Day 317

Suspected Terror Plot in Australia Foiled

From the New York Times:  

Four men suspected of having links to a radical Islamic group from Somalia were arrested Tuesday for what authorities said was a plot to storm a military base in the Sydney suburbs and shoot as many soldiers as possible.

The men, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese descent, were detained when hundreds of police officers swept through 19 houses in Melbourne early Tuesday. The raids were the culmination of a seven-month investigation involving state and federal officials and the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, the government’s spy agency.

The police said the men, whose ages ranged from 22 to 26, planned to arm themselves with automatic weapons and stage an attack on Holsworthy Barracks, a sprawling military complex set in the scrub lands southwest of Sydney. No date was given for the alleged attack.

The men are thought to be members of Somali terrorist organization Al Shabaab.

Wildfires and Floods

Mother Nature brings floods to Northern Australia and wildfires to the Southeastern region. Record high temperatures reached 115 F/46 C- undeniably hot.  Rain accumulation reached 14 inches.