In Belgium, police launched an anti-terror operation in an industrial area northeast to Brussels. Police suspected a group that may have links to attacks in neighboring France were planning new attacks. Officials say at least two people are dead and one is under arrest. 

 

Secretary of State John Kerry is in France, pledging to share a big hug with Paris. Kerry said the visit was not an apology for the Obama administration’s failure to send a senior official to the unity march last Sunday. That march attracted some 40 world leaders.

 

Pope Francis is in the Philippines, Asia’s most popular catholic country. Thousands of school children waving Vatican flags greeted the Pontiff on arrival. He’s scheduled to preside over an outdoor mass in Manila.

 

And Oscar nominations are out. For best picture, the nominees are Boyhood, Grand Budapest Hotel, American Sniper, Birdman, Selma, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything.

 

Tom Ritchie, the Associated Press with AP News Minute.