The grandmother of the French teenager shot by police has called for rioters to “stop” and says her “heart is in pain”.
Nadia said rioters were using the death of her 17-year-old grandson Nahel Merzouk, who was shot by police during a traffic stop on Tuesday, as “an excuse”.
She told French broadcaster BFM TV: “Fortunately the police are here. The people who are destroying, I tell them to ‘stop’. They are using Nahel as an excuse.
“They need to stop breaking the windows, the buses, the schools. We want things to calm down. We don’t want them to destroy.
“I am tired, I can’t take it anymore, I can’t sleep, I turned off the TV, I turned everything off I don’t want to listen to this anymore.”
She said her “heart is in pain”, adding that the policeman and those who attack police should all be punished.
Hundreds of police and firefighters have been injured in the violence, although authorities have not said how many protesters have been hurt.
French president Emmanuel Macron will meet government ministers for crisis talks this evening.
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0:49
Tear gas fired during clashes
Rioters have torched cars and looted stores and have targeted town halls, police stations and schools.
The mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses, a suburb on the outskirts of Paris, condemned protesters who rammed his home with a burning car.
Vincent Jeanbrun, who was not at home at the time, said his property was “ram-raided” and set alight while his wife and two children, aged five and seven, were asleep.
His wife broke her leg and one of the youngsters was injured as they fled the building through the back garden. Mr Jeanbrun called it “an assassination attempt of unspeakable cowardice”.
Image: A burnt-out car is removed from the scene
Mr Jeanbrun told France’s prime minister that his wife had had surgery and faced a three-month rehabilitation.
Regional prosecutor Stephane Hardouin opened an investigation into attempted murder and said a flame accelerant was found in a bottle in the car.
Meanwhile, officers in Marseille fired tear gas at protesters on Saturday, as Sky News footage showed crowds dispersing in the moments after the substance was deployed by officers.
The teenager’s killing ignited long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects who struggle with poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination.
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1:51
France riots: Thousands arrested
In Paris, police increased security at the city’s landmark Champs Elysees avenue after a call on social media to gather there. Shop facades were boarded up to prevent potential damage and pillaging.
A funeral for Nahel was held in Nanterre on Saturday afternoon, with family and friends viewing an open coffin before it was taken to a mosque for a ceremony and later burial.
The teenager, who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was a member of the Pirates of Nanterre rugby club and had reportedly enrolled on a course leading to an electrical qualification.
The spiralling crisis has posed a challenge to Mr Macron’s leadership and he was forced to postpone his trip to Germany and leave an EU summit early.
The officer who shot Nahel has been put under formal investigation over voluntary homicide and is being held in prison in preventive detention.
Under the French legal system, being placed under formal investigation is akin to being charged in the UK.
A paramedic in Gaza who was detained for more than five weeks following an Israeli attack that killed 15 aid workers has been released, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.
Asaad al Nsasrah was one of 17 aid workers who were attacked in Tel al Sultan in southern Gaza by Israeli forces on 23 March.
Asaad was one of two first responders who survived – the other 15 were killed.
He was initially thought to be missing, as his body was not among the dead. It was not until 13 April, three weeks after the attack, that Israel confirmed Asaad was alive and in Israeli detention.
The PRCS announced Asaad’s release on X and shared a video of him reuniting with colleagues.
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Sky News has seen images showing Asaad, among other released Palestinians, in a grey tracksuit at al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, where he is undergoing medical examination, according to the PRCS.
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19:54
How two hours of terror unfolded
The PRCS claimed the Israeli military’s investigation was “full of lies”.
Asaad’s voice can be heard in a video, initially published by the New York Times, that shows the moments leading up to the attack on the aid workers.
The video was discovered on Rifaat Radwaan’s phone, which was found on his body by rescue workers five days after the attack.
Among those killed were one UN worker, eight paramedics from the PRCS and six first responders from Civil Defence – the official fire and rescue service of Gaza’s Hamas-led government.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the election in Canada, according to Canadian broadcasters, but it is too soon to say whether they will form a majority government.
Mr Carney, who took over as prime minister after Justin Trudeau stepped down earlier this year, has beaten the leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre, according to CBC and CTV News projections.
However, it is too soon to say whether the Liberals will form a majority government, they added. The party has not yet secured the 172 electoral districts it needs for a majority.
Image: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Pic: Reuters
The election initially appeared to be a clear-cut race for the opposition Conservatives, who were enjoying a double-digit lead over the Liberals before Mr Trudeau resigned, and an intervention by Donald Trump led to a surge in support for Mr Carney’s party.
Mr Trump has repeatedly called for Canada to become the 51st US state since he was elected president for a second time and has imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada.
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Trump on why he wants Canada to be 51st state
Mr Carney has vowed to take a tougher approach with Washington over its tariffs and has said Canada will need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US.
Image: Liberal supporters celebrate after Canadian broadcasters project their party has retained power. Pics: Reuters
If Mr Carney’s party only captures a minority of the House’s 343 seats, he will be forced to negotiate with other parties in order to stay in power.
Such minority governments rarely last longer than two-and-a-half years in Canada.
Canadians went to the polls after 11 people were killed in a deadly attack at a Vancouver street fair over the weekend that led to the suspension of campaigning for several hours.
Police have ruled out terrorism and said the suspect is a local man with a history of mental health issues.
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Mr Carney previously ran Canada’s central bank and later became the first non-Briton to become governor of the Bank of England.
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Power supplies have been returning in Spain and Portugal after large parts, including the capitals Madrid and Lisbon, were hit by a huge outage on Monday.
Millions of people were caught up in the chaos after the mass blackout brought many areas to a standstill, with trains stopping, planes grounded, internet and mobile phone services cut, traffic lights and ATMs down, and some routine hospital operations suspended.
Spain‘s interior ministry declared a national emergency and the two countries’ governments convened emergency cabinet meetings as officials tried to find out what caused the outage which started around 12.30pm (11.30am UK time).
Image: A police car passes as vehicles wait in a traffic jam on the other side of the road in Madrid. Pic: Reuters
Image: People gather outside Barcelona-Sants train station during a power outage. Pic: Reuters
About half the electricity supplies in Spain have now been restored by the grid operator, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday evening, adding the rest should be back by Tuesday.
In a televised address, Mr Sanchez said authorities have not yet worked out what had caused the blackout in the Iberian Peninsula and were not ruling anything out.
He asked the public to refrain from speculation, and urged people to call emergency services only if really necessary.
Eduardo Prieto, the head of operations at Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica, said the event was unprecedented, calling it “exceptional and extraordinary”.
Meanwhile, Portugal‘s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said power in his country would be fully restored in the coming hours.
He said all the state services remained operating in the country despite all the difficulties. He also said there was “no indication” a cyberattack was the cause.
Image: A chef in Madrid works in a dark kitchen with the aid of his phone’s flashlight. Pic: Reuters
Image: Fans are seen after Madrid Open matches were suspended due to a power outage. Pic: Reuters
‘Rare atmospheric phenomenon’
Portugal’s grid operator Ren claimed the outage was caused by a fault in the Spanish electricity grid, related to a “rare atmospheric phenomenon”.
Ren says that, due to extreme temperature variations in Spain, there were “anomalous oscillations” in very high-voltage lines.
It also says that given the complexity of the issue, it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again.
It comes as France briefly lost power following the outages in Spain and Portugal, French grid operator RTE said.
Parts of Madrid underground were evacuated and traffic lights in the city were not working, according to local media.
Play was suspended at the Madrid Open tennis tournament due to the outage – with Britain’s Jacob Fearnley forced off court in a critical moment during his third-round tie with Grigor Dimitrov.
The loss of power affected scoreboards and the camera above the court. Organisers later announced the tournament would not be able to resume on Monday, with afternoon and evening sessions cancelled.
What has been affected by the blackout?
Here’s what we know has been impacted so far:
:: Transport, including trains, metros and airports – with traffic lights also down.
:: Internet and mobile coverage.
:: Lighting in homes, businesses and other buildings, though backup generators are in place in many.
:: ATMs and card payments, as well as most till systems.
:: Lifts in buildings are stuck.
:: Electric car chargers and fuel pumps are also down.
:: Air conditioning units.
:: A significant quantity of water pumps, meaning some homes have no access to drinking water.
Airports affected
Aena, which runs international airports across Spain, said earlier that “some incidents were occurring” at the airports due to the outage.
The company added in a statement: “Contingency generators are active. Please check with your airline, as there may be disruptions to access and ground transportation.”
People ‘had nowhere to go’
Maddie Sephton, who is from west London, was on the Madrid Metro when the power outage occurred.
“We got on the train and everything was fine,” she told Sky News. “But then everything went dark.”
She was stuck on the train for 20 minutes until a staff member opened the doors manually.
Image: A metro worker passes underneath barricade tape to enter Legazpi Metro station after the outage. Pic: Reuters
Image: A view shows a transmission tower during a power outage near Barcelona in Spain. Pic: Reuters
Mrs Sephton says she was on her way to the airport at the time – and had to exit the station by walking up 15 flights of stairs with her luggage.
“No lifts are operating – making it difficult for elderly people with limited mobility,” she added.
Above ground, she said that “everyone is just standing around and waiting”.
Image: Medical staff relocate a patient in Pamplona, Pic: AP
Bars were unable to take card payments, cash machines are down, and traffic lights weren’t working either.
“I currently don’t have any internet service and just €15 in my wallet – I can’t withdraw any money from the ATM,” she added.
“A couple have offered to let us get a ride in their taxi to the airport. Their flight is at 4.30pm so they’re pretty relaxed – but my flight back to London is at 3pm and I’m nervous.”
Mrs Sephton said: “People are just walking but have nowhere to go, and nothing to do.”
Image: Traffic lights have stopped working following a power outage in downtown Lisbon, Portugal. Pic: AP
Image: People try to board a crowded bus after the subway stopped running following a power outage in Lisbon, Portugal. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, thousands of passengers had to be evacuated after the blackout left the metro service in Barcelona without power.
The blackout was also reported to have forced the closure of the city’s tram system and rendered some traffic lights there inoperable.
It has also impacted medical facilities, with hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia forced to suspend routine medical work. Staff have been able to attend to critical patients using power from backup generators.
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It comes as Metrovalencia, the urban rail system, encompassing both metro and tram services in Valencia, said traffic in the city was “disrupted” due to a “general power outage in the city”.
The outage also hit the Portuguese capital Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country.
Portugal’s government said the incident appeared to stem from problems outside the country, an official told national news agency Lusa.
“It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It’s still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying.