KEY DEVELOPMENTS SINCE THE CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACK:
WASHINGTON - The White House admits it should have sent a senior official to the massive rally against terrorism in Paris, as President Barack Obama came under fire for failing to travel to France.
"We should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday. The US was represented at the event by the US ambassador to France, Jane Hartley. Earnest said Obama would have liked to have gone himself, but suggested that the security requirements and short planning time had prevented it.
WASHINGTON - The US will beef up security at government buildings and airports after last week's deadly attacks in Paris, US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says. The "precautionary" measures were not in response to specific threats. "Recent world events call for increased vigilance in homeland security," Johnson said in a statement.
NICOSIA - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has warned France to expect new attacks over its hostility to Islam, and praised jihadists behind last week's Paris killings. "France is paying today the price of its aggression against Muslims and its hostile policy towards Islam," AQIM said in a statement posted on jihadist websites.
The jihadist group also paid tribute to the three gunmen behind the killing of 17 people in a three-day massacre last week in Paris, describing them as "the soldiers of Islam" and "heroes of the battle of Paris".
PARIS - Hackers claiming to be Islamists have hijacked hundreds of French websites since the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, flooding them with jihadist propaganda. Homepages of several French websites have been replaced by phrases such as "There is no God but Allah", "Death to France" or Death to Charlie" written against a black background, often with the signature #OpFrance. The technique termed "defacement" consists of taking control of an internet site and modifying its content.
Various sites - mainly those of city halls, schools, universities, churches and businesses - have been hacked by groups claiming to be Islamists from North Africa or Mauritania.
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