Bulgarian Artist Christo and Wife Jeanne-Claude Immortalized in Central Paris
A square in the heart of Paris will soon bear the names of Bulgarian-born artist Christo (Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) and his wife and creative partner Jeanne-Claude
A chance alert by a local tradesman has exposed a terror-linked bomb plot to target banks, French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb has revealed.
Police were called on Wednesday to a flat in the southern Paris suburb of Villejuif, where they found 100g of TATP explosives and chemicals.
Three men have been arrested.
The interior minister said the suspects had denied any terrorist motives but he added that they had been in phone contact with people in Syria.
"They wanted to blow up banks with the TATP, but what we're seeing is that they were linked to terrorists, so it's more in that direction that we have to look," he told FranceInfo TV.
TATP (triacetone triperoxide) has been widely used in jihadist attacks because it is relatively easy to produce.
The alarm was raised by a man working at the block of flats on Wednesday morning. When he spotted suspicious objects through the window he called police, who discovered a type of bomb factory inside. Gas canisters and electrical wiring were also found.
Two suspects, aged 36 and 47 and of North African origin, were quickly arrested in a neighbouring area, and a third man was detained overnight. Mr Collomb told French TV they were all French nationals who were not previously known to the authorities.
France has suffered a spate of attacks in recent years. Jihadists who attacked Paris in 2015 also used TATP.
More recently traces of it were found last month in the rubble of a house in north-eastern Spain on the eve of the Barcelona attack. Catalan police believe the jihadists had been planning to use explosives from the house as part of the Barcelona plot.
Mr Collomb declined to speculate on whether the latest discovery was linked to Barcelona.
However, investigators have been trying to find out why attacker Younes Abouyaaqoub had driven to the Paris area days before the attacks.
He stayed at a hotel in the Malakoff area a few kilometres to the north-east of Villejuif.
Thomas Waitz, the European Parliament rapporteur on North Macedonia, has revealed that he received death threats in connection with his work on the country’s progress toward EU membership
Svenja Hahn, Chairwoman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and Member of the European Parliament from Germany, has formally requested an urgent meeting
Germany is facing increasing pressure to bolster its defense capabilities amid new security challenges
As of January 1, 2025, the population of the European Union reached 450.4 million people
The European Parliament has rejected a motion of no confidence against the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski declared on Wednesday that Bulgaria is pursuing a long-standing strategy aimed at erasing the Macedonian nation and identity
Operation Rising Lion: Why and How Israel Attacked Iran
EU Population Grows by Over a Million, While Bulgaria Continues to Shrink