Category World News

Federal authorities in the United States have arrested four members of an antigoverment left-wing group over an alleged bomb plot targeting immigration agents and companies, among others, in California, officials have said.

Announcing the arrests on Monday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had disrupted “a massive and horrific terror plot” being prepared by the Turtle Island Liberation Front.

“The Turtle Island Liberation Front – a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group – was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve,” Bondi said in a statement.

She was careful to note that among the group’s planned targets were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and their vehicles.

Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41, have been charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. Officials said additional charges are expected.

Desert meeting

The suspects, who are all from the Los Angeles area, were arrested on Friday in the Mojave Desert as they were working on the plot, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli told a news conference.

Officials showed reporters’ surveillance footage of the suspects in the desert moving a large black object to a table. The group was arrested before they had the opportunity to build a functional bomb, the officials said.

Essayli said Carroll had created a detailed plan to bomb at least five locations. The plot included the targeting of two “Amazon-type” logistics centres operated by US companies in the Los Angeles area on New Year’s Eve.

Backpacks filled with IEDs that were to be detonated simultaneously at midnight were to be left at the locations. The group believed the explosions would be less likely to be noticed due to fireworks detonated during the celebrations.

Two of the suspects had discussed plans for attacks targeting ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs early next year, according to the complaint.

Officials said the suspects were an offshoot of a group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which says it is for the “liberation of all colonised peoples”.

The group, which has a small social media following, describes itself on Facebook as a political organisation advocating for the “Liberation of occupied Turtle Island and liberation of all colonized peoples across the world”.

The term “Turtle Island” is used by some Indigenous peoples to describe North America in a way that reflects its existence outside the colonial boundaries put in place by the US and Canada. It comes from Indigenous creation stories where the continent was formed on the back of a giant turtle.

Activists affiliated with the group have previously organised campaigns against detentions and deportations by ICE, as well as anti-colonial issues.

Cooper Flagg has scored the most points by an 18-year-old in NBA history, but he could not enjoy the accomplishment because it came in a loss.

Flagg had 42 points – topping the previous mark of 37 set by LeBron James on December 13, 2003 – in a 140-133 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

“Obviously, we didn’t win. So it’s tough for me to want to be happy, or any of that, but obviously it’s a success,” said Flagg, who had a bag of ice on his ankle after rolling it at the end of regulation.

Flagg also became just the fifth rookie to record 40 points, five rebounds and five assists in the last 15 years, as he finished with seven boards and six assists.

“The more time he spends on the floor, the more he sees, the better he gets. He displayed it all tonight,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said.

Flagg has been playing his best basketball the past few weeks as the number one overall draft pick has averaged 25.7 points in the last seven games. He is also playing aggressively enough to get to the line and went 15 for 20 against Utah.

“It’s come a long way from the start of the season, so I’m proud of that fourth quarter,” Flagg said. “It’s a new game … but I am getting more and more comfortable … and just settling in, honestly, just being myself and letting the game come to me.”

He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and made a savvy play to get the game into overtime when he missed a free throw on purpose with such a big carom that teammate Max Christie got the rebound with 3.9 seconds remaining and was fouled.

Flagg ties Mavs rookie scoring mark

With Anthony Davis out and Dallas missing several other teammates to injuries, this game may be a harbinger of things to come as Flagg becomes a centrepiece of the Mavericks’ offence.

“We were going to Coop. He was killing them the whole game, so they finally tried to double him,” PJ Washington said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all. I know exactly what he’s capable of. He’s a special player, so there will be a lot more to come.”

Flagg also tied Mark Aguirre for the most points by a rookie in Mavs history as he begins to make his mark on the franchise. But he could not stop thinking of what he could have done to get the win despite the throbbing ankle. The Jazz made a late 11-0 run and then dominated in overtime as Flagg did not score a basket in the extra period.

“I gotta be better. I had a couple of dumb turnovers, missed a couple [of] easy ones, but I gotta be better, executing down the stretch like that,” Flagg said.

Setting records might be nice, but Flagg feels it just means he is consistently improving, and that has been his goal all season.

Search and rescue operations were continuing in the Moroccan town of Safi after flash floods killed at least 37 people.

Drought-hit Morocco often experiences severe weather, but Sunday’s flooding in the coastal town is the deadliest such disaster in at least a decade.

A muddy torrent swept cars and bins from the streets of Safi, which lies roughly 300km (190 miles) south of the capital, Rabat.

The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM), Morocco’s national weather forecaster, has warned that further thunderstorms are likely over the next three days in several regions, including Safi.

Survivors are still receiving treatment at the town’s Mohammed V Hospital, with two remaining in intensive care, according to local officials.

Schools have been closed as mud and debris continue to clog the streets.

Safi is known as a centre for arts and crafts, particularly terracotta pottery, and its streets were left strewn with shattered bowls and tajines.

The Moroccan prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to determine whether anyone bears responsibility for the scale of the damage, according to the official news agency MAP.

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said: “Thirty-seven millimetres (1.5 inches) of rain fell in a short period, hitting the historic Bab Chabaa district of Safi, which is crossed by a river, and causing the deaths of numerous merchants and workers.”

As the waters receded, a landscape of mud and overturned cars was revealed. Civil Protection units and residents soon started clearing the debris.

Morocco is enduring its seventh consecutive year of severe drought, and last year was the North African kingdom’s hottest on record.

The Australian police say the two men accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people were “inspired” by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Police also confirmed on Tuesday that they were investigating a trip the two suspects undertook to the Philippines last month.

“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, allegedly committed by a father and son,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a news conference.

“These are the alleged actions of those who have aligned themselves with a terrorist organisation, not a religion,” Barrett said, referring to ISIL.

One of the alleged attackers, identified by police as 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police officers. His 24-year-old son, believed to have acted alongside him and named by local media as Naveed Akram, was also shot and remains in critical condition in hospital.

Investigators say the father-son duo opened fire on hundreds of people gathered at the beachside festival, carrying out the attack that lasted about 10 minutes at one of Australia’s most popular tourist locations.

Wayne Hay, reporting for Al Jazeera from Bondi Beach, said police confirmed that “two Islamic State flags – homemade flags – were found in the gunmen’s vehicle along with an improvised explosive device”.

“They also spoke about this trip that the pair had taken to the Philippines. A lot of speculation about that over the past 24 hours or so. They confirmed that they did go to the Philippines recently, but they are not clear yet as to the motive for that trip,” Hay said.

“That will, of course, form part of any ongoing investigation as to why they made that trip,” he said.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters that the reason for the visit and where they visited in the Philippines “is under investigation at the moment”.

The Philippine police said they are also investigating the matter.

ISIL-linked armed groups are known to operate in parts of the Philippines, particularly in the country’s south. While those groups have been significantly weakened in recent years, they continue to exist as smaller cells on the southern island of Mindanao.

Their strength is far removed from the influence they once exerted, particularly during the 2017 siege of Marawi, when ISIL fighters laid siege to the city, prompting months of heavy combat with government forces that killed more than 1,000 people.