Police have charged a third suspect with an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue that was allegedly directed by Iran. Police alleged on Friday the 20-year-old man is one of three masked offenders who broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue, doused the interior with flammable liquid then set it alight in December 2024. The fire caused extensive damage to the synagogue and a worshipper sustained minor injuries. The suspect was charged with arson in a Melbourne jail where he was already being held on unrelated offenses. His two co-accused were charged in July and August last year. Australia has accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of directing the attack.

Police in Chicago say a 21-year-old man has been charged with a hate crime, arson and other offenses for a cross that was set on fire in a park. Merlin Lu admitted to a TV station this week that he was responsible for the cross burning in Grant Park on June 9. But he insisted that he was protesting President Donald Trump and Christian nationalists and was not using the cross as a historical symbol of hate against Black people. Lu's attorney says he was exercising free speech in a “foolish manner.”