An Afghan national has been charged in France with planning a terror attack just days after their relative was arrested in the US over a separate plot.
The Afghan, 22, wanted to target a football match or shopping centre, according to the Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office in Paris.
The unnamed person was arrested on 8 October along with two other people in Toulouse and Fronton, southwestern France.
Sky’s US partner NBC is reporting the person is related to Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, who was detained the day before by the FBI in the US state of Oklahoma.
Both Afghans are believed to have wanted to carry out the operations on behalf of Islamic State, according to officials.
Tawhedi is accused of plotting a violent attack with an assault rifle on behalf of the militant organisation, according to court documents.
They state he – along with a co-conspirator – expected to die as martyrs during the attack to coincide with next month’s presidential election.
Officials also stated Tawhedi, who arrived in the US in September 2021, had recently ordered AK-47 rifles, liquidated his family’s assets and bought one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.
NBC News also reported he had once worked as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan.
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Tawhedi’s alleged co-conspirator was not identified by the Justice Department, which described him only as a juvenile, a fellow Afghan national and the brother of Tawhedi’s wife.
Meanwhile French law enforcement officials confirmed they opened a preliminary investigation into a potential terrorist plot on 27 September.
On 8 October – the day after Tawhedi was arrested – an unnamed Afghan and two other individuals were detained in France.
“The investigations carried out revealed the existence of a planned violent action targeting people in a football stadium or a shopping centre instigated by one of them, age 22, of Afghan nationality,” said a French law enforcement official.
They added that investigators found evidence that “establish[es] radicalisation and adherence to the ideology of the Islamic State”.
An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely when investigators became aware of Tawhedi, but reports what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack.
A photograph from July included in the document depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, “a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife”.
Officials say Tawhedi also consumed Islamic State propaganda, contributed to a charity that functions as a front for the militant group and communicated with a person linked to recruiting people interested in extremism. He also viewed webcams for the White House and the Washington Monument in July.
Tawhedi has been charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State which – if found guilty – could lead to up to 20 years in prison.
Millions of Americans are voting in an historic election that could put Donald Trump back into the White House or make Kamala Harris the first woman to become US president.
The two candidates are neck and neck in the polls after bitter campaign that saw two assassination attempts against Republican Mr Trump as well as the shock withdrawal of President Joe Biden.
In around 100 days, Ms Harris has found her feet and mounted a fierce challenge to her opponent.
With just hours left before polls close, the election has come down to the wire and could be decided by a handful of crucial battleground states.
The first ballots cast on Tuesday mirrored the national divide. Overnight, the six registered voters in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, split their votes between the two candidates in voting just past midnight.
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Former President Mr Trump, 78, voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club.
Wearing his trademark red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, he said at the polling station that he was feeling “very confident”.
“I hear we’re doing very well,” he said. “It looks like Republicans have shown up in force.”
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump donor, said he will watch results unfold with the former president.
In the meantime, Ms Harris, the 60-year-old Democratic vice president, did radio interviews in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.
What do the polls say?
Many polls are too tight to call and, with a large margin of error, most experts are refusing to predict the outcome.
Georgia could be among the first battleground to declare, with polls there closing at 7pm local time (midnight UK time). State election officials told Sky News they could have a result as early as 10pm (3am UK time).
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North Carolina could also give an early indication of how the vote is going.
Even so, it could be several days before the US has a definitive result.
An exit poll by conducted today by Sky News’ sister outlet NBC News and other US outlets suggests that democracy is the top issue on the minds of voters as they cast their ballots.
Some 35% of people said it was their most important issue, closely followed by the economy on 31% and with abortion ranked third at 14%.
Voters are not just selecting a president. A number of seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate are up for grabs. In addition, 10 states will hold abortion-related ballots, half of which would overturn existing restrictions.
Voters across 50 states are preparing to cast their ballots after a bitterly contested US election campaign, which will see Donald Trump or Kamala Harris become president.
In the last few hours, both candidates have been giving their final pitches. “The momentum is on our side,” Ms Harris told a crowd in Philadelphia that chanted back, “We will win”.
“Tonight, then, we finish as we started: with optimism, with energy, with joy,” she said, while enjoying the support of celebrity endorsements on the day from Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi.
In contrast, Mr Trump ended his campaign in Michigan, repeating key messages about the economy and immigration.
A handful of states will play a crucial role in determining the outcome of the election. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin hold the keys to the White House.
To become president, the winning candidate needs 270 electoral votes or more, with each state carrying a different number of votes.
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But the focus has been on Pennsylvania which carries 19 electoral votes, the most of all the swing states.
It has been a remarkable journey for both candidates – with Mr Trump surviving two assassination attempts and Ms Harris not even originally in the running.
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For more than a year, the 2024 presidential race seemed destined for a rematch between Joe Biden and Mr Trump – but a disastrous TV debate by Mr Biden eventually forced him to withdraw from the ticket.
The Democratic party’s decision to replace Mr Biden with his vice president transformed the race and shifted polls in Ms Harris’s favour. But only just.
Many polls are too tight to call and, with a large margin of error, most experts are refusing to predict the outcome.
Later, attention will turn to those battleground states including Georgia, which is among the first polls to close at 7pm local time (midnight UK time).
State election officials told Sky News they could have a result as early as 10pm (3am UK time).
Even so, it could be several days before the US has a definitive result.
Voters are not just selecting a president. In addition, 10 states will hold abortion-related ballots, half of which would overturn existing restrictions.
Predict who you think will win in each swing state and we’ll tell you who the president will be if you’re right.
Tonight, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US-partner network NBC.
You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.