13/11/2015 Newsnight

there are reports of many dead in Paris

in several major suspected terror attacks in the city.

There is an ongoing hostage situation at a Paris concert hall.

We'll have the latest news and analysis from Paris and London.

In Syria, two blows for ISIS, the likely death of the

British Kuwaiti Mohammed Emwazi, and their rout in Sinjar, So will

Isis be defeated by targetted drone strikes or hard fought combat?

And on Artsnight, Radio One DJ Clara Amfo looks

at how the celebrity machine works and meets one of the world's most

What is your interaction with the public like? You try to keep as far

away from the general public as possible, limit your interactions

with them, when you are successful and it is publicly noted, you become

a target. There is turmoil

in Paris tonight after suspected coordinated terror attacks that have

resulted in several deaths. French television is reporting

as many as 40 dead. There was a shootout in at least two

restaurants, one in the 10th arrondissement, and there were also

two explosions apparently caused by grenades in a bar near the Stade de

France, in the north of the city, where France was playing Germany

at football. But there are also reports that

there are hostages In the last few minutes David

Cameron has said, thoughts and prayers are with the French people,

we will do whatever we can to help. We will be looking at this

throughout the programme. We go over to Lucy Williamson, in Paris, first

of all, we are in the middle of all of this. There is reports of further

incidents at the Louvre. This situation is developing all of the

time, we now have confirmation we think of reports, we believe there

are fresh attacks taking place very recently in the last few minutes

tonight. As yet, we have no arrests, indeed, no shootings towards whoever

it was who cause the attacks. We certainly think the attackers are

still at large in Paris, no reports that they have been apprehended by

the police, and the security forces, as well as looking for those people,

are also trying to manage the hostage crisis that has unfolded at

a concert hall in the north-east of the city. We understand it is a jazz

concert Hall, packed on a Friday night, there is talk of 100

hostages. From what you know, who has been deployed? Local police? Who

else? CRS That is the information we are not getting clarity on, the

police are tight-lipped about what is happening. But we are getting

these reports that there may be 100 people held inside, we are also

getting reports, unconfirmed, that there may be 35 or 40 people killed

in the attack on the concert hall. One witness, who was inside the

hall, she managed to escape, she spoke with local media confirming

she had seen an attacker shoots someone in front of her, she managed

to get out, apparently, before becoming part of the situation. Many

resources, a lot of focus, put on trying to resolve that situation.

Also, in terms of what is being used, we hear reports of grenades

and Kalashnikovs. Coming from eyewitnesses, yet to be confirmed,

but we have reports that the gunmen who attacked the Asian restaurant,

the first reports we had, may have used a semiautomatic weapon. To

attack the customers. Another witness, inside the national

stadium, told local media that he believed there was two or three

grenades set off, and at least one person had been killed. This is a

picture changing all of the time, the number of dead seems too has

risen, is rising rapidly, as we go through the night. Francois Hollande

was at the friendly match, between Germany and France, he was brought

back. Has he said anything yet? He has gone into a crisis meeting with

the interior minister and the Prime Minister, to try to work out a

strategy to get control of the situation. If these latest reports

are true and the new attacks have taken place, as reports say they are

doing, then it would be multiple attacks, in Paris, within an hour or

two of each other, mostly in the centre, in some of the most famous

spots in the capital. Six attacks, maybe five attacks, taking place

tonight. That is yet to be confirmed. If reports are to be

believed, this could be an incredibly complicated, one of the

most widespread attacks that Paris has ever seen. Ten months ago,

Charlie Hebdo, no link, as far as anybody could ascertain, to Isis,

does anybody yet believe that this is an attack led by Isis? At the

moment very little is being said about the motives of the attackers

but of course, the nature of the attacks is going to have everybody

thinking about parallels, about bringing back the memories of the

Charlie Hebdo attack, the hostage situation, the gunmen entering the

building, in central Paris. The shocking nature of the attacks

themselves. There has been a lot of talk recently about France's role in

the conflict in Syria and Iraq. France is worried about people

coming back to France from those conflicts and causing these kind of

problems at homes. -- at home. That is going to be one of the primary

areas of investigation, as police go forward. Thank you very much.

What sense are you getting from the picture? Since the attack in

Mumbai, people in other major world cities have feared this scenario

that we are now seeing unfolding in Paris tonight. Multiple terrorists,

sowing death in different parts of a city, bringing complete paralysis,

of course, many misleading reports, panic, all of these things. A

massive effect across the city. The British have trained, I have been

aware of certain aspects of this in the last couple of years, training

and preparation. The French have trained this kind of contingency,

especially since Charlie Hebdo. Now we see it unfolding, I think that we

can assume that some of these early death tolls will be on the low side.

We hear that at the theatre but we have also seen pictures on social

media of multiple courses in other places. It is a truly dreadful

situation. The other thing, of course, the terrorists, by going for

a major world city, they are seizing opportunities like the football

match between France and Germany, going on at the Stade de France, and

we can see footage of audio where we can see the first bomb going outside

the stadium. The reports from the Stade de France

in particular suggest a couple of bombs outside initially but later

reports suggest people throwing hand grenades inside of the stadium, and

fans going down onto the pitch to try to escape them. Chaos there, at

a major international sporting fixture, president Francois Hollande

was at the fixture and was taken away, then we have the shooting

incidents come using Kalashnikovs, a hallmark of the Charlie Hebdo and

Mumbai style attack, and then the hostage situation, at the theatre,

where, anything up to 100 people main lb taken. With multiple gunmen.

We are hearing that people, resumes, have been told to stay in doors and

stay at home. -- hearing that people, Parisiens. That's jazz club,

the movement of the Pompidou Centre and Les Halles Shopping Mall and the

Louvre. Looking at this, several possible interpretations, one is

that the gunmen, as also happened in Mumbai and Charlie Hebdo, were

moving around, and shooting people in different places. Clearly there

was more than their work, there were multiple gunmen. It may there was

two distinct waves. Once the theatre was surrounded, with some gunmen

inside it, follow one incidents seem to have occurred, at Les Halles

Shopping Mall and other places, which suggests there was a

deliberate second wave to the attack. We will come back to you

later, as soon as we get more intelligence on that. Joining me

now. Nabila Ramdani, a French Algerian

journalist who specialises in terrorism, Nadhim

Zahawi, the Conservative MP who sits on the foreign affairs select

committee, and the Syria expert and war correspondent Janine Di

Giovanni, I was at that restaurant last week,

Petit Cambodge, in the 11th, one of the attack sites, apparently. A lot

of young people would go there on a Friday night, outdoor seating, the

weather has been nice. It is shocking and horrible but in a

sense, I think that the people of Paris have been geared up for this

since January, since Charlie Hebdo. You think there has been an air of

tension? Definitely, and also, a lot of vigilance, the country has been

on high alert. All of the major rail stations, Metros, you see armed

police, all of the time. There has been much more a sense of people

taking care of wheel caution. And again, France's role against Isis.

France has the least effective record on integration of their

people. Do you see this daily, the lack of integration? Alienation?

Absolutely. Immigrants feel disenfranchised, they live only on

the outskirts of Harry, -- Paris. That is the case of the brothers in

the Charlie Hebdo attack. This is your area, your area of expertise.

As the story started, initially, one might have thought it could have

been the settling of scores between gangs, rivalry. Happens quite often

in the South of France, big cities like Marseille, drug gangs, less so

in Paris, it must be said. But as the death toll kept rising, and

indeed, we kept learning more, this is multiple attacks across Paris,

which is a small village in comparison with London, all

locations will be close by. They are inevitable. This has all the

hallmarks of a major terrorist attack. Long planned. Kalashnikov

wielding gunman, bomb at motions involving grenades, hostagetaking

situations, corpses strewn on the streets of Paris, ambulances and

fire engines. What is particularly horrific about the situation, the

people involved... The criminals involved... They seem to have gone

after soft targets, talking about targeting people who are out on a

Friday night, relaxed, restaurants, concert halls. More information, the

police are now saying, 100 hostages are inside the concert hall, what

you know about Bataclan? Famous jazz club, would have been packed. Mainly

frequented by young people, very cheap to get a ticket... Very

attractive place, not only for residents of Paris but for students

visiting, tourists as well. It would be, dare I say, the perfect target

for a major incident. In terms of preparation, since Charlie Hebdo,

and plans and cordon nation, we know that... -- and plans and

coordination. More evidence of police at stations. How do you think

there has been an idea of combating terror since Charlie Hebdo? Has

there been a big change of plans? There has been, since Charlie Hebdo,

no doubt that France has been on its highest alert ever. Not least of all

because it has been struck in the heart of the capital city. It is a

western capital city as well. France is also involved in major conflict

zones abroad, Francois Hollande may be a socialist at home, but he is a

hawk when it comes to foreign policy. That makes France a possible

target for revenge attacks stop what we will pause, because Barack Obama

has just been speaking: Once again, we have seen an

outrageous attempt to terrorise innocent civilians. This is an

attack not just an Paris, it is an attack not just an the people of

France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values

that we share. We stand prepared to provide whatever assistance is

needed by the people of France and the government, to respond. Barack

Obama speaking a few moments ago. What do you make of this? I echo

what David Cameron has said, thoughts and prayers must be with

the victims and those that have been held hostage. We must stand united

against this evil, David Cameron is right to say that we will do

everything we can to help in any way that we can. There is coordination

across Europe, an anti-terrorism, we were successful a few weeks ago,

with the arrests in Italy, if you remember. This is a spectacular...

In terms of planning and preparation and the failure to even get a wind

of this? ! It feels horrific, bloodcurdling. These people have got

to get lucky only once... Police forces have got to get lucky every

single day. We have a bill before Parliament to help police and

agencies track these people electronically, it is important

that, fiercely, we get the details of this, we understand what has

happened. Clearly, what happened, in the Sinai, in Egypt, with the

Russian airliner... There seems to be a North African connection,

possibly. Early days, but it is important that we work together and

cordon eight. David Cameron is right to say that we will do everything we

can to help. We have just heard that the French president has said that

this is a terrorist attack on France without precedent.

How do you deal with the threat? We have to get lucky every day. Theresa

May has talked about the number of incidents we have thwarted. Mark

wants to come in. Well, a key aspect of this, as it was in Charlie Hebdo,

was how do you bring military-style firearms into a city like Paris or

indeed London? I had a conversation with a senior counter-terrorist

figure in the UK after the Charlie Hebdo thing, saying what is to stop

that happening here? He expressed confidence that the number of

firearms, a couple of hundred that is in circulation with the

underworld as one understood but in France the situation was different.

Clearly tonight, something terrible has happened in terms of the

quantity of weapons and explosives that somebody has managed to get

into that city. We will of course come back to events in Paris

tonight, but to other news now. According to a US official,

one British drone and two American ones worked together intimately

in the operation that targeted Mohammad Emwazi, who appeared

in Isis execution videos. David Cameron called the attack

on the torturer known as Jihadi John in a car in the Northern Syrian town

of Raqqa as "a strike at Emwazi apparently killed seven

hostages, including British aid workers

David Haines and Alan Henning. But perhaps

the more significant story this week, in terms of the war on Islamic

State, has been the sustained gains being made against their territory -

not least today's reclaiming of So which is the better guide

to how this war might be won? Here's our

diplomatic editor Mark Urban. The intelligence gathering operation

to find and target Mohammed Emwazi took months

and considerable resources. Last night, three different drones,

one British, and two American, were tracking him before an American

drone launched a missile into a car. And let us never forget he

killed many, many Muslims too. And he was intent

on murdering many more people. Emwazi had been the ring master

for the televised murder of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines,

Alan Henning and Peter Kassig. Some

of the freed hostages also reported But tonight,

family members didn't give in. Just sad, and I think we have to be

careful, as an American media, not He's a sad individual,

filled with hate for us. The car believed to be carrying

Mohammed Emwazi was hit right in the middle of Raqqa,

capital of the self-proclaimed Caliphate, and just yards

from the clock tower where IS staged There is something bigger going

on here though. Islamic State is on the defensive

in several different places Clearly Isis at the moment is

in a situation where it is facing battles on lots of different fronts,

but if we look at what is happening in Sinjar, my understanding is that

hasn't completely severed If we look

at the Russians hitting them in some places, it is not the sort

of overwhelming push we are seeing. What we are seeing is

a situation where they are dealing with pressure on multiple fronts,

but I don't think we can say it is On Sinjar,

Kurdish troops supported by British Special Forces, and more than 250

air strikes in the past month, have driven back IS, cutting the group's

key route between Raqqa and Mosul. Unfortunately the process for the

liberation of Mosul was delayed. Therefore, we were obliged

in order to make sure that step by step we would liberate

the areas which are important. Of course, the victory that was

achieved in Sinjar is very important, it is significant,

this is our response, and it is our revenge on the Isis and the

crimes they committed last year. The atrocities that were committed

by the Isis terrorists, and the crimes that were committed

amount to genocide. Therefore we are very pleased

today Sinjar was liberated. Across the border, a co-ordinated

push by the Syrian democratic forces, Kurdish-led but with

American special operators, have cleared 500 square kilometres of

Islamic State fighters in the past few weeks, and then over further

west, the Syrian Army with Iranian ground support and Russian backing

from the air, has broken the IS It all adds up to

significant pressure. Nobody thinks this week's

blows mark the end of IS. It's shown itself a fierce

and resilient adversary, but it's thought to have lost

its chief propagandist and is under pressure on multiple fronts now,

from the air and on the ground. The co-ordinateded attacks in Paris,

we have just heard that Francois Hollande has called a state of

emergency in France, and closed the French border. I mean, this is

absolutely huge, I mean clearly, either the intelligence is that

there is more to come, or it is stop people escaping. I think if we saw

what happened after the Charlie Hebdo events in Jan, there was a

series of event that went foreign a couple of days as people tried to

track down those responsible. If this is a bigger and more complex at

a tack there could be a wider web of people. France is in the most

difficult situation tonight, Presidents Holland took this step of

standing front and sentence in the alliance, since September, the

country has been bombing Syria, as well as Iraq, something few other

European countries wanted to do. His has taken this very difficult step

politically, and tonight, he is in the middle of this fresh crisis. I

saw one unconfirmed ifficult step politically, and tonight, he is in

the middle of this fresh crisis. I saw one unconfirmed report of

someone shouting "This is for Syria." We have seen reports people

said this was for Syria, and we have seen reports of people shouting aloo

alAqabar. At this moment, I don't think can't regard those as

definitive. We are joined by another two guests.

We will soon by joined by the former deputy editor of Liberation --

liberation. We no we are dealing with a substantial terrorist attack.

We have multiple targets struck, we have people using automatic weapons

and explosive devices. No arrests? We don't really know. It is an

unfolding situation. We have heard incidents going off all over the

placings, we don't know if we are dealing with five separate incidents

or groups who are mobile, who are making one journey to another in

vehicles or something else. It's a fluid situation, so we don't know

defintively what we are looking at, but what we know is we are looking

at people who have training to make explosive, training to use gun, and

obviously, a lot of preparation to do some sort of sub Stan shallot

attack like this. Let us go ever to the former deputy editor of

Liberation. What do you make of the announcement where you are in a

state of emergency? Well, it is obviously taking into account, the

shock the country is in, you should have seen the streets of Paris it is

really panic, and great anxiety. The President wanted to show that he is

still in charge, that the authorities are do whatever they

can, and that exceptional measures are taken to deal with an

exceptional and unprecedented situation. He announced that the

borders are closed, that the army has been called in reinforcement, to

secure the capital, so it is really a kind of war situation, that has

suddenly, you know, fallen on our heads. We can see that from the

shots we are seeing now, from outside that restaurant earlier,

people are being attended to in the streets, people being carried away.

What can you tell us, if you can tell us any more about what is

happening at the Bataclan concert place? There has been a lot of

hostages inside, people are talking about 60-80 hostages and the

President in his statement said that the situation was still under way,

and that assault was being given by the police, the elite forces of the

police have been called in, and there is a lot of shooting, so the

situation, the situationing is still ongoing, and probably the number of

dead will be much higher than it is already. We can see now what

happened. We can see scenes from inside Stade de France where there

are recorded images of people moving on to the pitch know not knowing

what would happen. The players, a the first explosion went off and we

heard reports that there were grenades thrown inside the stadium.

Can you tell us any more about that? No, it doesn't seem to have been

taking place inside the stadium, because the commentators, sports

commentators all telling us that the football match went on as if nothing

has happened, and people didn't react to the explosions thinking it

was just celebrations or atmosphere. But the thing about the staid de

France, people are probably still there and people won't want to get

on the trains back in to Paris because they don't know about the

trains either. Absolutely. Public transport will be massively watched

by French police. It has to be said that the French Government seems to,

you know, take to realise the absolute scale of this tragedy, not

only through its announcement, earlier we heard the French

President talking about multiple scenes of violence and then it went

to him describing the attacks as unprecedented attacks and then

declaring a state of emergency, and then going as far as mobilising the

army, so, in its wordings, but in its actions he is talking to his

close you know, advisers, and indeed his holding the equivalent of what

would be a Cobra meeting in transto catch the terrorists at an early

stage. We can go to a telephone call with Jonathan Hill who saw one of

the gunmen. What did you see and where are you? Currently the signal

is not great. I am on the Metro trying to get away from the area. I

was coming out of the Metro station, collecting cash from an ATM, 40, 50

yards away myself and two other friends heard two distinctive shots.

There was a guy... Very largely built. In the middle of the street,

shouting Allez, to get people in the restaurants.

With that... I am afraid the signal is very bad on the Metro so we have

to leave him but we can go to a recording of President Hollande.

TRANSLATION: My dear country Americas as I speak terrorist

attacks on an unprecedented scale are taking place in the Paris

region. There are several dozen dead, lots more wounded. It is

horrific. We have on my orders mobilised all the forces we can

muster in order to neutralise the terrorist threat, and to secure all

the affected areas. I have asked for military reinforcements, they too

are in the Paris area to make sure no new attack can take place.

Tell me though, you have a particular view of how Paris and the

French regard security? Well, its has to be said, mine it is evident

that France has massive security failure as we have seen with the

Charlie Hebdo incident. The Charlie Hebdo offices were a clear target.

They had been targeted by firebombs before, they clearly were supposed

to be under police security. It turned out they weren't. After the

attacks happened, we have seen police officers standing up on bike,

with no arms, and that is how the police reacted to a terrorist attack

in central Paris. We don't have much time here, but I want to ask you

what you think will be the reaction of other European countries,

particularly ones that are leading the battle against Isis. You can see

a ratcheting up of security across the continent. People have been

worried about this sort of at tack for some time. Your can look far

back as 2010 when people worried about a Mumbai-style attack. Now we

have seen it happening after the Charlie Hebdo attack, you saw

European forces looking at this could happen to them and training

for it, so you will see that as well. I think on the Continent in

particular, you will start to see people really starting... Because we

have open borders but tonight France has closed its borders as much as it

can. It has had to close its borders in response to this situation. We

can see the situation earlier in year in Belgium, where a plot, a

network that looked like it might have been trying to do something

similar was disrupted. We have seen other networks happening round the

Continent that going in this direction, when you see an incident

like this you will see others who will be inspired and try to stand on

the shoulders of giants and launch an attack on their own. What is the

latest Mark? Simply that the scale of this is immense, as you say,

France effectively is locked down now. I think the assessment is still

going on. I wouldn't be surprised in that French Government meeting if

security chiefs can't give Francois Hollande straight answers how many

were there, how many might still be at large on the streets. So, as we

lever you tonight, we are still in the middle of a situation in Paris,

there are more than 100 hostages in a jazz club, and also more than 40

people dead apparently, perhaps at the jazz club and more at the

restaurant. Francois Hollande has called a state of merge, is, the

borders are closed and in Paris the army are being deployed. People are

being told to stay at home. There is no identity, no notion of the

identity of the attackers or where they might strike necks. More on the

BBC News channel but now it is Artsnight. This week 's presenter is

Clara Amfo who will take us inside the fame industry.

She meets John Niven, author of the music business satire

Kill Your Friends, and the rapper 50 Cent - and this episode does contain

some strong language. In my job I regularly meet people whose lives

are splashed all over the Internet and newspapers. One day you are

heart and the next, well... Fame is a bizarre and fascinating thing. For

my edition of Artsnight I will get behind the machine of celebrity and

find out why people won fame and