As you may know, Paris was recently attacked by terrorists who claimed to be fighting for ISIS. There were several attacks at different locations in Paris, like the Balaclan Concert Theater, and outside a stadium, as well as several other places in the Paris region. The death toll was about 120. Two-hundred people were wounded, 80 of them seriously. Supposedly this act of terrorism was committed by ISIS fighters. However, before ISIS usually attacks, they post many videos and plans for their attack, and there was nothing like that that happened before this one. Although it most likely was ISIS, the previous fact provides seemingly ample evidence that it was not, in fact, an actual member of ISIS, but perhaps someone who simply wants to associate themselves unofficially with ISIS.
A possible motive for the attacks is that France has been using a lot of missiles lately in the area where ISIS is located. They have certainly been keeping this up.
This also means a lot in U.S. politics. Only five states will be accepting refugees at this point, and you will be likely pleased to know that Pennsylvania, despite its heavily Republican government, will still be taking in 20,000 Syrian refugees. The attacks on Paris also give famous businessman/GOP hopeful Donald Trump some somewhat fact-based arguments. Although I personally do not agree that the transitive theory (there are refugees in France, France got attacked, therefore refugees equals attacks, or its math counterpart, a=b, b=c, c=b), can necessarily be applicable in a real world situation. However, we are not talking about logic, we are talking about what the common folk will believe, and in this case that would be Trump.
The entire world has exploded with grief for Paris, and are seeming to express their sadness on social media, like Facebook, which has even added a French-flag filter to the icons of users. If you have been on sites like instagram or twitter lately, you will have also seen usage of the “pray for Paris” hashtag. Also, popular tourism sites around the world, like the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, and the Empire State Building in New York City have been lighting up in the French flag colors, to show their mourning. The entire world seems to be grieving for Paris’s loss, and perhaps taking it as their own.