Homeland Security News

A Pakistani court sentenced three men to life in prison on Thursday, after finding them guilty of involvement in the killing of a politician from an ethnic Pakistani party who was stabbed to death in London in 2010.

The court also ruled that the politician's killing abroad was ordered by the chief of the fractious Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party based in the southern port city of Karachi and the surrounding region. Its roots are traced to Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India when Pakistan was founded in 1947.

The much-awaited verdict was announced in the capital, Islamabad, with the three convicted men — Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali and Mauzzam Ali — listening via video link from a jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Read more: Minneapolis Star Tribune

A Beechview man was arrested Thursday on charges that he threw an improvised explosive device at police during a protest against police brutality.

Police allege 25-year-old Nicholas Lucia threw the device at officers near Mellon Square, Downtown, during a May 30 protest responding to the killing of George Floyd in police custody. The device exploded on the ground and gave an officer “concussion-like” symptoms, according to a criminal complaint.

Mr. Lucia was seen on security cameras entering a Lyft vehicle less than an hour later. Authorities obtained a warrant and used it to access Mr. Lucia’s data from Lyft, where they found his drop-off location, first name and phone number.

Read more: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A “sophisticated state-based actor” has been attempting to hack a wide range of Australian organisations for months and had stepped up its efforts recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

The attacks have targeted all levels of the government, political organisations, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure, Morrison said in a media briefing in Canberra.

“We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting,” he said.

Morrison said there were not a lot of state actors that could launch this sort of attack, but Australia will not identify which country was responsible.

Read more: CNBC

An investigation is underway into how three men managed to get their hands on military-style weapons seized during counter-terrorism raids across Sydney's south-west.

A 29-year-old man was arrested at a shopping centre car park in Bankstown while allegedly trying to sell three guns, including an MK5 rifle, a Berretta 9mm pistol and a 9mm mini-Glock pistol.

Two other men were also detained — a 26-year-old and a 30-year-old — one at a home at East Hills, the other was located by officers in Padstow.

Read more: ABC News (Australia)