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France extends state of emergency by six months

A state of emergency in France has been extended for six months.

The move follows last week’s terrorist attack in Nice in which 84 people were killed and scores injured when a lorry was driven into crowds.

The state of emergency was brought in after terror attacks in Paris in November that left 130 people dead.

The extension agreed in the early hours of Wednesday would take the state of emergency until the end of January 2017.

It is the fourth extension France’s parliament has proposed and the move must be approved by the Senate, the BBC reported .

The last extension was to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament and the end of the Tour de France cycle race.

The emergency measures give the police extra powers to carry out searches and to place people under house arrest.

Prime minister Manuel Valls said France must expect more deadly attacks despite precautions taken by his government.

Speaking at the debate in the National Assembly, he said France would have to learn to live with the threat.

“Even if these words are hard to say, it’s my duty to do so,” he said.

“There will be other attacks and there will be other innocent people killed. We must not become accustomed, we must never become accustomed, to the horror, but we must learn to live with this menace.”

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