Latest news with #PETN
New York Post
20-05-2025
- New York Post
IVF bomber stockpiled deadly explosives
Authorities found huge quantities of highly explosive materials in the house of alleged IVF clinic bomber Guy Bartkus, including what appears to be PETN – a devastating compound used in terror attacks around the world. Bomb crews found multiple precursor chemicals in the home of the 'pro-mortalist' madman, who allegedly used a car bomb to blow up an IVF clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., on May 17, killing himself and wounding four others, law enforcement sources said.
New York Post
20-05-2025
- New York Post
Feds find trove of explosive materials, including devastating PETN, at IVF clinic bomber's house: ‘Full-blown bomb lab'
Authorities found huge quantities of highly explosive materials in the house of alleged IVF clinic bomber Guy Bartkus, including what appears to be PETN – a devastating compound used in terror attacks around the world. Bomb crews found multiple precursor chemicals in the home of the 'pro-mortalist' madman, who allegedly used a car bomb to blow up an IVF clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., on Saturday, killing himself and wounding four others, law enforcement sources said. Batkus' neighbor in the town of Twentynine Palms – an hour drive from Palm Springs – said FBI agents evacuated the neighborhood and warned him of what he described as a 'full-blown bomb lab' just a stone's throw from his house. 'Five FBI agents came knocking on my door…They told me, 'The house behind you has suspected bomb-making materials,' the neighbor, Thomas Bickel, told The Post. 'I talked about it with agents. There was a full-blown bomb lab in this guy's house.' 5 The damaged front of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic stands following a bomb blast on May 17, 2025 in Palm Springs, California. Getty Images 5 Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of 29 Palms, California, poses in an undated driver's license photograph released by the FBI. via REUTERS 5 A bomb squad near Guy Bartkus' house in Twentynine Palms. KABC 'I know how powerful and destructive IEDs can be,' added Bickel, who said he was an Army veteran injured by bomb shrapnel while serving in Afghanistan. 'Sitting here with my kids, knowing that this guy was 50 feet away — a bomb of that magnitude could have destroyed our house. Just knowing that he was working on that right here while I was hanging out with my kids — it was pretty insane,' Bickel said. PETN, which stands for pentaerythritol tetranitrate, is an extremely dangerous compound similar to nitroglycerin. It had been used in terror attacks and attempted attacks throughout the world, including the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, the attempted 'shoe bombing' by Richard Colvin Reid in 2001, and the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot by the al-Qaeda terror group. Saturday's car bomb blast destroyed at least one building of American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs and severely damaged two others. It shattered windows on buildings three blocks away, and its reverberations could be felt in the next town seven miles away, one local told The Post. The explosion reduced Bartkus himself to human confetti. Authorities believe bizarre, pro-death ideology may have inspired the attack. The bomber allegedly uploaded a chilling, foul-mouthed, 30-minute rant in which he tried to justify detonating a car bomb outside the American Reproductive Centers on Saturday, law enforcement sources told The Post. 'I'm angry I exist,' the avowed vegan said in the recording, before claiming he did not give his parents permission for him to be born. 5 A firefighter inside a ruined building of American Reproductive Clinics. / MEGA 5 Debris is seen outside a damaged American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic after the bomb blast. AFP via Getty Images He took specific aim at IVF, calling it 'extremely wrong.' 'Basically, I'm anti-life. And IVF is like kind of the epitome of pro-life ideology,' he said. Fortunately, the clinic's stored embryos and sensitive medical records survived the attack – thanks partly to a firefighter and FBI agent who rushed into the partially collapsed building to extract the records and make sure the cooling system for the embryos was still online. 'They go into a building that was collapsed … It wasn't safe, but they went inside,' Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills told The Post. 'It's because of them expecting mothers didn't lose their dream of starting a family,' he added.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Canada professor convicted in absentia gets renewed attention from right over 1980 Paris attack
Until recently, Hassan Diab's life in Ottawa had begun to settle back into a quiet suburban routine: spending his days teaching sociology part time at Carleton University, taking his two youngest children to the park to play football, or going for an afternoon swim. It had been well over a year since he was convicted in absentia for carrying out a deadly bomb attack on a Paris synagogue in 1980, and the media attention had largely quieted down. He was trying to move on with his life. Diab, who is Lebanese Canadian, has consistently maintained his innocence, claiming he was in Beirut sitting university exams at the time of the bombing. But in January, a new voice weighed into his case, returning it to the headlines. Elon Musk reposted an X post about Diab by Pierre Polievre, leader of the country's federal Conservative party. Musk added a remark: 'A mass murderer is living free as a professor in Canada?' More than 21 million people saw the post. For 71-year-old Diab, whose story is the focus of a new Canadaland podcast series, the renewed attention from prominent rightwing figures has plunged his life back into a familiar turmoil. With a general election which needs to be called before October, Diab fears that shifting politicians winds in Canada could lead to a new extradition fight. 'I just have to be careful. It's like you are living in constant fear. It's not easy, it's like waiting for a ghost to appear from somewhere.' *** Aliza Shagrir, an Israeli film editor, was in Paris on holiday in October 1980, when she stopped at a grocery store on rue Copernic to buy figs. Moments later, a blast ripped through the street. Shopfronts were blown out. Parked cars were reduced to twisted hunks of metal. Ten kilograms of the explosive PETN had been hidden inside a motorbike parked outside a synagogue and timed to detonate at 6:30pm, when the congregation was due to be leaving. But services were running late, so the more than 300 worshippers were still inside when the bomb exploded. Shagrir was one of four passersby who were killed in the attack. Her son, Oron Shagrir, said that the family never recovered from the loss. 'She was 42 when she was killed. She was beautiful, joyful, very opinionated. In some ways, she was the centre of the family.' The blast shocked the country. It was the first deadly attack targeting French Jews since the second world war, and in the following days, thousands of Parisians marched in solidarity with the Jewish community. French police gathered a limited set of clues: a handwriting sample from his hotel registration card, and a police sketch based on witness testimony. Together with the type of explosive used and a German intelligence report, authorities concluded that the attack was committed by the PFLP-OS - a now defunct offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. But it wasn't until decades later, in 2007, after a new investigative judge in Paris named Marc Trévidic took over the case, that Diab became a focus of the investigation. His name appeared in an unsourced 1999 Israeli intelligence report, which included a list of people purportedly involved in the bombing. Diab's lawyer, Don Bayne, has long argued that the intelligence used to identify him is unreliable, saying: 'It's unknown sources. Unknown circumstances. Who said what? When? Is this a human source? Is this just something some analyst made up? We have no idea.' Trévidic obtained a photocopy of an old passport belonging to Diab, which contained stamps showing travel in and out of Europe around the dates of the attack. Finally, he found a 1988 police interrogation record, in which one of Diab's former university friends suggested that Diab was once involved with a political party linked to the PFLP. Diab denies ever being involved with a political group. He says that he believes his passport was stolen in Beirut in 1980, and subsequently used by the bomber. In 2008, Trévidic had completed his initial investigation and submitted an extradition request to the Canadian government. Diab was getting ready to leave the house for his morning jog in November that year when police showed up. He was arrested and later released on bail. As the case attracted increasing media attention, Ottawa citizens and human rights organisations grew alarmed at what they believed was insufficient evidence to justify Diab's extradition. Bernie Farber, a Jewish community leader who had initially welcomed Diab's arrest, was following closely. 'It came to a point where I just couldn't believe that people didn't understand that this was not the guy,' he said. In April 2012, Robert Maranger, the judge overseeing the extradition hearings, delivered his verdict. He described the French case as 'weak [and] replete with seemingly disconnected information'. But he was sufficiently persuaded by handwriting analysis gathered from five words written on the suspect's hotel registration card. Despite expert testimonies strongly criticising the analysis, Maranger granted the extradition. Diab's appeals failed, and in November 2014, he was placed on an Air France flight bound for Paris, where he was met on the tarmac by French police and escorted to prison. Eleven months into his detention, Diab received some welcome news; Trevidic's term as investigative judge had come to an end, and two new judges would be reinvestigating the case. They interviewed Diab at length, and travelled to Lebanon to gather testimony from former university classmates, who said they remembered Diab sitting exams in Beirut the week of the bombing. Eventually, the judges ruled that there was insufficient evidence to keep Diab detained, and ordered his release. After more than three years incarcerated in Paris without trial, he was free to return home to Canada. Three days later, Diab was welcomed at Ottawa airport by supporters – and by his wife, Rania, and his two children – the youngest of whom he was meeting outside prison walls for the first time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later voiced his support, saying that 'what happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened', and promised a government inquiry into his extradition. For Diab, the past decade had felt like a kafkaesque nightmare – and now it looked like it might finally be over. But his relief was short-lived. The French judges' decision was successfully appealed, and arrangements were made for a fresh trial in April 2023. Diab was requested to attend in person, but without a new extradition order he was under no obligation to show up. During the three-week Paris trial, state anti-terrorist prosecutors asked for a maximum prison sentence, saying there was 'no possible doubt' he was guilty. Diab's defence asked for him to be acquitted to 'avoid a judicial error'. No new evidence was presented during the three-week trial, and the handwriting evidence was thrown out after it was determined to be inconclusive. The only material evidence brought up in court was a set of fingerprints and a handprint believed to belong to the bomber. Neither was a match for Diab. But the court dismissed alibis presented by Diab, saying their explanations about the passport being lost and his presence in Beirut at the time of the attack were 'variable' and 'not very credible'. On 21 April 2023, Diab was found guilty in absentia, and sentenced to life in prison. A warrant was immediately issued for his arrest. In the knowledge he could be arrested at any moment, Diab attempted to reintegrate back into his old life, living back at home with his family, and working as a part-time professor at Carleton University. In late 2024, the Jewish advocacy group B'nai B'rith issued a statement calling for Carleton to end Diab's teaching contract, igniting a flurry of new interest in the case – particularly in the rightwing media. Diab's sociology department chair said while Diab's current contract has ended, the department's relationship with him had not changed. Diab says his lectures were temporarily relocated out of concern for student safety, and he received death threats to his work email. For now, his life hangs in an anxious limbo. He's out of prison, but is followed by the constant dread that his government could accept another extradition request from France. 'That's the sword above your head, waiting to fall.'
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Canada professor convicted in absentia gets renewed attention from right over 1980 Paris attack
Until recently, Hassan Diab's life in Ottawa had begun to settle back into a quiet suburban routine: spending his days teaching sociology part time at Carleton University, taking his two youngest children to the park to play football, or going for an afternoon swim. It had been well over a year since he was convicted in absentia for carrying out a deadly bomb attack on a Paris synagogue in 1980, and the media attention had largely quieted down. He was trying to move on with his life. Diab, who is Lebanese Canadian, has consistently maintained his innocence, claiming he was in Beirut sitting university exams at the time of the bombing. But in January, a new voice weighed into his case, returning it to the headlines. Elon Musk reposted an X post about Diab by Pierre Polievre, leader of the country's federal Conservative party. Musk added a remark: 'A mass murderer is living free as a professor in Canada?' More than 21 million people saw the post. For 71-year-old Diab, whose story is the focus of a new Canadaland podcast series, the renewed attention from prominent rightwing figures has plunged his life back into a familiar turmoil. With a general election which needs to be called before October, Diab fears that shifting politicians winds in Canada could lead to a new extradition fight. 'I just have to be careful. It's like you are living in constant fear. It's not easy, it's like waiting for a ghost to appear from somewhere.' Aliza Shagrir, an Israeli film editor, was in Paris on holiday in October 1980, when she stopped at a grocery store on rue Copernic to buy figs. Moments later, a blast ripped through the street. Shopfronts were blown out. Parked cars were reduced to twisted hunks of metal. Ten kilograms of the explosive PETN had been hidden inside a motorbike parked outside a synagogue and timed to detonate at 6:30pm, when the congregation was due to be leaving. But services were running late, so the more than 300 worshippers were still inside when the bomb exploded. Shagrir was one of four passersby who were killed in the attack. Her son, Oron Shagrir, said that the family never recovered from the loss. 'She was 42 when she was killed. She was beautiful, joyful, very opinionated. In some ways, she was the centre of the family.' The blast shocked the country. It was the first deadly attack targeting French Jews since the second world war, and in the following days, thousands of Parisians marched in solidarity with the Jewish community. French police gathered a limited set of clues: a handwriting sample from his hotel registration card, and a police sketch based on witness testimony. Together with the type of explosive used and a German intelligence report, authorities concluded that the attack was committed by the PFLP-OS - a now defunct offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. But it wasn't until decades later, in 2007, after a new investigative judge in Paris named Marc Trévidic took over the case, that Diab became a focus of the investigation. His name appeared in an unsourced 1999 Israeli intelligence report, which included a list of people purportedly involved in the bombing. Diab's lawyer, Don Bayne, has long argued that the intelligence used to identify him is unreliable, saying: 'It's unknown sources. Unknown circumstances. Who said what? When? Is this a human source? Is this just something some analyst made up? We have no idea.' Trévidic obtained a photocopy of an old passport belonging to Diab, which contained stamps showing travel in and out of Europe around the dates of the attack. Finally, he found a 1988 police interrogation record, in which one of Diab's former university friends suggested that Diab was once involved with a political party linked to the PFLP. Diab denies ever being involved with a political group. He says that he believes his passport was stolen in Beirut in 1980, and subsequently used by the bomber. In 2008, Trévidic had completed his initial investigation and submitted an extradition request to the Canadian government. Diab was getting ready to leave the house for his morning jog in November that year when police showed up. He was arrested and later released on bail. As the case attracted increasing media attention, Ottawa citizens and human rights organisations grew alarmed at what they believed was insufficient evidence to justify Diab's extradition. Bernie Farber, a Jewish community leader who had initially welcomed Diab's arrest, was following closely. 'It came to a point where I just couldn't believe that people didn't understand that this was not the guy,' he said. In April 2012, Robert Maranger, the judge overseeing the extradition hearings, delivered his verdict. He described the French case as 'weak [and] replete with seemingly disconnected information'. But he was sufficiently persuaded by handwriting analysis gathered from five words written on the suspect's hotel registration card. Despite expert testimonies strongly criticising the analysis, Maranger granted the extradition. Diab's appeals failed, and in November 2014, he was placed on an Air France flight bound for Paris, where he was met on the tarmac by French police and escorted to prison. Eleven months into his detention, Diab received some welcome news; Trevidic's term as investigative judge had come to an end, and two new judges would be reinvestigating the case. They interviewed Diab at length, and travelled to Lebanon to gather testimony from former university classmates, who said they remembered Diab sitting exams in Beirut the week of the bombing. Eventually, the judges ruled that there was insufficient evidence to keep Diab detained, and ordered his release. After more than three years incarcerated in Paris without trial, he was free to return home to Canada. Three days later, Diab was welcomed at Ottawa airport by supporters – and by his wife, Rania, and his two children – the youngest of whom he was meeting outside prison walls for the first time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later voiced his support, saying that 'what happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened', and promised a government inquiry into his extradition. For Diab, the past decade had felt like a kafkaesque nightmare – and now it looked like it might finally be over. But his relief was short-lived. The French judges' decision was successfully appealed, and arrangements were made for a fresh trial in April 2023. Diab was requested to attend in person, but without a new extradition order he was under no obligation to show up. During the three-week Paris trial, state anti-terrorist prosecutors asked for a maximum prison sentence, saying there was 'no possible doubt' he was guilty. Diab's defence asked for him to be acquitted to 'avoid a judicial error'. No new evidence was presented during the three-week trial, and the handwriting evidence was thrown out after it was determined to be inconclusive. The only material evidence brought up in court was a set of fingerprints and a handprint believed to belong to the bomber. Neither was a match for Diab. But the court dismissed alibis presented by Diab, saying their explanations about the passport being lost and his presence in Beirut at the time of the attack were 'variable' and 'not very credible'. On 21 April 2023, Diab was found guilty in absentia, and sentenced to life in prison. A warrant was immediately issued for his arrest. In the knowledge he could be arrested at any moment, Diab attempted to reintegrate back into his old life, living back at home with his family, and working as a part-time professor at Carleton University. In late 2024, the Jewish advocacy group B'nai B'rith issued a statement calling for Carleton to end Diab's teaching contract, igniting a flurry of new interest in the case – particularly in the rightwing media. Diab's sociology department chair said while Diab's current contract has ended, the department's relationship with him had not changed. Diab says his lectures were temporarily relocated out of concern for student safety, and he received death threats to his work email. For now, his life hangs in an anxious limbo. He's out of prison, but is followed by the constant dread that his government could accept another extradition request from France. 'That's the sword above your head, waiting to fall.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Benjamin Netanyahu gives Donald Trump a golden pager to celebrate ‘amazing' Hezbollah attack
Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gifted Donald Trump a golden pager, a symbolic reference to the covert operation that turned Hezbollah devices into lethal explosives in a bloody attack last year. 'That was a great operation,' the US president responded, according to Israel's Channel 12 news. Trump then gave Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, a photo of the two of them from the visit with the inscription: 'To Bibi, a great leader.' The synchronised detonation of thousands of low-tech electronic pagers on Sept 18 killed at least 12 people – including two children and two healthcare workers – and injured more than 3,000 across Lebanon and Syria. Thousands of Taiwan-built Gold Apollo pagers exploded across Hezbollah strongholds when device owners responded to a text saying they had received an encrypted message by attempting to decode it. Two thirds of those wounded in the wide-ranging attack needed hospitalisation. Doctors described 'apocalyptic' scenes inside emergency rooms as a near-constant flow of young men, women and children poured in for hours after the attack. The sophisticated ambush, swiftly attributed to Israel, was followed by another attack where hundreds of Hezbollah walkie-talkies laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN simultaneously erupted the following day. It was reported that up to three grams of explosives hidden in the devices had gone undetected for months by Hezbollah. The assault heightened tensions between the two forces which had been locked in intensifying border clashes for nearly a year. 'You had to push two buttons to read the message,' said one Israeli intelligence official, adding that the intention was that the blast would 'wound both their hands' in a ploy to maximise their wounds. Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that the attack could be a violation of international humanitarian law through its use of pagers as booby traps that could be 'associated with normal civilian daily use'. Lama Fakih, the Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said: 'The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate… and as a result would strike military targets and civilians without distinction.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
