Security boosted for Paris Fashion

PARIS, France - Security is being bolstered at the Paris fashion shows which open on Wednesday following the deadly Islamist attacks in the French capital and European swoops on other suspected jihadists.

Celebrities and others attending the event were reported to be skittish over security at the globally mediatised shows, which run to January 29.

Several fashion-watching outlets were rattled by a report on the New York Post's Page Six website that cited anonymous organizers saying that "security issues" were keeping VIPs away from the catwalks' front-row seats.

Middle Eastern clients who often spend big on Paris's Haute Couture creations were said to be especially reluctant.

The Federation Francaise de la Couture, the body behind the Paris fashion shows, did not respond directly to AFP queries on the issue.

But a statement given to the fashion houses taking part said "simple logistical measures" must be implemented "to reassure those attending the shows and those participating in them".

They included heightened checks on those holding invitations for the shows and bag inspections.

Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed across Paris to reinforce security in the wake of the attacks in the city.

Paris on high alert

French authorities and counterparts in Belgium and Germany have in the past few days arrested dozens of Islamist suspects.

There are concerns that some of the thousands of radicalized young Europeans believed to have gone to Iraq, Syria and Yemen to fight alongside the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda linked groups could return to their home countries to launch attacks.

Those fears were renewed by a gunbattle between police and well-armed suspected jihadists in Belgium on Friday that left two of the suspects dead and a third wounded.

Britain was considering extra measures to give its police better protection.

The Paris fashion shows are seen as a high point of the European catwalk calendars, following shows in London and Milan.

The event usually attracts high-profile showbusiness names. Last year actresses Liv Tyler and Marion Cotillard put in appearances, while reality star Kim Kardashian and her husband Kanye West stole a lot of attention.

The shows start on Wednesday with five days of menswear collections unveiled by the likes of Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo and Hermes.

Then on January 26, events kick into top gear with four more days of Haute Couture fashion including the latest from top brands Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior.

Gaultier and his staff put a picture online of them holding up the "Je Suis Charlie" ("I Am Charlie") sign expressing solidarity and defiance after the January 7 attack on the satirical French weekly that killed 12 people.

The flamboyant French designer's latest show will be his first since he bowed out of ready-to-wear fashion last September in order to concentrate on couture.

Fashion industry journal Women's Wear Daily, meanwhile, quoted Chanel stylist Karl Lagerfeld saying that French authorities will have to cope with people viewing Paris as a more dangerous place.

"I think it's very bad for the image of Paris," Lagerfeld told the site. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Seven detained in hunt for Paris media killers

Seven people have been detained in the hunt for brothers suspected of gunning down 12 people in an Islamist assault on a satirical weekly, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday.

The masked, black-clad gunmen burst into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday morning, killing some of France's most outspoken journalists and two policemen, before jumping into a car and escaping.

They are still on the run, and authorities have warned they are "armed and dangerous."

"Seven people," Cazeneuve said on French radio when asked how many people were currently being held and questioned over the attack -- the bloodiest in France in half a century.

A judicial source, who refused to be named, added that those who were being questioned are men and women who are close to the suspects, without saying where they had been detained.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls meanwhile told RTL radio that the two suspects were known to intelligence services and were "no doubt" being followed before Wednesday's attack.

They have been identified as Cherif Kouachi, 32, a known jihadist convicted in 2008 for involvement in a network sending fighters to Iraq, and his 34-year-old brother Said. Both were born in Paris.

The massacre triggered an outpouring of solidarity around the world, with outraged people from Moscow to Washington rallying in their tens of thousands under the banner "I am Charlie", in support of press freedom and the controversial Charlie Hebdo magazine. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com