Attack on Belfast Islamic center during evening prayers investigated as hate crime

LONDON (AP) — A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a terror offense in Northern Ireland for allegedly tossing a suspicious device into the Belfast Islamic Center during evening prayers, police said Saturday.

No one was injured in the Friday attack but Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said ammunition officers determined the object was capable of causing harm. He didn't specify what kind of device it was.

McNally said detectives were looking into whether it was a hate crime. No one else was believed to be involved in the attack.

“It is important to stress that, while the suspect has been arrested under the Terrorism Act, the motive for the attack has not yet been established,” McNally said.

I demand restitution. Where’s my hour?

In the traditional fall-back, spring-forward time change set up — you know, ol’ trusty that’s been effect for lo these 63 years — we lost an hour in the spring that we got back in the fall.

That was the social contract: you commit to feeling like you’re on cold medication for a week in March because you know a glorious extra hour of sleep will be returned to you in November. (Unless, of course, you have little kids, but look: we all make our choices.)

Well, that transaction, flawed as it was, isn’t happening this year. That hour you sacrificed to the sun gods in the spring? Gone. Not coming back. We’ve sprung forward and we shan’t be falling back — not in November, and (possibly) not ever. The scale shall remain unbalanced and the loop shall remain unclosed as Manitoba has adopted permanent daylight time.