Midday Roundup: ISIS claims responsibility for Tunisia museum attack

No mercy. Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the attack on a Tunisian museum Wednesday. The death toll has risen to 23, and the country’s prime minister said one of the gunmen had previously caught the attention of Tunisia’s security services. Officials have identified the attackers, both of whom died in a shootout with police, as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. Security forces arrested nine alleged accomplices today. The victims included 18 foreign tourists from Japan, Italy, Britain, Colombia, Spain, Australia, Poland, and France. Another 50 people were injured, including tourists from Italy, France, Japan, South Africa, Poland, Belgium and Russia. All had bullet wounds. Security teams sweeping the building long after the attack ended found two Spanish tourists and a museum worker who spent the night in hiding. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said his country would win its “war with terror.”"These monstrous minorities do not frighten us,”he said. “We will resist them until the deepest end without mercy. Democracy will win and it will survive.”

No crash. U.S. Secret Service Director Joe Clancy plans to tell a Senate panel today that two Secret Service agents involved in an incident earlier this month outside the White House did not crash into one of its gates, as The Washington Post previously reported. According to prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance on Capitol Hill, Clancy will tell senators he watched video surveillance footage of the incident and that the agents, driving very slowly, pushed aside a plastic barrel. The car was not damaged. The Post reported the agents were driving at a high rate of speed and might have been intoxicated. Clancy said he takes the accusations seriously. The agents are under investigation but might not lose their jobs, but not because Clancy is trying to be lenient, he will tell senators. Federal statutes determine what punishment he can mete out.

Controversial arrest. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has ordered an investigation into an incident Tuesday night in which an African-American student at the University of Virginia was left bloodied and battered following an arrest by white officers from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Martese Johnson, a 20-year-old junior, was charged with public intoxication and obstruction of justice after he was denied entry into a popular Charlottesville, Va., bar at about 12:45 a.m. Students nearby took photos and video of the arrest, and the images quickly went viral on social media. UVA’s Black Student Alliance said Johnson needed 10 stitches to close a gash in his forehead. Students gathered on campus last night to protest. Johnson is a member of the school’s Honor Committee, an elected group that upholds the school’s honor code. Police said he has no previous criminal history but arresting officers said he was “very agitated and belligerent”before his arrest.

Not murder? A Colorado woman is accused of stabbing a pregnant woman, cutting open her stomach, and stealing her baby. The 26-year-old mother had responded to a Craigslist ad for baby clothes. She was about seven months pregnant. The 34-year-old woman who attacked her showed up at a nearby hospital with the baby, claiming she had a miscarriage. The mother is expected to survive, but the baby did not. Although there aren’t any disputed facts in the case, Colorado officials are having a hard time figuring out what to charge the woman with. Under state law, she cannot be charged with murder unless the child was born alive.

No celebration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party celebrated their unexpected electoral victory Wednesday. But the White House wasn’t celebrating. While many heads of state called Netanyahu Wednesday to offer their congratulations, President Barack Obama was not among them. After the results of the Israeli election became obvious early Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry performed the administration’s obligatory duty. “It was a brief phone call,”State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “Secretary Kerry called the prime minister to congratulate him. They did not discuss substantive issues.” Reporters on the State Department beat immediately seized on the absence of the word “warm”that is customary in readouts of diplomatic calls. But Psaki refused to explain. Netanyahu has openly criticized the administration’s handling of the nuclear talks with Iran. Its desire that he lose this week’s election was an open secret in Washington. Psaki said Netanyahu’s victory will not affect the nuclear negotiations. But in his victory speech, the prime minister indicated he will continue to call out the administration on a talks process he believes paves the way for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.