Inspiration to violence: The Army veteran who flew a black IS flag on a truck that he rammed into New Year's revelers in New Orleans shows how the extremist group retains the ability to provoke followers despite years of losses to a U.S.-led military coalition. And law-enforcement and intelligence agencies worry that the attack on Bourbon Street will inspire copycats.
Damascus: Germany's and France's foreign ministers met Syria's de facto leader, urging a peaceful transition of power. The trip was meant to send a message of cautious optimism to the Islamist rebels. Syria's foreign minister in turn visited Saudi Arabia, which supported the rebels at the start of the civil war in Syria, but more recently had been trying to normalize ties with Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Palestinians: Israel struck dozens of targets over the past day in attacks that Gaza health authorities said killed nearly 100 people. Israeli mediators resumed talks in Doha brokered by Qatar and Egypt to reach a ceasefire. A Palestinian man and his son were killed in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian security forces denied killing him. The Biden administration proposed selling $8 billion in arms to Israel despite calls for an embargo.
The chief minister of Manipur in northeastern India apologized for unrest between two ethnic groups that has killed at least 250 people and prompted criticism of Narendra Modi's federal government.
A Dutch project released a list of names of nearly half a million suspected wartime Nazi collaborators after a law restricting public access to the archive expired. Most people on the list are dead, and only a fifth of them ever appeared before a court.
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