Syrian Asylum Seeker Charged with Attempted Murder over France Child Stabbings
PARIS (AP) – French judges on Saturday handed preliminary charges of attempted murder to a man suspected of stabbing four young children and two adults in a French Alps park, an attack that reverberated across France and beyond.
The suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian refugee with permanent Swedish residency, has a 3-year-old daughter living in Sweden, regional prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said. Witnesses told investigators that the suspect mentioned his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ during the attack Thursday targeting a playground in the lakeside town of Annecy.
The victims, who came from multiple countries, are no longer in life-threatening condition, the prosecutor said. The children, between 22 months and 3 years old, remain hospitalized.
Police detained the suspect in the lakeside park in the town of Annecy after bystanders – notably, a Catholic pilgrim who repeatedly swung at the attacker with his backpack – sought to deter him.
The suspected attacker, whose name was not released, was presented to investigating judges in Annecy on Saturday and given charges of attempted murder and armed resistance, Bonnet-Mathis said. He is in custody pending further investigation.
The suspect refused to talk to investigators, and was examined by a psychiatrist and other doctors who deemed him fit to face charges, the prosecutor said. She said that the motive remained unclear, but it didn’t appear to be terrorism-related.
Witnesses said they heard the attacker mention his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ, according to the prosecutor, who said he wore a cross and carried two Christian images with him at the time of the attack. He also had 480 euros in cash and a Swedish driver’s license, and had been sleeping in the common area of an Annecy apartment building.
He had traveled to Italy and Switzerland before coming to France last October, and French police are coordinating with colleagues in those countries to learn more about his trajectory, said Damien Delaby, director of the regional judicial police.
The child victims were two French 2-year-old cousins, a boy and a girl, who were in the playground with their grandmother when the assailant appeared; a British 3-year-old girl visiting Annecy with her parents; and a 22-month-old Dutch girl, according to the prosecutor.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited the victims and their families, first responders and witnesses Friday. Macron said doctors were “very confident” about the conditions of the two cousins, who were the most critically injured.
The wounded British girl “is awake, she’s watching television,” Macron added. A wounded Dutch girl also has improved and a critically injured adult – who was both knifed and wounded by a shot that police fired as they detained the suspected attacker – is regaining consciousness, Macron said.
The seriously injured adult was treated in Annecy. Portugal’s foreign ministry said he is Portuguese and “now out of danger.” He was wounded “trying to stop the attacker from fleeing from the police,” it said. The second injured adult was discharged from a hospital, his left elbow bandaged.
The pilgrim, Henri, a 24-year-old who is on a nine-month walking and hitchhiking tour of France’s cathedrals, said he’d been setting off to another abbey when the horror unfolded in front of him. The attacker slashed at him, but Henri held his ground and used a weighty backpack he was carrying to swing at the assailant.
Henri’s father said his son “told me that the Syrian was incoherent, saying lots of strange things in different languages, invoking his father, his mother, all the Gods.”
The suspect’s profile fueled renewed criticism from far-right and conservative politicians about French migration policies. But authorities noted that the suspect entered France legally, because he has permanent residency status in Sweden. Sweden and France are both members of the EU and Europe’s border-free travel zone.
He applied for asylum in France last year and was refused a few days before the attack, on the grounds that he had already won asylum in Sweden in 2013, the French interior minister said.
Follow Breitbart London on Facebook: Breitbart London
Saudis Say They're Moving Ahead With Nuclear Program, With or Without US
Saudi Arabia will move forward with their nuclear development program whether the United States is on board or not as "there are others that are bidding" to help, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Thursday after meeting with U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken.
"It’s no secret that we are developing our domestic civilian nuclear program and we would very much prefer to be able to have the U.S. as one of the bidders," Foreign Minister prince Faisal bin Farhan said. "Obviously we would like to build our program with the best technology in the world."
The statement comes as the Biden administration struggles to broker a deal with the Arab nation to normalize its relationship with Israel. Reports circulated before Blinken's trip to the oil-rich country that Saudi leaders were conditioning the agreement on "boosted U.S. defense sales and assent for a Saudi civilian nuclear program."
While Faisal did not say Thursday if the nuclear issue was linked to normalization, he added that a deal with Israel would have "limited benefits" without "finding a pathway to peace for the Palestinian people," the Associated Press reported.
Faisal's comments are only the latest Saudi snub to President Joe Biden, who has struggled since the beginning of his term to hold any clout in the region. Blinken visited the country this week in hopes of soothing the strained relationship brought on by mounting disagreements on China, regional security, and oil prices. The day before Blinken's trip, Saudi-led OPEC announced it will cut oil production yet again, raising oil prices by more than 1 percent a barrel.
When OPEC cut production last October following a visit from Biden, the president vowed "consequences" for the Middle Eastern country. But he never followed through on his threats, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Even Israel's leadership is "in a fog" on any progress the Biden administration has made in its talks with Saudi Arabia, Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said last week. Blinken told a pro-Israel lobby group on Monday that while Washington had "a real national security interest" in normalizing Israeli-Saudi relations, it would not happen quickly.
Since Biden's failed visit to the country last summer, Saudi Arabia has drifted from aligning with U.S. priorities in the region. The kingdom has embraced more Chinese influence since China brokered a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March, sidelining the United States. Saudi leaders also welcomed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad at an Arab League summit in May, a move the United States did not support or encourage.
After the Biden administration publicly condemned Saudi Arabia's imprisonment of 72-year-old American citizen Saad Almadi for anti-government tweets, the kingdom increased Almadi's prison time in what Almadi's son called a "middle finger" to President Biden.
Published under: Antony Blinken , Energy , Foreign Policy , Israel , Middle East , Saudi Arabia
Biden Let America Get Bullied by Saudis, Leaked Docs Show
When President Joe Biden threatened "consequences" for OPEC cutting back oil production last summer, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman shot back threats of "major economic consequences for Washington" if the United States retaliated, leaked classified documents show. Biden has yet to act on his threats.
In the months leading up to last year’s midterm election, the Biden administration pleaded with Saudi Arabia, the de-facto head of OPEC, a cartel of oil producing nations, to delay their decision to cut down production. The Saudis snubbed the Biden administration’s request, going ahead with their supply cut. Despite claiming he would respond to OPEC’s attempts to restrict the supply of oil, Biden has yet to act on his threats, possibly out of fear of Saudi retaliation.
The crown prince claimed "he will not deal with the U.S. administration anymore," according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post.
Saudi Arabian leadership appears unafraid of Biden's threats of retaliation. Since the altercation outlined in the leaked documents, OPEC has further cut their oil production, inflating energy prices.
At the time, some characterized the move, done in conjunction with Russia, as an instance of the Saudis actively aiding America’s enemy abroad, despite the supposedly close ties between the two nations. Some observers believe America under Biden’s leadership is losing influence on the powerful middle eastern state. The current administration has seen Saudi Arabia deepen its economic and diplomatic ties with China, the chief rival of the United States. The Wall Street Journal wrote that such things could be "a sign of the geopolitical realignment" in the region.
Last summer, the average price of a gallon of gas in the United States was hovering around $4, about a dollar more per gallon than it was at the same point during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Published under: Biden Admin , Foreign Policy , Gas Prices , Saudi Arabia
US Says Iran Helping Build Drone Factory in Russia
Iran is reportedly shipping materials to Russia to help in the construction of a drone-making factory outside Moscow, the Biden administration claimed.
New intelligence released by the White House on Friday details the construction of a plant the Biden administration believes could be operational next year and produce drones for use in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has relied on Iranian-made drones for many of its attacks in the war. The Biden administration also released photographs it claims show the location the plant "will probably be built," the Associated Press reported.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the administration believes Iran is continuing shipment of drones to Russia, while Iran says it has not provided new weapons since the start of the war.
Iranian weapons have been deployed consistently in Ukraine in the last several months. Iran agreed to ship more missiles and drones in October 2022; Russia attacked Kyiv that same month with Iran-made drones.
The development also comes after an investigation found universities in the United Kingdom have helped the Iranian government to improve its drone and fighter jet technology.
Eleven British schools, including the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London, conducted at least 16 studies with connections to the Iranian regime's use of military technology. The technology that U.K. scientists have developed has likely been used in Iranian weapons deployed in Ukraine.
The Biden administration leveled sanctions last week on Iranian officials for planning assassinations of figures, including some in the United States. The Iranian government also recently unveiled a new missile it says can get through Israel's defenses.
No comments:
Post a Comment