London, United Kingdom | AFP | The world’s biggest ransomware attack levelled off on Monday after wreaking havoc in 150 countries, but Russian President Vladimir Putin called it payback for the US intelligence services. Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer Brad Smith has said the US National Security Agency developed …
Read More »List of organisations hit by global cyberattack
Paris, France | AFP | A huge range of organisations around the world have been affected by the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, described by the EU’s law enforcement agency as “unprecedented”. Here are some of the most prominent victims, from Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) to French carmaker Renault and the …
Read More »Fast-moving cyberattacks wreak havoc worldwide
Washington, United States | AFP | A fast-moving wave of cyberattacks swept the globe Friday, apparently exploiting a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency. The attacks — which experts said affected dozens of countries — used a technique known as ransomware that locks users’ files …
Read More »France on edge as presidential vote looms
Paris, France | AFP | France was on edge Saturday on the eve of its most unpredictable presidential election in decades, which will take place under heightened security after the jihadist killing of a policeman. The shooting on Paris’s world-renowned Champs Elysees avenue on Thursday thrust questions of security to …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Spate of attacks masks a weakening Islamic State
Paris, France | AFP | The steady drip of jihadist attacks in Europe, including the slaying of a policeman on Paris’s world-famous Champs Elysees Thursday, might give the impression the Islamic State group is thriving — but experts say that’s wrong. Under the pressure of the international coalition in Iraq …
Read More »ANALYSIS: No-one safe as sport becomes growing magnet for extremists
Paris, France | AFP | Three bombs hidden in a hedge that exploded when the Borussia Dortmund Champions League team passed by proved that no sporting event is now safe from a militant attack, experts said. With the Boston marathon looming on Monday — four years after it was the …
Read More »Police say blasts were ‘targeted attack’ on Dortmund
Dortmund, Germany | AFP | German police said Tuesday that they believe the three explosions that rocked Dortmund’s team bus ahead of a Champions League game were directly targeted at the club. “We are assuming that they were a targeted attack against the Dortmund team,” said Dortmund city’s police chief …
Read More »Five attacks on sporting events…memories of Munich massacre, Togo
Paris, France | AFP | Three explosions targetting the Borussia Dortmund team bus left one person injured and forced the postponement of Tuesday’s Champions League match against Monaco in Germany. Here are other attacks that have rocked sporting events. 1972 Munich Olympics massacre Eleven Israeli athletes perished at the 1972 Munich …
Read More »Carlos the Jackal on trial for 1974 Paris attack
Paris, France | AFP | Carlos the Jackal, the world’s most wanted fugitive in the 1970s and early 1980s, went on trial in France on Monday for the deadly bombing of a Paris shop more than 40 years ago. The 67-year-old convict cut a grizzled, thinner figure as he was …
Read More »The 9/11 mastermind told Obama attacks were America’s fault
Washington, United States | AFP | The self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11 attacks wrote to former president Barack Obama to tell him 9/11 was a direct result of American foreign policy and the deaths of innocent people it has caused. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s 18-page letter was addressed to “the …
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