Paris Terrorism Updates: House Arrests In France Ordered For More Than 100 People, Interior Minister Says [VIDEO]

UPDATE: 7:37 p.m. EST -- U.S. lawmakers are calling for limits on technology that prevents governments from spying on phone conversations, text messages and e-mails. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she’s asked Silicon Valley companies to help law enforcement and intelligence agencies access encrypted or scrambled communications to catch potential attacks.

“I have asked for help. And I haven’t gotten any help,” Feinstein said Monday in an interview with MSNBC. “If you create a product that allows evil monsters to communicate in this way, to behead children, to strike innocents, whether it’s at a game in a stadium, in a small restaurant in Paris, take down an airliner, that’s a big problem.”

UPDATE: 7:22 p.m. EST -- French conservatives including former President Nicolas Sarkozy have renewed calls to electronically monitor terror suspects after violence tore through Paris Friday night. “We will not take more risk,” Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, said Sunday in a Facebook post. “We will deny Islamists their liberties.”

UPDATE: 6:58 p.m. EST -- Americans want to stop the Islamic State group, but they don't want to send troops to Iraq or Syria, where the militant group is based, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The poll of 1,483 people found 17 percent listed terrorism as their top concern. In October, only 9 percent said the same.

UPDATE: 6:47 p.m. EST -- Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has called for intelligence sharing in Europe to be strengthened in the wake of Paris attacks, AFP reported. "We have to be able to trace these links wherever they are, whether it's in France or Belgium or elsewhere in Europe," Reynders said.

Meanwhile, #SyrianRefugees became a trending topic on Twitter in the United States after Republican leaders said the U.S. should not allow Syrians in need to relocate here.

UPDATE: 6:40 p.m. EST -- New Yorkers honored victims of a deadly massacre in Paris at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York Monday. The event also honored the first responders "who confronted terror and tragedy with incredible bravery," according to a statement from the memorial. "Today, our hearts and minds, thoughts and prayers, love and affection are with the people of France," said memorial president and CEO Joe Daniels.

UPDATE: 6:12 p.m. EST -- The terror level threat in Beligium has been raised to 3, according to local news outlet VTM Nieuws. Level 3 indicates a serious threat, while level 2, which is what it was raised from, was only a "medium" threat, according to Xinhua. Because of the terror threat being escalated, a soccer match between Belgium and Spain was canceled, HLN.BE reported.

UPDATE: 6:01 p.m. EST -- A growing debate has erupted in the U.S. over whether individual states should accept any Syrian refugees in the wake of Friday's terror attacks in Paris, for which the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is primarily based in Syria, and a growing group of governors and state leaders announced Monday their apparent unwillingness to welcome Syrian refugees into their respective states. In response, a Muslim advocacy group has called the reaction by the Republican governors "un-American."

“Defeating ISIS involves projecting American ideals to the world," the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote Monday in a statement. "This un-American rejection of refugees, who will face significant security checks prior to entry, sends entirely the wrong message. Governors who reject those fleeing war and persecution abandon our ideals and instead project our fears to the world.”

UPDATE: 5:20 p.m. EST -- Amid a series of raids across France, law enforcement officials there searched an apartment Monday evening in Strasbourg, which is about a five-hour drive from Paris. Abdeslam Salah, who investigators have named as being a prime suspect, was said to have been spotted nearby following Friday's deadly terror attacks in Paris, reported local news outlet France Blue.

Officials Monday night were also searching a neighborhood in the city of Toulouse, which is a nearly seven-hour drive south of Paris. Police there searched a vehicle but it was immediately unclear if the search yielded any new information, reported Midi-Pyrénées.

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. EST -- Officials in France have reportedly found and were searching an apartment allegedly rented by one of the suicide bombers in Friday's deadly terror attacks in Paris, according to a tweet from French news outlet Le Figaro. The area in which the apartment is located is called Bobigny, a poor, predominately Muslim suburb of Paris. It was not immediately clear which suspect the apartment had allegedly been rented by.

Multiple raids were conducted across France in pursuit of additional information surrounding the terror attacks, resulting in more than 100 people being placed on house arrest over various suspicions. In a related move, French authorities announced Monday that any of its citizens who are traveling from Syria will also be placed under house arrest, according to Agence France-Presse.

UPDATE: 4:05 p.m. EST -- After the Islamic State militant group released a video threatening that the U.S. was next on its list of terror targets, police in New York City increased its security presence with the announcement of its first counter-terrorism unit, reported the local ABC affiliate. It was the fashion in which Friday's terror attacks in Paris were carried out in part that spurred the city to action, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said.

"The idea that all of them were equipped with these suicide vests, which are of great concern if you're asking your officers to rush in, which is the tactic here in America now in responding to the active shooter scenario," said Bratton, according to ABC. "We'll want to know the ballistic capabilities of those vests, how far do those projectiles spew out?"

UPDATE: 2:42 p.m. EST -- Days after a deadly attack planned in Syria killed or wounded hundreds in Paris, the United Nations Security Council prepared Monday to draft a resolution for a U.N.-administered ceasefire enforcement mechanism in Syria. During a gathering of world leaders in Vienna on Saturday, foreign ministers representing nearly 20 countries agreed to an incomplete plan for bringing peace to the country. They set a Jan. 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and opposition groups, the Associated Press reported.

UPDATE: 1:58 p.m. EST -- Japan said it would beef up security for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo following the deadly Paris terror attacks. Japan’s Olympics Minister Toshiaki Endo vowed Monday to make public safety the “top priority," Agence France-Presse reported. "Once again it shows how difficult security is," Endo told local reporters. “Until now Japan has been viewed as a country with relatively few security fears.

UPDATE: 1:40 p.m. EST -- European officials braced for copycat terrorist attacks Mondays, days after Islamic State group fighters killed or injured nearly 500 people in multiple coordinated attacks across Paris. In Italy, police announced an urgent appeal for a car connected with the Paris terror attacks. It turned out, however, that the car had already been found in Paris on Sunday, Italy's Interior Ministry said. In Sweden, police were analyzing threats made against the Swedish Parliament and government in an email sent to authorities Monday afternoon, the Local reported.

Meanwhile, a growing number of U.S. governors said Monday they would not accept Syrian refugees in their states after the Paris attacks.

UPDATE: 1:32 p.m. EST -- A majority of Americans are fearful that an attack like the deadly massacre carried out in Paris Friday night could happen near them, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday found. Meanwhile, 52 percent of Americans said accepting Syrian refugees makes the U.S. "less safe."

UPDATE: 1:11 p.m. EST -- University of Connecticut administrators, students, faculty and staff are holding a demonstration against discrimination and intolerance after a Muslim student had a hateful message written outside his dorm room. UConn President Susan Herbst said bigotry does not belong on campus. In the message found the day after terror attacks killed or injured nearly 500 people in France, somebody wrote “killed Paris” beneath the student’s nametag. The demonstration was scheduled for Wednesday on campus.

UPDATE: 1:01 p.m. EST -- The Bataclan theater in Paris where 89 people were killed in attacks Friday carried out by Islamic State group fighters posted a note to its official Facebook page on Monday, thanking the public for support. The message in French appears below (with English translation), courtesy of the Washington Post:

Chers Amis, (Dear Friends,)

Aucun mot ne suffit à exprimer l’ampleur de notre chagrin. (No words can express the depth of our sadness.)

Nos pensées vont aux victimes, aux blessés et à leurs proches. (Our thoughts are with the victims, with those who have been hurt and with their families.)

Vous êtes nombreux à vouloir vous recueillir au Bataclan, malheureusement les autorités ont encore besoin de travailler sur place. Nous vous tiendrons informés dès qu’il sera possible de vous recueillir devant la salle. (So many of you have wanted to gather at Bataclan, but sadly the authorities are still carrying out their investigation. We will let you know as soon as it’s possible to gather in front of the concert hall.)

Nous vous remercions pour votre soutien qui nous touche profondément. (We thank you for your support, which touches us profoundly.)

UPDATE: 12:52 p.m. EST -- After ISIS released a video Monday vowing to attack the U.S., a spokesperson for the FBI's Washington field office said there was no credible threat to the nation. "The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are closely monitoring the unfolding events in Paris and we remain in contact with our counterparts in the region," the statement read. "At this time, there is no specific or credible threat to the United States. We will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people. DHS and the FBI routinely share information with our state, local, federal, and international law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security partners, and continually evaluate the level of protection we provide at federal facilities."

Washington police Chief Cathy Lanier said over the weekend that the department had dispatched more officers to the streets "until such time as more information becomes available on [the Paris] attack, and we feel circumstances dictate that they are no longer needed."

UPDATE: 12:40 p.m. EST -- The opposition Labour Party leader in Britain was hesitant Monday to definitively say if he would support the country initiating military action against the Islamic State group, following Friday's deadly terror attacks in Paris for which the group -- also known as ISIS or ISIL -- took credit. Earlier in the day, Jeremy Corbyn told reporters that France’s decision to bomb ISIS targets in Syria would probably not adversely affect the militant group.

“I think I would support security measures, policing measures, to deal with these issues, but I think we have to be careful if we act illegally or irrationally; we stand by the rule of international law, we stand by the charter of the United Nations, we stand by our own law," Corbyn said, reported the Guardian. "If we start doing random acts without legal backing for them, then we don’t strengthen our position in the world. So I think the answer to your question is that we have to abide by the law.”

In France, the Eiffel Tower officially reopened three days after the terror attacks. The historic landmark featured blue, white and red lights to match the country’s national flag.

In addition to the Eiffel Tower, other city landmarks popular with tourists reopened Monday, including the Louvre museum. The country's culture minister said despite the attacks, France must maintain its cultural spirit. "In tragic moments that pass over France, culture is more than ever the symbolic place of discovery for oneself and others," Fleur Pellerin said Sunday, according to NBC News.

UPDATE: 12:26 p.m. EST -- All of the terrorists who took part in Friday's deadly attacks in Paris were European Union citizens, the EU announced Monday, confirming the suspected cultivation of homegrown terrorists in Europe. NATO also declared Monday its intent to step up its collaboration with members of the 28-nation bloc "to fight extremism and terrorism."

"Let me underline, the profile of the terrorists so far identified tells us this is an internal threat," said Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Telegraph reported . "It is all EU citizens so far. This can change with the hours, but so far it is quite clear it is an issue of internal domestic security."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg underscored the urgency expressed by Mogherini, saying in part that "we must stand vigilant, determined and united," the Associated Press reported.

One NATO member was deliberating whether to keep its police force armed in the wake of Friday’s attacks. The decision was delayed Monday, the country’s top law enforcement official said. “ The most important thing we can do is obtain the best possible overview of the situation internationally and nationally," said Kaare Songstad, director of safety and security at the National Police Directorate. The country’s police force has been armed for the last year but had traditionally gone without carrying weapons.

On a lighter note, on social media, Twitter users were discussing comedian John Oliver's take on the attacks.

UPDATE: 12:00 p.m. EST -- The brother of two of the suicide bombers in Friday's terror attacks in Paris has denied any culpability in the deadly events and was released by Belgian police after being arrested. "My family and I had no idea that they were in Paris," Mohammed Abdeslam said Monday, reported the Telegraph. Abdeslam is the brother of Ibrahim and Saleh Abdeslam, both identified as having detonated suicide bombs in Paris.

"I have been interrogated and cleared by the police. Everyone here knows what I am capable of and what I am not capable," he added. "We don't know what has happened to Ibrahim and Saleh. I found out about it on the TV like everyone else. My parents are truly shocked. I am thinking of the victims. I did not know that they had been radicalized."

Their mother said her sons “did not mean to kill anyone,” the Independent reported. Her son, Ibrahim, likely killed himself over stress, she said.

UPDATE 11:10 a.m. EST -- “France is at war,” French President Francois Hollande declared Monday during a speech at Versailles in which he addressed both houses of parliament. “France is not engaged in a war of civilizations because those assassins don’t represent a civilization,” he added. “The sponsors of the attack in Paris must know that their crimes further strengthen the determination of France to fight and to destroy them.”

Hollande also called for changes to the French constitution to allow the state to strip French passports from anyone who holds dual citizenship and is deemed a terrorist threat. They also should be blocked from the country, as should any foreigners who pose the same risk, he said.

UPDATE: 10:05 a.m. EST -- Prosecutors in Belgium charged two suspects with terrorism over involvement in Friday's attacks in Paris, France24 news reported Monday. The arrests were made after several people were detained in a poor, immigrant neighborhood of Brussels called Molenbeek. The identities of the suspected terrorists have not yet been released, and police are still looking for several suspected accomplices as well as two of the men alleged to have perpetrated the attacks."Police operations will go on," Prime Minister Michel told RTL television after the late-night raidsSunday, Reuters reported.

UPDATE: 9:20 a.m. EST -- President Barack Obama was expected Monday to discuss terror threats poised by the Islamic State group Monday from Turkey during the gathering of world leaders there. The forum was initially supposed to center on economic issues, but instead adopted a national security focus after attacks in Lebanon and France last week carried out by ISIS. Obama was scheduled to travel to Manila, Philippines, late Monday night.

UPDATE: 9:02 a.m. EST -- CIA Director John O. Brennan told CNBC Monday that terrorists operating in Europe are using encrypted apps and other technology that make them harder to catch. He said he believes the Islamic State group has more attacks "in the pipeline" after it claimed responsibility for a massacre in Paris on Friday night that killed or injured about 480 people.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials were debating Monday how to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis after the Paris attacks. Some Republican leaders said the U.S. should not allow Syrians into the nation after the attacks to protect national security.

Parisans do their best to return to their daily lives after scores were killed in militant attacks. Julie Noce reports:

Original story:

More than 100 people have been placed on house arrest in France following a weekend of law enforcement raiding sites of potential terror suspects linked to the deadly, massive attacks in Paris on Friday night, the French Interior Minister said, according to multiple reports. At least 168 separate locations were identified overnight into Monday morning, local time, resulting in at least 104 people remanded to their homes after being placed under arrest, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, reported the Associated Press.

"It's just a start. T hese operations are going to continue, the response of the Republic will be huge, will be total," Cazeneuve said. "The one who targets the Republic, the Republic will catch him, will be implacable."

The people placed on house arrest were not immediately identified.

French authorities identified Belgian native Abdelhamid Abaaoud as the mastermind behind the coordinated terror attacks in Paris on Friday. Abaaoud remained at large Monday.

Overnight and early morning raids took place throughout France as well as in parts of Belgium, including the town of Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels that has been linked to terrorism activity and plots. Authorities were searching for Abdeslam Salah, a 26-year-old who has been identified as a fugitive after the coordinated terror attacks in Paris that left more than 120 people dead and more than 350 injured, including nearly 100 critically. Salah was said to have rented a black Volkswagen that drove gunmen to the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where they carried out the deadly attack on concertgoers.

Two of the attackers have been positively identified, a Paris prosecutor told media. Ahmad Al Mohammad committed suicide near the Stade de France sports stadium, and a Syrian passport bearing his name and likeness was found near his body, the New York Times reported.

“At this stage, although the authenticity of the passport in the name of Ahmad al-Mohammad, born Sept. 10, 1990, in Idlib, Syria, still needs to be verified, there exists a consistency between the fingerprints of the kamikaze and those taken at a check in Greece in October 2015,” according to a statement Monday attributed to François Molins, the prosecutor in Paris.

The second identified attacker, Samy Amimour, is alleged to have been the suicide bomber at the Bataclan live music establishment.

Investigators have thus far determined that the attacks consisted of seven suicide bombers who conducted six separate attacks. Twenty additional people in Europe are suspected to have helped them.

French authorities have identified Abdelhamid Abaaoud as the mastermind behind the coordinated terror attacks across Paris Friday that left 129 dead and several hundred wounded, Agence France-Presse reported Monday. Seven of the eight attackers were killed by police or died of their own suicide bombs Friday and at least one suspect, a French national and Abaaoud, are still at large. Belgian police arrested 13 other people though they could not find Abaaoud.