Koran burned after theft from mosque in France
On the night of Sunday to Monday, "an individual with an uncovered face entered the prayer room, grabbed a copy of the Koran, set it on fire then dropped it outside the building before fleeing", the council of mosques in the Rhône region said.
The police source said an investigation had begun into the incident.
The attack comes after a man who had posted racist videos
shot dead his Tunisian neighbour
and badly wounded a Turkish man in the southern town of Puget-sur-Argens on Saturday.
The suspected killer, a Frenchman born in 1971, fled the scene in a car but was arrested not far away after his partner alerted police.
Advertisement
According to Le Parisien newspaper, the suspect said he "swore allegiance to the French flag" and called on the French to "shoot" people of foreign origin in one of his videos posted on social media.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the case, the first such racist attack linked to the far right to be dealt with as "terrorism" since their office was set up in 2019.
In a separate incident in April, a man stabbed a Malian man to death in a mosque in April, a case being handled by regional prosecutors.
France is home to the largest Muslim community in the European Union, as well as the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States.
A Turkish-born man who burned a Koran in London was on Monday found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence.
Sweden has seen a series of burnings of the Islamic holy book, most notably by Iraqi Christian Salwan Momika. He was shot dead in January.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
35 minutes ago
- France 24
Clean energy investment rising despite economic uncertainty: IEA
While the Trump administration has been hostile to renewable energy sources and trumpets boosting oil production, the IEA said security concerns as well as rising demand for electricity -- including from artificial intelligence and data centres -- is driving investment in clean energy sources. "Amid the geopolitical and economic uncertainties that are clouding the outlook for the energy world, we see energy security coming through as a key driver of the growth in global investment this year to a record $3.3 trillion as countries and companies seek to insulate themselves from a wide range of risks," Executive Director Fatih Birol said as the IEA published its latest annual World Energy Investment report. It expects investment in clean technologies, including nuclear and electricity distribution grids, to hit a record $2.2 trillion this year. Meanwhile, investment in oil, natural gas and coal is set to dip to $1.1 trillion, as companies react to falling prices and lower demand expectations. Most of drop is due to investment in US oil production, while investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects there and elsewhere is expected to lead to the largest-ever capacity growth in 2026-2028. Since returning to the White House, Trump has slapped a 10 percent tariff on most trading partners, alongside higher rates on dozens of economies, including China and the European Union, that have since been reduced or put on pause until early July while negotiations are held. Earlier this week the OECD slashed its annual global growth forecast, warning that Trump's tariffs blitz would stifle the world economy. But energy investments haven't suffered yet. "The fast-evolving economic and trade picture means that some investors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to new energy project approvals, but in most areas we have yet to see significant implications for existing projects," Birol said. US renewables to 'level off' But the IEA said the shift in US policies would impact investment there in renewables. "Spending on renewables and low-emissions fuels in the United States almost doubled over the last 10 years but is now set to level off as supportive policies are scaled back," it said. The report found the rapid rise in electricity demand -- for industry, cooling, electric mobility, data centres and AI -- was also shaping investment trends. The sector is expected attract $1.5 trillion in investments this year, 50 percent more than fossil fuels. The IEA also noted that nuclear energy has been making a comeback as electricity demand from data centres risks doubling in the next five years. While renewables are expected to meet most of that additional demand, the steady supply that nuclear plants offer have prompted a number of tech companies to enter into supply agreements. But the Paris-based IEA, which advises industrial nations on energy policy, warned that spending on electricity grids was not keeping up with investment into generation. In addition to lengthy permitting procedures, grid expansion was also being held back by tight supply of transformers and cable, it found. Despite the rising levels of investment in renewable energy production, the IEA said it must double to achieve the goal set at the 2024 UN climate conference: a tripling of the installed renewable capacity by 2030. And the urgent demand for power means new plants using dirty fuels such as coal are still being built, with a four percent increase in investment expected this year. "In the face of rapid electricity demand growth and concerns linked to security of supply, such as various geopolitical risks as well as uncertainties over hydropower output, China and India are approving increasing amounts of new coal-fired power," said the IEA report.
LeMonde
an hour ago
- LeMonde
When racism escalates to far-right terrorism
Since the Algerian War, murders targeting individuals perceived as North African have punctuated the grim history of racism in France, to the extent that the term "Arabicide" was coined by the author of a book on the subject. Certain political rhetoric has inspired such crimes, including the murder of Ibrahim Ali, a young Frenchman of Comorian descent who was killed in 1995 in Marseille by a member of the Front National (now the Rassemblement National, RN) far-right party while posting campaign posters. However, never before had a racist murderer's intent to incite others to follow their example – thereby "disturbing public order through intimidation or terror," to use the French penal code's wording – led to a classification of "terrorism." After the murder of Hichem Miraoui, age 45, on Saturday, May 31, in the southern town of Puget-sur-Argens, the decision to involve France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office was based notably on the suspect's call to "go get them [foreigners] where they are," posted on social media. Christophe B., age 53, is now under investigation for "premeditated murder in connection with a terrorist undertaking, committed because of race or religion." This classification, which is appropriate, marks a first in cases of racist or anti-Muslim homicides. It reflects the emergence of a troubling threat: far-right terrorism. By combining calls for racist murder with appeals to vote for the RN in messages broadcast without any filter on Facebook and X, Christophe B. has highlighted the ambiguity, and even perversity, of the RN's rhetoric. The image of respectability crafted by party leader Marine Le Pen masks barely subliminal messages of hate from her supporters. The depiction of immigration as a "flood" responsible for all the country's ills, the conflation of Muslims with terrorists and the labeling of perpetrators of urban violence as "savages" have for years fostered a hostility toward foreigners that far-right groups or lone individuals are encouraged to translate into action. But this "ambient racism," in the words of Socialist leader Olivier Faure, has also been fueled by a growing portion of the political spectrum adopting the language of the RN. By denouncing "barbarians" after the incidents that occurred during the Paris Saint-Germain football victory celebrations, and by constantly placing Islam, Muslim and Algeria at the center of political debate, conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, like other political leaders, fueled the hate machine. His condemnation of the "racist" crime in southern France and his description of racism as a "poison that kills" are therefore all the more commendable. Still, the frequent tendency to substitute a religious lens in lieu of an analysis of the racism and social relations underlying these crimes represents a regrettable step backward. Admittedly, the repeated shocks inflicted on French society by Islamist attacks are echoed in the hateful writings of Christophe B. However, his language, which includes racial slurs, seems primarily inspired by classic racism and xenophobia. By viewing the tragedy in Puget-sur-Argens solely through a religious lens before even knowing Miraoui's relationship to Islam, there is a risk of reducing him to a single trait and favoring the perspective preferred by all extremists. This murder should first and foremost prompt condemnation of any rhetoric that equates a religion, skin color, culture, nationality or foreign origin with a threat.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
'At full speed': Home favourite Loïs Boisson vies for spot in French Open final
We look at an exclusive from The Guardian which relays harrowing testimony given to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Asaad al-Nasasra is one of two survivors from a March 23 attack, when 15 of his first responder colleagues were slaughtered by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. They had been sent to recover the bodies of two paramedics killed in an earlier attack when their ambulances were ambushed by the IDF. Nasasra detailed what happened that day, telling the PRCS that he heard Israeli troops shoot first responders while they were clinging to life. The bodies were later found in a mass grave, with injuries indicating some had died through blows to the back of the skull. Nasasra was detained and tortured by the IDF for 37 days afterwards – including solitary confinement, starving and being subjected to loud music for long periods of time. This follows the shooting deaths of 27 Palestinians this week near food delivery sites, which has prompted a sharp rebuke from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Telegraph reports that at the House of Commons on Wednesday he described Israel's recent actions in Gaza as "appalling" and reiterated calls for a ceasefire. Starmer also said he would not rule out imposing sanctions on Israel. It follows a joint statement by the UK, France and Canada last month criticising Israel for preventing aid from entering Gaza. Rarely are press updates to articles controversial, but one amendment made in The Washington Post has drawn the ire of social media users. The article reported on the attack on 27 Palestinians near a food delivery site in Gaza on Tuesday. The initial article attributed the killing of more than 30 people to Israeli forces, according to Middle East Eye. The article was amended to say that 31 people were killed according to Gaza's health ministry when Israeli forces opened fire. The vague phrasing, not directly blaming the attack on Israeli forces because of Israel's denial, has caused much uproar on social media. One Twitter user calls it "absolutely reprehensible journalism" and questions why the thousands of Palestinian eyewitnesses did not corroborate the attack. Next, The Times of London looks at how the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel is setting up in Europe. The British daily recounts a recent raid on the southern French city of Le Val, not far from St Tropez, where a meth lab was dismantled inside an opulent villa. Five Mexican members of Sinaloa had arrived there, in total anonymity, then set up a lab with the intention of training locals to run it and take a cut of the profits. It's the first confirmed Sinaloa operation on French soil and raises the spectre of the cartel's growing influence on Europe, this as demand for cocaine rises. Detectives believe that about 400 kilograms of meth amphetamine was produced in Le Val to be sold locally and smuggled as far as New Zealand, with profits valued at more than €11 million. Turning to sports news, the French papers are ecstatic as home favourite Loïs Boisson continues her dream run at the French Open. "A dream run" is not even strong enough to describe the French player's incredible week at Roland-Garros. Boisson, ranked 361st in the world, shot out of obscurity to topple world number three Jessica Pegula and then world number six Mirra Andreeva. She'll play her semi-final against world number two Coco Gauff this Thursday for a spot in the women's final on Saturday. L'Equipe, the French sports paper, pays tribute to Boisson at "full speed", who is powering through and hoping to make her first final. In its edition, former world number one Mats Wilander writes: "Yes she can!" Finally, a new study shows that smiling could be more efficient than Botox if you're looking to improve your physical appearance! The Times of London reports that a Dutch study followed 114 participants who underwent Botox and dermal filler treatments. The changes in their appearance were then judged by independent raters. The study's conclusion: Botox only offered small increases in how desirable people were seen in short-term relationships and none at all in long-term relationships. Their conclusion is that if you're taking Botox to seem more attractive, there is a far cheaper alternative: just smile!
