Ohio university attacker was a Somali immigrant

COLUMBUS • A university student who rammed his car into a crowd at Ohio State University and attacked them with a butcher knife on Monday has been identified.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, whose family immigrated from Somalia, seemed to have acted alone in what is being investigated as a possible terror attack.

He appeared to have made an anti-US posting on Facebook minutes before the attack, on a page that was quickly disabled or taken down by the authorities. The incident left 11 people injured before police fatally shot him.

His attack lasted just a few minutes but triggered a tense lockdown on the university's main campus in Columbus.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Carmakers plan Europe car-charging network

FRANKFURT • German carmakers BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Audi and US competitor Ford said yesterday they would cooperate on a Europe-wide network of electric charging stations.

The move is an "important step towards facilitating mass-market battery electric vehicle adoption", the manufacturers said in a joint statement, and comes as German carmakers rev up their offers of electric cars for the coming years. "We intend to create a network that allows our customers on long-distance trips to use a coffee break for recharging," Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler said.

The firms have signed a memorandum of understanding and plan to begin construction of some 400 high-speed charging stations across Europe next year. Completion of the network is slated for 2020.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Turkey's ruling party to finalise reform proposal

ANKARA • Turkey's ruling AK Party is close to finalising its proposal on constitutional reform and will meet the nationalist opposition one more time to iron out details, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a speech in parliament yesterday.

Mr Devlet Bahceli, leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, earlier said he believed the Bill - which would pave the way for the executive presidency sought by President Tayyip Erdogan - could be sent to the constitutional commission once "one or two" issues are overcome. After the commission stage, the Bill would be put to parliament's general assembly, which will vote on whether to take the issue to a referendum.

REUTERS