Teenager jailed for seven years for Australia terror plot

An 18-year-old was sentenced today to seven years in prison for planning a Mother's Day attack in Melbourne, the latest of a series of plots in Australia involving teenagers.
The young man, who was 17 when he was arrested by police last year, pleaded guilty to one charge of committing an act, or planning the preparation of an act, of terrorism.
He will be eligible for parole in five years and three months.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the teenager, who cannot be named, was making pipe and pressure cooker bombs for a May 10 Mother's Day attack last year when he was arrested.

Police seized several items from his home, including a document entitled "Make a Bomb in Your Mom's Kitchen" on his computer, ABC said.
Canberra has become increasingly worried about homegrown extremism and the terror threat level was raised in September 2014.

Australian officials say they have now prevented 11 terror attacks on home soil in the past two years. But some have gone ahead, including the murder of a Sydney police employee last year by a 15-year-old boy.
Counter-terror police have made a series of arrests since late 2014, with the youth and radicalisation of many of those detained a growing concern for authorities.

Parliament last month passed new legislation to lower from 16 to 14 the age at which people can be subject to a control order -- which aims to prevent a terror attack by limiting a person's movements, communication and activity.