet) Yesterday marked the four-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in which the staff of a satirical French comics publication, along with several bystanders, were murdered by jihadist terrorists inside their Paris offices. The killers were the brothers Saïd and Chérif […]
Interfaith
French jihadist in court over deadly Brussels Jewish museum attack
(AFP) A French jihadist appeared in court on Monday as a jury was chosen for his trial for shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014. Mehdi Nemmouche, the first jihadist to return from Syria’s battlefields to allegedly […]
Arts & Entertainment
Charlie Hebdo keeps the lights on
(Radio France) This is the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attack against the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people died at the hands of two radical Islamic attackers, who also killed Ahmed Merabet, a police officer who was on […]
Crime
Judge investigating Tariq Ramadan case loses laptop in burglary The laptop contains sensitive data, French media reported
(National-UAE) The home of one of the magistrates investigating rape charges against Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan was burgled last week, French media reported on Sunday. Quoting an unnamed police source, French news website Europe 1 said a laptop with sensitive information had […]
Arts & Entertainment
Paris honors attack victims at Charlie Hebdo, kosher market
(AP) Cartoonists, religious leaders and top French officials are paying respects to 17 people killed by Islamic extremists targeting satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The attacks that started exactly four years ago Monday were the first of several to […]
Interfaith
Radicalised in jail, teen thug becomes hardened jihadist
(AFP) Mehdi Nemmouche stands accused of carrying out Europe’s first attack by an Islamist fighter returning from the war in Syria. But his journey from a French foster home to a Brussels court began not in a Middle Eastern desert but in […]
Government & Politics
Report: Nearly all terror attacks in France carried out by radicals already known to police A GLOBSEC report says nearly 80 percent of attackers behind 22 French incidents had been on terror watchlists; 97 percent had been on radar of authorities.
(NBC) The vast majority of terror attacks in France were carried out by Islamic radicals who had been known to police or intelligence services, according to a new report by a global security think tank. Bratislava-based GLOBSEC examined 22 terror incidents in […]
Academics & Education
France debates where to teach Arabic: Public school or local mosque?
(NY Times) Early on Sunday mornings, Habiba Hatem, 9, prepares her own breakfast, grabs her flashy pink school bag and jumps into her father’s car — bound for Arabic lessons at her local mosque in a suburb north of Paris. Colorful sketches […]
News: Europe
‘Maybe we need more God in prisons’ to curb radicalization, says one former extremist
(PRI) When Chérif Chekatt opened fire last month in the French city of Strasbourg at one of the most famous Christmas markets in Europe, five people were killed and about a dozen were injured. The 29-year-old Strasbourg native with Moroccan roots was […]
Children & Teens
Belgium to appeal against order to repatriate Islamic State families
(Reuters) Belgium will appeal against a judge’s order forcing it to repatriate two Belgian women convicted of being Islamic State militants and their six children from Syria, the migration minister said on Sunday. A judge said on Wednesday that Belgium had to […]
Government & Politics
Channel migrants: UK and France to step up patrols
(BBC) The UK and France are to step up joint patrols and increase surveillance to tackle a rise in the number of migrants trying to reach Britain in small boats. Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who has cut short a family holiday, agreed […]
News: Europe
Key French jihadist Peter Cherif set to return behind bars
(AFP) One of France’s most wanted jihadists, considered a potential source of valuable information by Western intelligence agencies, is set to return to prison Thursday following seven years on the run. Peter Cherif, 36, was close to the brothers who massacred staff […]
Immigration
English Channel sees uptick in migrants trying to cross over
(AP) British and French authorities said some 40 migrants were rescued in the waters between southern England and northern France on Christmas Day, amid a spike in attempts by migrants to cross the English Channel to British shores on small boats. The […]
News: Europe
Charlie Hebdo journalist: ‘Islam must submit to criticism’
(Breitbart) Charlie Hebdo journalist Zineb El Rhazoui has received rape and death threats for saying “Islam must submit to criticism.” The journalist, who has lived under police protection since a number of her colleagues at the satirical magazine were murdered by [a] radical […]
Legal
Suspect tied to Charlie Hebdo attack sent to France, charged
(AP) French authorities handed preliminary terrorism charges Sunday to a fugitive extremist who is suspected of fighting U.S. forces in Iraq and helping to organize the 2015 shooting attack at satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people. Peter Cherif, who […]
News: Europe
Charlie Hebdo attack suspect arrested, French officials say
(AP) French authorities confirmed on Friday the arrest of a suspected extremist linked to the 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine that killed 12 people. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the arrest after French media reported that French citizen Peter Cherif, […]
Interfaith
Belgian Jewish museum attack suspect appears in court
(AFP) An alleged French jihadist accused of returning from Syria and shooting dead four people in an attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium in central Brussels appeared in court Thursday. Mehdi Nemmouche, allegedly the first foreign fighter to return to stage […]
Immigration
Migrants in France suffering ‘unprecedented’ abuses: rights ombudsman
(AFP) Undocumented migrants living in makeshift camps in northern France have been subjected to an “unprecedented” violation of their basic rights over the past three years, the country’s human rights ombudsman said in a report Wednesday. Jacques Toubon said that migrants camped […]
Deradicalization
Strasbourg attack: Do French prisons breed jihadists?
(Radio France) Chérif Chekatt had been imprisoned 27 times and was about to be arrested again when he opened fire on the Strasbourg Christmas market last week, killing five people and injuring 11. Although the motives for his attack are not clear, […]
Legal
French authorities charge Strasbourg gunman’s ‘accomplice’
(AFP) A French anti-terrorist court on Monday charged a man arrested for allegedly supplying a revolver used in a mass shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg last week, a judicial source said. The 37-year-old, who was not immediately identified, was ordered […]
News: Europe
Four family members of Strasbourg gunman released: prosecutors
(AFP) Four family members of the gunman who went on a deadly shooting spree at a popular Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg were released from custody on Saturday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Three more people close to the […]
News: Europe
Father of Strasbourg attacker said his son backed IS group
(AP) The man described as the father of the 29-year-old suspect in this week’s deadly Christmas market attack in Strasbourg says his son subscribed to the beliefs of the Islamic State group. The interview with Abdelkrim Chekatt by the state-run France 2 […]
Government & Politics
Mayor of Nice urges Emmanuel Macron to lift ban on anti-terror phone app (LINK ONLY)
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News: Europe
Is Strasbourg really a hotbed for violent Islamist extremists?
(Local) After the deadly Christmas market terrorist attack, there have been claims that the eastern city of Strasbourg and the area around it houses more Islamist extremists than elsewhere in France. But is this really true? Since the attacks, claims that the […]
Law Enforcement
Strasbourg Christmas market gunman shot dead by French police
(AFP) The gunman who killed three people at a Christmas market in Strasbourg was shot dead by French police on Thursday as the Islamic State jihadist group claimed him as one of its “soldiers.” More than 700 French security forces had been […]
Crime
Strasbourg suspect: violent criminal on France terror watchlist
(AFP) The 29-year-old man sought by police over a shooting in Strasbourg lived in a small apartment in a ramshackle housing bloc and has convictions in France and several European countries after a life of crime, officials say. The man, Cherif Chekatt, […]
Crime
To neighbors, suspect in French market killings seemed just a local boy
(Reuters) The fugitive Strasbourg man suspected of shooting and knifing people as he shouted “Allahu Akbar” at the French city’s Christmas market is a criminal who turned radical Islamist in jail, officials say. Neighbors remember Cherif Chekatt as an ordinary local guy, […]
Crime
French police hunt gunman after Christmas market attack
(AFP) Hundreds of French anti-terror police are hunting for a fugitive gunman who attacked Christmas shoppers at a market in the eastern city of Strasbourg while shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest), officials said Wednesday. The attack in the heart of the […]