At least 21 asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa are suspects in the New Year's Eve rampage of sexual assaults and thefts in the German city of Cologne, authorities said, even as word emerged of similar acts in Finland, Sweden and other German cities.
A jihadist wielding a meat cleaver was shot dead as he tried to attack a police station in Paris Thursday claiming to avenge French military action in Syria, a year to the day since the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Costa Rica is sometimes criticized for copying the United States too closely and it appears anti-Syrian hysteria is the latest trend to arrive from Uncle Sam.
U.S. President Barack Obama urged Russia and NATO allies to take all steps Tuesday to "discourage any escalation" after a Russian warplane was downed along Turkey's border with Syria. The incident has been denounced by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "stab in the back."
Authorities in Honduras have arrested five Syrians intending to make it to the United States with stolen Greek passports, triggering alarm Wednesday in the wake of the Paris attacks launched by Syria-linked jihadists.
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama said that the Islamic State is "contained" in Iraq and Syria, but the group's attacks in Paris soon afterward showed that it poses a greater threat to the West than ever.
VIENNA – World powers meeting here on the Syria crisis agreed Saturday to push for political negotiations between opposition forces and representatives of the government of President Bashar Assad by Jan. 1, to be followed by an immediate, U.N.-monitored cease-fire.
