Possibly harmful parcel at German leader's office

German police disarmed a potentially harmful package from Greece at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office Tuesday, hours after similar small mail bombs exploded outside the Russian and Swiss embassies in Athens in attacks blamed on Greek far-left extremists. Greek police destroyed at least three more suspected bombs in Athens, and two local men have been charged with mailing bombs. Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the suspicious package intercepted in the mailroom of her office was personally addressed to the German chancellor and "would have been able to harm people."

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the package, which arrived midday at the mailroom of the Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, was sent from Greece two days ago and resembled a series of small mail bombs in Athens. De Maiziere said that not only did the package have a Greek return address, but also authorities had been able to trace that it had been sent from Greece two days ago. "It contained an explosive device," de Maiziere told reporters. "Based on everything that we know, it was built in the same way and visually resembled the package that exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens," he said.

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U.S. airport security officers targeted in ID theft

A Massachusetts couple has been charged with stealing the identities of dozens of Transportation Security Administration officers, who screen passengers and baggage at U.S. airports. A Federal Grand jury accused Michael Derring, 48, and Tina White, 47, on Wednesday of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, alleging they stole personal information including the Social Security numbers of dozens of TSA workers at Boston's Logan International Airport. While there was no indication the information was passed to any militant group that might be planning an attack, the case suggests federal officers are vulnerable to identity theft.

The TSA is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Prosecutors said that, between July 2008 and December 2009, the couple obtained information on TSA workers from a relative of Derring's who worked as a contractor for TSA's human resources department at the airport in Boston. The grand jury alleged Derring and White used the identities to obtain electricity, cable television, telephone and other services for themselves, relatives, friends and customers. Some of White's customers were relatives and friends of state prison inmates, the indictment said.

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4 Police Officers Killed In Washington Ambush

One of four police officers killed in an ambush at a coffeehouse Sunday fought with the gunman and may have wounded him before the officer died just outside the doorway, a sheriff's spokesman said. Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told reporters that investigators were asking area medical providers to report any people wounded by gunshots.

Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were shot dead while sitting in the shop, and a third was killed after standing up. The fourth apparently struggled with the gunman out the doorway and "gave up a good fight," getting off a few shots before he was either shot there or succumbed to earlier wounds.

"We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door," Troyer said. "We hope that he hit him."

The gunman burst into the coffeehouse Sunday morning and opened fire on the officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what Troyer described as a targeted ambush.

Troyer said officers were looking for one male suspect who fled the scene and haven't ruled out an accomplice, possibly a getaway driver. Troyer said investigators determined that a hoax call from a person in nearby Tacoma led officers to believe the gunman was on foot and still near the coffee shop. A number of officers spent part of the afternoon carefully searching buildings close by.

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