A Madison, Wisconsin man has been arrested on charges that he tried to travel to the middle east to join Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
Joshua Van Haften, 34, made his first appearance in federal court Thursday and did not attempt to contest his being held without bond.
Van Haften was arrested Wednesday night at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and returning from Turkey. Federal investigators said that Van Haften talked to people about his desire to join ISIS before he left for Instanbul, Turkey in August.
The federal complaint says that Van Haften posted on Facebook that he was not able to cross the border from Turkey into Syria. He also said that the people who claimed to be able to help him just stole his money and left him on a country road.
Van Haften has a long criminal record, including convictions for battery and sexual assault. He spent over seven years in prison on the sexual assault conviction after his eight year probation was revoked in 2000.
Van Haften’s lawyer says that his client looks forward to “having all the facts brought to light.”
A terrorist bombing plot against Oprah Winfrey’s studios and the iconic “Sears Tower” in Chicago has been uncovered after two of the conspirators were arrested on other crimes.
The plot was first reported by Judicial Watch.
The bombing scheme was plotted in 2009 and allegedly was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American soldiers being on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Winfrey was targeted because the plotters resented her popularity and power over social issues and debate. The tower because of its iconic status.
Two of the plotters are jailed on state charges. The first, Emad Karakrah, is in the Cook County, Illinois jail on charges of making a false car bomb threat. He led police on a high-speed chase through Chicago with an ISIS flag on his car.
The second, Hector Huerta, is an illegal alien in the El Paso County, Texas Jail. He was arrested on August 13th for DUI and has been charged with “reentry of a deported alien” for the third time in five years.
Sources told Judicial Watch that two of the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists”, Jaber Elbaneh and Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah were part of the planning of the aborted 2009 attack.
The Department of Justice and FBI have not commented on the report.
Witnesses across the eastern part of the U.S. and in western Japan both reported seeing fireballs in the sky on Monday night.
NASA says reports of the meteor have been registered from South Carolina to Chicago.
Most of the reports describe the meteor as “greenish to white” colored as it crossed the sky. The reports covered over an hour between the initial reports on the east coast and the times the fireball was spotted in the Chicago area sky.
The American Meteor Society said they are investigating over 200 reports connected to the meteor and that no one has reported any impact from the sight.
Meanwhile, in western Japan, witnesses say a “fireball” roared across the sky Monday night. Various security cameras were able to capture what appears to be a strong green light or a faint orange light tracking across the sky.
Scientists say any fragments from that meteor would have ended up in the sea.
The Green family of Hobby Lobby has purchased a 14 ½ acre property in the Chicago area and then donated it to Fellowship Baptist Church to build a center for the needy of their community.
Pastor Charles Jenkins said their Legacy Project is aimed at “building people, building communities.”
“As we looked at expanding (church), we didn’t just look within but we looked without. As we talk about those who are returning home from prison, we looked at the desolation, the destitution, the healthcare disparities. We looked at the unemployment rate in the neighborhood where we serve; it’s almost 70 percent. And there’s so many challenges, and that’s when we started to look at the idea to not just share the Gospel, but show the Gospel in a broader more dynamic way,” explained Jenkins to Christian Post.
Pastor Jenkins said that he was connected to the Green family through Pastor James McDonald. He told Jenkins that the Green family was all about spreading the Gospel through acts of service.
“Bless God for people like that who engage. My wife does remind me that 11 cents of every dollar spent at Hobby Lobby does go to Christian ministries, so I’m blessed when she shops there,” said Jim Liske, moderator of the panel where the donation was discussed.
The United States will force all flights from countries that have Ebola outbreaks to five airports to allow more through screening for the virus.
Anyone flying into the U.S. from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will now have to travel through JFK in New York, Newark in New Jersey, Dulles in Washington, D.C., Atlanta or Chicago. The move goes into effect immediately according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”
Johnson said that 94% of passengers from those areas reportedly already come through those airports, so it should have minimal impact on the worldwide airline flight schedules.
“We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days,” Johnson said.
A Washington-based travel group told Reuters that an average of 150 per day come into the U.S. from those countries.
A teenager is under arrest in Illinois after he attempted to join the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 19, was arrested Saturday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago as he waited to board a flight to Vienna, Austria. The teen’s travel plans were to carry him to Turkey where he would cross the border into Syria and join ISIS.
The FBI’s Join Terrorism Task Force said they searched Khan’s home and found handwritten notes of support for ISIS and jihad. There was a letter he had written to his parents that they were supposed to find after he left outlining his plans.
“My dear parents, there are a number of reasons I will be going to the blessed land of Shaam [Syria] and leaving my home,” it read, according to a federal complaint. “We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day. I do not want my kids being exposed to filth like this.”
Khan faces 15 years in prison on charges of providing material support to terrorists. He remains in custody.
A video leaked online from the Chicago Islamic Center shows a local imam telling those in attendance to “wage jihad” against Israel “for the sake of Allah.”
The clips of the video were released by the Middle East Media Research Institute showing the rant from Sheikh Mohamed Elimam in July.
“Oh, those of you who want to wage jihad for the sake of Allah, Palestine is calling you and Gaza is crying out for your help,” he declares. “If you are true believers, real mujahideen, hasten to Palestine. The enemy was planted in the midst of the Arab nation and they chose Jerusalem, Palestine—the most important area—in order to be a thorn in the side of the Arab and Islamic nations. May Allah pull this thorn out and stick it down their throats. May they be sent back to their countries in shame and disgrace, Allah willing.”
The video shows those in attendance chanting for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
The similar message was delivered to the crowd at a pro-Hamas rally in Miami that led to a Jewish photographer having to flee because of the threat of violence.
Jewish students at Chicago’s DePaul University say the campus is no longer a safe place for them because of a group that is demanding the University withdraw from any companies that work with Israel.
The anti-Semitic group, Students for Justice in Palestine, has been running a campaign called “DePaul Divest” and is trying to get students to vote for a non-binding resolution calling for the University to disconnect with anyone connected to Israel.
“This entire campaign and entire sit-in going on in the SAC (Schmitt Academic Center) is totally unsafe for Jewish students and I have had a lot of Jewish students text me and call me today and tell me they are not comfortable walking through that part of our campus, which is really disheartening,” a student called Rachel told reporters. (Her name has been withheld because of threats.) “About two months ago when SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) started the ‘DePaul Divest’ campaign, I no longer felt safe on this campus and I no longer felt I could be a proud Jewish student.”
Another student said that she feels targeted and is always having to defend her Jewish faith.
“I do kind of feel as a Jewish student that I am being targeted on campus. I feel that a lot of questions are being directed to me and I am constantly on the defensive on campus,” she explained. “I have to defend myself, my Judaism, my pride in Israel every day and it’s getting a little bit exhausting.”
“I’d like to live and go to a university where everybody can have their own opinions and have a diverse community and feel safe.”
The Students for Justice in Palestine has been found to have conducted anti-Semitic actions on campuses across the U.S. At New York University, they slid “Eviction Notices” under the doors of Jewish students and a similar incident at Northeastern University led to SJP being suspended from campus.
SJP would not respond to reporter questions about harassment of Jewish students.
The Japanese believe that the oarfish, which lives at ocean depths of up to 3,000 feet below the surface, are so sensitive to tectonic movements that they surface or beach themselves in advance of an earthquake.
That legend has Mexican residents concerned after two oarfish were caught on video attempting to beach themselves near Isla San Francisco in Baja California Sur.
The video of the incident was posted by the Shedd Aquarium of Chicago and show beachgoers pushing the fish back out to sea in an attempt to save their lives. Oarfish are notoriously bad swimmers and usually swim in a vertical manner rather than horizontally like other fish.
While oarfish can grow to over 50 feet long, these two fish were only around 15 feet long.
Some scientists dispute the idea of the fish being able to detect seismic shifts by pointing to other times the fish has been found on a beach without a major earthquake immediately following the beaching oar.
A transportation expert says that Monday’s accident involving a Chicago Transit Authority train at O’Hare International Airport could have caused multiple deaths and injuries if it had happened later in the day.
The train was driven by a sleepy operator who investigators suspect fell asleep at the controls. The train crashed through a barrier, over a platform and then rocketed up an escalator before coming to a stop.
DePaul University professor Joseph Schwieterman said that it was “a miracle that nobody died.”
“A train running up a (crowded) escalator could have been a worst case scenario,” Schwieterman told Fox News. “When pedestrians are hit by a train, it is usual fatal.”
He also said that while many of the passengers suffered injuries, they were lucky that the train jumped the tracks instead of crashing into a concrete barrier at the end of the platform.
“That was a lucky break,” he said. “A train hitting a wall at … high speed could easily have been fatal for many.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
