Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

Several explosions have struck Brussels airport and the metro system, causing at least 13 deaths, Belgian media say.

Two blasts tore through the departures area of Zaventem airport shortly after 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT).An hour later, an explosion hit Maelbeek metro station, close to the EU institutions. The airport and whole transport system have been closed.

The attacks come four days after Salah Abdeslam, the main fugitive in the Paris attacks, was seized in Brussels.

The Belgian government says there have been casualties at the airport but has given no numbers. The cause of the explosions has not been confirmed.Belgium has now raised its terror threat to its highest level. Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted: «For the moment, we are asking people to stay where they are.»
Belgian broadcaster VRT said that in addition to the dead at the airport, at least 35 people were severely injured.The Belga news agency reports that shots were fired and shouts in Arabic were heard before the two explosions. Some reports say it was a suicide attack.

Images on social media showed panic as people fled the airport.Rail transport to the airport has been halted and people have been told not to come. All flights have been diverted. Eurostar has cancelled all trains to and from Brussels.

Security has been stepped up at Gatwick and Heathrow airports and the UK Foreign Office has advised British nationals to avoid crowded areas in Belgium. UK PM David Cameron will chair a meeting of the Cobra response committee later on Tuesday morning.

Read More

Former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has been found guilty of war crimes in a landmark trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Bemba was accused of failing to stop his rebels from killing and raping people in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003. He had sent more than 1,000 fighters to help put down an attempted coup.

Bemba, once vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will remain in custody until sentencing. The court in The Hague found him guilty of several charges including rape and murder. He is expected to appeal. It is the first time the ICC has focussed on sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Geraldine Mattioli from campaign group Human Rights Watch tweeted that the case «shines a spotlight on use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war».

It is alleged that for a period of five months Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) rebel fighters killed hundred of civilians, raped women and looted.

Read More

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam was preparing attacks in Brussels before he was arrested, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has suggested.

Abdeslam is being interrogated in Belgium following his arrest in a dramatic raid in Brussels on Friday. Many weapons and a new terror network had been uncovered in the city, Mr Reynders told a foreign policy forum.

The Paris attacks, claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS), left 130 people dead and dozens injured. Mr Reynders cited information that he said had come to light since Abdeslam’s arrest. «He was ready to restart something in Brussels,» he told the German Marshall Fund of the United States meeting in the city. «And it’s maybe the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons, in the first investigations and we have found a new network around him in Brussels.»

Mr Reynders said the number of suspects had risen markedly since the November attacks. «We are sure for the moment we have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure there are others.»

France has reinforced its border security and Interpol has warned that accomplices may try to flee across frontiers now that Abdeslam is in custody.

In another development, Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, said he planned to take legal action against Paris prosecutor Francois Molins for breach of confidentiality. Mr Molins told reporters on Saturday that Abdeslam had admitted he wanted to blow himself up during the attacks on 13 November, but then changed his mind.

Read More

Belgian prosecutors say that DNA has identified an accomplice of captured Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.

The man is named as Najim Laachraoui, 24, still on the run. A statement said he had been using false ID and that his DNA had been found in houses used by the suspected jihadist network. Abdeslam was captured in Brussels on Friday and is still being interrogated.

French President Francois Hollande is due to meet relatives of some of the 130 killed in the 13 November attacks. Meanwhile, Abdeslam’s lawyer has denied Belgian media reports the suspect will become an informer in return for more lenient treatment. So-called Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the Paris attacks.

Who Were The Paris Attackers?

The Belgian prosecutor’s statement said that last September Abdeslam had travelled twice to the Hungarian capital Budapest, using a rental car. In the car were two other men, using fake Belgian identity cards with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal. Soufiane Kayal has now been identified as Laachraoui by DNA found at houses in the town of Auvelais and the Brussels district of Schaerbeek. «The investigation showed that Soufiane Kayal can be identified as Najim Laachraoui, born on 18 May 1991 and who travelled to Syria in February 2013.»

Read More

A former German intelligence employee has been sentenced to eight years in jail for spying for the US and Russia.

Markus Reichel admitted handing over more than 200 documents over four years to the CIA in exchange for at least €80,000 (£63,000, $90,000).

The court in Munich heard that these included the real and cover names and addresses of German agents abroad. The 32-year-old was also found guilty of treason for giving three documents to the Russian secret service.

Reichel had been employed at the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) since 2007, working in the mail room where he had access to classified documents. He also had clearance to handle top secret information, the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper reports. During his trial, which began in November, Reichel said that he had handed over the intelligence not only for the thrill and adventure of it, but also for the recognition. «No-one trusted me with anything at the BND. At the CIA it was different,» he told the court. «I would be lying if I said that I didn’t like that.»

Read More