Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

Pro-government forces in Iraq have formally launched an operation to drive Islamic State out of Anbar province.
The announcement was made by a spokesman for the Popular Mobilisation (al-Hashid al-Shaabi), a force comprising dozens of Shia militias.
He said the operation would see government troops and militiamen move southwards from Salahuddin province and seek to cut off IS militants in Ramadi.

The provincial capital fell to IS this month after Iraq’s army withdrew.
Since then government forces have been massing for a counter-attack in the western province, and they say they have regained some ground east of Ramadi in the past few days.

On Tuesday, fighting was reported south and west of Ramadi, as the Iraqi forces tried to cut off supply routes to the city.
The offensive has been welcomed by the Americans, with Vice-President Joe Biden pledging full US support, the BBC’s defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.
But he adds that Washington remains uneasy about the prominent role of Shia fighters, many of whom are backed by Iran.

Read More

A commander of Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), was among five rebels killed in a bombing raid on Monday, the Colombian military says.

The rebel, known as Roman Ruiz, led the 18th division of the Farc, which operates in north-west Colombia.
The bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on the Farc by Colombian security forces.
The two sides are holding peace talks but have not agreed a ceasefire.

Key Leader

The Colombian air force said it bombed a rebel position near the town of Riosucio in north-western Choco province on Monday.
Sources in the security forces later told local media that among those killed in the raid was Alfredo Alarcon Machado, better known by his alias, Roman Ruiz.
However, Ruiz has been reported killed once before.
Last year, sources in the security forces announced he had been killed, only for the head of the police to deny it later.
Ruiz is believed to be the right-hand man of Pastor Alape, who is part of the Farc team negotiating with the Colombian government at peace talks in the Cuban capital, Havana.
About 40 Farc rebels have been killed since the security forces resumed their bombing raids.
President Juan Manuel Santos gave the order for the resumption after 11 soldiers were killed on 15 April in a Farc ambush in south-western Cauca province.

Read More

An Italian organised crime boss convicted for more than 20 murders has been caught in Brazil after 31 years on the run.
Pasquale Scotti – a leading member of the Camorra, a Naples-based mafia-style crime gang – escaped from an Italian hospital in 1984.
He was found in the Brazilian city of Recife, and police said his fingerprints confirmed his identity.
He is now expected to be extradited to Italy in the next few days.

Scotti had evaded police since escaping from hospital, where he was being treated after a shoot-out with police.
Scotti was convicted for extortion, murder and firearms offences committed between 1980 and 1983. In his absence, he received a life sentence, and a warrant for his arrest was issued in Italy in 1991.

However, many reports – based on evidence given by a former Camorra associate of Scotti – said he had died soon after his escape in 1984.
According to Italy’s Interior Ministry, Scotti was arrested in Recife in an operation that brought together officers from Naples’ police, Italian anti-mafia officers, Brazilian police and Interpol.
Reports in Brazil said Scotti, 56, was held while driving his two children, aged 12 and 15, to school. He was reportedly using the pseudonym Francisco de Castro Visconti, owned a food import company and was a partner in a nightclub.
Brazilian police said Scotti had fake identification and was even registered to vote in Recife.

A crew have abandoned a container ship a few miles off the German coast amid fears that its cargo of fertiliser could explode.

Fire broke out on Monday night in the hold of the Purple Beach, as it headed for the German port of Brake.
Residents near Bremerhaven were told to keep windows and doors shut as a strong smell was reported in the area.
Although the fire was initially put out, it started again on Tuesday prompting the crew to leave the ship.

Toxic Gas

The 192m-long (630ft) ship had been heading from Immingham on the north-east coast of England to Brake, south of Bremerhaven, when it caught fire.
It was still well alight on Wednesday and authorities said there was a danger it might explode.
Footage from the scene showed smoke rising from the Marshall Islands-registered ship on Wednesday.
The 22-strong crew and firefighters, who had tried to put out the blaze, arrived back on land overnight after three boats were sent to their aid some 20 nautical miles (40km) north of the German coast and 15 nautical miles west of the island of Helgoland.

A total of 36 people were taken to hospital for treatment for inhaling toxic gas, although no-one was said to be in a serious condition.
Maritime emergency officials issued an alert to nearby islands as well as mainland areas of northern Germany because of the cloud of malodorous gas.
“There’s no danger to the environment yet,” maritime official Michael Friedrich said, although there were fears that could change.

Some 20,000 people in the German city of Cologne have been forced to leave their homes as authorities defuse a one-tonne bomb from World War Two.
Schools and kindergartens – as well as the zoo – remained closed during the city’s largest post-war evacuation.
About 1,100 residents of a retirement and disability centre in the Riehl area were among those taken to safety.
It is not unusual for unexploded bombs to be discovered in Germany. Allied bombers targeted Cologne in WW2.

The deactivation of the one-tonne device, which was found near Muelheim bridge crossing the Rhine river, was planned for Wednesday afternoon.
City officials said in a statement that during this time the river would be closed for shipping and the airspace would also be closed.
The bomb was found on Friday during preparations for the construction of a pipeline, according to local media.

Read More