French school shooting: 4 shot, 10 hurt, student arrested ADVERTISING French school shooting: 4 shot, 10 hurt, student arrested PARIS (AP) — A 16-year-old student who had troubled relations with his peers opened fire at a high school in southern
French school shooting: 4 shot, 10 hurt, student arrested
PARIS (AP) — A 16-year-old student who had troubled relations with his peers opened fire at a high school in southern France on Thursday, wounding three other students and the principal who tried to intervene, officials said.
Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse — the country’s picturesque perfume capital — and quickly arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.
The government minister for victims’ affairs, Juliette Meadel, told BFM television there were 4 people shot —three students and the high school principal — and 10 other victims.
The Grasse prosecutor said some of the victims were suffering from “emotional shock.” None of the injuries was considered life threatening.
Prosecutor Fabienne Atzori said the young man — armed with a rifle, several pistols and a small grenade — entered a classroom then left, “not finding the person or people he was searching for.”
White House resists GOP pressure, stands by wiretap claim
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday stood by President Donald Trump’s unproven accusations that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper, despite growing bipartisan agreement that there’s no evidence to back up the claim and mounting pressure to retract the statement.
Angrily defending the president’s statement, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Trump “stands by” the four tweets that sparked a firestorm that has threatened Trump’s credibility with lawmakers. Spicer denounced reporters for taking the president’s words too literally and suggested lawmakers were basing their assessments on incomplete information.
Spicer’s comments were a rebuttal to the top two members of the Senate intelligence committee, who released a statement earlier Thursday declaring there is no indication that Trump Tower was “the subject of surveillance” by the U.S. government before or after the 2016 election. Spicer suggested the statement from Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Mark Warner, D-Va., was made without a full review of the evidence or, incorrectly, a briefing from the Justice Department.
“They are not findings,” he said.
The standoff between the White House and lawmakers came four days before FBI Director James Comey is slated to testify before Congress, when he will inevitably be asked whether the president’s accusations are accurate. The White House’s refusal to back down raised the stakes for Comey’s appearance before the intelligence committee on Monday.
Gov. reassigns case after prosecutor refuses death penalty
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s governor took a case involving the killing of a police officer out of the hands of its prosecutor Thursday, hours after she announced that her office would no longer seek the death penalty in any cases.
The unusual and firm stance against capital punishment by State Attorney Aramis Ayala in Orlando surprised and angered many law enforcement officials, including the city’s police chief, who believed suspect Markeith Loyd should face the possibility of execution. Civil liberties groups, though, praised Ayala’s position.
Sending a clear signal that he wanted Loyd prosecuted in a capital case, Gov. Rick Scott signed an order to transfer Loyd’s first-degree murder to State Attorney Brad King in a neighboring district northwest of Orlando.
Loyd is charged with killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton.
Ayala said she would follow the governor’s order.
Documents detail Flynn payments from Russian interests
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was paid more than $67,000 by Russian companies before the presidential election, according to documents released Thursday by a Democratic congressman.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland asked the Trump administration to provide a comprehensive record of Flynn’s contacts with foreign governments and interests.
Flynn accepted $33,750 from Russia’s government-run television system for appearing at a Moscow event in December 2015 — a few months before Flynn began formally advising President Donald Trump’s campaign — and thousands more in expenses covered by the network and in speech fees from other Russian firms, according to the documents.
Flynn’s financial relationship with the RT network may violate a constitutional provision against gifts from foreign governments, said Cummings, who released documents obtained during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s inquiry into Flynn’s activities before Trump appointed him to become national security adviser.
In addition to the record of Flynn’s foreign contacts, Cummings, the senior Democrat on the committee, also asked the Defense Department to compel Flynn to pay the money he received to the U.S. government.
