World/Nation
Paris gunman's safehouse could hold clues
PARIS - Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four hostages at a Paris kosher supermarket, rented a small suburban house the week before and filled it with an impressive arsenal of late-model weapons, police said Wednesday.
A published report said a search of the house has enabled police to identity a potential fourth attacker as investigators follow the money and supply systems for the three known killers, all of whom died in police raids. Police told The Associated Press as many as six members of the same radical Islamic terror cell may be at large.
"We have put our finger on some extremely dangerous people, men and women," French police union spokesman Christophe Crepin said. "We are really in a war."
Of special interest is the small attached house on a quiet street in the town of Gentilly south of Paris that Coulibaly rented about two weeks ago. French police officials refused to say what has been discovered inside the dwelling, but the newspaper Le Parisien reported detectives from the Paris Criminal Brigade and a special police anti-terrorism unit seized a scooter there that allowed them to identity "a fourth man" who acted as Coulibaly's accomplice.
The newspaper did not identify the man by name, but said he may have shot and seriously wounded a jogger in nearby Fontenay-aux-Roses on Jan. 7, the same day two friends of Coulibaly, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, killed 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
New issue of Charlie Hebdo sells out quickly
PARIS - Parisians lined up Wednesday to empty the newsstands of the first issue of Charlie Hebdo, a week after Islamic extremists attacked the satirical newspaper's office, and French justice officials began cracking down by arresting dozens of people who glorified terrorism or made racist or anti-Semitic remarks.
The editors of the publication again put a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on the cover, and it quickly sold out by early morning around the capital and elsewhere, with long lines and scuffles at kiosks. Disappointed buyers were told to come back today when more of the increased print run of 5 million copies will be available.
A leader of Yemen's al-Qaida branch officially claimed responsibility for the attacks by two gunmen that left 12 dead at the weekly publication, saying in a video posted online that the slayings came in "vengeance for the prophet." The newspaper had received repeated threats for lampooning Muhammad.
A third attacker killed five other people, bringing the total number of dead in the Jan. 7-9 spasm of violence to 17 before all the gunmen died in police raids.
On alert for new attacks, France deployed thousands of police and soldiers around the country, and they moved to quash any racist remarks or praise for terrorists.
4 top executives at Secret Service reassigned
WASHINGTON - Four of the highest-ranking Secret Service executives have been reassigned following a series of security mishaps and scathing reports questioning leadership within the agency, the Secret Service said Wednesday.
The agency's assistant directors for investigations, protective operations, technology and public affairs have all been reassigned within the Secret Service.
Acting Director Joseph P. Clancy said in a statement Wednesday that he was making leadership changes based on a December report from an independent panel that described the agency as "insular" and "starved for leadership."
"Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business," Clancy said. "I am certain any of our senior executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at the Secret Service or the department."
The four officials are: Dale Pupillo, who led protective operations; Paul Morrissey, who oversaw the agency's investigative mission; Jane Murphy, who was governmental and public affairs chief; and Mark Copanzzi, who headed up technology and the tools for mission support. Details of their new posts were not released Wednesday.
GOP House votes to overturn Obama's actions
WASHINGTON - Shunning a White House veto threat and opposition within their own party, House Republicans approved legislation Wednesday to overturn President Barack Obama's key immigration policies and expose hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants to expulsion from the U.S.
The 236-191 vote came on a broad bill that would provide $39.7 billion to finance the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the budget year, legislation that lawmakers of both parties said was sorely needed to pay for counterterrorism, cybersecurity and other priorities at a moment when the Paris terror attacks have underscored dire threats.
Democrats accused Republicans of putting that money at risk by attaching veto-bait amendments on immigration, and some Republicans voiced the same concern. But House GOP leaders and most of their rank and file accused Obama in turn of reckless and unconstitutional actions on immigration that had to be answered.
Oklahoma to attempt another lethal injection
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma plans to resume executions today after botching its last one and will use the same three-drug method as a Florida lethal injection scheduled for the same day.
The drug mixture begins with the sedative midazolam and includes the same drugs used in Oklahoma's botched execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney and moaned after he had been declared unconscious. His execution in April was the first time Oklahoma had used midazolam as the first in a three-drug combination, but attorneys for the state say a failed intravenous line and a lack of training led to the problems with Lockett's lethal injection, not the drugs.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said the state Department of Corrections "has responded with new protocols that I believe, prayerfully, will provide them more latitude in dealing with exigent circumstances as they arise." His office has successfully defended Oklahoma's new protocol in federal court.
- The Associated Press