Teen charged over ‘bomb attempt’ at US Christmas celebration

Saturday, November 27, 2010

The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale.

A 19-year-old Oregon, U.S. resident has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction after a sting operation; authorities say Mohamed Osman Mohamud, born in Somalia, tried to detonate a van bomb using a mobile phone at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland.

The device, police stated, was fake; he reportedly obtained it from undercover agents during a sting operation. Reports say Mohamud, a US citizen, had been in regular contact with somebody in north-west Pakistan.

Authorities intercepted e-mails they say were between Mohamud and this contact in August 2009. Holton reassured Oregon residents, adding that there was “no reason to believe there is any continuing threat arising from this case”. Mohamud allegededly told an FBI agent “I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured.” Dwight Holton, a U.S. attorney, described Mohamud’s “chilling determination” as a “stark reminder that there are people—even here in Oregon—who are determined to kill Americans.”

An FBI agent told reporters “[t]he threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale. I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack.” On the day of the tree lighting ceremony, he drove a vehicle to the area where the event was to be held, and was arrested, prosecutors said, twenty minutes before the tree was to be lit. He kicked at agents as they tried to apprehend him and shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great!).

Court papers indicated that an undercover agent told Mohamud that he was an associate of the Pakistani contact. When the agent and Mohamud discussed the plan, Mohamud said that he wanted a “huge mass that will be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays”. Mohamud told the agent that he had wanted to carry out a jihad (holy war) against the U.S. since he was fifteen years old.

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News briefs:June 30, 2006

The time is 20:00 (UTC) on June 30th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Contents

  • 1 Headlines
    • 1.1 Interior Ministry, Fatah offices in Gaza hit by Israeli airstrikes
    • 1.2 Palestinian PM: Israel aims to topple gov’t
    • 1.3 Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Freitas do Amaral resigns
    • 1.4 French Parliament adopts controversial copyright bill
    • 1.5 Police crackdown on illegal tow operations in Sydney
    • 1.6 Amsterdam to open a “Chocolate Factory”
    • 1.7 Australian shot in Thailand
    • 1.8 Germany master penalties to beat Argentina to semi-final spot
    • 1.9 Ullrich and Sevilla suspended from Tour de France
  • 2 Closing statements

[edit]

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News briefs:June 30, 2006

The time is 20:00 (UTC) on June 30th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

Contents

  • 1 Headlines
    • 1.1 Interior Ministry, Fatah offices in Gaza hit by Israeli airstrikes
    • 1.2 Palestinian PM: Israel aims to topple gov’t
    • 1.3 Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Freitas do Amaral resigns
    • 1.4 French Parliament adopts controversial copyright bill
    • 1.5 Police crackdown on illegal tow operations in Sydney
    • 1.6 Amsterdam to open a “Chocolate Factory”
    • 1.7 Australian shot in Thailand
    • 1.8 Germany master penalties to beat Argentina to semi-final spot
    • 1.9 Ullrich and Sevilla suspended from Tour de France
  • 2 Closing statements

[edit]

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Australian solar racing team parades at Sydney campus send-off

Friday, September 20, 2013

Australian solar racing team Sunswift paraded their fifth car, eVe, on the Kensington campus of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, yesterday. They are leaving for the 2013 World Solar Challenge this weekend. Both staff and students came to the send-off event in the early afternoon.

The vehicle route led from the biomed lawn of Michael Birt Gadrens in upper Kensington Campus down the University Mall to Anzac Parade with a few stops along the way at Commerce Courtyard and Globe Lawn. The driver, as well as the passenger, alighted as six members of the team carried eVe over the stairs of University Mall.

eVe, the latest car built by the Sunswift team, was designed for the new Cruiser class of the competition, and thus meets regulations for normal roads-worthy vehicles. While its predecessor IVy weighed under 150 kg, eVe weighs approximately 300 kg, with light carbon fiber monocoque construction and 15 kWh batteries weighing only 63 kg. However, eVe has achieved a similar drag coefficient, despite different overall shape and larger frontal area.

The 2013 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is to take place on October 6–13, 2013.

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File:EVe Campus.png

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Driver fined after following sat-nav to edge of cliff in West Yorkshire, England

Thursday, September 17, 2009

A driver has been fined after following the directions of his satellite navigation system, leading him to the edge of a massive cliff drop in West Yorkshire, England.

Robert Jones, who is 43 years old, appeared in Calderdale Magistrates Court on Tuesday, representing himself. He was prosecuted by Waseem Raja. Waseem told the court: “The defendant was using a TomTom satellite navigation system. The defendant followed that system to the letter, so much so it led him up a lane clearly unsuitable for motor vehicles.”

“The path was such it was not designed for use of motor vehicles yet Mr Jones slavishly continued to follow the satnav system to the point where his eyes and his brain must have been telling him otherwise to such a degree he was not exercising proper control of the vehicle.”

On March 22, 2009, Robert Jones was driving a BMW 5 Series and was trying to get to his home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire after staying with friends in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He was unsure of the route home and so followed his satellite navigation system, which was in the car. He continued to follow instructions despite being told that the narrowing dirt track he was driving on was actually a road. At the time the petrol gauge in the car indicated that he had just seven miles of fuel left. Because of this, Jones was desperate to find a filling station. He became so distracted by the sat-nav that he didn’t realise his mistakes until he struck a fence on the edge of a 100 foot (30.5 metre) drop. The battery on his mobile phone had run out so he had to walk to a nearby village to get help.

In his defence, Robert told the court: “I might have been an idiot for taking the wrong road or carrying on but I have not driven without due care or attention. I’m sorry it happened. I certainly would not do it again. I drive 5,000 miles a week and I never have had a problem with it. I had no reason not to trust it.”

Jones was found guilty of driving without due care and attention. He was fined £370 (US$610) with £500 ($824) costs and ordered to pay a £15 ($24) victim surcharge. He also got six points on his licence and had to pay £1,000 ($1,624) in recovery charges.

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Times Square shuts down due to suspicious vehicle

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Times Square was shut down today due to a suspicious vehicle parked on 42nd Street and Broadway in New York. Police cordoned the area surrounding the white 1992 Dodge van to investigate the auto. The van has temporary license plates and tinted windows with tarps covering them.

The nearby NASDAQ building was evacuated, and reports from CBS said the Conde Nast building had been partially evacuated.

The investigation disrupted preparations for the New Year’s eve ball drop atop One Times Square, although it still appears that the celebration will continue unaffected.

The investigation comes a day after police commissioner Raymond Kelly was interviewed by local TV outlet, WNBC, about how the city is after recent terrorist activity. “Reality is that New York is the number one target in this country […] But it has been doing more than any other city in America and probably the world,” he said on the topic that New York had adequate counter-terrorism procedure. Wikinews contacted the New York City Police Department, but they had no comment about the specific issue at this time.

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One killed, one injured as vehicle crashes into tree in Worcestershire, England

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

One person has been killed and another person has been seriously injured as the result of a road traffic accident in Worcestershire, England. The vehicle, a Vauxhall Astra, had two occupents. One of them was a man who was believed to have been aged around 20. The other occupant of the vehicle was an 18-year-old woman. Currently, neither of them have been publically identified.

The vehicle collided with a tree on the A4023 road in Redditch at around 2200 GMT on Sunday; West Mercia Police were subsequently called to the scene of the accident. The driver suffered from serious injuries and was later pronounced dead at the scene of the collision.

The passenger had to be taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. She suffered from leg and arm injuries, as well as a serious injury to her head. Inside the hospital, her condition has been considered as serious, although her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

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Fiat Chrysler recalls 7,810 Jeep SUVs for software vulnerability

Sunday, September 6, 2015

7,810 Jeep SUVs are to be recalled in order to address a software vulnerability in the vehicles’ entertainment systems which allows the vehicles to be “hacked” — allows vehicle software security to be compromised — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles US (FCA US) said on Friday. This recall affects some 2015 model Jeep Renegades.

FCA US said exploiting the vulnerability would take “unique and extensive technical knowledge, prolonged physical access to a subject vehicle and extended periods of time to write code.” They said there are no known instances where the software vulnerability has caused injury to anyone.

They said owners of affected cars can fix the software vulnerability by inserting a device containing a software patch into a USB port inside the car.

Another 1.4 million vehicles manufactured by the company have also been recalled last month, when white hat hackers discovered they were able to hack and disable the engines of the affected vehicles remotely.

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Ontario investigators search for the body of Victoria Stafford

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Police forensic investigators in Canada continue the search for the body of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford, whom they now believe was murdered on the same day she was abducted, April 8, 2009 from her Woodstock, Ontario school.

Counselors have been providing support to students at Oliver Stephens Public School.

There have been two arrests made, one for the first-degree murder and abduction of Tori Stafford and the other person has been charged with being an accessory and abduction. The next court appearance is May 28.

Police and neighbours say that the parents of Tori may have been familiar with at least one of the abductors.

The search continues for the body of Tori as well as the rear seat of a vehicle connected with the abduction. The search area is around Guelph, and Fergus north east of Woodstock.

Police are seeking information about a blue 2003 four-door Honda which is believed to be blue with black spray paint on large portions of it. Investigators believe it to have been in the Home Depot parking lot in Guelph on the evening of April 8, the day of the abduction.

The grey cloth covered back seat from the above vehicle is missing and police are seeking to recover it. Police have been combing rural areas and scouring lake bottoms in the hopes of turning up more evidence.

“We continue to receive information on all different parts of the investigation and each piece of lead or tip, if you will, is being investigated as far as it can take us,” said Laurie-Anne Maitland, an Oxford Community Police Constable. “If I were her parent I would want to have that ounce of hope too until I knew 100 per cent. I think it’s the nature [of people to hope for] one possible little miracle … and it’s not [possible].”

Woodstock, the home town of Tori is located in the county of Oxford, and the search has spread out to the neighbouring county of Wellington. The city of Guelph is located about 42 miles (68 km) to the north east, and Fergus which is north of Guelph is about 57 miles (92 km) from Woodstock.

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UK seizes drugs worth £25 million in new record

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The United Kingdom’s Border Agency has seized drugs worth £25 million (US$ 40.6 million) after heroin was discovered in a shipment from South Africa.

The discovery was made during an inspection of souvenirs shipped into London’s Heathrow Airport, where 165 kg of the drug was recovered. The Serious Organised Crime Agency raided a house in Maidstone, Kent, where a further 80 kg of heroin was discovered. A additional search brought the total to 360 kg, as well as 6,500 kg of herbal cannabis and resin. This includes drugs recovered in Durban, South Africa.

Three of those arrested in South Africa are from the UK and it is thought all of the drugs were for the domestic UK market. One of those arrested in the UK has been charged with possession of heroin with intent to supply.

The heroin was first discovered last week but the events have only now been publicised, as authorities were fearful that earlier revelations would damage their investigation. Five people in South Africa and two in the UK have been arrested. Heroin is a Class A drug in the UK.

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