French authorities are confirming that an explosion at a petrochemical plant in southern France was the result of intentional actions.
The two tanks that exploded and burned were located about 1,600 feet apart which raised suspicions of French investigators. An electronic device “that could start a fire” was found in the ashes of the fire.
“The simultaneous explosion of the tanks, which are spaced about 500 metres (yards) from each other, is not the result of a technical accident. The thesis of criminal intent is clearly being considered,” a source close to french authorities told Reuters.
Prosecutors in Aix, France told a reporter for the BBC that the items were so badly damaged that they would need to be closely examined for any information.
The explosion comes a week after explosives and detonators were stolen from a military installation in Miramas, just 12 miles away from the explosion site. Investigators would not say there was a connection to Islamist militants but they were “keeping an open mind at this stage.”
The explosions took place on Bastille Day, the day France celebrates the storming of the Bastille at the end of the French revolution.
A heat wave has been baking Europe over the last week setting record high temperatures from Spain to England.
Meteorologists across the continent were reporting temperatures well over 100 degrees fahrenheit including southern France where the daytime highs are expected to top 105 degrees through the rest of the week.
“We have a lot of heat-wave days ahead of us,” MeteoFrance forecaster Francois Gourand told the Associated Press.
Heat in France was causing problems for the power grid, as 120,000 homes in the town of Vannes were left without power on Wednesday.
An all time high temperature for the UK in July was recorded on the first day of the month as London’s Heathrow Airport reported a high of 98.6 degrees.
The heat wave is striking the country at the start of the Wimbledon tennis championships and officials say it’s officially the hottest players have had to compete in the tournament’s history since it began in 1877. The heat was so intense a ball boy collapsed from the heat and had to be taken out on a stretcher.
While the heat bothered some residents, others took it in stride.
“I’m loving it. I can’t complain,” university student Maggie Cloud told the AP. “We pay so much money to go abroad to holidays, and now we have the weather here. It’s cheaper.”
In the wake of three terrorist attacks timed to celebrate Ramadan, an Israeli official is giving a simple messages to Jews in France.
Come home.
“I call on the Jews of France – come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing,” said Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
“We are prepared to receive with open arms the Jews of France,” Elkin wrote in a post on Facebook.
The message comes on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying they were engaged in a battle against “dark forces.”
“The brutal murders in France, Tunisia and Kuwait again underscore that the enlightened world is struggling against dark forces. The fight against the murderous terrorism of extremist Islam requires unity, the beginning of which is the unequivocal condemnation of the murderers and those who support them,” Netanyahu said in a statement released to the media.
Immigration to Israel from France is already at an all-time high. In 2014, for the first time since Israel became a state, France topped the list of countries of permanent immigrants. That year, 7,000 made the move. Officials estimate that 10,000 could move by the end of 2015.
Netanyahu has called for Jews to “come home” in the past following French attacks. At the funeral of four French Jews killed in a Paris kosher grocery store, Netanyahu said “More than ever, today. Israel is the Jewish homeland,” and the more Jews there are here, “the stronger we will be in our homeland.”
Three Islamic terror attacks were carried out almost simultaneously today after call for “Ramadan calamity.”
In Lyon, France, a terrorist named Yassin Salih rammed a car through the gate of an American-owned chemical factory. He attempted to blow up the complex but failed. He then decapitated the manager of the complex and posted his head on a fence by the factory. Salih also posted Islamist flags to the fence.
Salih, which French officials confirmed they had under surveillance as a possible terrorist sympathizer, was wounded in the explosion and taken into custody. His wife and one other accomplice have also been taken into custody.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed it was an Islamist terror attack.
In Tunisia, at least two terrorists stormed a beach popular with tourists and gunned down 27 people. An attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait has left at least 25 dead. Hundreds were wounded in both attacks.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the terrorist group ISIS issued a call for “calamity” for “infidels, crusaders, Shiites and apostates”.
“Be keen to conquer in this holy month and to become exposed to martyrdom,” Abu Mohamed al-Adnani said.
The National Security Agency has been exposed for spying on the last three French presidents.
The website Wikileaks revealed classified documents that reveal the NSA targeted the communications of Presidents Hollande, Sarkozy and Chirac. In addition, the spy agency targeted cabinet ministers and the French ambassador to the U.S.
The news of the Wikileaks release was published in the French daily newspaper Liberation.
“The French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in the statement, adding that more “important revelations” would soon follow.
President Obama has told French President Hollande that the NA is “not targeting and will not target” his communications.
A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council reiterated the President’s position.
“Indeed, as we have said previously, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike,” NSC’s Ned Price said.
“We work closely with France on all matters of international concern, and the French are indispensable partners.”
The WikiLeaks documents show the NSA spied on items about “the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, the leadership and future of the European Union, the relationship between the Hollande administration and the German government of Angela Merkel, French efforts to determine the make-up of the executive staff of the United Nations, French involvement in the conflict in Palestine and a dispute between the French and US governments over US spying on France.”
A Jewish mother was one of two victims of anti-Semitic attacks in the Paris area.
The woman was injured by three African women who attacked because the Jewish woman complained about their children throwing a soccer ball at her daughter.
As the trio of women were attacking the Jewish woman, witnesses say they were shouting anti-Semitic slogans and comments. One witness said the assailants yelled “Hitler didn’t finish the job” and “that Jews were a filthy race.”
One of the women said the victim needed more beatings.
The woman was treated in a hospital for her injuries and required several days of recovery.
“Increasingly, banal conflicts involving Jews degenerate into anti-Semitic incidents and assaults,” the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism wrote in a statement, which urged police to “get to the bottom of what happened.”
The BNVCA also reported that a 16-year-old Jewish boy was attacked by four men of Middle Eastern descent. He was struck in the face and had his phone stolen from him while a fifth man told the gang of four to “break” the victim of the assault.
The boy required emergency eye surgery at Rothschild Hospital.
On the heels of France approving dramatic expansion of their spy powers which would allow the government to collect the metadata of all citizens without a warrant, now Canada is moving toward expanding their spy powers.
The Anti-Terror Act was spurred by last year’s attack on the Parliament. The bill flew through House of Commons and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a strong supporter of the bill. The Senate is expected to approve the act before June.
The act gives the spy agency permission to work overseas along with making preventative arrests of terrorism suspects. The police would also be allowed to make arrests and detain individuals without a charge. Promotion of terrorism by any means including the internet would become a crime.
“There is a high probability of jihadist attacks from within,” Canadian Defence Minister Jason Kenney said. “The threat of terrorism has never been greater.”
Critics say the bill is too sweeping. The opposition includes four former Prime Ministers and five justices of the Canadian Supreme Court.
“This bill will almost certainly lead to a chill on freedom of speech,” said Allan Weiss, professor of humanities at York University. “It is filled with vague wording that would make it possible for the government to label virtually anything it disagreed with as harmful to Canada’s national interests.”
The French parliament has passed a law that would strengthen intelligence services saying that the changes would improve their ability to fight Islamic extremists.
The law passed 438-86. The bill was written three days after the Islamic attacks in Paris in January that left 17 people dead. Socialist government leaders say the new bill takes into account changes in technology.
Critics of the bill say that it is an extension of mass surveillance that further increases the government’s infringement on the personal freedom of citizens.
The focus is on the government now being allowed to collect massive amounts of metadata that would detail the times and places that citizens visit during their day. Similar to the collection of data that was exposed being done by the NSA in the USA.
An Islamic terrorist who had been planning to carry out attacks on French churches has been arrested after he accidentally shot himself in the leg.
The 24-year-old terrorist, whose name is being withheld by authorities, was found with guns, bulletproof vests and notes about intended targets after he called an ambulance for his self-inflicted wound.
French police say the man is a computer science student who had been under observation as a security risk since last year.
AFP news agency reported the suspect was wounded in the leg after a dispute.
In addition to the weapons, police found in the suspect’s car blue lights and orange police armbands that led investigators to believe the terrorist would pose as a police officer to gain entry to churches for attacks.
Police also said that a woman found murdered Sunday morning in what they thought was a random attack was killed by the terrorist suspect in what could have been a practice run.
Attacks on churches would be new for France as previous attacks took place on synagogues.
Islamic terrorist group ISIS has released a new propaganda video aimed at Americans saying there is “no safety” for any citizen and threatening to conduct a 9/11 style attack.
“America thinks it’s safe because of the geographical location,” the video states. “Thus you see it invades the Muslim lands, and it thinks that the army of the Jihad won’t reach in their lands. But the dream of the American to have safety became a mirage. Today there is no safety for any American on the globe. The mujahedeen before, although they had less resources, attacked New York and bombed the Twin Towers in September 11 attacks. That blessed incursion was a fatal blow. All praise is due to Allah, the American economy was shaken.”
In addition to the threats on America, the video features clips of ISIS attacks in the Middle East, the attack on Canada’s Parliament Hill and testimony of Amedy Coulibably, the French terrorist who was part of last year’s massacres.
ISIS burned down the homes of 10 Christian families in Nineveh on April 7th. The group is also setting up traps to kill Christians when they enter their homes.
“Some of the houses in the village are burned. Some are bombed and destroyed. Some are robbed. We heard of one man who tried to enter his house and as soon as he opened the door, the house exploded,” a Christian man named Ayad said in a video interview with the World Council of Churches. “As ISIS forces leave, they are planting explosions inside the houses so that if people return they will be victims of the blast.”
