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France’s President Emmanuel Macron is chairing a crisis meeting of senior ministers in the wake of a second night of rioting following the police killing of a 17-year-old boy, identified as Nahel, in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. There were 150 arrests across the country into Thursday. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings, according to a spokesperson for the national police. Authorities also re fires or skirmishes in multiple cities overnight, from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north – although the nexus remained Nanterre and the surrounding areas. What happened during the shooting? The 17-year-old, identified as Nahel, was driving a car on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said. The teenager was too young to hold a full driving license in France. Police initially reported that one officer had shot at the teenager because he was driving his car towards him. But this version of events was quickly contradicted by a video circulating on social media. On Thursday, The Nanterre prosecutor said that witness statements, CCTV video footage, amateur video footage, and statements from police offers were being used to piece together the timeline of events from Tuesday morning. Pascal Prache confirmed that two motorcycle police noticed a Mercedes, with one young driver and two passengers travelling quickly in a bus lane at 7:55am on Tuesday. Police twice attempted to indicate to the car to pull over and park, but the driver continued driving and the two police pursued the vehicle. The Mercedes had to stop at a at a traffic light, at which point the police asked the driver to turn off engine and exit the vehicle. The police officers said they drew their weapons and aimed them at the driver to stop him from taking off in the vehicle. However, the driver did pull away at which point the police decided to shoot. A bullet hit the driver through arm and chest, and the car crashed. One of the passengers fled. Firefighters were called to the scene at 8:21am. They provided first aid to the driver which was unsuccessful. The officer who fired a single shot said he wanted to prevent the car from leaving and because he feared someone may be hit by the car, including himself or his colleague, according to Mr Prache. The police officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide for shooting Nahel. Based on an initial investigation, the prosector Mr Prache said, he concluded that "the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met." How did the riots begin? Nahel was of North African descent. The incident has fed longstanding complaints of police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and within the ethnically diverse suburbs that ring major cities in France. Several people have died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability. France also saw protests against racial profiling and other injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. Tuesday’s killing was the third fatal shooting during traffic stops in France so far in 2023. Last year there were a record 13 such shootings, a spokesperson for the national police said. There were three such killings in 2021 and two in 2020, according to a Reuters tally, which shows the majority of victims since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin. Clashes first erupted Tuesday night in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where Nahel was killed. Bins were set alight and some protesters threw fireworks at police. Officers used tear gas on the crowds. The government deployed 2,000 police to maintain order Wednesday. But violence resumed after dusk. How far have the riots spread? Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings, according to a spokesperson for the national police. The national police on Thursday reported fires or skirmishes in multiple cities overnight, from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north, though the nexus of tensions was Nanterre and other Paris suburbs. Police arrested 180 people around the country on Wednesday night, more than half of them in the Paris region. The interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said 170 officers had been injured in the unrest but none of the injuries were life-threatening. The unrest has revived memories of riots in 2005 that convulsed France for three weeks and forced then-president Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and spread across the country following the death of two young people electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police. Two officers were acquitted in a trial ten years later. What has been the response from the government? President Emmanuel Macron held a crisis meeting with senior ministers over the shooting on Thursday morning and Mr Darmanin announced afterwards that 40,000 policemen would be deployed across the country, including 5,000 in the Paris region, on Thursday evening to put on end to the unrest. "The response of the state must be extremely firm," Mr Darmanin said. Both Darmanin and the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, have ruled out declaring a state of emergency for now. On Wednesday, Mr Macron had said the shooting was unforgivable. As he convened his emergency meeting he also condemned the unrest. "The last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations but also schools and town halls, and thus institutions of the Republic and these scenes are wholly unjustifiable," he said. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report Read More French suburbs are burning. How a teen's killing is focusing anger over police tactics ‘This is war’: France burns amid angry protests after teenager shot dead by police Who is Nahel? The teen shot dead by police in France France’s highest administrative court says the soccer federation can ban headscarves in matches Paris commune implements overnight curfew after officer charged with homicide AP News Digest 3:15 am

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A January 6 fugitive had two guns and 400 rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested close to the home of former President Barack Obama this week, federal authorities said. Taylor Taranto, 37, was arrested on Thursday outside the Obamas’ Washington DC home hours after he shared a social media post from former president Donald Trump which revealed his predecessor’s address. Taranto was arrested on charges stemming from his activities during the Capitol riot two years ago. Law enforcement also discovered materials for a Molotov cocktail in his vehicle. The matter is being reviewed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Mr Taranto was detained by the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement, and charged with being a fugitive from justice. “Arresting officers requested MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individual’s van near the location of the arrest,” MPD said in a statement, according to CNN. “There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation.” Mr Taranto reposted a Truth Social post by Mr Trump which included an article containing the address of the Obamas as well as a number of other Democrats. Mr Taranto added his own comment: “Got them surrounded!” The 2017 article shared by Mr Trump was a piece in The Phyllis Schlafly Report, named after the conservative activist who passed away in 2016. It included the home address of the Obamas. In a live stream, Mr Taranto told his audience that he also had a “detonator,” according to Mediaite. The shocking scene played out in the wealthy neighbourhood of Kalorama on Thursday. Mr Taranto was chased by police and Secret Service while he ran towards the home of the Obamas and warned authorities that he had an explosive device. CBS News reported that he fled after being spotted by Secret Service, who had apparently been alerted to his intentions after Mr Taranto made “threats during recent live streams on social media”. Mr Taranto had an active arrest warrant related to the attack on the Capitol when he was captured near the former president’s home, according to CBS. DC police confirmed to The Independent that Mr Taranto had been charged with being a fugitive from justice pursuant to another arrest warrant and that officers had conducted an explosives sweep of his vehicle. “This afternoon, MPD and our federal law enforcement partners arrested 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of no fixed address, in the 2400 block of Kalorama Road, Northwest. He has been charged with Fugitive from Justice, pursuant to an arrest warrant. Arresting officers requested MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individual’s van near the location of the arrest. There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation,” wrote an MPD spokesperson. It wasn’t immediately clear if Mr Obama or any members of his family were home at the time of the incident. The former president was in DC earlier this week for lunch with his former VP, incumbent President Joe Biden, as the latter begins the long work of running for re-election. Read More Biden's Iran envoy placed on unpaid leave pending a review of his handling of classified documents Gun advocates challenge Biden administration rules on handgun braces at appeals court Biden is wrapping a campaign fundraising blitz aimed at making a bold early statement

Police in France are wrapping up the search for a missing toddler after scouring a remote village in the French Alps for five days. Two-year-old Emile was on holiday with his grandparents when he vanished while playing in a garden, sparking a frantic hunt that involved thermic camera drones, helicopters and sniffer dogs. Searches have so far yielded no clues to the whereabouts of the missing boy and police launched a last-ditch bid to find him on Thursday. Here’s a look at everything we know about the case so far. Where did Emile disappear? Emile, whose surname has not been reported, was playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet - a small village of around 20 houses in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence on Saturday when he went missing. His family was preparing to go out hiking for the day when they realised the child, who lives near Marseille, had disappeared.The boy’s grandparents had been packing the car when he vanished. Emile is described as 3ft tall, with brown eyes and blonde hair and was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts with a green pattern and walking shoes when he vanished. Reports said he was seen by two people when he left the property but they “lost sight of him”. Police said on Wednesday that at least 10 people were present at the property where Emile was last seen amid a family reunion, with “several uncles and aunts of the child, of all ages, including some minors”, a police source said. How has the search unfolded Authorities in France issued an appeal for information about Emile on 9 July after the boy was reported missing by his grandparents at 5.15pm the previous day. The search operation covered the land and air around Le Vernet and involved hundreds of police officers, soldiers and volunteers, The manager of a local restaurant said staff had looked “everywhere” for the boy as local volunteers helped with the search. “We were preparing for the evening service, when we were told the child had gone missing,” the manager told La Provence. “We all went to see what we could do to help as quickly as possible. “We have looked in places where he could be, we have really looked everywhere for him.” At one point during the search, police helicopters played the voice of Emile’s mother through speakers in the hope that it could help bring him out. On Wednesday evening it was reported that a vehicle with blood on it had been found amid the ongoing search for missing French toddler Emile. In a statement to La Provence, local prosecutor Rémy Avon said analysis had revealed the sample “animal blood”. Emile has now been missing for a week, as investigators admitted they have “no clue” what happened to him. Mr Avon also said that he had taken the decision to call off the “physical” search for Emile on Thursday. Police had been looking at a final plot of land in an area of Vernet, with around 50 officers taking part. “The judicial investigation into the causes of the disappearance will continue,” Mr Avon added. “In particular by analysing the considerable mass of information and elements collected over the past four days.” Police are today combing a 1.8km-long road, that has previously been searched before, in the hope of finding new evidence in Emile’s disappearance. But police say they will be searching the stretch of road more “meticulously” this time. What have politicians said? The mayor of Le Vernet on Friday said the best hope for the missing toddler is that “he’s been kidnapped and is alive”. In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Francois Balique commented on police calling off the physical search for Emile after five days and possible explanation’s for his disappearance. “Our only hope now is that he’s been taken and is alive. It’s the last thing we can hope for and it’s already terrible. “We could consider that someone wanting to cause harm to a child passed by the area, that he saw this beautiful little boy and took him away. He couldn’t survive alone in the wild, that’s for sure.” Mr Balique said it is ”difficult to favour one hypothesis over another” but explained that “the probabilities and the rationality would lead us to believe that we are dealing with an accident”. He continued: “And since little Emile’s body has not been found, it means that he was not alone at the time. We can consider a car accident in which the driver would have panicked and concealed the body. That’s one hypothesis.” Local politician Sylvie Belmontes had earlier said the search reminded her of the case of Yannis Moré, who vanished from Ganagobie, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in 1989 while playing with friends. “It reminds us of a lot of things. I sent a little message of support to the mayor of Vernet, François Balique”, Ganagobie mayor Sylvie Belmonte told La Provence, referencing the disappearance of 3-year-old Yannis Moré in May 1989. “I was town clerk and I took part in the search to try to find little Yannis”, he added. Mr Avon told a press conference earlier this week that police had “no clue” where the boy was. “His grandparents realised he was no longer there when they went to put him in the car.” What happens next Mr Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered. “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days,” he added. 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