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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. A series of attacks have rocked Paris with dozens of people reported killed.
French President François Hollande has closed his country's borders after a series of attacks across Paris killed dozens. In a televised address, Hollande speaking here through an interpreter declared a state of emergency after the first attack. "What the terrorists want is to make us afraid, to seize us with fear. And there is something to be afraid of but faced with this fear that's a nation that defends itself and mobilizes itself and [which] once again we'll be able to overcome the terrorists." A French police official told VOA that 67 people have been confirmed dead in the attacks on restaurants and near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Officials say at least 15 people were killed at the Bataclan concert hall and several dozen hostages were taken. There were late reports that a siege to rescue those hostages had taken place and had ended. At the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama called the attacks an outrageous attempt to terrorize civilians. In a televised address, he said the United States stands with France to fight terrorism. "We're going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people." The attacks come weeks before global leaders gather in Paris for talks on a U.N.-sponsored conference on climate change issues. In January, 17 people were killed in Paris by gunmen with ties to Islamic extremism. This is VOA news. The man once known as "Jihadi John" has apparently been killed in Syria by a U.S. drone. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, said officials believe a drone strike late Thursday killed the Islamic State spokesman. However, Warren said the Pentagon is still awaiting full confirmation. "As is always the case, we just have to wait. We've got several methods that we use to try and determine whether or not the strike successfully killed the target that we wanted killed." "Jihadi John," identified by Western intelligence agencies as Mohamed Emwazi, was targeted while apparently riding in a car in the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria. The Kuwait-born Emwazi, who has British citizenship, had been one of the top targets of Western intelligence agencies since he appeared in videos depicting the beheadings and killings of Western hostages. Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani declared Friday that his fighters have seized Sinjar from the Islamic State, which had controlled the Iraqi town for more than a year. The Kurdish forces say they encountered little resistance during Friday's advance on Sinjar. That suggests that Islamic State fighters may have retreated or possibly are biding their time for new fighting. At the White House, President Barack Obama said he believes the Islamic State advance in Iraq and Syria has been contained, but that the extremist group is not yet destroyed. U.S. defense officials say two B-52 bombers flew near contested islands in the South China Sea earlier this week in the latest instance of Washington challenging Beijing's expansive territorial claims there. Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said the bombers conducted what he called a "routine mission in international airspace in the vicinity of the Spratly Islands." He said the planes "received two verbal warnings from a Chinese ground controller despite never venturing closer than 28 kilometers to any feature." The U.S. military has been ramping up what it calls routine "freedom of navigation" operations in the South China Sea, where Beijing has competing territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off southwestern Japan on early Saturday. Japanese authorities are reporting several small tsunamis on at least two islands. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center earlier said there was no threat from the quake which struck at 20:15 on Friday. A tsunami advisory for the Kagoshima prefecture and a string of small islands was lifted early Saturday morning. For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |