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Military Sites In Syria Hit By Series Of Missile Strikes

Missile strikes on military sites in northern Syria overnight reportedly killed a number of pro-government fighters, including Iranians.

The Syrian military said facilities in Hama and Aleppo provinces were struck. It did not say if there were any casualties. But a UK-based monitoring group said four Syrians and 22 foreigners, mostly Iranians, died. It is not known who was behind the attacks. Western nations and Israel have previously hit sites in Syria.

Earlier this month, the US, UK and France bombed three facilities they said were associated with the Syrian government’s alleged chemical weapons programme.

Israel is alleged to have hit an airbase reportedly serving as an Iranian drone command centre and containing an advanced Iranian air defence system. Seven Iranians were among 14 military personnel killed in that attack.

Israel has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran from strengthening its military presence in Syria, where it has deployed hundreds of troops since the country’s civil war began in 2011 to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.

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Leaders Of North And South Korea Hold Summit

The leaders of North and South Korea have agreed to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons after holding a historic summit.

The announcement was made by the North’s Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in of South Korea after talks at the border.

The two also agreed to push towards turning the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 into a peace treaty this year. It comes just months after warlike rhetoric from North Korea.

Details of how denuclearisation would be achieved were not made clear and many analysts remain sceptical about the North’s apparent enthusiasm for engagement.

Following discussions at the summit on Friday, Mr Kim said that both leaders had agreed to co-ordinate closely to ensure that there was not a repeat of the region’s “unfortunate history” in which previous progress had “fizzled out”. “There may be backlash, hardship and frustration,” he said, adding: “A victory cannot be achieved without pain.”

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Office For National Statistics Show Increase In Knife And Gun Crime

Knife crime rose by 22% in England and Wales in 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figures, which cover crimes recorded by the police, also showed an 11% increase in firearms offences.

A separate survey on the public’s experience of crimes in the two countries said there had been no change in overall violent offences.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) said most types of crime stayed at similar levels to 2016. It added that eight-in-10 adults had not experienced any crimes asked about in the survey throughout 2017.

While some of the increases in recorded crimes are explained by changes in the way police report them, the ONS warned that some of the statistics showed a genuine rise in the offence – such as the 9% increase in burglaries and the 33% increase in robbery. Recorded homicides were also up by 9% in 2017, to 653 from 599 the previous year.

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Electronic Hotel Door Locks Vulnerable To Hacking

Millions of electronic door locks fitted to hotel rooms worldwide have been found to be vulnerable to a hack.

Researchers say flaws they found in the equipment’s software meant they could create “master keys” that opened the rooms without leaving an activity log.

The F-Secure team said it had worked with the locks’ maker over the past year to create a fix. But the Swedish manufacturer is playing down the risk to those hotels that have yet to install an update.

“Vision Software is a 20-year-old product, which has been compromised after 12 years and thousands of hours of intensive work by two employees at F-Secure,” said a spokeswoman for the company, Assa Abloy. “These old locks represent only a small fraction [of the those in use] and are being rapidly replaced with new technology.”

She added that hotels had begun deploying the fix two months ago. “Digital devices and software of all kinds, are vulnerable to hacking. However, it would take a big team of skilled specialists years to try to repeat this.”

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National Crime Agency Helps Take Down Website Linked To Cyber Crime

A website blamed for launching more than four million cyber-attacks around the world, including attempts to crash banks in the UK, has been taken down in a major international investigation.

The operation, which involved the UK’s National Crime Agency, blocked Webstresser.org – which allows criminals to buy attacks on businesses.

The site was used by a British suspect to attack high street banks last year, causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage. Six suspected members of the gang behind the site have been arrested, with computers seized in the UK, Holland and elsewhere.

The site targeted in this week’s operation was one of many operating openly on the web as a “stresser” business, offering to test a company’s cyber-defences.

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