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John Kerry French Faux Pas: I Just Want to ‘Share a Hug’ With You (+video)

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By Our Foreign Staff and AFP. When top US diplomat John Kerry rushed towards the French president, arms open, to warmly embrace him on Friday, what followed was a cringeworthy culture clash that has befuddled many a visitor to France.

The French are just not that into hugging.

Kerry had given fair warning to his French counterparts that some American-style affection was on the cards.

“My visit to France is basically to share a big hug for Paris and express the affection of the American people for France and for our friends there who have been through a terrible time,” he said on the eve of his trip.

The phrase alone sparked confusion in the media who struggled to pin down a translation for the word hug. (Read more about John Kerry’s “share a hug” moment HERE)

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Singer Helps John Kerry Show Solidarity With France After Delayed U.S. Response to Terror Attacks

By Rachelle Blinder. “You’ve got a friend,” France.

James Taylor crooned the message in Paris Friday to help Secretary of State John Kerry apologize for the U.S.’ late show of solidarity following last weeks’ terror attacks.

The American music legend and Kerry pal opened with the melody of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, before launching into the English hit, “You’ve Got a Friend” to a crowd of survivors, victims’ families and first responders.

At the end of the 3-minute performance at Paris city hall, he reassured in French, “Your friend is here.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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As New Video Emerges of Brutal Attacks, Obama Doubles-Down in Refusing to Describe Paris Attacks as ‘Islamic Terrorism’

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Photo Credit: Breitbart By Charlie Spiering. Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended President Obama and White House officials for refusing to describe the terrorist attacks in Paris as a consequence of radical Islamic terrorism.

Earnest explained to White House reporters during the press briefing that this is a question of “accuracy.”

“We want to describe exactly what happened. These are individuals who carried out an act of terrorism, and they later tried to justify that act of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam in their own deviant view of it,” he said.

Critics of Obama have questioned his refusal to identify the terrorist actions as an act of radical Islamic terrorism. (Read more from this story HERE)

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New Footage of the Paris Attack


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Additional Footage of the Paris Attack Shows Terrorists Brutally Murdering Police Officer

[****CAUTION: THIS VIDEO SHOWS THE ACTUAL SHOOTING OF THE PARIS POLICE OFFICER****]

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Surviving Staff of Charlie Hebdo Publishes Defiant Issue TODAY

By Fran Blandy. The surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo will publish a defiant issue with a Prophet Mohammed cartoon on the cover Wednesday, a week after jihadist gunmen killed 12 people at the satirical weekly’s Paris office.

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday declared a “war against terrorism” and, amid a national outpouring of emotion, a packed parliament sang a stirring rendition of the national “Marseillaise” anthem, a first since the end of World War I.

The special sitting came after President Francois Hollande led a solemn ceremony paying tribute to three police officers killed in France’s bloodiest week in decades, while four Jews who were shot dead in one of the attacks in Paris were laid to rest in Israel.

“Our great and beautiful France will never break, will never yield, never bend” in the face of the Islamist threat that is “still there, inside and outside” the country, Hollande told weeping families and uniformed colleagues at the ceremony. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama, Top US Officials Fail to Attend Unity March Against Islamic Extremism

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Photo Credit: Fox News By Fox News. Attorney General Eric Holder is in Paris to attend a meeting on fighting terrorism, but did not participate in a march with world leaders Sunday to honor the 17 people killed last week in France.

More than 40 world leaders marched arm in arm through Paris to rally for unity and freedom of expression and to honor the victims of the three days of terrorist attacks.

The leaders headed a demonstration of at least tens of thousands of people who converged on the capital after three gunmen last week attacked a newspaper office, kosher supermarket and police.

Among the world leaders attending the event, under extremely tight security, are French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Holder is the top Obama administration official to attend the terrorism meeting. Secretary of State Kerry is in India attending an international investment conference and push to trade ties with the giant South Asian nation ahead of visit by President Obama later this month. (Read more about the top US official failing to attend HERE)

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Obama Fails to Attend Unity March as Well

By Newsmax. As many as 1.6 million people marched through Paris on Sunday in a massive show of unity and defiance in the face of terrorism that killed 17 people in France’s bleakest moment in half a century.

The march ended without major incident by 9 p.m. Sunday, Paris police said.

Their arms linked, more than 40 world leaders headed the somber procession, setting aside their differences for a manifestation that French President Francois Hollande said turned the city into “the capital of the world” . . .

Notable for his absence was President Barack Obama. (Read more from this story HERE)

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UPDATE: French Police Kill Paris Massacre Suspects (+video)

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By Fox News. Near-simultaneous raids by French police Friday evening at locations 25 miles apart took out the Islamist brothers behind Wednesday’s massacre at a Paris satirical magazine and a cop-killing crony who had seized hostages at a Paris grocery on their behalf, but also left at least four hostages dead, according to authorities and reports from the scene.

The lightning-quick strikes ended two tense, hours-long standoffs, one at a printing plant north of the city and the other at a kosher supermarket on Paris’ east side, where four hostages were killed, as many as 15 were freed. A hostage held north of the city by the brothers, who killed 12 in a commando-style attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, was reportedly freed. The fast-moving developments, signaled by explosions and gunfire at a printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele, followed by similar sounds at Hypercacher (Hyper Kosher), a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, brought to a climax a three-day terror ordeal and manhunt involving nearly 90,000 police and military personnel.

Cherif and Said Kouachi, the radicalized French-born slackers whose attack on Charlie Hebdo left two police officers among the dozen dead, were both killed in the first raid. The brothers, 32 and 34, respectively, are believed to have ties to Al Qaeda in Yemen, and military experts who viewed footage of their bloody, late-morning raid on Wednesday said they appeared to be well-trained terrorists. Charlie Hebdo had long angered Muslim radicals with its penchant for publishing cartoon images of Prophet Muhammed.

In Paris, police said Amedy Coulibaly, who is believed to have know the brothers and was suspected of killing Paris Police Officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe Thursday, as she attended to a routine traffic accident in the city, was killed in a raid moments later, ending his supermarket siege. Police had identified him and his longtime girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, as suspects in the police killing, but her whereabouts were not immediately known. Police were searching for another possible suspect who may have escaped the grovery store siege, but it was not clear if that person was Boumeddiene. (Read more about the Paris massacre suspects HERE)

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Excellent Video Synopsis of How the Islamic Jihadists Were Taken Out


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Obama on France Attacks: ‘We’re Hopeful That the Immediate Threat Is Resolved’

By Fred Lucas. President Barack Obama said he hopes the immediate threat in Paris is over, while cautioning that the situation is still shifting.

Speaking after French police undertook twin operations to break sieges where the gunmen in the Charlie Hebdo massacre were holed up and where hostages were being held in a kosher supermarket, Obama said the U.S. and France are united in their values, calling France “our oldest ally.”

“We’re hopeful that the immediate threat is resolved,” Obama said. “The French government continues to face terrorism and has remained vigilant.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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