Midday Roundup: White House waffles on Philly police shooting

Terror terminology. The Obama administration has yet to designate last week’s shooting of a Philadelphia policeman as an act of terrorism. Thirty-year-old Edward Archer is under arrest on charges he opened fire on Officer Jesse Hartnett, who was hit by three bullets but is expected to recover. Archer told police he followed Allah and carried out the attack in the name of Islam. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the White House was in a state of denial. “I think we all know what it is. The American people know what it is,” he said. The White House drew criticism last year for taking five months to designate a shooting attack on military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tenn., an act of terror.

ISIS expansion. The suicide bomber who attacked a popular tourist spot in Istanbul on Tuesday had recently immigrated from Syria, but was not on a terrorism watch list, Turkish authorities said. The bomber, a member of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group, was standing among a group of German visitors at the Sultanahmet square near the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, two of Turkey’s top tourist attractions. Ten of the Germans died in the blast. The attack by ISIS on a high-profile public location in a major city marks a shift from how the group previously targeted mostly Kurdish areas in Turkey, near the Syrian border.

California-bound. Post-season shuffling in the National Football League has the St. Louis Rams relocating to Los Angeles next season. The move is a homecoming of sorts for the Rams, who were based in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994. Owner Stan Kroenke plans to build a new stadium for the team in the Inglewood area. The Rams shoved ahead of two other teams, the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders, who also wanted to move to L.A., which hasn’t had an NFL team since both the Raiders and the Rams left after the 2004 season. The NFL gave the Chargers the right to relocate and share space with the Rams, but both teams would have to agree on the arrangement.

Maximum security. Guards are moving captured drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán from cell to cell inside the maximum-security prison where he is being held—the same one from which he escaped last year. Guzmán reportedly spends anywhere from a few hours to a few days in a cell, moving randomly around the prison as authorities work to thwart any attempts to break free. The cell from which he escaped in July had a blind spot around the shower, which served as the entrance to a tunnel through which he escaped. The prison now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzmán with no blind spots for privacy.

Painful partnership. Two female suicide bombers attacked a mosque in Cameroon today, killing at least 10 people during morning prayers. Cameroon has seen an increase in terror attacks since early last year when Boko Haram, the extremist group that aims to establish an Islamist state in Northern Nigeria, started retaliating against countries that have supported the Nigerian government’s campaign against it. Boko Haram’s six-year uprising in Nigeria has killed about 20,000 people and displaced 1.3 million, The Guardian reported.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.