Paris terror attack: There has to be a better response than this to a cartoon!

We live in extraordinary times. These days, people get killed for making cartoons! Living in India, one is nearly psychologically inured to hearing news of terror attacks, thanks largely to the perseveringly malicious elements planted in our neighbourhood.


But when I saw the pictures of the Charlie Hebdo’s journalists and cartoonists who had fallen victim to the most mindless violence in their Paris office, something stirred in me. Do we really want to be a part of such a world where we can’t draw sketches which poke fun at established beliefs, or ones which see humour in banal and ordinary lives around us?

When people begin to pick guns to silence any discourse, quell any thought, and break any pen that does not adhere to their convictions, how colourless the world shall become.

Firstly and most certainly, this is not the way God meant things to be. If it were so – He would have made the world in subfuscous black and white and not infused forests with blushes of green, or broad strokes of purple, red and yellow; He would not have made the sky with hues of blue and not left a rainbow to smile over our heads; not made the brooks spring with glee or waterfalls with dancing gaits.

If God exists he does not need blood thirsty and gun wielding bodyguards to protect His honour. He is too much above this and can dispense justice on his own, if He wishes to.

Secondly, the journalists cum cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo were ordinary men with extraordinary courage. Despite threats and repeated attacks at their office, Stephen Charbonnier loved riding about freely on his bike. Georges Wolinsiki was a legend. He got interested in cartooning when he got his hands on some comics left behind by American officers returning from North Africa after World War II. He was notorious for his love of wine and women, but celebrated for his exceptional talent. Tignou had visited Kolkata a decade back and had been fascinated by the chaotic traffic and all the honking on our roads; Cabu was unique in his persistence to freely express his imagination and spared none from his satirical wit.

All of them were willing to pursue their jobs for the sake of freedom of thought and expression than live timidly but safely. It was a cruel twist of fate that Charb had recently released a cartoon that read: “Still No Attacks in France,” and a jehadi saying “Just wait - we have until the end of January to present our New Year’s wishes.” But then that was Charb – who had earlier told a news agency that he would “rather die standing than be on his knees”!

Thirdly, whether this incident was executed independently by two radicalized Kouachi brothers on behalf of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula and their ISIS affiliated friend Amedy Coulibaly or a part of larger plot hatched in another country like Yemen, Syria, Iraq or even Pakistan, the fact is this is a Clash of Civilizations. The clash is not waiting to happen in the form of a World War – it is happening and right now in the streets of major towns and cities like New York, Sydney and Paris. This is a clash of ideologies, thinking and two separate ways of life.

We have already been facing the brunt in South Asia, but now Europe needs to brace up. What happened in Norway earlier, has taken place in Paris today and, of what we know, the story will not end here. The Continent has a large Muslim immigrant population; the youth living in neighbourhoods can be brainwashed easily, just as we saw in the case of those arrested in raids in UK – when a plot to blow up airlines was uncovered. Young Muslims are prey and can easily be radicalized by showing videos of wars in Iraq and Syria. With their European passports, they will come back to their home countries and unleash the unthinkable. Both the EU citizens and holders of Schengen visa can travel with ease across the Continent without any border security checks and this is a problem Europe needs to be prepared to deal with.

Fourthly, we live in an extraordinarily narrow-minded, lopsided and meek world. People say Charlie Hedbo should not have published such provocative cartoons; but how is one supposed to make a cartoon without rubbing someone the wrong way. Cartoons are about humour and satire after all. That laws should be framed about disallowing cartoons on religions, much the same way as French laws do not allow the denial of Holocaust, would possibly be an extreme step. These cartoonists had mocked all – the Christians, the Pope, the Rabi, all major political parties, leaders etc. etc. but none responded in such a shockingly violent way.

We are told that France is insensitive by giving far too much liberty on the freedom of expression and has alienated its large Muslim minority (nearly 7.5% of the population) by secular moves like disallowing head scarves. But how come no one questions why Saudi Arabia forces non-Muslim women visitors to also wear a Hijab! If Eid celebrations are curbed anywhere in the world, it would hit the headlines. But when Brunei bans Christmas because it may influence children and teenagers into liking Christianity, it hardly causes a ripple.

Has anyone noticed but not one prominent leader of the Sunni Muslim world has come out openly to personally condemn the Paris shooting. The only people who have condemned the attack are the Shia Hezbollah leader, Jordan royalty that lives off Western(US) sops, Turkey which is a part of Europe and Palestine which constantly needs the world to stand by it against Israel. But what about the heads of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, Oman, UAE etc? Either the incident has their mute consent or that they are too scared to damage their reputations with their people or hardline forces. In fact, groups like Tehrek-e-Taliban have congratulated the killers.

Fifthly, and most importantly, there ought to be a better way to respond to a cartoon that is not to our taste or ruffles our faith.

If you don’t like a cartoon, draw another one to counter it. Write an article condemning its content or even its artist. Put up posters outside the office of Charlie Hebo. Hold a sit-in, protest marches outside its office or wear a black band. And if one is not satisfied, take legal recourse and drag these people to court.

When Stephen Charbonnier said whenever he was drawing a cartoon, he knew he was not killing someone, he made exactly the same point I am trying to press home. However outrageous a cartoon is, it does not take away anyone’s right to life.

In a world where violence is increasingly becoming the most popular way to prove a point, we need learn from the old saying, the pen is mightier than the sword.

There just has to be a more creative way to express the gleed of rage! And there is no two ways about it.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/

Fresh al Qaeda warning to France as Charlie Hebdo set to release Prophet cartoon again

Paris: Even as France is struggling to come to terms with the deadly attacks carried out on the office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the terror-stricken country on Tuesday received a fresh terrorist threat – this time from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

According to a tweet by SITE monitoring group, Al Qaeda's branch in North Africa (AQIM), commended the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine and urged Muslims to follow the example of Kouachi brothers who killed 12 people last Wednesday.

Blaming France for attacking Muslim countries, the AQIM threatened that the country will continue to remain exposed to terror attacks as long as it bombarded people in Iraq and Syria, the CNN quoted the terror group's statement.

The AQIM also threatened French media against publishing Prophet cartoons.

"France pays the cost of its violence on Muslim countries and the violation of their sanctity," AQIM said in a statement.

"As long as its soldiers occupy countries such as Mali and Central Africa and bombard our people in Syria and Iraq, and as long as its lame media continues to undermine our Prophet (Mohammed), France will expose itself to the worst and more," the CNN cited the AQIM statement.

It can be noted that the commando-style attack perpetrated on Charlie Hebdo's office by Kouachi brothers was claimed by Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The SITE Intelligence group quoted a sharia official of AQAP as threatening France with more operations if it does not stop "fighting" Islam and its symbols, and Muslims.

The warning comes just a day before the Charlie Hebdo magazine's fresh issue is due to hit the newsstands on Wednesday. After a brazen assault on Charlie Hebdo's office killed eight cartoonists, the magazine has decided to come back with defiance and its fresh print will feature a caricature of Prophet Muhammad, with tears in his eyes, holding “JE SUIS CHARLIE” (”I am Charlie”) sign below the headline “TOUT EST PARDONNE” ("All is forgiven”).

Usually, the magazine used to print 60,000 copies of the weekly, however in light of humongous demand from across the country and the world, a whopping 3 million copies of Charlie Hebdo's fresh issue will be published in a total of 16 different languages.

Meanwhile, the country is still reeling under the shock generated by three blood-soaked days that killed 17 people and France has turned into a fortress with 10, 000 troops deployed to protect sensitive areas.

In what is an unprecedented security measure taken in the aftermath of deadly three-day attacks in France, 10,000 troops will be mobilised across the country's sensitive areas to protect the people as "threats remain," Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday.

Also, nearly 5,000 security forces and police will be roped in to protect over 700 Jewish schools in the country.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/

France Gripped By Fear After Paris Terror Attacks

PARIS (AP) — What started as a hunt for two terror suspects grew into something worse — fears of a nest of terrorists that could strike again in the heart of Paris. The suspects in three attacks knew each other, had been linked to previous terrorist activities, and one had fought or trained with al-Qaida in Yemen, which claimed ownership Friday of this week's newspaper massacre.

Investigators are now trying to determine to what extent the attacks were coordinated.

The Kouachi brothers had been the subject of a vast manhunt following the armed attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly that claimed 12 lives on Wednesday. The brothers died Friday when police attacked the building near Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris where they had barricaded themselves.

An acquaintance of at least one of the Kouachis, Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was identified as the suspected killer of a policewoman in suburban Paris the previous day —and as the man armed with a semi-automatic rifle who opened fire Friday in a kosher market near Paris' Porte de Vincennes and holed up with hostages there.

He threatened to kill his captives if the Kouachis weren't freed. Like the brothers, he was killed when police moved in.

According to French judicial documents obtained by The Associated Press, the connections among the terrorist suspects date back to 2010, when Coulibaly was sentenced to five years in prison for an abortive attempt to free another terrorist from prison. Smain Ait Ali Belkacem was serving a life sentence for a bombing attack on the Paris rapid transit system in 1995.

Cherif Kouachi, 32, the younger of the brothers, was detained in that investigation, but freed later without being tried. A former pizza deliveryman, he appeared in a 2005 French TV documentary on Islamic extremism and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for trying to join up with fighters battling in Iraq.

The French judicial documents said Coulibaly and the younger Kouachi knew each another, and traveled with their wives in 2010 to central France to visit a radical Islamist, Djamel Beghal, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison on a terrorism-related charge.

Police issued a bulletin Friday asking anyone with information about Coulibaly's wife, 26-year-old Hayat Boumeddiene, to contact them, saying she was potentially "armed and dangerous."

According to the judicial documents, a police search of Coulibaly's residence in 2010 turned up a crossbow, 240 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, films and photos of him during a trip to Malaysia, and letters seeking false official documents.

In a police interview that same year, Coulibaly identified Cherif Kouachi as a friend he had met in prison and said they saw each other frequently, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by the Journal du Dimanche newspaper and posted on the newspaper's website.

According to the newspaper, he told the police that people he met in prison used the nickname "Dolly" for him. He said he was employed as a temp worker at a Coca-Cola factory.

"I know a lot of criminals because I met heaps of them in detention," he is quoted as telling the police.

Michel Thooris, secretary-general of France's police labor union, told AP he didn't believe these were "three people isolated in their little world."

"This could very well be a little cell," he said. "There are probably more than three people," he added, given that Cherif Kouachi and Coulibaly had had contacts with other jihadist groups in the past.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, speaking in a TV interview late Friday, also indicated authorities are bracing for the possibility of new attacks.

"We are facing a major challenge" and "very determined individuals," Valls said.

Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor, said authorities increasingly grew to see links between the attackers after they discovered that Boumeddiene and the companion of one of the Kouachi brothers had exchanged about 500 phone calls.

Speaking to reporters late Friday, he said that 16 people had been detained in the investigation. Officials were continuing to look for "possible accomplices, the financing of these criminal actions, the source of these weapons and all the help that (the terror suspects) might have benefited from, in France as well as overseas, in Yemen," Molins said.

The latest U.S. assessments described to the AP show that the brothers led a normal life for long enough in recent years that the French began to view them as less of a threat and reduced the surveillance. They are continuing to investigate whether the brothers' steps away from radical Islam were part of a plan of misdirection, or whether it was real — and that they simply had another change of heart and decided to turn to violence.

On Friday, a French TV news network said it spoke directly to Coulibaly before his death, and he said he and the brothers were coordinating and that he was with the Islamic State extremist group. BFM, the network, said it also talked to the younger Kouachi brother, who claimed to be financed and dispatched by al-Qaida in Yemen, normally a rival organization.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said Friday it had planned the assault on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper staff — but did not mention the other terrorist acts.

Separately, officials in Yemen and the U.S. said Said Kouachi, 34, the older of the brothers, had trained with al-Qaida in Yemen. Yemeni authorities suspect he fought with the Islamic extremist group at the height of its offensive in the country's south, a Yemini security official said Friday.

Another senior security official said Said Kouachi was in Yemen until 2012. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into the older Kouachi brother's stay.

A U.S. law enforcement official said Friday that investigators believe Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen to receive weapons training from al-Qaida. The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name, said the brothers had raised enough concern to be placed on the U.S. no-fly list because one had traveled to Yemen and the other had been convicted of terrorism charges.

Though the brothers claimed affiliation to al-Qaida, the U.S. official said, investigators were still trying to determine whether al-Qaida had ordered the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices or if the brothers had done it on their own.

The official said investigators have been searching for any contacts that the brothers maintained with individuals in the United States, but had not yet found any.

French authorities knew Kouachi traveled to Yemen, but it's not clear whether they knew what he did there, U.S. officials believe. Still, French authorities placed both Kouachi brothers under close surveillance when he returned.

Source: http://m.huffpost.com

Charlie Hebdo attack: Helicopters hunt for suspects in woods of France

Longpont, France (CNN)An intense manhunt for two brothers wanted in the Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre focused Thursday on northern France's Picardy region, where sources close to the investigation said a police helicopter might have spotted the suspects.

Authorities believe that Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, entered a wooded area on foot, the sources told CNN's Chris Cuomo. Now investigators are using helicopters equipped with night vision tools to try to find them, the sources said.

Earlier Thursday, a police helicopter glimpsed what investigators believed to be the fugitives in the same area, near Crepy-en-Valois, France.

Said Kouachi, left, and Cherif Kouachi are suspects in the Paris attack.

Police flooded the region, with heavily armed officers canvassing the countryside and forests in search of the killers. They came after a gas station attendant reportedly said the armed brothers threatened him near Villers-Cotterets in Picardy, stole gas and food, then drove off late Thursday morning.

About 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the gas station, police blocked a rural country road leading to the French village of Longpont. Authorities have not commented in any detail, but pictures showed heavily armed police officers with shields and helmets in the blocked-off area.

Hours later, a CNN team witnessed a convoy of 30 to 40 police vehicles leaving a site near Longpont.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls put the Picardy region on the highest alert level, that same level that the entire Ile-de-France region, including Paris, is already under.

As the search for the suspects intensified, details emerged about their past travels -- and possible training abroad.

Said Kouachi went to Yemen for training, a French official told CNN. The training he received included instruction from al Qaeda's affiliate there on how to fire weapons, a U.S. official said, citing information French intelligence provided to the United States.

In addition to northern France, other parts of the country have also been under scrutiny.

More than 80,000 police were deployed nationwide Thursday, France's interior minister said.

Earlier Thursday, a gunman -- dressed in black and wearing what appeared to be a bulletproof vest, just like those who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices -- shot and killed a female police officer in the Paris suburb of Montrouge. A municipal official was seriously wounded in that attack, France's interior minister said. One person was arrested, Paris Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman said, though it's not known whether the shooter is still at large.

Authorities have called that a terror attack, but they haven't connected it to Wednesday's slaying of 12 at the satirical magazine's Paris headquarters.

Latest updates at 10:15 p.m. ET

• Investigators found empty containers and gasoline inside a car driven by the suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack, according to U.S. and Western officials who say they received information from French intelligence about the vehicle. The suspects may have intended to use the items to make rudimentary explosives such as Molotov cocktails, the officials told CNN's Pamela Brown, Barbara Starr and Deborah Feyerick.

• The head of Britain's MI5 security service told an audience in London that his agency was offering French intelligence officials its "full support" as France responds to Wednesday's terror attack in Paris.


• Paris' iconic Eiffel Tower went dark Thursday night in remembrance of the victims of Wednesday's attack.

• In the United States, the Paris Las Vegas resort said it also planned to dim the lights on its half-sized replica of the tower Thursday night. "We stand with Paris in mourning the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack," a spokeswoman for the hotel said.

Charlie Hebdo to publish next Wednesday

While its business is satire, Charlie Hebdo has been the subject of serious venom.

That includes its publication of cartoons lampooning the Muslim prophet, Mohammed, which some found very offensive.

Satirical magazine is no stranger to controversy

The magazine's offices were fire-bombed after that in 2011, on the same day the magazine was due to release an issue with a cover that appeared to poke fun at Islamic law.

It was attacked again Wednesday, when two masked men entered its offices not far from the famed Notre Dame Cathedral and the Place de la Bastille.

Map: Charlie Hebdo HQ, Paris

On their way into the building, they asked exactly where the offices were. The men reportedly spoke fluent French with no accent.

They barged in on the magazine's staff, while they were gathered for a lunchtime editorial meeting. The gunmen separated the men from the women and called out the names of cartoonists they intended to kill, said Dr. Gerald Kierzek, a physician who treated wounded patients and spoke with survivors.

The shooting was not a random spray of bullets, but more of a precision execution, he said.

The two said they were avenging the Prophet Mohammed and shouted "Allahu akbar," which translates to "God is great," Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.

Cell phone cameras caught the two gunmen as they ran back out of the building, still firing. One of them ran up to a wounded police officer lying on a sidewalk and shot him point-blank.

It was the deadliest attack in Europe since July 2011, when Anders Behring Brevik killed 77 people in attacks on government buildings in Oslo, Norway, and at a youth camp on the island of Utoya.

cnn tonight jean casarez comparing terror attacks _00000515
Comparing Charlie Hebdo to other terror events 02:53
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But it won't stop Charlie Hebdo. Pelloux told CNN affiliate BFMTV that thousands of copies of the magazine will be published next Wednesday. Proceeds from the issue will go to victims' families, France's Le Monde newspaper reported.

'It was their only mistake'

Authorities have released few details on why they've zeroed in on the Kouachi brothers. But they have pointed to one key clue found inside a getaway car the gunmen apparently used: Said Kouachi's identification card. It was discovered by investigators as they combed the vehicle for clues after impounding it.

"It was their only mistake," said Dominique Rizet, BFMTV's police and justice consultant, reporting that discovering the ID had helped French investigators

Other evidence also points to the brothers' involvement, according to U.S. officials briefed by French intelligence.

Police hunting for the Kouachi brothers have searched residences in a number of towns, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

Who are the suspects?

An ISIS radio broadcast Thursday praised the attackers, calling them "brave jihadists." There was no mention of a claim of responsibility for the attack.

Officials were running the brothers' names through databases to look for connections with ISIS and al Qaeda.

A third suspect, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, turned himself in to police, a source close to the case told the AFP news agency. In French media and on social media, classmates of Mourad, who is in his final year of high school, said he was with them at school at the time of the attack.

Cazeneuve said that nine people overall have been detained in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack.

But the Kouachi brothers remain on the run.

'Parisians will not be afraid'

The victims' names were splashed Thursday across newspapers as heroes for freedom of expression. "Liberty assassinated." "We are all Charlie Hebdo," the headlines blared.

They included two police officers, Stephane Charbonnier -- a cartoonist and the magazine's editor, known as "Charb" -- and three other well-known cartoonists known by the pen names Cabu, Wolinski and Tignous. Autopsies on the victims were underway Thursday, Cazeneuve said.

Flags flew at half-staff on public buildings and events were canceled Thursday, a national day of mourning. Crowds gathered in the rain in Paris in the victims' honor, many holding up media credentials and broke into applause as the silence ended. The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral tolled across the city.

"I can't remember such a day since 9/11," said Klugman, Paris' deputy mayor. "The country really is in a kind of shutdown in respect and memory of the 12 people killed."

The day earlier, thousands poured into streets in hordes in a show of solidarity, holding up pens and chanting, "We are Charlie!" Similar demonstrations took place in cities in addition to Paris, including Rome,

On Thursday, demonstrators once again vowed that nothing would silence them.

Standing in Paris' Place de la Republique, Lesley Martin sounded defiant as she waved an "I am Charlie" sign.

"I am not afraid," she said. "Tonight I'm here and, if tomorrow I have to be here, I don't care if anybody comes and just wants to do something really bad here. I'm not afraid to die."


Source: http://edition.cnn.com/

French policewoman killed in shoot-out, hunt deepens for militant killers

A call for witnesses released by the Paris Prefecture de Police January 8, 2015 shows the photos of two brothers, who are considered armed and dangerous, and are actively being sought in the investigation of the shooting at the Paris offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

A policewoman was killed in a shootout in southern Paris on Thursday, triggering searches in the area as the manhunt widened for two brothers suspected of killing 12 people at a satirical magazine in an apparent Islamist militant strike.

Police sources could not immediately confirm a link with the killings at Charlie Hebdo weekly newspaper which marked the worst attack on French soil for decades and which national leaders and allied states described as an assault on democracy.

Montrouge mayor Pierre Brossollette said the policewoman and a colleague went to the site to deal with a traffic accident. A car stopped and a man got out and shot at them before fleeing.

Witnesses said the shooter fled in a Renault Clio car. Police sources said he had been wearing a bullet-proof vest and had a handgun and assault rifle. However, one police officer at the scene told Reuters the man did not appear to fit the bill of the Charlie Hebdo shooters.

Live French television showed around a dozen police dressed in protective wear and helmets massed outside a building near the scene of the shoot-out.

The new incident came as France began a day of mourning for the journalists of Charlie Hebdo weekly and police officers shot dead on morning by black-hooded gunmen using Kalashnikov assault rifles. French tricolour flags flew at half mast.

Charlie Hebdo is well known for lampooning Islam, other religions and political figures. Tens of thousands took part in vigils across France on Wednesday to defend freedom of speech, many wearing badges declaring "Je Suis Charlie" (I Am Charlie) in support of the newspaper and the principle of freedom of speech.

Newspapers across Europe on Thursday either re-published its cartoons or mocked the killers with images of their own.

Britain's Daily Telegraph depicted two masked gunman outside the doors of Charlie Hebdo saying to each other: "Be careful, they might have pens". Many German newspapers republished Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

Police released photos of the two French nationals still at large, calling them "armed and dangerous": brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, aged 32 and 34, both of whom were already under watch by security services.

The attack has raised questions of security in countries throughout the Western world and beyond. Muslim community leaders have condemned the attack, but some have expressed fears of a rise in anti-islamic feeling in a country with a large Muslim population.

In a separate incident, police sources said the window of a kebab shop next to a mosque in the central town of Villefrance-sur-Saone was blown out by an overnight explosion. Local media said there were no wounded.

Security services have long feared that nationals drawn into Islamist militant groups fighting in Syria and Iraq could return to their home countries to launch attacks - though there is no suggestion that the two suspects named by police had actually fought in either of these countries.

Britain's Cobra security committee was meeting on Thursday morning. London's transport network was target of an attack in 2005, four years after 9/11. There have been attacks in Kenya, Nigeria, India and Pakistan that have raised fears in Europe.

Islamist militants have repeatedly threatened France with attacks over its military strikes on Islamist strongholds in the Middle East and Africa, and the government reinforced its anti-terrorism laws last year.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France faced a terrorist threat "without precedent" and confirmed the two brothers were known to security services. But he added it was too early to say whether authorities had underestimated the threat they posed.

"Because they were known, they had been followed," he told RTL radio, adding: "We must think of the victims. Today it's a day of mourning."

A total of seven people had been arrested since the attack, he said. Police sources said they were mostly acquaintances of the two main suspects. One source said one of the brothers had been identified by his identity card, left in the getaway car.

Late Wednesday an 18-year-old man turned himself into police in Charleville-Mézières near the Belgian border as police carried out searches in Paris and the northeastern cities of Reims and Strasbourg. A legal source said he was the brother-in-law of one of the main suspects and French media quoted friends saying he was in school at the moment of the attack.

COURTING CONTROVERSY

Cherif Kouachi served 18 months in prison on a charge of criminal association related to a terrorist enterprise in 2005. He was part of an Islamist cell enlisting French nationals from a mosque in eastern Paris to go to Iraq to fight Americans in Iraq and arrested before leaving for Iraq himself.

Video captured during the Wednesday attack showed one of the assailants outside the Charlie Hebdo offices shouting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) as shots rang out.

Another was seen calmly walking over to a wounded police officer lying on the street and shooting him with an assault rifle. The two men then climbed into a black car and drove off.

In another clip, the men are heard shouting in French: "We have killed Charlie Hebdo. We have avenged the Prophet Mohammad."

Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly) has courted controversy in the past with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders of all faiths and has published numerous cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad. Jihadists online repeatedly warned that the magazine would pay for its ridicule.

Around France, tens of thousands of people joined impromptu rallies and vigils on Wednesday night in memory of the victims - among them some of France's most prominent and best-loved political cartoonists - and to support freedom of speech.

Both the magazine's founder and its current editor-in-chief were among those killed in what emergency services called to the scene described as executions carried out at point-blank range.

Satire has deep historical roots in Europe where ridicule and irreverence are seen as a means of chipping away at the authority of sometimes self-aggrandising political and religious leaders and institutions. Governments have frequently jailed satirists and their targets have often sued, but the art is widely seen as one of the mainstays of a liberal democracy.

French writer Voltaire enraged many in 18th century France with his caustic depictions of royalty and the Catholic Church. The German magazine Simplicissimus in its 70-year existence saw cartoonists jailed and fined for ridiculing figures from Kaiser Wilhelm to church leaders, Nazi grandees and communist activists.

"Freedom assassinated" wrote Le Figaro daily on its front page, while Le Parisien said: "They won't kill freedom".

On Thursday the highest state of alert was still in place, with tightened security at transport hubs, religious sites, media offices and department stores.

The last major attack in Paris was in the mid-1990s when the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) carried out a spate of attacks, including the bombing of a commuter train in 1995 which killed eight people and injured 150.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/

Worldwide Demonstrations Follow Charlie Hebdo Massacre

Thousands of demonstrators gathered Wednesday at the Place de la Republique after the shooting deaths at a French satirical newspaper in Paris.

Many who poured into Place de la Republique in eastern Paris near the site of the noontime attack waved papers, pencils and pens.

The messages of condolence, outrage and defiance over the Paris terrorist attack on a newspaper office spread quickly around the world Wednesday with thousands of people taking to the streets to protest the killings and using the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" on social media.

Demonstrations, including some silent vigils, took place in some U.S. cities, at London's Trafalgar Square, in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, in Madrid, Brussels, Nice and elsewhere.

"No matter what a journalist or magazine has to say, even if it is not what the majority of people think, they still have the right to say it without feeling in danger, which is the case today," said Alice Blanc, a London student who is originally from Paris and was among those in the London crowd, estimated in the hundreds.

In San Francisco, hundreds of people held pens, tiny French flags and signs that read "I am Charlie" up in the air outside the French Consulate in the financial district. A handful of the participants lit candles that spell out "Je Suis Charlie," while others placed pens and pencils and bouquets of white carnations and red roses by the consulate's door.

Julia Olson, of Nimes, France, said she wanted to be in the company of other people after hearing the news.

"There is nothing we can do but be together," the 26-year-old said.

Several hundred people gathered in Manhattan's Union Square amid chants of "We are not afraid" and holding signs in English and French saying "We are Charlie."

In Seattle, about 100 people assembled near the French Consulate office with many holding signs in support of the victims.

Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Live: Deadly shooting at Paris HQ of French satirical magazine

Shots have been fired at French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in the heart of Paris Wednesday, with Paris officials reporting at least 10 fatalities. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing multiple masked gunmen. Follow FRANCE 24’s live blog.

Watch Live: http://www.france24.com/en/20150107-live-blog-gun-shots-french-paris-charlie-hebdo-satirical-magazine/#

source: http://www.france24.com/

French organic winemaker faces prison for defying pesticide order

A French organic winemaker could face a prison sentence and a hefty fine after refusing to spray his vines with pesticide.

Emmanuel Giboulot will appear before a judge in the city of Dijon on Monday after defying an official order to treat his vineyard against an insect suspected of transmitting a devastating plant disease.

The cicadelle, the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus, is believed to be responsible for the spread of the grapevine disease flavescence dorée, which has affected vines in the Côte-d'Or region of Burgundy, where Giboulot produces Côte de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Nuits wines.

Giboulot claims the pesticide is ineffective and damaging to pollinating insects such as bees, and insists the disease can be fought via more natural means.

The 51-year-old is being prosecuted by a branch of the French agriculture ministry, under article 251-20 of the rural code, for "failing to apply an insecticide treatment to his vineyard" in July last year.

The winemaker faces a six-month prison sentence and a €30,000 (£25,000) fine for refusing to spray his vines.

Officials say they have had to pull up 12 hectares (nearly 30 acres) of vines ravaged by the highly infectious flavescence dorée disease in 2012. They say the disease, which first appeared in the 1950's, threatens more than half the Burgundy region's vineyards and that preventative treatment by pesticide is necessary.

Giboulot disagrees. In November he told the website Decanter.com: "I am not irresponsible and I am not trying to be radical. I simply do not believe that systematic treatment, even without any symptoms of the disease, is the solution. I want to show people that there are options, and that we need to think about our own health and that of our customers."

Giboulot added: "My father began converting to organic farming in the 1970's, and we are now fully organic and biodynamic. I don't want to undo decades of work applying a treatment where the effects on the health of the vines and the public are as yet unproven."

The winemaker uses "biodynamic" methods, based on ecological and controversial spiritual approachs. There are thought to be about 450 biodynamic wineproducers globally.

Giboulot argues that even Pyrevert, a pesticide based on an extract from dried chrysanthemum flowers and the one pesticide that organic farmers could use against the cicadelle without losing their label, had undesirable side effects.

"It kills not only the insect but also other fauna that are necessary for the natural balance in a vineyard," Giboulot told Le Monde.

Denis Thiery, a vine specialist at the National Institute for Agronomic Research, also told Le Monde: "Even if Pyrevert is of natural origins it is damaging for the environment. It'sis a neurotoxin that can affect not just insects, but birds, other animals, even the winemakers, depending on the doses used.

"In reality, the efficacy of these treatments against flavescence dorée, whether natural or conventional, is not great. Not all the insects are killed and the epidemic continues to spread quickly. But, like all epidemics, we don't know if the situation would be worse without the treatment."

More than 41,000 supporters of Giboulot have signed a petition calling for the charges against him to be dropped, and dozens are expected to attend a picnic outside the court in Dijon on Monday.

Last June another organic winemaker was prosecuted and convicted for not treating his vines but was spared a prison sentence or fine after finally agreeing to spray against the disease.

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Colbert Crowns Himself the First Lady of France After Attending WH Dinner

Stephen Colbert could not contain his excitement Wednesday night over being invited to the White House state dinner last night, finding himself accidentally complimenting President Obama instead of bashing him like normal because he was just that honored and blown away by the event. He showed off his swag bag and even apparently stole the official White House gravy boat.

But more importantly, you’ll recall that there was quite a bit of hubbub over who French President Francois Hollande would be bringing to the dinner, because the foreign First Lady at the state dinner normally sits next to Michelle Obama. Well, who sat next to her last night?

Yep, Stephen Colbert.

And so, with a heavy heart, Colbert humbly declared himself to be the next First Lady of France. First order of business: no more bread for Jean Valjean.

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