Hollande, Obama vow more IS strikes

Hollande, Obama vow more IS strikes

WASHINGTON

In a show of Western solidarity, President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to escalate airstrikes against the Islamic State and bolster intelligence sharing after the deadly attacks in Paris. They called on Russia to join the international efforts, but only if Moscow ends its support for Syria’s embattled president.

“Russia is the outlier,” Obama said during a joint White House news conference with Hollande.

Tuesday’s meeting came hours after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border. The incident underscored the complex military landscape in Syria, where a sprawling cast of countries and rebel groups are engaged on the battlefield and in the skies overhead, sometimes with minimal coordination.

Man accused of threats against Boehner is released

CINCINNATI

A former Cincinnati-area bartender accused of threatening to kill John Boehner will be released from custody after a federal judge said Tuesday that the man was of low risk to the community and has enough support to live a productive life.

Michael Hoyt, who had worked as a bartender at a country club in Boehner’s suburban community, was accused of threatening to kill the then-U.S. House speaker with a gun or by poisoning his drink. In July, U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black ruled Hoyt, now 45, was insane at the time of the offense, threatening to kill a U.S. official. He found him not guilty and ordered his evaluation at a federal medical center.

Police: Newborn left in Nativity manger

NEW YORK

Authorities are searching for whoever left a newborn baby with the umbilical cord still attached in the Christmas Nativity manger at a New York City church.

Police say a custodian at a Queens church found the child after returning from lunch Monday afternoon.

Investigators say the baby was wrapped in towels and lying in the manger at the Holy Child of Jesus Church in Richmond Hill.

Police say the baby is in good health at a local hospital. Police have not released the gender.

Expert: 20 percent of IS converts were Christian

UNITED NATIONS

A terrorism expert says about 20 percent of the recruits to the Islamic State extremist group are from Christian families and three-quarters of those who become foreign fighters for militant groups do it through their friends.

Scott Atran, co-founder of the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Oxford University, says research has found that only 1 in 5 young people are recruited by a family member.

He told a meeting on “Foreign Terrorist Fighters” on Tuesday organized by the U.N. Security Council’s counterterrorism committee that “it is the call to glory and adventure that moves these young people to join the Islamic State” and that “jihad offers them a way to become heroes.”

8 indicted in fatal church beating

UTICA, N.Y.

The pastor of an insular New York church where a young man was beaten to death and his younger brother seriously injured was among eight people charged Tuesday with murder.

Pastor Tiffanie Irwin’s mother, Traci Irwin, also was charged in a 13-count indictment, as were Irwin’s two brothers, Joseph and Daniel Irwin, all of whom were leaders in the church. Also named were the victims’ father, Bruce Leonard; their half sister Sarah Ferguson; and two other church members – Linda Morey and her son, David Morey.

Associated Press