French halted terror attack

FRANCE foiled a fresh terrorist attack thanks to its state of emergency, according to the prime minister, as he opened a parliamentary debate on revising the constitution to boost police powers yesterday.

Manuel Valls confirmed that an attack had been averted, referring to the December arrest in Tours of a 27year-old Chechen, who had featured in a video threatening to attack police. President François Hollande imposed a three-month state of emergency after the Nov 13 Paris attacks in which nine terrorists killed 130 people. It gives police and security forces sweeping powers to raid houses and hold people under house arrest.

French MPs yesterday began debating a motion to change the constitution making it impossible to legally challenge a future state of emergency and allowing it to last four months before it has to be renewed.