“The goal is to make sure the whole world, or at least the people going to these events, know that there have been threats and that there is possibility of an attack to happen. Another goal is to make sure Daesh knows that the world knows and cancels the attacks, which will disorientate them for a while. Anonymous.”

The alleged French events 'at risk' are as follows:

- Demonstration by: “Collectif du droit des femmes” (Group for women’s rights) (Demonstrations are now banned, cancelled).

– Cigales Electroniques with Vocodecks, RE-Play & Rawtor at Le Bizen.

– Concrete Invites Drumcode: Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joel Mull at Concrete (Probably cancelled).

Ministers raised the idea after Tuesday night’s friendly football match between Germany and Holland in Hanover was cancelled minutes before kick-off following a tip-off from intelligence in another EU state. According to German media, a group of attackers had planned to set off multiple explosives at the stadium, where Angela Merkel was due to attend the match, and to detonate a bomb in the city centre.

Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, has publicly called for the military to be used in the event of coordinated terror attacks on a German city. “If we had a situation like Paris, perhaps with attacks in three or four places, we’d have to think about whether our police capabilities are enough,” Mr Schäuble told the Rheinische Post newspaper. “What can we do to support security forces that are already overwhelmed on some normal weekends in the face of great challenges?”

The minister’s comments have reopened the debate over the military’s role in modern Germany, where much of the public remains deeply sensitive to the idea of soldiers on the streets.

Mr Neil listed the greats of French life past and present including Hugo, Pasteur, Descartes, Rousseau, Camus, Monet and Zidane - as well as coq au vin and creme brûlée. 'Versus what?' he said, adding: 'Beheadings, crucifixions, amputations, slavery, mass murder, medieval squalor and a death cult barbarity that would shame the Middle Ages.'

Despite the BBC's strict rules on impartiality the former Sunday Times editor's speech has been branded 'brilliant' by many and TV watchdog Ofcom said it had only received one complaint. He said ISIS had murdered 132 people in Paris to 'prove the future belongs to them rather than a civilization like France', adding: 'Well IS or Daesh or ISIS or ISIL or whatever name you're going by - I'm sticking with IS, as in Islamist scumbags. I think the outcome is pretty clear to everybody but you'.

He said: 'I can't say I fancy their chances. In a thousand years Paris, the glorious city of lights, will still be shining bright as will every other city like it. And you will be as dust, along with the ragbag of fascist Nazis and Stalinists that previously dared to challenge democracy and failed'.

Christmas festivities will seem empty in a world which has chosen 'war and hate', Pope Francis said yesterday at the Vatican. 'Christmas is approaching: there will be lights, parties, Christmas trees and nativity scenes... it's all a charade. The world continues to go to war. The world has not chosen a peaceful path,' he said in the Mass at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.

'There are wars today everywhere, and hate,' he said after the worst terror attack in French history, the bombing of the Russian plane, a double suicide bombing in Lebanon, and a series of other deadly strikes. 'We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognise the path to peace. To weep for those who live for war and have the cynicism to deny it,' the Argentine pontiff said, adding: 'God weeps, Jesus weeps.'

The sermon threw a shadow over the start of the festive season at the Vatican, where a giant Christmas tree was unveiled. He added that Italy was already primed for the possibility of an attack. 'The minister of the interior has explained many times that we are at a very high level of alert covering symbolic sites, places where people gather, from stadiums to cathedrals, and St Peter's in particular, which were, among others, the places highlighted by the FBI,' Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. 'We always take such signals of alarm very seriously, especially when they come from the United States.'

It came as little surprise that Mr Khazzani had boarded the train in Brussels. Belgium has become Europe’s prime launch pad for attacks by jihadis and, according to many security experts, their favourite place to pick up guns smuggled from the Balkans.

Claude Moniquet, a former French spy and co-founder of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre said the black market for firearms, including gun runners around Gare du Midi, have seen prices spike in line with the increased risk of sales. Just a few years ago, an AK-47 with 300-400 rounds included could be acquired for about €400. Now, Mr Moniquet says, prices have risen to €1,000 to €2,000. Police in the Netherlands have complained that drug gangs have been increasingly using Kalashnikovs rather than handguns because of their ready availability in Belgium.

“Trafficking arms to criminals is one thing; terrorists is another,” he says. “While arms traffickers can receive sentences of two to three years, if you sell arms to a terrorist, you can expect 20.”

According to the UN’s latest data on homicides by firearms in Belgium, from 2004, the country had a relatively high death rate by European standards. The rate of homicides caused by firearms was 0.7 per 100,000 deaths. That meant that Belgium’s rate was similar to those of Italy and Bulgaria — countries notorious for organised crime. Britain’s rate hovers around 0.1. Still, by international standards, Belgium remains safe. The US rate is around 3 or 4. In Honduras, it is an astonishing 64.

Support for AfD appears to have skyrocketed in recent months, as they had only 3 percent in the polls as recently as August. It is also the best result for the party, which was established in 2013 as a Eurosceptic group, but then switched to criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policies.

One of the party’s key figures, Björn Höcke, has made headlines with hardline nationalist rhetoric. Some of its slogans, such as: “Germans! Three thousand years of Europe, 1,000 years of Germany,” have been compared to Nazi propaganda. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling alliance, comprising the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) remains top of the polls with 35 percent, followed by the Social Democrats (SPD) on 23.5 percent, the poll showed.

The November 18 notice is billed as a “Security Message for US Citizens” regarding a potential for terrorist attacks, and arrived punctually into the email boxes of all Americans registered with the embassy, including that of Breitbart News.

Along with the Vatican, the State Department singles out the Duomo (cathedral) and La Scala opera house in Milan. It goes on to note that general venues “such as churches, synagogues, restaurants, theatres, and hotels” in both Rome and Milan are possible targets as well. The embassy notice says: “Terrorist groups may possibly utilize similar methods used in the recent Paris attacks,” meaning bombs and assault rifles.

The alert also mentions that Italian authorities are aware of these threats, signaling that there will be additional security in these places, a phenomenon that is already evident.

AquAdvantage Salmon has a genetically created trait that makes the salmon grow faster than regular salmon. The manufacturer had to go through an approval process to ensure the fish was safe to eat. The "frankenfish" had to meet several requirements beyond safety rules. For instance, the fish can be raised only in land-based tanks in Canada and Panama and cannot be produced in the US. The agency cited several measures that are being taken to contain the fish and prevent their escape into open water.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican for Alaska, said she was in "shock" at the FDA's approval, saying that genetically engineered fish could harm the environment and may be unsafe. The senator, who hails from a state with a robust seafood industry, said such salmon "seems to be more science experiment than fish or food." "Now that the decision has been made, the next step is to ensure that Americans know what they are consuming," she said.

Could it be possible that this “accident” happened on purpose? Could it be possible that it was intended as a warning for the Obama administration? Sadly, the Obama administration seems almost totally oblivious to this threat. Our strategic nuclear forces are so outdated that floppy disks and rotary phones are still being used, and Barack Obama is fond of saying that “the Cold War’s been over for 20 years”.

Unfortunately for us, the Russians do not see things the same way. Anti-American sentiment inside Russia is at an all-time high, and every time the US interferes in Syria or Ukraine the Russians get even angrier. And even though the Russian economy has dipped into recession, the Russians continue to feverishly prepare for war. This year alone, Russian military spending is up 33 percent. The Russians are feverishly preparing for World War III while Barack Obama acts like it could never possibly happen.

The banner ads bear tag lines like, “Support freedom, not fear,” and, “America is better when we welcome refugees.” They lead to a microsite located at Americaisbetter.org with Old Glory-clothed, American flag-waving young people, with a light-skinned blonde leading the way for others who appear to be ethnic minorities partially or fully obscured behind her.

The site in turn quotes conservative icon former president Ronald Reagan, saying, “America is better when we embrace President Reagan’s ‘shining city … teeming with people of all kinds, living in harmony and peace.’”

The site derides “who would make us react in fear of those different from us.” It continues, “As commander in chief, Reagan kept America safe. At the same time, he was the world’s ‘Great Liberator,’ in the words of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He welcomed refugees from the Soviet Union, Cuba, Vietnam, and elsewhere.”

The instrument of choice has been used throughout its history, with the last person sentenced to death in France losing their head. Now the 87-year-old, who was expelled from the party in 2011 after anti-semitic comments about the Holocaust, wants convicted terrorists to pay the ultimate price.

Le Pen, who publicly feuded with the new NF leader, his daughter Marine Le Pen, said: “We must restore the death penalty for terrorists, with decapitation.” Sick group ISIS are infamous for posting beheading videos of their victims oniine. The controversial politician made the highly charged comments as part of his plans to stop future terrorist attacks on the streets of Paris.

He said he wants to “force dual citizens to make a choice”, completely eradicating dual French citizenship. The last person to be killed by the French state was Tunisian Hamida Djandoibu in 1977 for torturing and murdering a 21-year-old woman, and was accused of assaulting and raping another 15-year-old. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.

Daniel Alkhari, a 25-year-old Chaldean priest, ministers in a refugee camp in the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil. The camp is home to more than 800 Iraqi Christians who have been displaced by the self-described Islamic State in recent years. The church inside the camp hosts services each weekend in three Christian faith traditions – Roman Catholic, Chaldean, and Assyrian — and the ministers of each tradition are responsive to the needs of all.

“ISIS has done better than almost any group in the past two millennia in bringing Christians together in this region,” Alkhari told me. “To them, a Christian is a Christian. This common threat has unified our different traditions.” And Alkhari has a strong ally in Rome. Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly of an “ecumenism of blood” that is bringing Christians together in the Middle East under the common threat of religious persecution.

The Fars report added that the drills involved over 120 Basij battalions, in which fighter-jets bombed targets in the dessert and dozens of gun-wielding squadrons representing IDF soldiers guarding the shrine replica.

Fars quoted one Basij commander as saying the drills were organized "to exercise preparedness to fight against possible threats in the region.” Basij fighters are a volunteer arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and have been arriving in Syria to reinforce Syrian government troops in an offensive in the contested northern city of Aleppo and other insurgent-held areas.

The German political class continues to insist that “European unification is the only possible answer to globalisation”, as Wolfgang Schäuble, the Finance Minister, put it a few days ago. The line most widely reported from his speech, about a single skier setting off a Lawine, or avalanche, was taken to be a disobliging reference to his colleague Angela Merkel’s mishandling of the refugee question.

But if, as is entirely possible, Schäuble replaces Merkel as Chancellor, Germany’s drive towards the creation of a United States of Europe will become even more determined. He sought to prepare his listeners for transfers from rich members of the euro to poor ones, and for further surrenders of national powers.

Opinion polls show the country is split down the middle. But they also show the Christian Democrats losing ground, and Alternative for Germany, which takes a harder attitude to these things, in double figures for the first time. And other European countries have declined to show solidarity on the refugee question with Merkel. She suddenly looks isolated, and the chances that she will retire in the near future have greatly increased.

Her most likely replacement is Schäuble, confined to a wheelchair since an attempt on his life in 1990, but respected even by his opponents as a man of formidable intellect and grip. But Schäuble is no push-over. We should not imagine Germany is about to be transformed into a nation state of a Gaullist disposition. The Germans are in the midst of a very long process of discovering what it means to be German, and on their answer to that question will depend the future of Europe.