Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

A memorial service is being held for Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued hundreds of children from the Holocaust in the months before World War Two.

Some 400 people are attending event at London’s Guildhall, including 28 of those he saved and Czech, Slovak and UK government representatives.

Sir Nicholas organised the «Kindertransport» in which 669 mostly Jewish children came to Britain by train from Czechoslovakia in 1939.
He died on 1 July last year, aged 106.

The Kindertransport became public knowledge on BBC TV show That’s Life in 1988 when presenter Esther Rantzen reunited some of those saved with the person who helped them escape the Nazis. Many of the children went on to have their own families and the number currently alive as a result of the Kindertransport is believed to be about 7,000.

Around 130 rescued children and family members have travelled from around the world to be at the service. Those present include Lord Alfred Dubs, Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines and the Rev John Fieldsend, who were all part of the Kindertransport, and representatives from the German and Swedish embassies.

The service will have contributions from Lord Dubs, Dame Esther Rantzen, four other of the children, and former Czech ambassador Michael Zantovsky.

Read More

An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo made two sharp turns before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, Greece’s defence minister says.

Panos Kammenos said the Airbus A320 had «turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn to the right». It then dropped more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before disappearing from radar, he added.

Egypt’s civil aviation minister has said the possibility of a terror attack is stronger than technical failure.

Sixty-six people were on board Flight MS804, most of them from Egypt or France. A Briton was among the passengers.

Latest reports suggest search teams have sighted debris from the plane. «There have been finds south-east of Crete, inside the Cairo flight information area,» Greek army general staff spokesman Vassilis Beletsiotis told AFP news agency. The search in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos involves Greek and Egyptian naval forces.

Of those on the plane, 56 were passengers, seven were crew members and three were security personnel.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 23:09 local time on Wednesday (21:09 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in the Egyptian capital soon after 03:15 local time on Thursday. EgyptAir said the plane had been flying at 37,000ft (11,300m) when it disappeared from radar shortly after entering Egyptian airspace. Greek aviation officials say air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot when he entered Greek airspace and everything appeared normal. They tried to contact him again at 02:27 Cairo time, as the plane was set to enter Egyptian airspace, but «despite repeated calls, the aircraft did not respond». Two minutes later it vanished from radar.

Read More

A man has been arrested in the grounds of Buckingham Palace after scaling a perimeter wall, police have said.

The 41-year-old was found in the palace grounds by officers seven minutes after an alarm was activated on Wednesday evening, according to the Met Police. The suspect, who was not armed, was arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site and is in custody.

It is understood that the Queen was at the palace at the time of the security breach.

A palace spokesman said: «We never comment on security, which is a matter for the police.» Police officers at the Queen’s central London residence were alerted at 20:37 BST, the Met said. Commander Adrian Usher, head of the Met’s royalty and specialist protection, said: «I am content that our security measures worked effectively on this occasion and at no time was any individual at risk.»

But Ken Wharfe, a former protection officer for Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry, said: «It took seven minutes to find this guy, which is a hell of a long time. Ten seconds is a long time, a minute is a long time.» He added: «Once somebody is over that wall, unless you catch them immediately there’s no telling where that person might go.» Mr Wharfe said the problem for security was that the Queen was «quite adamant she doesn’t want any additional people patrolling».

Read More

A woman who said she wanted to marry «Jihadi John» has been jailed for four years and six months for sharing so-called Islamic State propaganda.

Zafreen Khadam, 32, was found guilty of 10 counts of disseminating terrorist publications after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court. She shared links to execution videos and terrorist magazines online under usernames such as ‘PrincessKuffar’.

Prosecutors said Khadam, of Vincent Road, Sheffield, had «glorified» IS. Barrister Simon Davis told jurors Khadam at one stage described Kuwaiti-born Mohammed Emwazi – nicknamed «Jihadi John» – as «kind of scary» but said she «would marry him».

He told the court she set up 14 Twitter accounts and used Whatsapp to share videos, including one showing the beheading of Kurdish fighters and another of a Jordanian pilot being burnt alive.

She also shared links to seven issues of «terrorist publication» Dabiq and a speech entitled ‘What is Terrorism?’.

Read More

One of the missing Chibok schoolgirls has been found in Nigeria, activists say, the first to be rescued since their capture two years ago.

Activists told that Amina Ali Nkeki was found by a vigilante group on Tuesday in the huge Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon. In all, 218 girls remain missing after their abduction from a secondary school in north-east Nigeria in April 2014. The girls were taken by militants from the Boko Haram Islamist group.

Amina was reportedly identified by a civilian fighter who recognised her. The fighter belonged to the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), a vigilante group set up to help fight Boko Haram.

Found With Baby

Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community in the capital, Abuja, said that Amina was found by the vigilantes after venturing into the forest to search for firewood. «She was saying… all the Chibok girls are still there in the Sambisa except six of them that have already died.»

A neighbour in Mbalala said that Amina was found with a baby. An uncle, Yakubu Nkeki, told Associated Press news agency that Amina was later reunited with her mother in Chibok. She was 17 when abducted and is now 19, he said.

Read More