AM briefing: Boy arrested, suspected of planning attack

A French police officer patrols in front of Notre Dame cathedral, in Paris. Photo / AP

Teenager arrested in Paris

French police have arrested a 15-year-old boy suspected of planning an attack, investigators said. The teenager was arrested in eastern Paris on Sunday and had been under house arrest since April for suspected links to Islamic extremists. The police suspect him of plotting "in response to calls from Syria to attack France," one of the sources said, just days after a separate plot to blow up a car packed with gas canisters outside Notre Dame cathedral was allegedly foiled.

Women attack police

Three women were killed while staging what officers said was "an apparent terror attack" at the main police station in the Kenyan city of Mombasa. Police said two of the women involved in the knife and firebomb assault were Kenyans and that one was wearing a suicide vest that did not detonate. Three of their alleged accomplices have been arrested.
Mombasa County police chief Peterson Maelo said the three women had entered the city's busiest police station mid-morning saying they wanted to report a stolen phone. "In the process one hurled a petrol bomb at the report office as the others confronted two officers and stabbed them," Maelo said.

Rebels have concerns

Syrian rebel groups have written to the United States, saying they will "cooperate positively" with a ceasefire but have deep concerns about details of the deal as relayed to them, two rebel officials say. The ceasefire was agreed between Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States, which backs some rebel groups, is to come into effect at sundown today local time, and excludes some jihadist groups. "We in the revolutionary factions reconfirm our fixed position of dealing positively with the idea of a ceasefire," said the text of the letter. But it cited reservations "linked to our survival and continuation as a revolution".

Vest didn't work

Police say a Florida man asking if a bulletproof vest "still worked" was fatally shot by his cousin. A Tampa Police report says 23-year-old Joaquin Mendez put on the vest and "wondered aloud whether it still worked". Police say his cousin, 24-year-old Alexandro Garibaldi, pulled out a gun and responded, "Let's see". Officers found Mendez outside the house with a gunshot wound in his chest. Mendez died at a hospital. According to the report, Garibaldi initially told officers he found his wounded cousin after hearing a gunshot. However, police say a witness described Garibaldi shooting Mendez. Garibaldi was held on a manslaughter charge.

Skydiver had modified equipment

A charity skydiver who plunged to her death when her parachute failed to open properly had only just been given permission to use modified equipment for her dwarfism. Pamela Gower, 49, who described herself as a "crazy trainee skydiver", crashed onto a parked car.
The 49-year-old was flown to hospital after the tragedy in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on Sunday, but died from her injuries. Gower had been given the green light in July this year to use specially modified skydiving apparatus by the British Parachute Association on account of her dwarfism.

- agencies