Police say the boy is part of an alleged decentralised online crime network falsely claiming mass shootings are taking place

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A teenager in New South Wales was charged after allegedly making multiple hoax reports to emergency services – a practice known as “swatting” – falsely claiming mass shootings were taking place at major retail and educational institutions in the US.

The Australian federal police (AFP) charged the boy on 18 December, claiming he is part of an alleged decentralised online crime network hiding behind keyboards in order to trigger an “urgent and large-scale emergency response”.

Officers seized a number of electronic devices and a prohibited firearm in the juvenile’s possession as part of Taskforce Pompilid established in October 2025.

Officials in Texas city issued boil water notice and set up water distribution centers after main line break on Saturday

More than 100,000 residents in the Texas border city of El Paso were left with little to no water after a main break over the weekend, and it was expected to take till midweek for operations to return to normal, officials said.

The break in the 36-inch water main line happened late Saturday night in El Paso, which has a population of about 700,000, officials said. Gilbert Trejo, an official with El Paso Water, called it “an event of unprecedented proportion”. He said the break was made even more impactful because of “the way the pipeline itself was designed along with how different connections of smaller lines were made to it”.