World/Nation Briefs
Police: Up to 6 terror members may be at large
PARIS - As many as six members of a terrorist cell involved in the Paris attacks may still be at large, including a man who was seen driving a car registered to the widow of one of the gunmen, French police said Monday.
The disclosure came as France deployed 10,000 troops to protect sensitive sites - including Jewish schools and neighborhoods - in the wake of the attacks that killed 17 people last week.
Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi and their friend, Amedy Coulibaly, were killed Friday by police after a murderous spree at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The three all claimed ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East.
Two police officials said authorities were searching the Paris area for the Mini Cooper registered to Hayat Boumeddiene, Coulibaly's widow. Turkish officials say she is now in Syria.
One of the police officials said the cell consisted of about 10 members, and that "five or six could still be at large," but he did not provide their names.
Tens of thousands join anti-Islam rally in Germany
DRESDEN, Germany - A weekly anti-Islam rally in the eastern German city of Dresden drew its biggest crowd yet on Monday, after organizers declared it a tribute to the victims of the terror attacks in Paris.
Organizers said 40,000 people participated in the march, while Dresden police put the figure at over 25,000 people - still considerably more than the 18,000 who came last week.
The group, which calls itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA, had asked supporters to wear black ribbons as a show of respect for the 17 people killed in the French capital last week.
"The terrible acts of Paris are further proof that PEGIDA is needed," said Lutz Bachmann, one of the organizers of the Dresden rally.
PEGIDA's critics, including all of Germany's mainstream parties, have accused the group of exploiting the attack to stir up race hatred.
Divers retrieve 2nd black box from AirAsia crash
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia - Divers retrieved the crashed AirAsia plane's second black box from the bottom of the Java Sea on Tuesday, giving experts essential tools to piece together what brought Flight 8501 down.
The cockpit voice recorder was freed from beneath the heavy ruins of a wing early in the morning from a depth of about 98 feet, a day after the aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered, said Tonny Budiono, sea navigation director at the Transportation Ministry.
"Thank God," he said. "This is good news for investigators to reveal the cause of the plane crash."
The device will be flown to the capital, Jakarta, to be downloaded and analyzed with the other box. Since it records in a two-hour loop, all discussions between the captain and co-pilot should be available.
The plane disappeared from radar 42 minutes into a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore on Dec. 28. All 162 people on board were killed, but only 48 bodies have been recovered so far.
The find is the latest boost in the slow-moving hunt to scour the shallow, murky stretch of ocean.
Central Command Twitter, YouTube sites hacked
WASHINGTON - Hackers claiming to work on behalf of Islamic State militants seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military's U.S. Central Command on Monday. The Pentagon swiftly suspended the sites and said it appears that no classified material was breached.
The hacker group, which calls itself CyberCaliphate, appears to be the same one that is under FBI investigation for hijacking the websites or Twitter feeds of media outlets in the last month, including a Maryland television station and a New Mexico newspaper.
Defense officials said Monday they have been in contact with the FBI, and that the previous breaches by the group raises questions about whether the hackers have any real connection to the Islamic State militants that are under U.S. and coalition attack in Iraq and Syria.
FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell said the bureau is investigating the Central Command Twitter and YouTube breaches and is working with the Pentagon to determine the scope of the incident.
Keystone XL pipeline bill clears hurdle
WASHINGTON - Legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared an initial Senate hurdle Monday, a victory for newly empowered Republicans angling for a quick veto showdown with President Barack Obama.
The bipartisan 63-32 vote was three more than the 60 required, and well above the level the highly controversial measure ever gained in recent years when Democrats controlled the Senate.
The measure has sparked intense debate over the Canada-to-Texas pipeline's potential impact on employment and the environment. While the project was proposed six years ago, the White House opposes the legislation as long as the administration is still conducting its formal review.
- Associated Press