France attack: What do we know about the Annecy knife attacker?
Four young children are in hospital with life-threatening injuries after a knife attack in France earlier today.
Two adults were also injured when a man armed with a knife went into a playground full of children and started stabbing people in the southeastern town of Annecy in the French Alps.
One of the young victims was British. The two wounded adults are thought to be elderly men.
The man, who authorities say is originally from Syria, was detained by police. They say it is not being treated as a terrorist incident.
What do we know about the Annecy attacker?
The attacker is a Syrian national who was granted refugee status in Sweden 10 years ago and had entered France legally, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told a press conference after travelling to Annecy.
He has been named as Abdalmasih H by French media.
He was found with Swedish identity documents and a Swedish driving licence, according to a police spokesman.
Earlier this month he had a demand for asylum in France rejected, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
He also made asylum requests in Switzerland and Italy.
He is 31 and “has one child who is the same age as the children he attacked,” Ms Borne said.
The man is in his early 30s
According to French broadcaster BFMTV, he is married to a Swedish woman, but the couple separated eight months ago and his wife has not heard from him for half of that time.
They were studying together to be nurses, BFMTV report.
Ms Borne confirmed he was not known to the French security services, and has no criminal or psychiatric history.
Mr Darmanin said he had certain “Christian religious insignia” on him during the incident.
Police have said he had “no apparent terrorist motive”.
French authorities have said the man was a Syrian refugee
Who was injured in the Annecy attack?
Four children and two adults were injured, police have said.
All four children – including a young British girl – are fighting for their lives.
Two of the children, earlier reported as a brother and sister but who BFMTV report are cousins, are in a life-threatening condition in hospital. They are aged two and three.
The other young victims were a three-year-old British girl, BFMTV report, and a 22-month-old German boy. They are also being treated for life-threatening injuries in hospital, according to an update from a French prosecutor on Thursday afternoon.
One of the victims is Dutch, the local prosecutor added.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said officials are travelling to Annecy to assist the British victim’s family.
The two adult victims were both elderly men, one aged 78 and the other 70, BFMTV said. One of them is in a critical condition.
What do we know about the attack itself?
It happened in Le Paquier park, which is between the town centre and the northwestern corner of Lake Annecy.
Sky News international correspondent John Sparks says it “would be very busy at this time of year with tourists and residents out on the streets”.
Emergency vehicles gather at the scene. Pic: AP
Police section off the park in Annecy
Map
One witness, who gave his name as Ferdinand, told BFMTV: “He [the attacker] jumped [into the playground], started shouting and then went towards the strollers [prams], repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife.”
Another witness who owns a restaurant nearby, George, said: “Mothers were crying, everybody was running.”
Yohan, who owns an ice cream parlour opposite the park, said: “It’s a place where babysitters and parents take young children to play. I often see around 15 toddlers there in the morning, and the atmosphere is fantastic.”
Another unnamed bystander told BFMTV he saw first aiders working on “little bodies, three or four years old, perhaps”.
This video appears to have been taken by a bystander after the attack.
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Latest video of Annecy knife attacker
You can hear what sounds like screaming people in the background.
Two members of the public with their rucksacks appear to try to stop the attacker or slow down his progress.
What have the president and politicians said?
Emmanuel Macron said it was an “absolutely cowardly attack in a park” and the “nation is in shock”.
In Paris, politicians interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims, BFMTV reported.
The assembly president, Yael Braun-Pivet, said: “There are some very young children who are in critical condition and I invite you to respect a minute of silence for them, for their families, and so that, we hope, the consequences of this very grave attack do not lead to the nation grieving.”
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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Annecy attack
Speaking at an OECD press conference in Paris on Thursday afternoon, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described it as a “terrible act of violence”.
“Of course, our thoughts are with the victims and the families and we stand ready to support the French authorities in whichever way we can,” he said.
Confirming the injured British child, he added: “We’ve already deployed British consulate officials who are travelling to the area to make themselves available to support the family.”
Both opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have also offered their condolences.
World
Egypt: Two Britons believed to be among 16 missing as tourist boat sinks after being ‘hit by large wave’
Two Britons are believed to be among more than a dozen people missing after a boat sank in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast.
The yacht, called Sea Story, had 44 people on board, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 13 crew.
Authorities are searching for 16 people, including 12 foreign nationals and four Egyptians, the governor of the Red Sea region said, adding that 28 other people had been rescued.
Preliminary reports suggested a sudden large wave struck the vessel, capsizing it within about five minutes, governor Amr Hanafi said.
“Some passengers were in their cabins, which is why they were unable to escape,” he added in a statement.
Survivors rescued from the Sea Story in Marsa Alam. Pic: STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Passengers rescued from sunken tourist boat
The people who were rescued only suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scrapes with none needing hospital treatment.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office spokesperson said: “We are providing consular support to a number of British nationals and their families following an incident in Egypt and are in contact with the local authorities.”
The foreign nationals aboard the 34-metre-long vessel, owned by an Egyptian national, included Americans, Belgians, British, Chinese, Finns, Germans, Irish, Poles, Slovakians, Spanish, and Swiss.
Sea Story had no technical problems, obtained all required permits before the trip, and was last checked for naval safety in March, according to officials.
The four-deck, wooden-hulled motor yacht was part of a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam following warnings about rough weather.
Officials said a distress call was received at 5.30am local time on Monday.
The boat had left Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday and was scheduled to reach its destination of Hurghada Marina on 29 November.
The Sea Story had 44 people on board. File pic: Dive Pro Liveaboard
Some survivors had been airlifted to safety on a helicopter, officials said.
The firm that operates the yacht, Dive Pro Liveaboard in Hurghada, said it has no information on the matter.
According to its maker’s website, the Sea Story was built in 2022.
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The incident comes after the Egyptian Meteorological Authority issued a warning on Saturday about turbulence and high waves on the Red Sea.
The organisation had advised against maritime activity for Sunday and Monday.
Some tourist companies have stopped or limited operations on the Red Sea due to the potential dangers from conflicts in the region.
A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.
Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters
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On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.
In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP
He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.
Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
No date had been set for a trial.
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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.
More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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