Rioters attack Strasbourg Apple store over Paris police shooting
Rioters attacked an Apple store in Strasbourg, France, on Friday (June 30) after a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent was shot by a police officer on Tuesday in the Nanterre suburb of Paris. Video from La Presse Libre shows people throwing stones and breaking into the shop. It comes as unrest has flared nationwide for four consecutive nights after the death of the teenager, who has been named as Nahel Merzouk, which was caught on video. The officer responsible - identified as Florian M., 38 - is on remand after being charged with murder.
2023-07-01 17:25
Louis Tomlinson’s sister, 19, reflects on ‘cruel’ backlash to being a ‘young mama’
Louis Tomlinson’s 19-year-old sister has reflected on the negative comments and criticism she received after announcing her pregnancy earlier this month. On 19 June, Phoebe Tomlinson revealed that she and her boyfriend, footballer Jack Varley, 26, are expecting their first child together. The couple said their firstborn is a boy, sharing the news in a gender reveal video posted on Instagram 10 days later. In the video, Varley pops a black balloon filled with blue confetti, before hugging Phoebe as they celebrate the news with friends and family. The model and mum-to-be later answered fan questions about her pregnancy journey on her Instagram stories, including whether she had dealt with any backlash for being a “young mama”. Phoebe replied: “Any nasty comments will get removed and blocked, so I just try and let them go over my head. That’s the downside of social media. And I’ve truly learnt in the past few weeks how incredibly cruel people can be. “I’m lucky I have an amazing family,” she added. Her twin sister Daisy left lots of blue heart emojis on Phoebe and Varley’s gender reveal video, while their older sister Lottie Tomlinson, 24, said she “can’t wait to meet” her nephew. Phoebe also responded to a 19-year-old fan who also “wanted a baby early in life but people were against it”. She said: “Why do ‘people’ matter? It’s your life, sweets.” Phoebe also shared she “feels like any other expecting mum” when asked if it was scary to become a mother at “such a young age”. Elsewhere, she said her brother Louis was “excited” to find out Phoebe and Varley were having a boy. While the former One Direction star wasn’t at the gender reveal, Phoebe told a fan she texted him a few days prior to the announcement. She also expressed her excitement at her baby meeting Daisy, and told a fan she becomes “emotional” when she thinks about Varley becoming a father. “I can’t wait to see them snuggle and to watch him thrive as a dad,” she added. Finally, Phoebe said that she felt her late mother Johannah Deakin “guiding us through” the pregnancy. Deakin died from leukemia in December 2016, aged 43. The family was dealt another tragic blow in March 2019, when the siblings lost their sister Félicité Tomlinson after she died from an accidental drug overdose, aged 18. Read More Kevin Costner’s estranged wife says she’ll move out of their $145m home on one condition Colleen Ballinger: Everything we know about the ‘grooming’ allegations against YouTuber Miranda Sings Sarah Jessica Parker reveals she and husband Matthew Broderick haven’t ‘spent a night apart’ in 31 years Ellie Simmonds decided to find her birth mother as she starts ‘new chapter’ with partner Matt Dean Nutritionist explains how women can eat to help balance hormones
2023-07-01 17:23
Charting the Global Economy: US Inflation Cools, Europe’s Rises
Underlying inflation cooled in the US and quickened in Europe, according to the latest readings, while central bankers
2023-07-01 17:21
Leigh-Anne Pinnock has collaborated with Raye’s sister Abby Keen on solo album
'Don't Say Love' singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock has collaborated with Raye’s little sister Abby Keen on her upcoming debut solo album, with the pair recording together in Jamaica.
2023-07-01 17:19
The Dutch king could offer an apology in a speech on the anniversary of slavery's abolition in 1863
Dutch King Willem-Alexander will deliver a speech to commemorate the anniversary of the country abolishing slavery
2023-07-01 17:16
China Names Pan Gongsheng as Party Head of Central Bank
China named Pan Gongsheng as the central bank’s new Communist Party chief, a step usually taken before being
2023-07-01 16:59
The Dutch king will deliver a speech at an event on the anniversary of slavery's end in its colonies
Dutch King Willem-Alexander will deliver a speech to commemorate the anniversary of the country abolishing slavery
2023-07-01 16:57
Tourist who carved name into Rome’s Colosseum ‘is British fitness trainer’
A tourist filmed carving names into the wall of Rome’s ancient Colosseum last week has been identified as a fitness trainer living in Britain. The identification was made using photographic comparisons, said Italian police. They did not identify the suspect, saying only that the man and his girlfriend were “a couple who are resident in England”. However, he was named by the Daily Telegraph as Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor and delivery driver who is originally from Bulgaria and lives in Bristol. He was filmed by an onlooker etching his and his girlfriend’s name into a wall of the 2,000-year-old monument last Friday. He used a key to write “Ivan + Hayley 23”. An angry bystander who filmed the incident asked: “Are you serious, man?” The video, titled: “A*****e tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome,” was uploaded to YouTube and went viral. Italian police will send a note to the suspect’s home in England to inform him that he is under investigation, according to Il Messaggero, though it is unclear what will happen next. It was reported that the man could face a fine of up to €15,000 (£12,850) and a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted of defacing the historical monument. Rome’s Colosseum is a Unesco world heritage site where gladiators fought with one another and with wild animals including lions, leopards, bulls and ostriches. Its construction began under the reign of the emperor Vespasian in the first century AD. The Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano thanked the police for identifying the alleged suspect of the “uncivilised and absurd act committed at the Colosseum”. “It was an act that offended those around the world who appreciate the value of archaeology, monuments and history,” he said. “Now I hope justice will take its course by rigorously applying the laws.” The minister said that the government was considering a law that would impose stringent punishment on those found guilty of defacing or damaging the country’s historical and cultural heritage sites. “Those who cause damage will pay,” he said. In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined €20,000 (£17,000) for engraving a “K” on a wall at the site, and given a suspended four-year jail sentence. Italian tourism lobby Federturismo, backed by statistics bureau ISTAT, has said 2023 is shaping up as a record for visitors to Italy, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels that hit a high in 2019. Read More Outrage in Rome after tourist filmed carving his and girlfriend’s names into Colosseum Italy looks for man seen in viral video carving names into Rome's almost 2,000-year-old Colosseum Watch: Couple carve names into Italy’s ancient Colosseum as hunt for vandals is launched Tourist who carved name into Rome’s Colosseum ‘is British fitness trainer’ Is it safe to travel to Paris right now? Britons warned to ‘avoid’ violence hotspots as riots shake France
2023-07-01 16:55
Storms, smoke and heat threaten Fourth of July travel and holiday weekend plans
Mother Nature will threaten Fourth of July travel and holiday plans this weekend as severe storms, record heat and wildfire smoke all take place on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
2023-07-01 16:50
Rioting rages across France for fourth night ahead of funeral for teenager shot dead by police
Rioting raged across France for a fourth night as family and friends prepare to bury the 17-year-old whose killing by police sparked the unrest. Despite a massive deployment of 45,000 police officers to the country’s streets, cars and buildings were set ablaze and stores were looted, while the interior ministry announced 994 arrests around the country by early Saturday. Nahel Merzouk, 17, will be laid to rest following an Islamic ceremony close to his home in the north-western Paris suburb of Nanterre, where he was shot in the chest as he sat at the wheel of a stationary Mercedes last Tuesday. The officer responsible - identified as Florian M., 38 - remains on remand having been charged with murder. The government suggested the violence triggered by the teenager’s killing was beginning to lessen, following tougher security measures, including 5,000 more officers than the previous night. But damages remained widespread, from Paris to Marseille to Lyon to French territories overseas, where a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet in French Guiana. France’s national soccer team — including international star Kylian Mbappe, an idol to many young people in the disadvantaged neighborhoods, where the anger is rooted — pleaded for an end to the violence. “Many of us are from working-class neighborhoods, we too share this feeling of pain and sadness” over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, the players said in a statement. “Violence resolves nothing. … There are other peaceful and constructive ways to express yourself.” They said it's time for “mourning, dialogue and reconstruction” instead. The fatal shooting of the teenager stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects who struggle with poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination. Anger erupted in Nanterre after his death there on Tuesday and quickly spread nationwide. The subsequent rioting is the worst France has seen in years and puts new pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, who appealed to parents to keep children off the streets and blamed social media for fueling violence. Early on Saturday, firefighters in Nanterre extinguished blazes set by protesters that left scorched remains of cars strewn across the streets. In the neighboring suburb Colombes, protesters overturned garbage bins and used them for makeshift barricades. Looters during the evening broke into a gun shop and made off with weapons in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police said. Officers in Marseille arrested nearly 90 people as groups of protesters lit cars on fire and broke store windows to take what was inside. Buildings and businesses were also vandalized in the eastern city of Lyon, where a third of the roughly 30 arrests made were for theft, police said. Authorities reported fires in the streets after an unauthorized protest drew more than 1,000 people earlier Friday evening. The Interior Ministry said 994 arrests were made during the night, with more than 2,500 fires. The night before, 917 people were arrested nationwide, 500 buildings targeted, 2,000 vehicles burned and dozens of stores ransacked. While the number of overnight arrests was the highest yet, there were fewer fires, cars burned and police stations attacked around France than the previous night, according to the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin claimed the violence was of “much less intensity.” Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured, including 79 overnight, but authorities have not released injury tallies for protesters. Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry said France needs to “push for changes” in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Despite repeated government appeals for calm and stiffer policing, Friday saw brazen daylight violence, too. An Apple store was looted in the eastern city of Strasbourg, where police fired tear gas, and the windows of a fast-food outlet were smashed in a Paris-area shopping mall, where officers repelled people trying to break into a shuttered store, authorities said. In the face of the escalating crisis that hundreds of arrests and massive police deployments have failed to quell, Macron held off on declaring a state of emergency, an option that was used in similar circumstances in 2005. Instead, his government ratcheted up its law enforcement response, with 45,000 police deployed overnight. Some were called back from vacation. Darmanin ordered a nationwide nighttime shutdown Friday of all public buses and trams, which have been among rioters’ targets. He also said he warned social networks not to allow themselves to be used as channels for calls to violence. “They were very cooperative,” Darmanin said, adding that French authorities were providing the platforms with information in hopes of cooperation identifying people inciting violence. “We will pursue every person who uses these social networks to commit violent acts,” he said. Macron, too, zeroed in on social media platforms that have relayed dramatic images of vandalism and cars and buildings being torched. Singling out Snapchat and TikTok, he said they were being used to organize unrest and served as conduits for copycat violence. The violence comes just over a year before Paris and other French cities are due to host 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the summer Olympic Games. Organizers said they are closely monitoring the situation as preparations for the Olympics continue. The police officer accused of killing Nahel was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial. Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude that the officer’s use of his weapon wasn’t legally justified. Nahel’s mother, identified as Mounia M., told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer but not at the police in general. “He saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said. “A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives,” she said. The family has roots in Algeria. In the wake of Nahel’s killing, French anti-racism activists have renewed complaints about police behavior. Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year. This year, another three people, including Nahel, died under similar circumstances. The deaths have prompted demands for more accountability in France, which also saw racial justice protests after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. This week’s protests echoed the three weeks of rioting in 2005 that followed the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois. Read More Paris riots - latest: Nearly 1,000 arrested across France overnight as police ‘at war’ Is it safe to travel to Paris right now? Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening? Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France Where are the French riots and why are they happening? More than 900 people are arrested overnight as young rioters clash with police around France
2023-07-01 16:48
Man Utd confirm departures of 6 players as free agents
Man Utd have confirmed the departures of six players as free agents after their contracts expired.
2023-07-01 16:25
California man sentenced to over 6 years in prison for $8.7 million cow manure Ponzi scheme, US attorney's office says
A man from California who ran a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme where he claimed to turn cow manure into green energy has been sentenced to over six years in prison, the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of California announced this week.
2023-07-01 16:21
