Bomb Threats Hit Discount Stores, Supermarkets

Authorities say there was never a threat to safety

(NEWSER) - A US Airways flight from Paris to North Carolina was diverted to Maine after a woman claimed to have a device implanted in her body. Authorities have since determined that she posed "basically no threat," but the flight was halted "out of an abundance of caution," according to the TSA. The woman didn't threaten the flight, officials say; she simply gave the flight crew a note alerting them to the purported device. More»

Suspect is 50-year-old businessman with links to victim's family

(NEWSER) - An Australian suspected of being the man who broke into a Sydney home and attached a phony collar bomb to a teenage girl has been arrested in Kentucky. Paul "Doug" Peters, 50, was arrested in a Louisville suburb by a team of FBI agents and Australian police, reports the Sydney Morning Herald . The FBI says Peters had been staying at his ex-wife's home since leaving Australia a few days after the bomb hoax. More»

Note listed name of Dirk Struan, obscure novel character

(NEWSER) - Whoever chained a fake bomb to 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver’s neck must have been well-read. The perpetrator left behind a ransom note that was signed “Dirk Struan”—the protagonist of James Clavell’s 1966 novel Tai-Pan, which told the story of two warring businessmen during the 1842 Opium War, MSNBC reports. Pulver’s father is the CEO of an IT company. More»

Madeleine Pulver is 'uncomfortable' but OK

(NEWSER) - A device, thought to be a bomb, attached to an Australian teen for 10 hours yesterday was actually "a very, very elaborate hoax," police say. A masked man affixed the device to Madeleine Pulver, 18, with "a chain or something similar," says an officer, which took some time to remove and "added to the trauma that Madeleine experienced." The device "was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device," which was why police had to take the situation seriously. More»

(NEWSER) - The US Chamber of Commerce launched an ad campaign this week opposing health-care reform, but businesses are hardly united against the administration's proposals, the Washington Post reports. Wal-Mart was a high-profile defector, as was temp firm Kelly Services; both back an employer mandate. And many small and medium-sized businesses are open to reform, hoping it will cut costs or slow the growth of soaring premiums. More»