Putin Calls Obama to Discuss Ukraine, Middle East - Friday June 26th, 2015 at 9:35 AM
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Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss continued tensions in eastern Ukraine and various areas of concern in the Middle East.
The White House said Obama told his Russian counterpart that he needs to remove all "troops and equipment" from Ukrainian territory.
The call came on the same day NATO's supreme allied commander cited a continuous flow of ammunition and other military supplies from Russia across the border to Ukraine.
Putin, who has consistently denied backing the pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, initiated the phone call Thursday.
The two leaders also addressed continued bloodshed in Syria, where the self-proclaimed Islamic State group has made rapid gains, and agreed on the importance of unity among the six world powers that are negotiating to restrict Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Reuters reports it was the first phone conversation between the two leaders since February.
Some information for this report provided by AP, Reuters.
- Tensions between Russia and the U.S. escalated in February, when Putin sent troops into Ukraine
Published: 22:22 EST, 25 June 2015 | Updated: 00:19 EST, 26 June 2015
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama spoke by telephone Thursday and discussed continued tensions in eastern Ukraine and the fight against the Islamic State in the Middle East. The last time the men spoke was in February, the White House said.
Both the White House and the Kremlin offered similar statements describing the conversation, Thursday evening. The White House said Putin initiated the call to Obama.
The White House said Obama told Putin Russia needs to meet commitments it made in Minsk, Belarus, earlier this year, including the removal of troops and equipment from Ukrainian territory.
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Catching up: Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and ISIS, the White House said in a statement. Putin pictured left attending a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Thursday. President Obama pictured on the right speaking in the White House rose garden on Thursday
The Kremlin said the two leaders agreed that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin will discuss implementation of these agreements.
The call came on the same day NATO's supreme allied commander cited a continuous flow of ammunition and other military supplies from Russia across the border to Ukraine.
The Kremlin said the two men devoted 'significant attention' to confronting terrorism and the Islamic State in particular and agreed to have Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meet to review the issue.
The White House and the Kremlin said the two leaders also addressed continued bloodshed in Syria and agreed on the importance of unity among the six world powers that are negotiating to restrict Iran's nuclear capabilities.
The call from Putin came just days after the Russian leader spoke with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the situation in eastern Ukraine, a day before Paris talks between the foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.
France and Germany co-sponsored February's peace deal that helped reduce hostilities between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian troops, but fighting again escalated in recent weeks.
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- Tour operator Quiiky launched an 'Untold History' itinerary at the Vatican
- During the three-hour tour, guests hear the 'gay backstories' of the art
- The tour hasn't been sanctioned by the Vatican, but it's not been forbidden
Published: 07:24 EST, 26 June 2015 | Updated: 07:31 EST, 26 June 2015
The headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church can now be explored in an entirely new way.
Just last year, LGBT travel company Quikky launched a gay-themed tour of the Vatican Museums art collection - and it has been steadily rising in popularity ever since.
The 'Untold History' tour, as it's known, chronicles the gay backstories behind the world's most famous art.
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Italian tour operator, Quiiky, offers LGBT-themed tours - such as the 'Unknown History' tour of the Vatican Museums
Quiiky's first, and most famous, LGBT-themed tour was one that highlights the life and work of Michelangelo, specifically within the Vatican Museums.
'It is a gay friendly tour because it's conceived especially, but not exclusively, for a LGBT audience,' the website reads.
On the tour, guests will explore the beauty of the Sistine Chapel and the other Museums, with gay-friendly guides telling stories of Michelangelo's work and its links to the artist's sexuality.
Among the most surprising discoveries are the hidden details on the ceiling of the Chapel.
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During the three-hour tour, gay-friendly guides will chronicle the 'gay backstories' of the famous works
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Among themes explored is Michelangelo's work and its links to the artist's sexuality - hidden in details on the ceiling of the Chapel
This all begins with the depiction of Christ in the centre that recalls a mix between a 'twink' and a 'bear,' according to the site.
From there, guides will point out gay kisses among the paintings of the breathtaking Giudizio Universale.
And though a good deal of the Vatican's art has a decidedly male slant, the tour makes an effort to include lesbian and transgender perspectives, as well.
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Although the tour has not been sanctioned by the Vatican, many authorities have mostly stayed silent
Although the tour has not been sanctioned by the Vatican, it also hasn't been forbidden.
While such a unique and, admittedly, controversial offering has attracted a fair amount of attention in national media, Vatican authorities have mostly stayed silent, Alessio Virgili, Quiiky’s founder and CEO tells Yahoo Travel.
'This gay tour finally gives the right importance homosexuality had in the Renaissance period and in Italian art itself, a role that has been hidden until now because of the bigotry of certain environments,' reads the website.
Quiiky tours can be booked any time that the Vatican Museums are open and costs approximately £75 per person for a three-hour guided tour, including priority entrance to the Museums and Sistine Chapel and a drink afterward at a gay-friendly bar.
Meanwhile, gays will be welcome when Pope Francis visits the US, according to church leaders.
The Archbishop of Philadelphia said that gays can attend the Catholic family congress in the city during the pope's US visit this year, so long as they do not use the occasion to attack Church teachings.
'We don't want to provide a platform at the meeting for people to lobby for positions contrary to the life of our Church,' said Archbishop Charles Chaput.
The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is not sinful but homosexual acts are.
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- Shocking attack took place at the headquarters of American-owned Air Products close to Lyon in southern France
- Two men drove through factory gates, crashing into gas cannisters and causing explosions that injured onlookers
- A severed head covered in Arabic writing was then placed on the factory's fence along with two Islamist flags
- Passing firefighter managed to seize one of the suspected terrorists, named as father-of-three Yassine Salhi, 30
- Local media claimed a second person - possibly the driver - was arrested nearby in connection with the attack
Published: 04:18 EST, 26 June 2015 | Updated: 08:24 EST, 26 June 2015
A man has been decapitated and dozens more injured at a gas product factory in France by terrorists carrying Islamist banners.
The attack took place at the headquarters of the American owned Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near the city of Lyon, in the south east of the country.
The murder is believed to have been accompanied by several explosions on the site cause by a terrorist igniting small 'gas bombs' that injured dozens of factory workers. It is thought the explosions may have intended to blow up the entire factory site but failed.
The murdered man's head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on the factory's fence and covered in Arabic writing.
A 30-year-old man - named by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve as father-of-three Yassine Salhi who is understood to have been known to security services since at least 2006 - has already been arrested at the scene, telling police officers that he is a member of the Islamic State terror group. The man is believed not to have a criminal record but was considered to have 'possibly been radicalised'.
Local media reported that a second person has since been arrested in relation to the attack - believed to be the man who drove the Ford Fusion car around the factory moments before the attack took place.
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Sickening: The victim's head (which MailOnline has chosen to disguise in this image) was found staked on a gate at the factory's entrance. Two homemade Islamist flags - one white and one black, both with Arabic inscriptions - were found alongside it
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Murder scene: The murdered man's head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on the factory's fence. The dead man's head was covered in Arabic 'inscriptions' before being placed on the fence, according to local journalists at the scene
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Under cover: French police cordon off the area where a decapitated body is believed to have been found at the Air Products headquarters
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Chaos: The attack took place at the headquarters of Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, in the south east of the country. Local media reported that a 30-year-old man 'known to security services' has already been arrested at the scene
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The attack was accompanied by several explosions caused by 'gas bombs' being ignited at the site, causing many of the injuries
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Lockdown: Local media reported that a 30-year-old man 'known to security services' has already been arrested at the scene, telling police officers that he is a member of the Islamic State terror group
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Location: The attack took place in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, close to the city of Lyon in the south east of France
French President Francois Hollande, speaking in Brussels, said the attack began when a car crashed through the gate of the factory and ploughed into gas canisters, touching off an explosion.
'No doubt about the intention - to cause an explosion,' Mr Hollande said, calling the attack 'of a terrorist nature'.
Cazeneuve later said Salhi was seized by an alert firefighter, and was one of multiple people in custody after the attack, adding that authorities are trying to identify the victim whose severed head was posted at the factory's entrance.
'People who could have participated in this abject crime are in custody,' he said
According to French TV reports the decapitated man is understood to be the manager of a local delivery service.
His head was found staked on a gate at the factory's entrance, in what appeared to be an echo of the Islamic State group's practice of beheading prisoners and displaying their heads for all to see.
An official said two flags - one white and one black, both with Arabic inscriptions - were found nearby.
At a press conference this afternoon, Cazeneuve named the arrested man as Yassine Salhi. The spelling of the suspect's surname has also been reported as Sahi or Sali.
'He was investigated in 2006 for radicalisation, but (the probe) was not renewed in 2008. He had no criminal record,' he added. 'This individual has links with the Salafist movement, but had not been identified as having participated in activities of a terrorist nature.'
Cazeneuve also confirmed that several people close to the attacker have also been arrested. These are presumed to be Salhi's family members.
A woman claiming to be Salhi' wife has since spoke to the Europe1 radio station.
'I don't know what happened, he left to go to work as normal,' she said.
She said he was a delivery driver who left, as normal at 7am. 'My heart stopped when I heard he was a suspect,' she added. 'He went to work this morning at 7am. He does deliveries. He did not return between noon and two, I expected him this afternoon.
'My sister said turn on the television. She was crying... I know my husband. We have a normal family life. He goes to work, he comes back...We are normal Muslims. We do Ramadan. We have three children and a normal family life.'
AT LEAST 27 TOURISTS DEAD IN TUNISIAN HOTEL ATTACKS AS 'ISIS GUNMEN SHOOT PEOPLE ON SUNBEDS' ALONG BEACH PACKED WITH WESTERNERS
Gunmen have killed at least 27 people in an attack on two hotels in the popular holiday destination of Sousse.
The attack took place at the Al-Qantawi resort in the city of Sousse, located 140 kilometres south of the capital Tunis on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Militants, feared to be from ISIS, exchanged gunfire with security services on a beach packed with British holidaymakers.
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Rebecca Miles, a British tourist who was staying at the Royal Kenz hotel with her boyfriend Dean Anderson, 24, having arrived on Monday spoke to MailOnline about what she witnessed.
'We were told to go back to our rooms because there were reports of a bomb,' she said.
'It happened about half an hour ago – I heard a bang and I thought it was thunder but it was a clear sky so it obviously wasn't.
'I heard sirens going off about 20 minutes ago and everyone came running back from the private hotel beach which is about 400 metres from the hotel. Everyone is a bit clueless about what is happening.
'People are anxious because they don't really know what is happening and we are now stuck in our rooms. There have been deaths apparently.'
Fellow British tourist Gary Pine told Sky News said: 'We thought fire crackers were going off but you could see quite quickly what was going on.
'There was a mass exodus off the beach. My son was in the sea at the time and myself and my wife were shouting at him to get out and as he ran up he said I've just saw someone get shot.'
SUICIDE BOMB RIPS THROUGH KUWAITI MOSQUE AFTER FRIDAY PRAYERS KILLING AT LEAST 13 WORSHIPPERS AS ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
At least 13 worshippers have been killed today after an Islamic State suicide bomber struck at a packed Kuwaiti mosque after Friday prayers.
Shocking photos show dozens of dead and wounded Muslims who were all observing the holy month of Ramadan in the Al-Imam al-Sadeq Shiite mosque in Kuwait City.
Witnesses said worshippers were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in group prayer when the bomb ripped through the building.
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The ISIS-affiliated group in Saudi Arabia, calling itself Najd Province, said its militant Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid carried out the suicide bombing.
He was seen walking in to the back of the mosque during prayers, before walking among his victims and blowing himself up.
The group said the mosque was targeted because they believe it was spreading Shiite teachings among Sunni Muslims.
ISIS, a radical Sunni Muslim group, considers Shiites to be heretics.
Najd Province claimed similar bombings against Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
Last month, the group claimed two deadly bombings against Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia, both of which took place during the weekly Friday prayers.
ISIS has also claimed several such attacks against Shiites in Yemen, the last of which was just a week ago.
On June 17, it claimed five simultaneous bombings at Shiite mosques and offices in Sanaa that killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens. But Friday's attack is the first of its kind in oil-rich Kuwait.
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Press conference: French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (pictured) named the arrested man as father-of-three Yassine Salhi, who is understood to have been known to security services since at least 2006
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A French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon in southern France
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On alert: Heavily armed police officers are seen guarding the site of this morning's shocking terror attack
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Investigators: Witnesses said that more than one man was involved in the attack and that the perpetrators were carrying Islamist flags
France's prime minister later branded the attack 'Islamist terrorism,' announcing he was cutting short a visit to South America to deal with the crisis.
'Islamist terrorism has hit France again,' Manuel Valls told a press conference in Colombia's capital Bogota, adding that he would take part by telephone in an emergency meeting called by President Francois Hollande, then rush back to France.
Within an hour of the attack, French President Francois Hollande was to return home early from an EU summit.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels shortly afterwards, Hollande said a man who launched a 'terrorist' assault on a gas factory Friday has been identified and that there may have been a second attacker. Local media reported that a second terrorist has since been arrested.
'This attack was in a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another,' Hollande added. 'The individual suspected of committing this attack has been arrested and identified.'
Local newspaper Dauphine Libere is reporting that a second person has now been arrested, believed to be the man who drove the Ford Fusion 'preview' car around the factory this morning before the attack.
Investigators are working to establish the full details of the attack but is widely thought that the explosions were intended to have a far bigger impact than causing several dozen injuries, and may have been intended to blow up the entire Air Products headquarters.
Salhi had a 'link' to Salafist movement, Cazeneuve said but was not implicated in any terrorist activities. The Salafi movement is a group within Sunni Islam, which is often associated with literalist approaches to Islam.
He said a 'fiche S' was opened on the attacker in 2006 for radicalisation. A 'fiche S' for which the S stands for 'Sûreté d'etat' basically means he had been identified as a possible danger and should be watched.
The file was not renewed in 2008, however, meaning authorities no longer considered him a risk. Cazeneuve also said the man named as Yassine Sali had no criminal record. He added that the suspect is believed to be father of three children.
He was known for links to extremism but not identified as a high risk who would carry out an attack, says Cazeneuve.
ATTACK AT AIR PRODUCTS HEADQUARTERS COMES JUST FIVE MONTHS AFTER CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE
The attack comes five months after three Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in coordinated terror strikes across Paris.
The victims, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence, including a mass shooting at the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions.
The attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the magazine for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.
The bloodshed ended on January 9 with a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in which four hostages and the gunman were killed. The terror chief behind the murders was killed in a drone attack in Yemen earlier this month.
Nasser al-Wuhayshi was once a loyal deputy to Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on the USA in 2001.
Last month, the senior AQAP commander who admitted responsibility for the Hebdo attacks was also blasted to death by a drone.
Nasr al-Ansi caused outage in January when he gloated over the murders by France-born Islamists.
Two of them – brothers Said and Cherif Koachi – both said they were working for AQAP.
The Kouachi brothers and a third terrorist, Amedy Coulibaly, were themselves killed by police following sieges which also saw four Jewish people shot dead in a Kosher supermarket in eastern Paris.
Al-Ansi, who was also close to the late terror chief Osama Bin Laden, had called for more attacks in countries including Britain, America and France saying 'lone-wolf' attacks were 'better and more harmful'.
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Emergency personnel work at the scene of a suspected Islamist attack, outside a factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier in southern France
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Police officers search for the second terrorist, who is believed to have gone on the run after carrying out the terror attack. Local media reported that he has since been arrested
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The president of Air Products - an American owned company that is understood to have recently signed a large contract with Saudi Arabia - is an Iranian Shia Muslim named Seifi Ghasemi (pictured)
The president of Air Products - an American owned company that is understood to have recently signed a large contract with Saudi Arabia - is an Iranian Shia Muslim named Seifi Ghasemi.
Iran is known to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria - the sworn enemy of the Islamic State terror group.
There remains a great deal of confusion over the exact sequence of events at the factory., which belongs to Air Products - a US chemical company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The company would not confirm whether any employees were injured or killed.
'Our priority at this stage is to take care of our employees, who have been evacuated from the site and all accounted for,' the company said in a statement.
'The site is secure. Our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.'
The company added that all its employees are accounted for after an attack on a factory in southwestern France. It has not confirmed whether its staff were among the two people reported injured and one dead.
It released a statement that all employees have been evacuated from the site, which is secure.
It says 'our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.'
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls ordered heightened security measures Friday at 'sensitive sites' near the gas factory that was attacked in eastern France.
Valls, who is on an official trip to South America, asked Cazeneuve to head to Saint-Quentin Fallavier, the site of the attack, the premier's entourage said.
PROFILE: SEIFI GHASEMI - THE IRAN-BORN PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN-OWNED AIR PRODUCTS
Born in Iran in 1944 and a US citizen since 1982, Ghasemi attended the Abadan Institute of Technology where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering. He then moved to the United States where he received his Masters degree from Stanford University in California.
After conducting research in Fluidics at Stanford, he was employed by the Lear Motor Company before a three year spell as assistant professor at the University in Tehran. In 1974 Ghasemi joined the newly formed National Iranian Steel Industries Company, and three years later became executive director.
In 1979, he emigrated to the United States where he joined BOC's Carbon Division. He moved to its US gases business in 1987, becoming its president in 1993. In June of this year, Ghasemi added to this role world-wide responsibility for the Group's Process Plants business.
Ghasemi is Vice Chairman of the Compressed Gases Association and on the Board of Directors of the National Petroleum Refiners Association. He has one son, Robert, and lives in Gladstone, N.J., with his wife Ellen. His outside interests include running, skiing and opera.
The BOC Group, the parent company of BOC Gases, is a world leader in industrial gases, health care, vacuum technologies and distribution services. The BOC Group operates in more than 60 countries with sales last year of $5.9 billion.
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Blocked: French police secure the entrance of the Air Products company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon this morning
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Barrier: A French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area following the terror attack
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Scene: France has been on its highest security alert ever since the Paris attacks and according an internal security services source 'all the signals in recent weeks have been pointing to red for an attack of this nature occurring in the national territory'
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The murdered man's head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on a fence
The Mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé, took to Twitter to condemn the attacks.
'The terrorist threat is at a maximum', he wrote, adding that France 'must make every effort to protect its citizens'.
British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his sympathies over the incident to French President Francois Hollande.
The two leaders spoke in Brussels, where they are attending a European Council summit.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: 'He expressed his sympathies for what looks like an appalling incident.
'Details are still emerging, so we wait to see those. But it clearly looks an extremely concerning situation and our thoughts are with all those affected by it.'
The Government's emergency Cobra committee will meet this afternoon following terror attacks in France and Tunisia, David Cameron said as he offered 'our solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism'.
France has been on its highest security alert ever since the Paris attacks and according to the Dauphiné Libéré, an internal security services source said that 'all the signals in recent weeks have been pointing to red for an attack of this nature occurring in the national territory.'
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- Gunmen have carried out a terrorist attack at holiday destination of Sousse
- Militants, thought to be from ISIS, exchanged gunfire with security services
- Gunmen have killed at least 27 people in the attack on a tourist beach
- Local media have reported those killed were mostly British and German
- Attack comes just hours after a man was decapitated near Lyon, in France
- Are you in Sousse? Email <a href="mailto:news@mailonline.co.uk">news@mailonline.co.uk</a> or ring 00442036151926
Published: 06:45 EST, 26 June 2015 | Updated: 08:29 EST, 26 June 2015
Gunmen have killed at least 27 people in an attack on two hotels in the popular holiday destination of Sousse.
Militants, feared to be from ISIS, exchanged gunfire with security services on a beach packed with British holidaymakers.
The attack took place at the Al-Qantawi resort in the city of Sousse, around 140 kilometres south of the capital Tunis on the Mediterranean coast.
Local media have reported that those killed were mostly German and British tourists.
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This picture shows the body of a western holidaymaker lying dead on the beach in Sousse - empty sun loungers can be seen behind him after people fled the area
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This picture shows dead bodies on the beach following the attack on the beach today
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An officer speaks on his phone as he walks past the dead body of one of the gunmen on the ground
British tourist Gary Pine told Sky News said: 'We thought fire crackers were going off but you could see quite quickly what was going on.
'There was a mass exodus off the beach. My son was in the sea at the time and myself and my wife were shouting at him to get out and as he ran up he said I've just saw someone get shot.
'One attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov on tourists and Tunisians on the beach of the hotel', said a hotel worker at the site.
'It was just one attacker. He was a young guy dressed in shorts like he was a tourist himself.'
Elizabeth O'Brien, an Irish woman on holiday with her two sons in the resort, described how she grabbed her children and ran for their lives when they heard gunfire erupting from one of the hotels.
Shesaid: 'We were on the beach. My sons were in the sea and I just got out of the sea.
'It was about 12 o'clock and I just looked up about 500 metres from me and I saw a (hot air) balloon collapse down, then rapid firing, then I saw two of the people who were going to go up in the balloon start to run towards me - because I thought it was fireworks.
'So, I thought "oh my God, it sounds like gunfire", so I just ran to the sea to my children and grabbed our things and as I was running towards the hotel.
'The waiters and the security on the beach started saying "run, run run!" and we just ran to our room, which is like a little bungalow. So we are actually trapped in our room.'
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Police stand over one of the gunmen after the attack in the popular tourist destination today
The British Government's emergency Cobra committee will meet this afternoon following the attack in Tunisia and another one in France where a man was decapitated at a gas factory by terrorists carrying Islamist banners.
Prime Minister David offered 'our solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism'.
Susan Rickett, who was staying at the Palm Marina Hotel near Sousse, said: 'My sister was talking to someone who had seen some people shooting and had shot someone on a sun bed but we don't know if that's true.
'It sounded like a machine gun going off... and there was a kind of explosion a little bit later.
'They're saying its going on in the hotel next to us. Police were chasing some men, that's all I know.'
Rebecca Miles, a British tourist who was staying at the Royal Kenz hotel with her boyfriend Dean Anderson, 24, told MailOnline: 'We were told to go back to our rooms because there were reports of a bomb.
'It happened about half an hour ago – I heard a bang and I thought it was thunder but it was a clear sky so it obviously wasn't.
'I heard sirens going off about 20 minutes ago and everyone came running back from the private hotel beach which is about 400 metres from the hotel. Everyone is a bit clueless about what is happening.
'People are anxious because they don't really know what is happening and we are now stuck in our rooms. There have been deaths apparently.'
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British holidaymaker Rebecca Miles, who is staying in the Royal Kenz hotel in Sousse (pictured) said tourists have been told to return to their rooms after the attack on the private beach of the hotel
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A holidaymaker John Yeoman has barricaded himself inside his hotel room in Sousse (pictured)
SOUSSE: POPULAR HOLIDAY AREA
Sousse is a city on the east coast of Tunisia, about 87 miles (140km) south of the capital, Tunis.
Around 1.2 million tourists visit Sousse every year, drawn by the hotels, sandy beaches and culture.
Hotel complexes with 40,000 beds span from the old city to the Port El Kantaoui and the city is home to a Unesco-protected mosque, as well as a historic medina.
Boujaafar Beach stretches from the Gulf of Hammamet several miles north to Port El Kantaoui - a purpose-built resort with dozens of hotels including the El Mouradi Palm Marina, El Mouradi Palace and Riu Imperial Marhaba.
David Schofield said: 'We heard quite a large explosion...People are running around the hotel. No-one has really been told what to do.'
The body of one gunman lay at the scene with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after he was shot in an exchange of gunfire with police, it has been reported.
The Foreign Office said it is aware of the reports and is looking into them. Prime Minister David Cameron said today: 'Our hearts go out to the victims of appalling terrorist acts in France and Tunisia.'
In a statement, Thomas Cook said: 'Thomas Cook has been advised of an incident that occurred earlier today in Sousse, Tunisia.
'At this time, details are not clear as to which property(ies) have been affected, with conflicting news reports.
'We are currently gathering information and will provide an update as soon as possible. Our teams on the ground are offering every support to our customers and their families in the area.
'We will continue to monitor the situation, working closely with the FCO and local authorities.'
Holiday brands Thomson and First Choice said they were 'aware of a suspected terrorist incident in Tunisia'.
They added: 'We are working closely with our teams in Tunisia and the relevant authorities to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected.
'More information will be released as it becomes available.'
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This picture shows the empty beach following the attack which has left 27 people, mainly tourists, dead
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The terrorist attack happened in the popular holiday destination of Sousse in the north of Tunisia
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It has been reported that the attack happened on the private beach of the Royal Kenz Hotel, which is situated 400 metres away
This morning's news follows a similar attack in March, when three terrorists attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages.
Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, while an additional victim died ten days later.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest involving foreigners in Tunisia since a 2002 suicide bombing on the island of Djerba.
The attack comes just hours after a man was decapitated and dozens more injured at a gas product factory in France by terrorists carrying Islamist banners.
The attack took place at the headquarters of the American owned Air Products, in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near the city of Lyon, in the south east of the country.
The murder is believed to have been accompanied by several explosions on the site cause by a terrorist igniting small 'gas bombs' that injured dozens of factory workers. It is believed the explosions may have intended to blow up the entire factory site but failed.
The murdered man's head is understood to have been found 30 feet away from his body, hanging on the factory's fence.
The dead man's head was covered in Arabic 'inscriptions' before being placed on the fence, according to local journalists at the scene.
A 30-year-old man - named by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve as Yacine Sali who is understood to have been known to security services since at least 2006 - has already been arrested at the scene, telling police officers that he is a member of the Islamic State terror group.
The man is believed not to have a criminal record but was considered to have 'possibly been radicalised'.
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The scene of a Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on June 21, 2015. The Saudis are targeting Yemeni Shiite rebels allied with Iran, which is suspected in an apparent theft of secret cables from the Saudi Foreign Ministry. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The purported theft of confidential Saudi documents that have been released by WikiLeaks bears the hallmarks of Iranian hackers linked to cyberattacks in more than a dozen countries, including the United States, according to cybersecurity experts and Middle East analysts.
Last week, WikiLeaks published about 70,000 of what it said were half a million documents obtained from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry. The transparency advocacy group promises more releases of the diplomatic cables, whose authenticity has not been independently verified.
Experts said that the cables, apparently stolen over the past year, paint an unflattering portrait of Saudi diplomacy as reliant on oil-wealth patronage and obsessed with Iran, the kingdom’s chief rival, but appeared to contain no shocking revelations.
More intriguing, they said, are signs of Iran’s involvement in the breach, suggesting a growing resort to — and proficiency in — cyberwarfare in that country’s long-running confrontation with Saudi Arabia and the West.
“These events fit a pattern that looks and smells like Iranian-proxy actors,” said Jen Weedon, manager of threat intelligence at FireEye, a California-based firm specializing in cybersecurity. Although more information is needed to confirm the source of the attacks, she said, the incident “definitely resembles past activity that we’ve seen by Iranian groups.”
Iranian-sponsored cyberattacks have surged in recent years, cybersecurity firms and Middle East analysts say, following an attack on Iran using a computer virus allegedly created by the United States and Israel. Discovered in 2010, the virus, known as Stuxnet, destroyed centrifuges used in Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and the West say is intended to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies the allegation.
The publication of documents comes ahead of a June 30 deadline for negotiations between Iran and six countries, including the United States, to resolve the crisis over the disputed Iranian nuclear program.
Abdullah al-Ali, who heads Cyberkov, a Kuwait-based cybersecurity firm, said the Saudi government has already identified Iranian hackers as the source of the Foreign Ministry breach, which he said started last summer.
He referred to a Saudi cable released by WikiLeaks that shows e-mails among ministry employees discussing an international cyberattack dubbed Operation Cleaver, which began targeting the ministry on July 14, 2014. In the cable, dated Feb. 15, 2015, the employees cite an internal investigation that identifies “Iranian Actors” as part of the attack, which used a phishing technique to infect computers with data-extracting malware.
The U.S. cybersecurity firm Cylance said in a report last year that Iranian hackers carried out Operation Cleaver, which it said targeted 16 countries, including the United States, and affected dozens of government entities and companies involved in transportation, and medical and energy services.
Cyberkov’s Ali described the hack of the Saudi Foreign Ministry as compromising “the entire network” and as “the biggest sensitive-data-extrusion disaster since the Internet was introduced to the Middle East.”
In an e-mail, Hamid Babaei, a spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York, denied Iranian involvement in the Saudi leaks.
Osama Nugali, a Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman, would not confirm or deny a cyber breach at the ministry. He said some of the documents released by WikiLeaks are fabricated, but he declined to discuss details during a telephone interview, citing “an ongoing investigation.”
U.S. officials and cybersecurity firms have accused Iran’s government of leading a number of sophisticated cyberattacks. They include attacks on major banks, such as Citigroup and Bank of America, beginning in 2012 by a group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, which officials and experts say is a cover for Iran.
Although not as advanced as other countries known for state-sponsored hacking, such as Russia and China, Iran is becoming more proficient, experts say, particularly in the use of online propaganda.
Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland who specializes in the politics of Iran and its allies, said the country is escalating its use of social media, as well as cyberattacks, to promote its regional policies. Pro-Iran social media activity picked up, for instance, when Iranian-aligned militias from Lebanon and Iraq joined in Syria’s civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, he said. Assad’s government is a key ally of Iran.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry breach also “bears all the hallmarks of an Iranian-run operation,” Smyth said, noting that WikiLeaks apparently obtained the cables during the Saudis’ ongoing war in Yemen. Since late March, a coalition led by the Saudis has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who are allies of Iran.
“It’s all certainly suspicious,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, views the Houthis as proxies of Iran, which also is Shiite. The conflict appears to be another of a number of regional proxy contests between Iran and Saudi Arabia that include Syria’s civil war .
A report released Friday by Recorded Future, a firm based in Massachusetts and Sweden that specializes in predictive analytics, describes similarities between Iranian-linked hackers and the Yemen Cyber Army, which last month claimed responsibility for the Saudi Foreign Ministry hack. The little-known group said the move was retaliation for the Saudi-led attacks in Yemen.
Among the indicators of the source of the cyberattack, the report notes, is that the Yemen Cyber Army uses a file-sharing site, QuickLeak.ir, to dump stolen documents that is rarely used by typical so-called hacktivist groups but has been used by the Iranian-linked group Parastoo.
The study points out that the Yemen Cyber Army noticeably lacks a presence on popular social media sites, unlike other hacktivist organizations, such as the Syrian Electronic Army, that advertise their exploits on Twitter and Facebook.
Calling that “extremely odd,” the report likens the Yemen Cyber Army to Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters and other Iranian hacker groups, such as Parastoo and the Iranian Cyber Army, that also lack a social media presence.
Recorded Future also notes the group’s “close coordination” with Iranian media, pointing out that Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency was the first to report its claim. Recorded Future commented: “The news outlet quickly emerges as the [Yemen Cyber Army’s] mouthpiece.”
In a statement announcing the release of the Saudi cables, WikiLeaks references the Yemen Cyber Army but does not identify it as the source of the documents. In an e-mail, a WikiLeaks spokesman declined to give details on how the group obtained the Saudi cables or when hackers obtained the documents.
Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report.
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Hugh Naylor is a Beirut-based correspondent for The Post. He has reported from over a dozen countries in the Middle East for such publications as The National, an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, and The New York Times.
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By Jim Heintz | AP June 26 at 8:14 AM
MOSCOW — Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, whose career included desperate but unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to avert wars in Iraq and NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia, has died. He was 85.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday offered condolences to Primakov’s family, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that the president saw Primakov as “a statesman, an academic and a politician who has left a very big heritage” and that he always wanted to hear Primakov’s view on global issues.
The cause of death wasn’t immediately known.
With his slow, rumbling speaking manner, hooded eyes and a face whose default expression was a sly smile, Primakov, a seasoned political scholar and Middle East expert, looked like the embodiment of an insider operative for a country full of opaque intrigues.
Primakov began his career on a classic Soviet path. Trained as an Orientalist, he worked as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half in the Middle East for Soviet radio and the Communist Party newspaper Pravda, positions widely seen to be covers for espionage work.
He later moved through an assortment of senior academic positions and joined the political scene in 1989, when he became chairman of one of the chambers of the Soviet parliament, helping spearhead Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s political reforms.
As the international drumbeat for war against Iraq increased in 1990, Gorbachev sent Primakov as an envoy to Iraq, drawing on his deep knowledge of the Middle East. He was said by some to be the outsider whom Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein knew best and trusted the most.
Gorbachev in a statement praised Primakov for “defending the country’s interests with both resolve and flexibility.”
In 1991, Primakov was named head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service and held the job for five years before becoming foreign minister. As Russia’s top diplomat, he was regarded as a firm but pragmatic supporter of Russian interests as the country agonized over its loss of superpower status. He worked hard to dilute the United States’ perceived unilateral dominance of world affairs.
After being appointed prime minister in 1998 following Russia’s bruising financial crisis, Primakov tried to prevent the NATO air war against Yugoslavia over the Kosovo crisis. He was heading to the United States on official visit in March 1999 when he learned that Washington decided to launch the air raids, and ordered his pilots to turn the plane back while it was already halfway over the Atlantic, a bold move that helped bolster his popularity at home.
Primakov lost the premier’s job in May 1999 while the NATO bombing campaign was still going on. By many accounts, President Boris Yeltsin feared Primakov’s rising influence and popularity.
Primakov was widely seen as a top contender to succeed Yeltsin, but sensationalist criticism of him and his alleged poor health on television controlled by supporters of Putin deflated his aspirations. By the time Putin became acting president when Yeltsin stepped down in the closing hours of 1999, Primakov’s chances of election had vanished.
Putin nonetheless continued to tap Primakov’s expertise in tackling global crises. He made Primakov Russia’s top envoy to Iraq to try to stave off the brewing war in 2003. Primakov also was among those who tried to mediate with Chechen terrorists who seized a Moscow theater and hundreds of hostages in 2002.
Primakov also continued to wield considerable influence as the chairman of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, a Russian business advocacy group, a post he held from 2001 to 2011.
Primakov is survived by his wife, his daughter and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
___
Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act’s subsidy scheme is a big win for the law’s proponents and a dramatic rebuff of a challenge that posed the most severe threat to the law since the 2012 challenge to the Constitutionality of the individual mandate.
But today’s victory may have been even more decisive than it looks at first glance.
It isn’t just that the Court ruled six-to-three in favor of the government’s position, with John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy joining the Court’s liberals in support of a single, non-splintered decision, though that’s important.
It’s also that Roberts’ opinion may have precluded any future efforts by a Republican president to use executive discretion to cancel the subsidies for the millions of people on the federal exchange. This option might have been left open if the ruling had been written differently.
The Chief Justice’s opinion tracks with what supporters of the law have been saying for years now. At one point the opinion suggests that the intent of Congress has to be considered in determining the meaning of disputed statutory language. “A fair reading of legislation demands a fair understanding of the legislative plan,” the opinion says. “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”
This tracks with much of the reporting that was done to establish the actual legislative history here (some of which appeared on this blog), and it was an argument rejected angrily by the challengers and their supporters.
But here’s another crucial aspect of the opinion: it ultimately did not base its conclusion on “Chevron deference,” i.e., the idea that Courts should defer to the discretion exercised by an agency (in this case the IRS) when interpreting seemingly confusing or self-contradictory statutes.
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What it looked like outside the Supreme Court on Thursday
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The high court upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.
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The high court upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.
June 25, 2015 TV news assistants run to deliver copies of the Supreme Court’s ruling that “Obamacare” tax credits can go to residents of any state, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency
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Instead, the opinion came down decisively in favor of the government’s reading of the overall law as the right one, says Abbe Gluck, a Yale Law School professor who has written extensively about this case.
The opinion does say the challengers had a strong case based on the isolated text alone — that subsidies go to people on an “exchange established by the state.” The challengers’ “arguments about the plain meaning” of that phrase “are strong,” the opinion says.
But the opinion also says that in “extraordinary cases,” such as this one, it isn’t enough to simply “ask whether the statute is ambiguous, and if so, whether the agency’s interpretation is reasonable.” Instead, the opinion declares that the question at issue — whether the ACA authorizes subsidies to those on federal exchange states — is one of “deep economic and political significance that is central to this statutory scheme.”
The court held that it would not presume that Congress implicitly intended to defer such a central decision to the agency. As such, the Court’s task was to determine the “correct” reading of the disputed phrase.
And the opinion’s answer to that challenge is clear. It states that when the phrase is read in its larger context, the challengers’ reading is “untenable.” It concludes: “the context and structure of the Act compel us to depart from what would otherwise be the most natural reading of the pertinent statutory phrase.”
“Read in context, the Court said it was compelled to read the statute the other way,” Gluck tells me. “That takes the question away from a future administration.”
“A strong six member majority of the court is coalescing around this very clean argument,” Gluck continues. “That sends a strong signal to people who politically oppose the law that the court understands the law and is not going to tolerate more of this frivolous litigation that tries to destroy the statute by distorting it.”
Republicans today greeted the decision with dismay, vowing to continue the fight. Along these lines, it’s worth pausing to remember that even if this particular challenge was decisively defeated, its fundamental impetus remains very much in force.
Boehner: Obamacare is ‘fundamentally broken’(0:34)
“Obamacare is fundamentally broken, increasing health-care costs for millions of Americans,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday after the Supreme Court’s ruling. (Reuters)
This challenge would not have been possible if so many states — most of them GOP-controlled — had been more willing to participate in bringing the law’s benefits to their own constituents. Though setting up exchanges would theoretically give the states more control over their health care systems, Republicans declined to do so explicitly as part of a broader effort to resist the law wherever possible.
Most GOP leaders still are fundamentally, deeply opposed to the law’s means and methods of moving the country — and the states — towards universal health care. A number of them continue to hold out against the Medicaid expansion, and will likely continue to do so (see the ongoing budget battles in Florida, for example). And that is having a real impact in slowing the law’s success in expanding coverage.
This unrelenting opposition is something that shows no signs of flagging. And this is something that should continue to be a cause of concern for those who support the law and its goals.
This legal challenge was the most potent threat of the moment to the law manifested by that continuing opposition, and as such, its defeat is a tremendous relief. Whether this outcome will dim that underlying opposition is another question entirely, and that matters a great deal, both in terms of the law’s long term prospects and the broader impact it continues to have on our politics in general.
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog, a reported opinion blog with a liberal slant -- what you might call “opinionated reporting” from the left.
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Islamists suspected in attack on gas plant(1:13)
Assailants rammed a car into a gas plant in southeast France on Friday morning, triggering two blasts. A severed head and Islamist flag were found at the scene. (Reuters)
PARIS — An attacker previously linked to Islamist extremists stormed an American-affiliated gas factory Friday and left a severed head staked at its gates in an assault described by the country’s president as a “pure terrorist attack.”
There was no immediate assertions of responsibility or possible motives given for the violence in an industrial park near Lyon, but officials immediately explored possible ties to Islamist militants in France or wider networks.
In Tunisia, gunmen opened fire at a tourist beach resort, killing more than two dozen people in another blow to the country’s vital tourism industry. Counterterrorism officials around the world have been on higher alert for possible stepped up attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the anniversary of the Islamic State’s declaration of a self-proclaimed caliphate.
French authorities said at least one flag bearing Arabic inscriptions was found at the scene. France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, also said a suspect arrested — identified by French media as Yassin Sahli — was on a watch list between 2006 and 2008 of potential followers of a radical branch of Islam, but had been taken off surveillance.
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A French official, cited by the Associated Press, said a severed head was found at the factory gate.
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A French official, cited by the Associated Press, said a severed head was found at the factory gate.
June 26, 2015 French police secure the entrance of the factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon. Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images
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The local Dauphine Libéré newspaper reported a second suspect was detained at his home in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, about 20 miles southeast of Lyon, near the industrial park targeted in the attack.
“It’s a pure terrorist attack, especially in as much as a corpse has been found, decapitated with a message,” said French President Francois Hollande, who summoned security officials to an emergency meeting.
He said a car plowed through the gate of a gas factory and rammed into gas canisters, touching off an explosion, injuring several people.
A severed head was placed on a post at the entrance to the compound, operated by Air Products, a gas and chemical company based in Allentown, Pa. Nearby, authorities found a decapitated body.
Air Products officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment. But a Twitter message from the company said “emergency response teams have been activated”
“We have no doubt that attack was to explode the building,” said Hollande, who cut short a European Union summit in Brussels to return to France.
Meanwhile, security forces were dispatched to “all sensitive sites” in the region, said France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, who was traveling in South America.
French Gendarmes block the access road to the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, outside Lyon, France. (Emmanuel Foudrot/Reuters)
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told workers during a visit to another factory that he had to cut his visit short because “unfortunately, another terrorist attack has just occurred,” French daily Le Figaro reported.
In January, Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in a series of attacks that began with an assault on the Paris-based satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
After the Paris attacks, French lawmakers adopted sweeping security anti-terrorism measures. Just Wednesday, the French parliament adopted a law that gave intelligence services the ability to track terrorism suspects without prior judicial authorization.
Murphy reported from Washington. Anthony Faiola in Berlin and Michael Birnbaum in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Brian Murphy joined the Post after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the Middle East. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has written three books.
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Attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait
Live updates on attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.
- LIVE: Updates on three separate attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.There have been three attacks today, around the world. We'll have live updates on all of them here. Below are the stories we're following. Stay with us.In France, a decapitated body covered in Arabic writing was found at a U.S. gas company in the southeast after an assailant rammed a car into the premises, triggering an explosion. The attacker survived the blast and was arrested.Read more.At least 27 people, including foreign tourists, were killed when at least one gunman opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse.Read more.A suicide bomber blew himself up at a packed Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kuwait city during Friday prayers, killing more than ten people, the governor of Kuwait City said. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.Read more.↑ 0
- Our latest photos from today's French attack:French President Francois Hollande (foreground on L) arrives in a press room to give a statement at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, June 26, 2015. Hollande said on Friday that an attack that morning in southeast France was of "a terrorist nature" and that a suspect had been arrested and identified. Two assailants rammed a car into the premises of a U.S. gas company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast France on Friday, exploding gas containers. A decapitated head covered in Arab writing was found at the site. REUTERS/Yves HermanA French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. Unknown persons rammed a car into the premises of a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday, exploding gas containers in an apparent attack which bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants and left one dead and several wounded, police sources and French media said. REUTERS/Emmanuel FoudrotFrench crime scene investigators, Gendarmes and rescue forces are seen at work next to a black plastic sheet outside a gas company site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a a site belonged to Air Products, a U.S.-based industrial gases technology company, in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Emmanuel FoudrotA French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. Unknown persons rammed a car into the premises of a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday, exploding gas containers in an apparent attack which bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants and left one dead and several wounded, police sources and French media said. REUTERS/Emmanuel FoudrotFrench Gendarmes stand guard next to a black plastic sheet outside a gas company site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a a site belonged to Air Products, a U.S.-based industrial gases technology company, in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Emmanuel FoudrotFrench Gendarmes block the access road to the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, outside Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a a site belonged to Air Products, a U.S.-based industrial gases technology company, in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Emmanuel FoudrotFrench President Francois Hollande gives a statement at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, June 26, 2015. Hollande said on Friday that an attack that morning in southeast France was of "a terrorist nature" and that a suspect had been arrested and identified. Two assailants rammed a car into the premises of a U.S. gas company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast France on Friday, exploding gas containers. A decapitated head covered in Arab writing was found at the site. REUTERS/Yves HermanFrench President Francois Hollande gives a statement at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, June 26, 2015, following an attack at a U.S. gas company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast France, where two assailants rammed a car into the premises, and a decapitated head was found. REUTERS/Philippe WojazerFrench President Francois Hollande gives a statement at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, June 26, 2015, following an attack at a U.S. gas company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast France, where two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers.REUTERS/Yves HermanFrench President Francois Hollande leaves the EU Council headquarters during a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 26, 2015, following an attack at a U.S. gas company in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, southeast France, where two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer↑ 0
"One attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov on tourists and Tunisians on the beach of the hotel. It was just one attacker. He was a young guy dressed in shorts like he was a tourist himself."
↑ 0- Gun attack kills at least 27 at Tunisian beachside hotelAt least 27 people, including foreign tourists, were killed when at least one gunman opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse on Friday, an interior ministry spokesman said.Police were still clearing the area around the Imperial Marhaba hotel and the body of one gunman lay at the scene with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after he was shot in an exchange of gunfire, a security source at the scene said.It was the second major attack in the North African country this year, and took place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Read more↑ 0 - Kuwaiti Information Minister Sheikh Salman al-Humoud al-Sabah (C) consoles worshippers outside the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a suicide bomb attack following Friday prayers, in the Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City. REUTERS/Jassim Mohammed↑ 0
- Police cordon off the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a bomb explosion following Friday prayers, in the Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City June 26, 2015. Four people were killed in the suicide attack on Friday on the Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kuwait City, the governor of Kuwait City Thabet al-Muhanna said. REUTERS/Jassim Mohammed↑ 0
- There has been another attack in Kuwait. Islamic State has claimed responsibility. Here's what we know so far:Ambulances park in front of the Imam Sadiq Mosque after a bomb explosion following Friday prayers, in the Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City June 26, 2015.REUTERS/JASSIM MOHAMMEA suicide bomber blew himself up at a packed Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kuwait city during Friday prayers, killing more than ten people, the governor of Kuwait City said.The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media and said it targeted a "temple of the rejectionists" - a term it usually uses to refer to Shi'ite Muslims, whom it regards as heretics.It was the first suicide bombing attack on a Shi'ite mosque in the small Gulf Arab oil exporter, where Sunnis and Shi'ites live side by side with little apparent friction.↑ 0
- BREAKING: Kuwaiti PM says suicide bombing targeting Shi'ite mosque is an attempt to threaten Kuwaiti national unity.↑ 0
- French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve addresses a news conference outside Air Products gas facory site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- U.S. President Obama has been briefed on attack in France - Administration Official↑ 0
- Suspect in French attack watched for radicalisation - minister
The suspect arrested for a French Islamist attack did not have a criminal record but had been under watch as being possibly radicalised, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday.
"This person was the subject of an "S" ("security") file for radicalisation in 2006, which wasn't renewed in 2008. He didn't have a criminal record," Cazeneuve told journalists at the scene of the attack. He added that police had detained other possible accomplices.↑ 0 - A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a U.S. gas company in southeast France, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. Rough cut (no reporter narration).↑ 0
- French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve says that suspected accomplices in the French attack are being held by police.↑ 0
- SUSPECT IN FRENCH ATTACK DID NOT HAVE CRIMINAL RECORD BUT HAD BEEN FILED AS BEING POSSIBLY RADICALISED - INTERIOR MINISTER↑ 0
- French Gendarmes stand guard next to a black plastic sheet outside a gas company site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- FRANCE'S HOLLANDE SAYS ALL MEASURES TAKEN TO AVOID ANY FURTHER ATTACKS↑ 0
- FRANCE'S HOLLANDE SAYS ATTACK IN FRANCE IS OF 'A TERRORIST NATURE'↑ 0
- French Gendarmes and rescue forces stand next to a black plastic sheet (R) outside a gas company site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- French Gendarmes and rescue forces stand near a black plastic sheet (R) outside a gas company site at the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, outside Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a a site belonged to Air Products, a U.S.-based industrial gases technology company, in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to President Francois Hollande on Friday to convey his sympathies over what a British government source said appeared to be an appalling incident at a gas factory in France."The Prime Minister has just spoken to President Hollande to express his sympathies for what looks like an appalling incident there," the source said."It clearly looks an extremely concerning situation and our thoughts are with all those affected by it."↑ 0
- French Gendarmes block the access road to the industrial area of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, outside Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was found at a a site belonged to Air Products, a U.S.-based industrial gases technology company, in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after two assailants rammed a car into the premises, exploding gas containers. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- BRITISH PM CAMERON SPOKE TO PRESIDENT HOLLANDE TO CONVEY SYMPATHIES OVER WHAT APPEARS TO BE AN APPALLING INCIDENT IN FRANCE - UK GOVERNMENT SOURCE↑ 0
- "Two individuals deliberately rammed a car into the gas containers to trigger an explosion," police source said.↑ 0
- A French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- A French Gendarme blocks the access road to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier industrial area, near Lyon, France, June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot↑ 0
- Unknown persons rammed a car into the premises of a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday, exploding gas containers in an apparent attack which bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants and left one dead and several wounded, police sources and French media said.
French media said a decapitated head was found at the site, along with a flag bearing Islamist inscriptions. A police source said he could not confirm the decapitation but said it look as if it was the case. One suspect had been arrested, a local official told BFMTV television.
If confirmed as an attack, it would be the second major such incident in France this year, coming after Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in January in attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish food store.↑ 0 - Explosion, decapitated body at French industrial site - mediaUnknown persons exploded gas containers at the premises of a company in southeast France on Friday, leaving one dead and several wounded, police sources said.Read more.↑ 0
- FRENCH PROSECUTORS SAYS ANTI-TERRORIST SECTION DEPLOYED TO INVESTIGATE INCIDENT IN SOUTHEASTERN FRANCE↑ 0
- Unknown persons exploded gas containers at the premises of a company in southeast France on Friday, leaving one dead and several wounded, police sources said.
French media said a decapitated body was found at the site, along with a flag bearing Islamist inscriptions. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was heading to the site, they said.↑ 0 - BREAKING: FRENCH POLICE SOURCES SAY FOUND ONE BODY, APPARENTLY DECAPITATED, AT SITE, AND SEVERAL WOUNDED↑ 0
- BREAKING: FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER BERNARD CAZENEUVE HEADING TO SCENE - FRENCH MEDIA↑ 0
- BREAKING: LOUD EXPLOSION HEARD AT COMPANY, LOCAL FRENCH LE DAUPHINE NEWSPAPER SAYS THERE ARE "SEVERAL VICTIMS"↑ 0
- BREAKING: MAN DECAPITATED AT COMPANY NEAR GRENOBLE, FRANCE, ISLAMIST FLAG FOUND ON SITE - FRENCH MEDIA↑ 0
SAINT-QUENTIN FALLAVIER, France - A decapitated body covered in Arabic writing was found at a U.S. gas company in southeast France on Friday, police sources and French media said, after an assailant rammed a car into the premises, triggering an explosion. | Video
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WASHINGTON — For years, President Obama has faced the sneers of political adversaries who called his health care law Obamacare and assailed his effort to build a legacy that has been the aspiration of every Democratic president since Harry S. Truman.
But on Thursday, Mr. Obama walked into the Rose Garden to accept vindication as the Supreme Court, for a second time, affirmed the legality of a part of the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama said the law “is working exactly as it’s supposed to” and called for an end to the vitriolic politics that have threatened it.
“The point is, this is not an abstract thing anymore,” Mr. Obama told reporters, with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. smiling broadly beside him. “This is not a set of political talking points. For all the misinformation campaigns, all the doomsday predictions, all the talk of death panels and job destruction, for all the repeal attempts — this law is now helping tens of millions of Americans.”
Mr. Obama’s plea to stop “refighting battles that have been settled again and again and again” met on Thursday with immediate resistance. House Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, promised to “do everything we can” to undermine the law. Jeb Bush, a Republican candidate for president, vowed “to repeal and replace this flawed law” if he succeeds Mr. Obama in the Oval Office.
Mr. Boehner said he will continue to move forward with a lawsuit against the president that argues that Mr. Obama overstepped his legal authority in carrying out the health care act, although the case is in its early stages at the district court level and could take years to come before the Supreme Court. Other Republicans mused on Thursday about using parliamentary maneuvers to chip away at the law.
But for Mr. Obama, the ruling was a personal affirmation of the wisdom of engaging in a costly political fight that began almost as soon as he took office. The court’s ruling, Mr. Obama said Thursday, cements the Affordable Care Act in American history as the logical extension of Social Security and Medicare.
“This generation of Americans chose to finish the job,” Mr. Obama said, reading from one of two sets of remarks — one written as if the Supreme Court upheld the subsidies and another as if the court did not. Cody Keenan, Mr. Obama’s chief speechwriter, had prepared both sets before the court announced its decision.
Once the decision was announced, and just before walking into the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama signed the set of remarks for Mr. Keenan that were written as if the court had ruled against the administration. “Didn’t need this one, brother!” Mr. Obama scrawled across the bottom.
The White House soon released photographs of Mr. Obama and Denis McDonough, the president’s chief of staff, performing celebratory fist pumps outside the Oval Office.
The court ruling came as Mr. Obama is heading toward another major legislative accomplishment, the passage of powerful new authority that will allow him to finish negotiations on a historic trade agreement with Pacific Rim nations. That bill, which he pushed over the objections of many in his party, will be on his desk for his signature this week.
But the Supreme Court decision is the bigger victory at home for Mr. Obama, whose domestic policy legacy has always depended on the Affordable Care Act’s becoming a permanent part of the American health care system by the time he leaves office in 2017.
Unable to halt the implementation of the law in Congress, Republican lawmakers, governors and others turned to the courts, betting that successful legal challenges would prevent Mr. Obama from establishing the Affordable Care Act as an accepted companion to Medicare and Medicaid.
Instead, the two main legal challenges to the law have largely failed. In 2012, the Supreme Court slowed the law’s expansion of Medicaid, but let stand the individual mandate that requires people to purchase health insurance. And in Thursday’s ruling, the court said the federal government could provide subsidies to people purchasing coverage through a federal insurance marketplace.
The court decision ended months of speculation and worries among administration officials, health experts, lawmakers from both parties and insurance company executives about the potential for chaos in the insurance markets if the justices had gone the other way.
Officials had predicted a cascading series of events if the subsidies were invalidated: Premiums for millions of people would have doubled or tripled. That would have forced many to drop insurance altogether, causing insurance companies to drastically raise rates or stop selling plans. In the worst-case scenario, officials predicted a collapse of the individual health insurance market in many states.
Republicans said they would have welcomed such a ruling because it would have forced Mr. Obama to negotiate with them and, they hoped, to abandon the Affordable Care Act for something more to the liking of conservatives. Mr. Obama had repeatedly said that Republicans — who supported the filing of the court case — would be responsible for addressing the effect if the court ruled against the administration.
The Times collected reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision.
The court’s decision means that Mr. Obama’s administration will continue to enroll people in private, but subsidized, health insurance. About 10 million people have already bought insurance from state or federal marketplaces. Officials are hoping to enroll millions more by the time the president’s term ends.
Despite writing the decision, Chief Justice John Roberts also made a point of chiding the lawmakers who drafted the law and, by association, the president who pushed them to do it.
Early in his tenure, the president had said he hoped for bipartisan cooperation on fashioning a new approach to health care that would lower costs for the government while providing health coverage to the tens of millions of uninsured Americans. But when the Republicans balked, the Democrats — who then held majorities in the House and Senate — went ahead and passed the law.
Chief Justice Roberts said it would be “charitable” to accuse the authors of “imprecision,” and noted that the bill was written in secret and passed with special parliamentary procedures that limited opportunities for input or revision. He said the resulting law “does not reflect the kind of care and deliberation that one might expect of such significant legislation.”
Chief Justice Roberts quoted a 1947 lecture by Justice Felix Frankfurter, in which he refers to a cartoon of a senator telling his colleagues: “I admit this new bill is too complicated to understand. We’ll just have to pass it to find out what it means.” It appeared to be a pointed allusion to a statement then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made about the health care legislation, which is often cited derisively by Republicans as proof that the measure was rammed through without proper consideration.
But, Chief Justice Roberts added, “Despite all that, we must do our best to understand the statute as a whole.”
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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Terrorists attacked sites in France, Tunisia and Kuwait on Friday, leaving a bloody toll on three continents and prompting fresh concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists.
In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant near Lyon, decapitated one person and tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, in what French authorities said was a terrorist attack.
In Tunisia, gunmen opened fire at a beach resort, killing at least 27 people, officials said. At least one of the attackers was killed by security forces.
And the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion at a mosque in Kuwait City. Local news reports said at least eight people had been injured.
There was no immediate indication that the attacks were coordinated. But the three strikes on three continents came at roughly the same time, and a mere days after the Islamic State, the miltant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, called for such operations during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
While investigations continued in each of the countries, the quick succession of the attacks raised the possibility that the Islamic State, which has seized control of territory in Iraq and Syria, has successfully inspired sympathizers to plan and carry out attacks in their own countries.
“Muslims, embark and hasten toward jihad,” said the Islamic State’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in an audio message released this week. “O mujahedeen everywhere, rush and go to make Ramadan a month of disasters for the infidels.”
United States intelligence and counterterrorism officials were scrambling on Friday to assess the connections, if any, between the attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia. Officials said that if the assessment found the attacks were linked, officials would seek to determine whether the Islamic State had actively directed, coordinated or inspired them.
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Officials confirm 27 fatalities as gunmen attack popular resort area on Tunisia's northeast coast, just months after museum massacre
The top military officer for NATO said he sees evidence that Russia is building an effective supply system to strengthen its ability to conduct military operations inside Ukraine, and is watching for further moves by Moscow.
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