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An Assassination Bid On Angela Merkel Has Been Foiled In Prague

A feared assassination attempt on German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly been foiled in Prague.

Czech police halted an armed man in his car as he allegedly tried to join Merkel’s motorcade during her visit to the capital.

Local reports claim that officers found a baton, a canister of tear gas, cement blocks, and handcuffs in the man’s black 4×4 Mercedes.

A video posted on the Blesk news website shows several officers around a police car talking to the middle-aged man.

” The perpetrator has been detained,” police spokesman Josef Bocan said.

“He is suspected of attempting to cause a crime – specifically an attempt to use violence against an official.”

“Thanks to the professional actions of officers, Angela Merkel’s life was not in danger.

“The incident is currently being investigated by Prague detectives.”

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11 Policemen Killed As Car Bomb Hits Turkish Policequarters

A car bomb has hit police headquarters in Cizre, south-east Turkey, killing 11 policemen and injuring 78.

The huge explosion at 07:00 (04:00 GMT) targeted a checkpoint, and left the nearby riot police HQ in ruins.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, and vowed to give the “vile attackers the answer they deserve”. Cizre has been the subject of several curfews in the past few months by Turkish authorities fighting the PKK.

The UN and human rights organisations have demanded an investigation into allegations that more than 100 people were burned to death while sheltering in basements in Cizre – a poor town close to the Syrian border. The Turkish government has rejected allegations that it targeted civilians.

A string of PKK attacks have targeted Turkish security forces since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July 2015. Since then, military operations in the south-east and retaliatory attacks by the PKK have left hundreds of people dead.

Turkey’s PKK conflict shows no sign of abating, and the government has ruled out any negotiations until the group completely disarms. The latest violence comes as the army reels from a huge purge following a coup attempt in July. As well as fighting the PKK, Turkey is battling so-called Islamic State, whose militants have carried out a series of bloody attacks over the past year.

The PKK, which is banned in Turkey, launched its insurgency in 1984, alleging widespread abuse and discrimination against Kurds by Turkish authorities.

Apple Releases Software Update After Spyware Alert

Flaws in Apple’s iOS operating system have been discovered that made it possible to install spyware on a target’s device merely by getting them to click on a link.

The discovery was made after a human rights lawyer alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received. They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple’s code.

Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem.

The two security firms involved, Citizen Lab and Lookout, said they had held back details of the discovery until the fix had been issued.

Rare Attack

The lawyer, Ahmed Mansoor, received the text messages on 10 and 11 August. The texts promised to reveal “secrets” about people allegedly being tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s jails if he tapped the links. Had he done so, Citizen Lab says, his iPhone 6 would have been “jailbroken”, meaning unauthorised software could have been installed. “Once infected, Mansoor’s phone would have become a digital spy in his pocket, capable of employing his iPhone’s camera and microphone to snoop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording his WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps, and tracking his movements,” said Citizen Lab. “We are not aware of any previous instance of an iPhone remote jailbreak used in the wild as part of a targeted attack campaign, making this a rare find.”

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American University In Kabul Attacked By Gunmen

Thirteen people, including seven students, died in an attack by gunmen on the American University in the Afghan capital Kabul, police say.

Two attackers were also shot dead by security forces nearly 10 hours after the assault began with an explosion on Wednesday evening. Students and staff were trapped inside the university during the attack, which police said was now over. No group has said it carried out the attack.

The victims also included three police and three guards. Thirty-five students and nine police were injured and about 750 students and staff were rescued, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said.

Police had described the attack, which began at about 19:00 local time (14:30 GMT), as “complex”. Special forces were on the scene along with American military advisers. One of those trapped inside the university for several hours was Massoud Hossaini, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, who tweeted his experience and pleaded for help. He later managed to escape and told the Associated Press news agency about the attack, which began with an explosion as he was in a classroom with 15 students. “I went to the window to see what was going on, and I saw a person in normal clothes outside. He shot at me and shattered the glass,” Mr Hossaini said, adding that he fell on the glass and cut his hands.

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Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper Transferred To Prison

Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe – known as the Yorkshire Ripper – has been moved to prison after three decades at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

A health tribunal has found 70-year-old Sutcliffe no longer needs treatment for any mental disorder. In 1981 he was convicted of 13 murders and seven attempted murders and given 20 life sentences.

He was transferred to Broadmoor in 1984 after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Before he was moved to the high security institution in Berkshire, the killer spent three years at Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight. Transferring Sutcliffe to prison could save up to £250,000 a year.

Sutcliffe, a former lorry driver from Bradford, now calls himself Peter Coonan. Plans for his transfer emerged earlier in August and he is thought to have been moved to Frankland prison in Durham on Wednesday.

Commenting on the transfer, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Peter Coonan will remain locked up and will never be released for his evil crimes. “Decisions over whether prisoners are to be sent back to prison from secure hospitals are based on clinical assessments made by independent medical staff. “The High Court ordered in 2010 that Peter Coonan should never be released. This was upheld by the Court of Appeal. “Our thoughts are with Coonan’s victims and their families.”

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