French National Assembly Votes for Extension of State of Emergency

 French National Assembly has voted to extend the state of emergency in the country for six months, the Assembly's statement said on Wednesday.

sputniknews.com reports:

The state of emergency has been in place since the Paris attacks in November, and the extension would see the emergency security measures — which give the police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest — remain in place until the end of January 2017.

It is the fourth time that parliament has proposed prolonging the state of emergency, and the move now needs to be approved by the Senate.

President Francois Hollande had last Thursday announced a plan to lift the emergency measures, but he changed tack hours later after a truck driver ploughed through a crowd leaving a Bastille Day fireworks display in Nice, killing 84 people in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State group (IS).

Mr Hollande's Socialist government has been under heavy criticism for its response to a slew of extremist attacks.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls earlier warned the country must be prepared for more deadly attacks and will have to "learn to live with the threat".

"We must not become accustomed to, but learn to live with, this threat."

Attacker showed 'recent interest' in jihadist activity

The Paris prosecutor's office said all the victims of the Nice massacre had finally been identified.

Around 30 were Muslims, said an official from a regional representative body, and almost half were foreigners.

Investigators say that 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who used a 19-tonne truck to mow his victims down in Nice, had shown "recent interest" in jihadist activity.

Authorities found "very violent" photos on his computer, showing corpses, fighters posing with the IS flag and photos of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

However, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said there was no direct evidence of the Tunisian's links to IS — which has claimed him as one of their "fighters".

Unlike the perpetrators of the Paris attacks, Bouhlel, a petty criminal with a history of violence and depression, did not travel to the Middle East for training or jihad.

But he had a history of violence, with a doctor Bouhlel consulted in Tunisia as a youth diagnosing him with psychotic tendencies.

In March, Bouhlel received a suspended sentence for armed assault after beating a driver with a nail-studded plank in an episode of road rage.

He showed no interest in religion until recently, Mr Molins said, with acquaintances telling people he "ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sexual activity".

But earlier this month, he stopped shaving his beard for what he dubbed "religious" purposes.