Reuters, Washington
The U.S. government on Tuesday issued a rare alert on the activities of a hacking group it dubbed “Hidden Cobra,” saying the group was part of the North Korean government and that more attacks were likely.
The joint alert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that “cyber actors of the North Korean government” had targeted the media, aerospace and financial sectors, as well as critical infrastructure, in the United States and globally.
100 IS fighters attack Iraqi forces in Mosul
AP, Baghdad
More than 100 Islamic State militants launched a counterattack in Mosul on Wednesday, killing 11 Federal Police and four civilians in clashes that were still underway, Iraqi security officials said.
The wide-scale assault underscored the extremist group’s resilience in the city despite months of heavy fighting with Iraqi forces backed by U.S. air power.
Suicide bomber kills 9 in Afghanistan
AP, Kandahar
A suicide bomber targeted a checkpoint run by rival insurgents in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province Wednesday, killing nine of them, an Afghan official said.
Mohammad Saleem Rohdi, chief of the Gareshk district, said six other militants from a breakaway Taliban faction were wounded in the attack early Wednesday.
Hungary passes tough anti-foreign NGO law
AP, Hungary
Hungary’s parliament approved Tuesday a crackdown on foreign-backed civil society groups despite an international outcry, in a move seen as targeting US billionaire George Soros.
A new law, passed by 130 votes to 44, will force groups receiving more than 24,000 euros ($26,000) annually in overseas funding to register as a “foreign-supported organisation”, or risk closure for non-compliance.
Two dead after Kenya building collapse
AFP, Nairobi
The mother of two children rescued from a collapsed seven-storey building in Nairobi has died in hospital, officials said Wednesday, amid fears more people are trapped under the rubble.
The woman’s daughter and son are in a stable condition after being pulled from the debris in a poor neighbourhood near Nairobi’s international airport, southeast of the Kenyan capital.
Two prison guards shot dead in Georgia
BBC Online
Two prison officers were shot and killed during an escape on Tuesday morning in the US state of Georgia.
Inmates Donnie Russell Row and Ricky Dubose are suspected of overpowering the guards while being transported by bus to a work assignment.
Police say the men, who are both serving time for armed robbery at Baldwin State Prison, hijacked the prison transport bus.
They later commandeered another car, and are considered armed and dangerous.
