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169 Arrested In Anti-Mafia Raids Across Germany And Italy
Police in Italy and Germany have made 169 arrests in an anti-mafia swoop, Italian police say.
Assets worth €50m (£44.06m; $59.79m) were seized in the operation targeting the 'Ndrangheta organised crime group.
As part of the group's activities, German restaurants were forced to buy wine, pizza dough and pastries made in southern Italy, police say. Those arrested include the president of Crotone province, Nicodemo Parrilla, in Italy's Calabria region.
The investigation focused on the Farao-Marincola gang, one of the strongest in Calabria, Italian news agency Ansa reports, quoting police.
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Six Appear In Court Charged With Belonging To Neo-Nazi Group
Five men and a woman have appeared in court charged with belonging to banned British Neo-Nazi group National Action.
One defendant, Daniel Boguvonic, said he intended "to fight these charges from start to finish".
All six have indicated not-guilty pleas to being members of the group, following an inquiry led by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.
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Russian Forces Thwart Attack On Syrian Airbase
Russian forces have foiled a drone attack on an airbase in Syria just days after reports that rebel shelling had damaged several planes, activists say.
The attempt to bomb the Hmeimim base near the north-western city of Latakia on Saturday was thwarted when unmanned aircraft were shot down, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports. Two Russian servicemen were killed when the base was attacked on 31 December.
The coastal Hmeimim airbase is at the core of Russia's war effort in Syria.
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Two Counter-Terrorism Police Sacked For Gross Misconduct
Two counter-terrorism detectives have been sacked for skipping duties during night shifts at Manchester Airport.
Constables Jason Coman and Jennifer Gold were supposed to be checking airline passenger lists and stopping any potential terror suspects. But they were found to have spent "extended periods of time" in their office during four night shifts in July 2016.
They were dismissed for gross misconduct after an internal probe. The pair are not believed to have been in a relationship.
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Report On Swansea Prison Shows It Is Not Fit For Purpose
A prison is not fit for purpose because of its low standards and failure to do more to prevent eight people taking their own lives over the past six years, a watchdog has said.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) said each of the deaths at Swansea prison were within the first week of arrival.
Four of those happened before an inspection in 2014 and the latest visit found lessons had not been learnt. Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) said action was taken. Inspectors also found issues with violence, overcrowding and self-harm.
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Many Civilians Killed In Syrian Air Strikes
Twenty-five civilians are reported to have been killed in air strikes on two towns in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area outside Syria's capital, Damascus.
The Syria Civil Defence said one of its rescue workers was among 18 people who died when what witnesses identified as Russian jets bombed Misraba. Another six people died in suspected Russian strikes on Arbin, it added.
Some 400,000 people in the area have been under siege by Russian-backed Syrian government forces since 2013.
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Twitter Feud Continues Between Trump And Kim Jong-un
US President Donald Trump has boasted that his nuclear button is "much bigger" and "more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's.
Mr Trump's tweet is the latest contribution to the increasingly personalised feud between the nuclear-armed leaders.
Mr Kim threatened earlier this week that his nuclear launch button was "always on my table". Unsurprisingly, Mr Trump's unorthodox words sent social media into a frenzy. It ended a quickfire day of tweeting by Mr Trump that included taking credit for a lack of plane crashes, announcing awards for "corrupt media", and threatening to pull aid fro…
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Church Attack In Egypt Leaves Four Dead
At least four people were killed in a gun attack on a church in Helwan, south of Cairo, reports say.
Two of the victims were said to be police officers.
Security forces at the Mar Mina church shot dead one gunman but it was unclear if a second gunman had escaped.
The attack comes ahead of New Year celebrations and the Coptic Christmas on 7 January. Earlier this week security services published plans to protect the festivities.
They included the deployment of rapid reaction forces and jamming equipment.
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Men Arrested On 19th December Charged With Terrorism
Two men have been charged with terror offences by police investigating an alleged plot for an attack over Christmas.
Farhad Salah, 22, from Sheffield, and Andi Sami Star, 31, from Chesterfield, have been charged with engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism.
Both men will appear via video link at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Friday. The pair were among four men arrested on 19 December.
Police said a 36-year-old man, from Burngreave in Sheffield, remained in custody, while a 41-year-old man, from Meersbrook in Sheffield, was released on Saturday.
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Covent Garden Opera House Evacuated Over Suspicious Package
More than 2,500 people were evacuated from London's Royal Opera House after a "suspicious package" was found.
An announcement asking the cast and opera-goers to leave the area was made "on the final chord" of Thursday's performance of Rigoletto and cut short the curtain call.
Police were called to the Covent Garden venue at 21:39 GMT and later deemed the package safe. The evacuation was described as "orderly" and "calm" on social media.
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