I watched CNN< BBC and Aljazeera break the news Saturday morning in NegaraKU on the IS ATTACKS AT six points in PARIS< and several FRench leaders had later declared WAR IS ON; and the Pope was reported to have stated that "WOrld WAr THree has started".
I too have the partially feeling that WWIII started in January when the IS attacked CHarlie Hebdo; now the present incident had witnessed a COORDINATED FRONT OF the ISlamic STAte in action by seven SUICIDE BOMBERS WITH SIMILAR EXPLOSIVE_LOADED VESTS. ANd the FRench PUblic Prosecutor aleady noted the concerted effort spanned possibly across a few European country borders, with three arrests already been made in ...... from where a "black car" found at one scene originated. Six areas within the short span of ONE HOUR from about 9.10PM FRench time on FRiday, with the biggest number of fatalities of about 80 at the THEATRE featuring an AMErican band. It would have been an unimaginable disaster of more bodies HAD ONE OF THE ATTACKERS ENTERED THE FOOTBALL STADIUM WHERE a game was going on, with the FRench PResident leaving the venue (obviously first informed of the initial bomb-attacks).
DESi hopes GOOD SENSE WIll prevail, and MUSlim brethren worldwide across race and political divides value the humankind and humanity and can be relied on to influence the course of history by ingforces to SToP THE ISLAMIC STATE ThreAT In The LOng Haul.
LONDON (Reuters) - World leaders
responded to deadly attacks in Paris with defiant pledges of solidarity
and Europe tightened security after Islamic State said it was behind an
assault by gunmen and bombers that left at least 129 dead in the French
capital.
From Barack Obama to Vladimir Putin and across Europe and
the Middle East, leaders expressed their condolences to French
President Francois Hollande who said the attacks amounted to an act of
war against France.
After the worst bloodshed in France since the
end of World War Two, European neighbours including Britain, Belgium,
Switzerland, Germany and Italy increased security. France temporarily
imposed border controls.
British Prime Minister David Cameron used French to express his solidarity after calling Hollande.
"Shocked, but resolute. In sorrow, but unbowed. My message to
the French people is simple: Nous sommes solidaires avec vous. Nous
sommes tous ensemble. We stand with you. United," Cameron said.
London
monuments including the London Eye and Tower Bridge were lit up in the
red, white and blue of the French tricolour, as were Sydney's Opera
House, the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan, the Senate building in
Mexico City, One World Trade Centre in New York and several other global
landmarks.
The deadliest attack on Europe since the 2004 Madrid
bombings laid bare Islamic State's capability to strike at the heart of
Europe and the difficulty of monitoring the movements of militants
intent on killing.
It also triggered a debate on Europe's refugee policies and the failures of Western policy in Syria.
DEATH IN PARIS
"This
is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people
of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal
values that we share," Obama said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed Obama, saying "our free life is stronger than terror."
New
York, Los Angeles, Boston and other cities in the United States
bolstered security. Law enforcement officials said the beefed-up police
presence was precautionary rather than a response to any specific
threats.
On Saturday in New York, hundreds of people including
Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered for a vigil at Washington Square Park.
Some of the crowd held signs of a peace symbol with the Eiffel Tower at
its centre.
At dusk, the city was planning to light the square's landmark arch in the blue, white and red of the French flag.
Roya
Hegdahl, a 21-year-old Columbia University student from Seattle, stood
with a French flag draped around herself and her French roommate.
"I
have a lot of anxiety about how the world will react to the situation
because in these moments it's easy to act out of fear and anger, which
often doesn't lead to the best decision- and policy-making," Hegdahl
said.
New York police marshalled about 200 officers and
dozens of vehicles at Times Square in a show of force reminiscent of
exercises staged in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the
World Trade Centre.
In Los Angeles, the second-largest U.S. city, police stepped up patrols at concerts and other places with large crowds.
About
three dozen people gathered outside the Islamic Centre of America in
Dearborn, Michigan, to mourn the attack in Paris and bombings in Lebanon
this week that killed 43 people. Dearborn has one of the highest
concentrations of Muslims in the United States.
"I would encourage
people to look more into Islam and what Islam is all about before they
judge and say, that was a Muslim attack," said Nisreen Salame, one of
those at the vigil.
Western security sources said the attack on
Paris was one of the "nightmare" scenarios for police forces: several
well-planned attacks with advanced weaponry on unarmed civilian
revellers across a densely populated capital.
The attacks included
explosions outside a stadium where the French and German men's national
football teams were playing an international match.
The U.S.
National Football League said it would increase security and beef up law
enforcement presence at stadiums this weekend as a precaution.
Islamic
State militants said the attack was designed "to teach France, and all
nations following its path, that they will remain at the top of Islamic
State’s list of targets".
Hollande said the attack was planned outside France but carried out with internal help.
Western
security sources said the porous nature of Europe's internal borders
allowed freer movement of advanced weaponry and potential attackers,
including those who have travelled to Syria, across Europe.
EUROPE'S BORDERS
Dutch
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands would tighten security
at its borders and airports, and said the Dutch were "at war" with
Islamic State.
Belgium imposed additional frontier controls on
road, rail and air arrivals from France. Belgian Prime Minister Charles
Michel asked Belgians on Saturday not to travel to Paris unless
necessary.
“Border control is absolutely critical,” said Anthony
Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at
the University of Buckingham.
“They can reinstate border controls
so they know who is in their country, they know who leaves their country
and they know where they’ve been if they leave their country.”
European Union leaders said that such attacks could not divide Europe.
But
Poland's European affairs minister designate said after the attacks in
Paris, Warsaw would not be able to accept migrants under European Union
quotas.
In September, Poland backed a European Union plan to share
out 120,000 refugees, many of them fleeing the war in Syria, across the
28-nation bloc.
The attacks have sparked a debate in Germany
on Merkel's refugee policy and how to get a better overview of the
people entering the country.
(Additional reporting by Alastair
Macdonald in Brussels, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Lena Masri and
Roselle Chen in New York and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles,; Editing
by Sonya Hepinstall, Bernard Orr and David Gregorio)
************************************************
PETALING JAYA: The blue, white and
red colours of France's national flag were projected onto the Kuala
Lumpur Tower on Saturday night, in the wake of a series of terror
attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.
"To show our concern and support to France, KL Tower lights up with
red, blue and white for one minute every hour," read the caption on
MenaraKL Instagram's photo of the lit tower.
It said the colours would be projected from midnight to 7am, Sunday.
The KL Tower was among landmarks the world over which were lit up in solidarity with France.
Sydney's Opera House, The London Eye, Stockholm's Ericsson Globe
Arena, Madrid City Hall, Shanghai's Oriental Pearl TV Tower and New
York's One World Trade Center were among the structures lit up with the
colours of France's flag.
On Friday night, militants and suicide bombers launched attacks at restaurants, a concert hall and a stadium in Paris.
The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying bombers with bomb belts and machine guns targeted
"carefully planned" locations in the city.
*************************************************
FRom abc.net.au:~~~~~
"This time it's war," declared the Le Parisien daily,
as France's media reacted with horror but determination after Friday's
wave of attacks that left at least 120 people dead.
Centre-right
daily Le Figaro took up a similar theme, splashing with the headline
"War in central Paris" amid scenes of carnage at several locations in
the French capital.
Sports daily L'Equipe splashed the one word "L'Horreur" — "Horror" — across a black front page.
Many papers called for unity in the country that is still
reeling from jihadist attacks on Charlie Hebdo in January that claimed
17 lives.
"In the name of the true martyrs of yesterday, the
innocent victims and in the name of the Republic, France will be able to
stay united and stand together," said Le Parisien.
The "terrorist
barbarism" has crossed a "historic line," said the head of the
left-leaning Liberation daily, calling for France to stay resolute.
"It
is impossible not to link these bloody events with the battles raging
in the Middle East. France is playing its part there. It must continue
to do so without blinking," wrote Laurent Joffrin in an editorial.
Papers immediately made the link between the
attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine that claimed 17 lives in January, spawning an outpouring of solidarity around the Twitter hashtag #jesuischarlie (I am Charlie).
"We were Charlie. We are Paris!" wrote the Republique des Pyrenees regional daily.
AFP
