Paris on High Alert for Terror Threat

Paris is high alert in the face of credible terrorist threats in recent days; soldiers carrying automatic rifles are patrolling airports, train stations, and monuments like the Eiffel Tower. "All the blinkers are on red," a French intelligence official said, though who is targeting the city—and why—has not been released. A woman was overheard saying a suicide bomber was readying to attack the city, and though the intel was eventually dismissed, the high alert was not canceled. Two weeks ago, five French people were abducted at a uranium mine in an isolated part of Niger, which al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb acknowledged. The French have sometimes mocked the U.S. for going overboard with security measures since the 9/11 attacks.