Soccer and rugby players, swimmers and skiers, fans and officials all united on Saturday in touching tributes for the 17 people killed in Paris following three days of bloodshed that rocked a nation to its core. At two-time European rugby champion Toulon, a traditional pre-match song dating back more than 70 years was modified to pay homage to the victims of Wednesday’s murderous attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. That attack was followed by Friday’s deadly assault on a kosher supermarket in a further bloody rampage by terrorists linked to al-Qaida in Yemen, that horrified France and the watching world. A minute’s silence was held before all soccer matches in the French and Spanish leagues. But players, fans, and referees alike wanted to do much more to express their heart-felt sorrow. – AP