BREAKING NEWS

France gears itself for solemn tribute to Charlie Hebdo victims

 PARIS- France this week solemnly marks the anniversary of the Islamist assault on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the first of two such deadly attacks which bookended a bloody 2015 of unprecedented violence in the French capital.
Subdued ceremonies are to take place under heavy security to mark the attacks on the weekly and a kosher supermarket in which three gunmen killed 17 people - an event which proved to be a grim forerunner of the suicide bombings and shootings 10 months later in which 130 people were killed.
Commemorative plaques will be unveiled on Tuesday at the various sites of the January attacks, including at the weekly's former offices, in modest ceremonies attended by families and government officials, a City of Paris spokesman said.
On Jan. 10, another, more public,ceremony will take place on the Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris which attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.
President Francois Hollande will preside over the ceremony, during which a 10-metre-high commemorative oaktree will be planted, the Paris official said.
French rock giant Johnny Hallyday will perform a song called "A Sunday in January", paying tribute to the millions of people who marched on the streets of French cities on the Sunday following the January attacks.