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The Latest: German police question 3 people after tip that 1 perhaps involved in Paris attacks

German-police

PARIS _ The latest on the deadly attacks in Paris. (All times local):

2:20 p.m.

German police say they are questioning three people arrested near the western city of Aachen after a tip that one of them might be linked to the Paris attacks.

Police spokesman Werner Schneider says the trio were arrested Tuesday morning by a SWAT team in Alsdorf, just northeast of Aachen and near the border with Belgium.

The two women and one man were arrested as they left a job centre at around 9:30 a.m., according to local media reports.

Schneider said on German news channel n-tv that it was “much too early to go into detail” about the identity of those arrested, but said they were foreign nationals.

He says police were conducting searches in the area.

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2:05 p.m.

A high school class in New York state has cancelled a class trip to Paris because of concerns over security.

Jim Thomas, a French teacher at Irondequoit High School near Rochester, tells WHAM-TV that he notified 26 students that the trip to Paris was called off after one of the French chaperones, a member of the military, told him it wasn’t safe to go there.

The trip had been in the works for two years.

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1:50 p.m.

Belgium is to deploy up to 300 extra soldiers to help provide security in major cities.

A government statement on Tuesday said the extra troops would allow police to take on additional duties since authorities raised the threat level over the weekend.

The move would bring the total number of troops in the streets to 520.

The Paris attacks on Friday are believed to have been partly organized in Belgium, and a number of police raids have been conducted in Brussels since then.

Police are particularly concerned about public safety at large gatherings like sports events, concerts or rallies.

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1:40 p.m.

The Eiffel Tower has closed again, one day after it reopened following the Paris attacks.

Spokeswoman Marthe Ozbolt says the tower did not open Tuesday morning. She did not give a reason but alluded to the current situation in the city.

The landmark reopened to visitors Monday after being shut for two days after the Paris gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people.

On Monday night it was lit in the red, white and blue of France’s tricolour flag. Buildings around the world have shown the colours in a sign of solidarity with France.

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1:40 p.m.

NATO is providing support to France in the wake of the Paris attacks but has not triggered a little-used defence clause that would mobilize the armies of member countries.

The secretary general of the world’s biggest military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said Tuesday that “many NATO allies have offered France support and help, and we are doing so in many different ways.”

He told reporters on Tuesday at an EU defence meeting in Brussels that NATO allies were sharing intelligence and working closely with France to fight the Islamic State group.

NATO’s Article 5 has only ever been triggered once, by the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks. The article designates an attack on one of the 28 allies as an attack on them all.

1:40 p.m.

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1:35 p.m.

Austria’s interior ministry says a key suspect sought in Friday’s attacks in Paris is known to have entered the country about two months ago.

Ministry official Karl-Heinz Grundboeck identifies him as Salah Abdeslam. Grundboeck said Tuesday that Abdeslam entered Austria from Germany Sept. 9 with two companions he said were not identified.

Abdeslam, 26 is the suspected driver of one group of gunmen carrying out the attack. French police accidentally permitted him to avoid arrest at the border Saturday and cross to Belgium.

Abdeslam’s brother, Brahim, was among the suicide bombers and killed one civilian when he blew himself up.

Grundboeck says Abdeslam’s identity was established during a routine traffic check.

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1:30 p.m.

A French judicial official says two brothers linked to the Paris attacks both rented residences in the days prior to Friday’s carnage.

The official, who has knowledge of the case, told The AP that one of the Abdeslam brothers used an online rental site to book lodging at a long-stay hotel in the southeastern suburb of Alfortville Wednesday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation.

The official said that the other brother rented a house in the northeastern suburb of Bobigny, the day before, on Tuesday Nov. 10.

The official could not identify which of the two brothers, Brahim Abdeslam, who died on Friday, or Salah Abdeslam, who is a fugitive, rented which residence.

_By Jamey Keaten

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1:25 p.m.

German police say three people have been arrested near the western city of Aachen in connection to the Paris attacks.

The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that the three were arrested in the town of Alsdorf, just northeast of the city.

Local police did not immediately answer their telephones and no other information was available.

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1:10 p.m.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s office says he will join Prince William at the friendly soccer match between England and France in a show of solidarity with France after Friday’s attacks.

Police in London promise a robust presence at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday to reassure the public. The match has been the subject of concern because the targets in Paris included Stade de France, where tens of thousands were watching Germany play France.

Scotland Yard says armed police officers will be visible _ unusual in a country where many officers don’t carry guns.

To underscore solidarity with France, British fans will be encouraged to sing the French national anthem.

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12:55 p.m.

A lawyer for one of the two people arrested in Belgium in the wake of the Paris attacks says his client admits going to France, but says it was only to pick up a friend.

Defence lawyer Xavier Carrette told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his client, Mohammed Amri, 27, was arrested over the weekend and is being held on charges of terrorist acts and being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

Belgian media reports said Amri and another person arrested in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean neighbourhood of Brussels, identified as Hamza Attou, are being investigated as potential suppliers of the suicide bombs used in Friday’s attacks, since ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used to make explosives, was discovered in a search of their residence.

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12:50 p.m.

French Sports Minister Patrick Kanner has praised security officials at the Stade de France for keeping their nerve when faced with the attacks that hit Paris last week. He says a major tragedy had been avoided.

The Stade de France was packed with 79,000 fans when three attackers blew themselves up outside the venue, killing one bystander and injuring several dozen others.

Kanner, who attended the friendly game between France and Germany on Friday and returned to the stadium on Tuesday to thank its employees, said the decision to keep spectators inside after the blasts was decisive “because a Heysel-type panic could have happened.”

Kanner referred to the former Heysel stadium in Brussels where 39 people died during fan violence at the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.

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12:50 p.m.

Germany’s vice chancellor says “we must not change our lives” out of fear in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Speaking in a video podcast Tuesday, Sigmar Gabriel said Germany would improve border controls, deploy more police officers, and do everything possible to work with other European security agencies.

But he also says the “best defence against terror and violence” from the so-called Islamic state is to work prudently and with determination.

He says “we do not need new security laws, nor should we change our lives, our lives together, our culture, or our events out of fears of terrorism.”

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12:45 p.m.

Finland says it is “ready and willing to assist France with means available.”

Prime Minister Juha Sipila wrote Tuesday on Twitter that the Nordic country will “abide by the mutual assistance clause,” adding Finnish lawmakers already have been informed of the government’s decision.

In Denmark, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said the Scandinavian EU member could not participate in a military operation within the European Union framework because of 1992 Danish defence opt-out. Jensen stressed Danes could take part if such calls were made within NATO or the United Nations.

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12:35 p.m.

Two French officials say that a car found in northern Paris with Belgian license plates could be linked to Friday’s attacks.

The black Renault Clio with a shattered front passenger window was discovered Tuesday near the commuter train line that links to France’s national stadium, a site targeted by three suicide bombers.

It’s unclear how the window was broken.

The officials refused to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

It is the third car identified as having possible links to the Paris attacks.

_By Thomas Adamson

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12:25 p.m.

London’s police chief says he wants more officers to carry guns.

Moving to reassure Londoners following the Paris attacks, Bernard Hogan-Howe says he believes the city has the capability to thwart such attacks for now, but he is reviewing the number of armed police officers. Only about 2,000 of London’s 32,000 officers carry firearms.

Hogan-Howe told LBC radio that “Paris showed us, with so many attackers with so many scenes, moving around at speed … we need to have a mobile reserve.”

He says he hopes soccer fans will be reassured by additional officers being deployed to the international friendly between England and France Tuesday night.

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12:05 p.m.

A French official says Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday to express his condolences in the wake of Paris attacks.

Rouhani pointed the “crucial importance to fight against terrorism and Daesh with all our might”, the official says, speaking anonymously in line with government policy.

Both presidents agreed to quickly reschedule a visit by Rouhani to France.

Rouhani had planned to come for a two-day visit on Monday and Tuesday, but cancelled following the attacks.

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By Sylvie Corbet

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11:55 a.m.

Poland’s new defence minister says Poland is ready to “immediately” discuss any form of assistance that France may need in fighting terrorism.

Antoni Macierewicz was on his first foreign trip since taking office in the conservative government. He spoke to Polish reporters Tuesday in Brussels following EU defence ministers’ talks.

Macierewicz said: “We treat the attackers as a criminal, felonious group and we will do everything to crush it.”

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11:50 a.m.

British police are appealing to Eurostar passengers for any witness accounts of Friday’s deadly Paris attacks.

Train travellers from Paris to London are receiving Metropolitan Police pamphlets asking for witness accounts, photos, and video and cellphone footage from the scene.

Eurostar personnel were seen handing out the sheets Sunday night before the customs section of the St. Pancras International terminal.

Those with information are asked to make themselves known to police.

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11:30 a.m.

A United Nations human rights expert says the attacks in Paris “may constitute a crime against humanity.”

Karima Bennoune, a professor at the University of California-Davis School of Law appointed by the U.N. as an expert on cultural rights issues, said in a statement Tuesday that the claims of responsibility from the Islamic State demonstrate a “hateful worldview motivating this violence.”

She says the attacks “viciously and deliberately targeted sites of arts and leisure where people come together to enjoy their cultural rights.”

Bennoune says an attacker’s cry of “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” ”grossly misuses a religious pronouncement sacred to hundreds of millions of Muslim believers.“

The implications of classifying the attacks as a crime against humanity were unclear.

It is likely that France would want to prosecute any suspects, in which case the International Criminal Court would not be involved. It’s a court of last resort that takes cases only in situations where local authorities can’t or won’t prosecute.

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11:05 a.m.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said EU partners could help “either by taking part in France’s operations in Syria or Iraq, or by easing the load or providing support for France in other operations.”

In the wake of the attacks in Paris, France has become the first nation to invoke an EU treaty provision to require all states to offer aid and assistance “as they are able.”

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11:00 a.m.

France is demanding security aid and assistance from the European Union in the wake of the Paris attacks and has triggered a never-before-used article in the EU’s treaties to secure it.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that member states had indicated their “full support and readiness to provide all the aid and assistance needed.”

Article 42.7 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty states that if a member country “is the victim of armed aggression on its territory,” other member states have an obligation of aid and assistance.

Arriving for talks in Brussels, Greek Defence Minister Panagiotis Kammenos told reporters that “we’re in a new situation in Europe. This is Sept. 11 for Europe.

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10:30 a.m.

Britain’s Treasury chief is set to double the amount of funds devoted to fighting cyber-crime as the U.K. raises security spending after the Paris terror attacks.

Osborne will be meeting with the experts from the GCHQ intelligence service Tuesday as they plot a strategy to counter the ability of the Islamic State group to exploit social media to spread propaganda.

Osborne says IS does not yet have the capability to exploit the Internet to attack infrastructure such as air traffic control systems or those governing electricity. But he says “we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it.”

He says that if such attacks occurred, “the impact could be measured not just in terms of economic damage but of lives lost.”

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10:10 a.m.

A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman says Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has visited the French embassy in Islamabad to convey his condolences over last Friday’s co-ordinated attacks in Paris in which at least 129 people were killed.

Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah says Sharif met Tuesday with the French ambassador Martine Dorance and other diplomats.

State run Pakistan Television says Sharif condemned the attacks and promised to co-operate with France in the fight against violence.

Pakistan has suffered numerous attacks in recent years, including a Taliban attack on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar last December, which killed 150 people, mostly children.

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10:00 a.m.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says some of the victims from last Friday’s attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people, have still to be identified.

Valls, who was speaking Tuesday on France Inter radio, did not say how many of the victims have yet to be identified and acknowledged that authorities still did not know enough about the attacks that took place outside the Stade de France stadium.

He said that perhaps two or three “teams” of bombers carried out the attacks outside the stadium during a soccer match between France and Germany.

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9:30 a.m.

France’s Interior Minister has said that authorities carried out “128 police raids last night.”

Bernard Cazeneuve spoke on French radio France Info Tuesday and did not give specific details about the Monday night raids that have followed Friday’s deadly Paris attacks that killed 129 people and injured many more.

He said that “the majority of those who were involved in this attack were unknown to our services.”

Cazeneuve also said that 115,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers have been mobilized to protect French citizens. He pledged to boost funding for police equipment _ which he said that dropped by 17 per cent from 2007 to 2012.

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9:30 a.m.

An Israeli Cabinet minister is linking a decision to ban an Islamist party to last week’s attacks in Paris.

Israel on Tuesday announced that it outlawed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, blaming the group for inciting Arab Israelis to violence amid a two-month outburst of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israel Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan says in a statement Tuesday that “Israel must act as an example and spearhead the struggle against radical Islam whose emissaries we saw massacring innocent people in Paris,” among other places. He says the group shares an ideology with the Islamic State and the Islamic militant Hamas.

The party provides religious and educational services for Israeli Arabs. It accuses Israel of trying to take over a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, a charge Israel denies.

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9 a.m.

Activists say a new wave of airstrikes have hit the northern Syrian city of Raqqa the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Raqqa-based collective called Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported seven airstrikes on the city.

Both activist groups said the airstrikes hit targets on the southern edge of Raqqa but had no immediate word on casualties.

In France, military spokesman Col. Gilles Jaron said the strikes early Tuesday destroyed a command post and training camp.

They were the second wave of airstrikes by France against IS after attacks killed at least 129 people around Paris on Friday.

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