FBI: Islamic State inspired California student in stabbings

FBI: Islamic State inspired California student in stabbings

FRESNO, Calif.

A California university student who went on a campus stabbing rampage that wounded four people before he was shot down by a campus police officer was inspired by Islamic State but acted alone, the FBI said Thursday.

Faisal Mohammad, 18, appears to have become self-radicalized, drawing his inspiration from terrorist propaganda that he found online, authorities said. The freshman studying at the University of California, Merced burst into a classroom Nov. 4, slashing four over a dispute about a study group.

“Every indication is that Mohammad acted on his own,” Gina Swankie, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Sacramento field office, said in a statement.

Seoul: North Korea fires ballistic missile into sea

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea defied U.N. resolutions by firing a medium-range ballistic missile into the sea today, Seoul and Washington officials said, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered weapons tests linked to its pursuit of a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile fired from a site north of Pyongyang flew about 500 miles before crashing off the North’s east coast.

SeaWorld to stop using orcas in performances

ORLANDO, Fla.

After years of pressure, SeaWorld made a surprise announcement Thursday: It no longer breeds killer whales in captivity and will soon stop making them leap from their pools or splash audiences on command.

Surrendering finally to a profound shift in how people feel about using animals for entertainment, the SeaWorld theme parks have joined a growing list of industries dropping live animal tricks. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is retiring all of its touring elephants in May. Once-popular animal shows in Las Vegas have virtually disappeared.

Golf-ball-sized hail kills exotic birds at Fort Worth Zoo

DALLAS

Hail the size of golf balls killed several exotic birds at the Fort Worth Zoo as a powerful storm slammed North Texas on Thursday.

The early-morning storm also broke windows, including skylights at the zoo, and damaged police vehicles in nearby Arlington. The storm left behind hail piled up along roadways and blanketing fields, and slick roads for commuters.

Hidden rooms found in King Tut’s burial chamber

CAIRO

Radar scans of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber have revealed two hidden rooms, a tantalizing discovery that could resolve a mystery as old as the pyramids: What was the fate of Egypt’s beautiful Queen Nefertiti?

At a packed Cairo news conference Thursday to announce the find in King Tut’s tomb in Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty declined to comment on whether any royal treasure or more mummies might be inside the rooms.

But he said the unexplored chambers could hold some kind of organic or metal objects.

Most experts say that while the scans might reveal another tomb behind the false walls, it’s unlikely to be crammed with solid gold and a royal mummy like Nefertiti, whose 3,300-year-old bust on display in Berlin is one of the most-famous symbols of ancient Egypt and classical beauty.

Associated Press