5 teens arrested on suspicion of attack

5 teens arrested on suspicion of attack

SYDNEY

Five Australian teenagers were arrested Saturday on suspicion of plotting an Islamic State group-inspired terrorist attack at a Veterans’ Day ceremony that included targeting police officers, officials said.

The suspects included two 18-year-olds who are alleged to have been preparing an attack at the ANZAC Day ceremony in Melbourne later this month, Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters.

Another 18-year-old was arrested on weapons charges, and two other men, aged 18 and 19, were in custody and assisting police. All the arrests took place in Melbourne.

Some victims of blast released from hospital

FRESNO, CALIF.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. investigators were at the scene Saturday of a natural-gas pipeline blast at a sheriff’s gun range, as four of the 11 people injured in the explosion were released from the hospital. The victims included two Fresno County deputy sheriffs, a public-works employee and eight jail inmates, according to sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti.

The deputies and two of the inmates were released. The public-works employee and another inmate were in critical condition, with the inmate’s condition considered life-threatening, Botti said.

Philanthropist Taubman dies at 91

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.

A. Alfred Taubman, the self-made Michigan billionaire whose philanthropy and business success — including weaving the enclosed shopping mall into American culture — was clouded by a criminal conviction late in his career, has died. He was 91.

Taubman, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to universities, hospitals and museums, died Friday night at his home of a heart attack, according to son Robert S. Taubman, president and CEO of Taubman Centers, Inc.

S. Africa faces crisis over wave of attacks

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa’s president canceled a foreign trip Saturday to deal with a wave of attacks on immigrants that have killed at least six people. In the latest violence, mobs attacked shops owned by foreign nationals in a poor area of Johannesburg.

President Jacob Zuma had been scheduled to leave Saturday evening for Indonesia to attend a meeting of African and Asian leaders, but will instead stay to campaign for a peaceful resolution to the unrest that has swept several areas of South Africa in the past week, his office said.

Zuma planned to visit immigrants staying in a camp in the Chatsworth area of the coastal city of Durban, where some of the worst violence has occurred.

Celebs perform at Earth Day rally

WASHINGTON

A daylong Earth Day concert had R&B star Usher dancing on crutches Saturday on the National Mall to rally thousands for political action to confront climate change and poverty.

Usher, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Common, Fall Out Boy and Train all performed during the free Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day rally hosted by will.i.am and Soledad O’Brien.

The rally was a joint initiative of the Global Poverty Project and Earth Day Network. It coincides with meetings at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Usher joined the poverty project at the White House on Friday for a meeting with officials.

While Earth Day is officially on April 22, the Saturday rally asked participants to commit to making environmentally friendly “acts of green.”

Associated Press