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Relatives Of 1974 Pub Bombings Seek Funding For Legal Fees

Relatives of the Birmingham pub bombings victims have said they cannot understand why they are having to fight to get funding for their legal fees.

A pre-inquest hearing into the deaths of 21 people in attacks at two pubs in 1974 opened on Monday.

Last week marked the 42nd anniversary of the tragedy. At the hearing in Birmingham, Coroner Peter Thornton QC said he supported the families’ claim for legal aid, but had no powers to grant it.

Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was one of those killed, said their Belfast-based lawyers deserved financial support. In June it was confirmed that inquests into the deaths would be reopened after Coroner Louise Hunt said there was a “wealth of evidence that has still not been heard”.

The Home Office rejected a request from some of the families to pay their legal fees in September, but others have been granted legal aid. The next preliminary hearing has been set for 23 February to allow families at least six weeks to prepare the case if they receive funding.

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NCIS Investigation Finds Sailors Data Breached

The US Navy is investigating a data breach after personal information of more than 130,000 sailors was accessed.

The breach came after the laptop of an employee at Hewlett Packard Enterprise working on a naval contract was “compromised”, the Navy said. It added that “unknown individuals” accessed the sensitive information on current and former sailors.

The data included names and social security numbers, but the Navy does not currently believe it was misused. “The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously – this is a matter of trust for our sailors,” said Vice Adm Robert Burke, the chief of naval personnel. “We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach.”

The US Navy has about 430,000 sailors on active duty or in ready reserve. Sailors are being contacted in the coming weeks and the Navy said it was looking into credit monitoring services for those affected.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which separated from US computer firm HP last year, informed the Navy on 27 October about the laptop.

After a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigation, it was found that the data of 134,386 sailors had been accessed. A spokesman for Hewlett Packard Enterprise said: “This event has been reported to the Navy and because this is an ongoing investigation, HPE will not be commenting further out of respect for the privacy of our Navy personnel.”

Paris Attack Planned By Men Arrested In France

Five men arrested last weekend in raids in France were planning a terror attack next Thursday in Paris, according to the city’s chief prosecutor.

Francois Molins said the suspects were receiving orders via encrypted mobile apps from a commander of the so-called Islamic State based in Iraq or Syria. The raids, in Strasbourg and Marseille, also turned up automatic weapons.

French anti-terror police have now kept the men in custody without charge a day beyond the maximum period. They are able to do so following a recent change to anti-terror laws.

Mr Molins said investigators had not established the target of the planned attack, but he said GPS coordinates were found on a USB stick.

France remains under a state of emergency following the attacks in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people.

Turkish Troops Killed In Syria Airstrike

Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and 10 others wounded in northern Syria in a Syrian government air strike, the Turkish military says.

The attack occurred at about 03:30 (00:30 GMT) on Thursday, during an operation by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels against Islamic State militants.

It would be the first time Turkish soldiers have been killed by Syrian government forces in the offensive. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military. It has previously denounced Turkey’s support for the rebels with hundreds of troops, warplanes, tanks and artillery as a “flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty”.

The rebel offensive, dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield, was launched three months ago with the aim of pushing IS militants away from the Turkish border.

The Turkish government also wants to contain US-backed Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia, which it says is an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey.

So far, the rebels have driven IS militants out of more than 1,800 sq km (694 sq miles) of territory, according to the Turkish military, and recaptured the key border town of Jarablus and the symbolically important village of Dabiq. They are now besieging the town of al-Bab, the last IS stronghold in Aleppo province. The Turkish soldiers killed overnight were deployed close to al-Bab when they were targeted by Syrian government aircraft, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. The dead and injured, one of whom was said to be in a critical condition, were taken to hospitals in the southern Turkish provinces of Kilis and Gazientep. The deaths mean that at least 15 Turkish soldiers have been killed since Operation Euphrates Shield began, according to AFP news agency. Most died in clashes with IS, but one was killed in an attack blamed on the YPG.

Cybersecurity Skills To Begin At Bletchley Park In 2018

Bletchley Park, the site of secret code-deciphering projects during World War Two, could become the centre for a new generation of codemakers and codebreakers.

There are plans for a training college to teach cybersecurity skills to 16-19 year olds at the Buckinghamshire site.

Former Home Secretary Lord Reid said it had become vital to build up the “talent pool” for cyber-defence. The college in a wartime building at Bletchley is intended to open in 2018.

The project, developed by a not-for-profit group from the cybersecurity industry, is planning a National College of Cyber Security, which would open in autumn 2018. There have been repeated warnings about the lack of a skilled workforce for cybersecurity in the UK, despite a rising number of sophisticated cyber-attacks.

A spokesperson for the GCHQ intelligence agency welcomed such “initiatives that promote and develop skills in cybersecurity”. “The concept of a sixth-form college is interesting, especially if it can provide a pathway for talented students from schools that are not able to provide the support they need,” the spokesperson added.

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