Man Detained in Connection with Threat to Cologne Cathedral

Authorities ramp up security measures amid indications of a possible New Year's Eve attack

German authorities have detained a man in connection with a reported threat to Cologne Cathedral over the holiday period.
Police searched the cathedral with sniffer dogs just before Christmas, and Christmas Eve worshippers faced security checks to get into midnight Mass there.
An apartment in Wesel, near the Dutch border, was searched on Christmas Eve and five men were detained. Four were then freed, but a 30-year-old Tajik man on whom authorities have unspecified security information was still being held.
A court in Oberhausen approved a Cologne police application Monday to have him kept in detention until Jan. 7.
German police said they had received an alert that a group may be planning an attack on the Cologne Cathedral on New Year's Eve.