Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

Security officials in Rio de Janeiro are investigating whether a bus carrying journalists between Olympic venues was shot at on Tuesday evening.

Two windows were smashed and three of the 12 people on board suffered cuts.

Mario Andrada, chief spokesman for Rio 2016’s organising committee, said: “We don’t know yet if the bus was shot, or it was a stone.” The bus was travelling between the Deodoro hockey venue and the main press centre at Barra da Tijuca. Lee Michaelson, a reporter on women’s basketball and a former US Air Force captain, said: “I know what a gun sounds like. With my background and training, I got down on the floor as much as I could and I hollered to the others to get down. “The others were just beginning to respond. I started yelling at them, ‘Get down, get down, we are taking fire’.”

The International Olympic Committee said security forces are investigating the incident. “There was a popping, cracking noise,” added an unnamed photographer from the UK’s Press Association. “There were pierced holes in the glass when it happened. Everyone was on the floor so I got on the floor as well.” “The two windows did not shatter immediately but one of them shattered as we drove along the motorway,” the photographer added.

A police escort quickly arrived and accompanied the bus back to the press centre.

A statement from the Games organising committee said military patrols would be “increased” in response. On Saturday a bullet pierced the roof of the media tent at the Olympic Equestrian Centre – which is located near a military compound. The competition was not disrupted and nobody was hurt.

Turkey has seen an upheaval in its foreign and domestic politics, exacerbated by the near-disastrous coup attempt on 15 July.

In view of the current “frost” in the AKP government’s relations with both the US and the EU, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to choose Russia for his first official visit abroad since the botched coup appears rich in symbolism. And Western leaders will be looking on nervously.

The EU’s migrant deal with Turkey has run into trouble and the US is under pressure to extradite self-exiled Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for the coup. But Tuesday’s visit is not a snap decision by the Turkish state in reaction to a perceived lack of visible and credible Western support in times of crisis, nor is it in appreciation of President Putin’s swift support. The history goes farther back than that.

Some years ago Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s then foreign minister and later prime minister, coined the slogan “Zero problems with all neighbours” as Turkey adapted its policy to meet the wave of changes during the so-called Arab Spring. By the end of last year, the Turkish leadership had problems with all its neighbours and partners and a diminishing crowd of friends, because of negative developments in Syria and Iraq as well as failures in Turkish policy. And as Turkey’s security interests have worsened in Syria, with Kurdish militants either side of the border, it has clearly become a strategic necessity for Ankara to bow to realities and look for opportunities for an honourable retreat. This applies in particular to the Turkish government´s policy towards Russia.
Earlier relations were based essentially and pragmatically on a number of points of economic interdependence.

Read More

A man has been jailed for life after he admitted the religiously-motivated murder of a Glasgow shopkeeper whom he claimed had “disrespected” Islam.

Sunni Muslim Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford in Yorkshire, stabbed 40-year-old Asad Shah outside his store in Shawlands on 24 March. Ahmed had said he killed the shopkeeper because he had posted videos online in which he claimed to be a prophet.

The killer was told he would serve a minimum of 27 years in prison.

Mr Shah was an Ahmadiyya, a minority sect not recognised by all Muslims.

Last month, Ahmed had pleaded guilty to the religiously-motivated murder at a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow. Jailing him for life at the same court, judge Lady Rae told Ahmed: “This was a barbaric, premeditated and wholly unjustified killing of a much loved man who was a pillar of the local community. “He was described as a peaceful and peace-loving man and family man who went out of his way to show respect for those of any faith.” The judge branded the attack as “an appalling display of merciless violence”.

Lady Rae added: “No-one in any civilised country including Scotland has the right to take the life of another whatever offence that individual perceives that he or she has suffered. “It is vitally important in modern society that respect and tolerance for others of any race, creed, colour, ethnic origin or religious belief is maintained and protected by the law of the land. “I note with considerable concern that you have expressed no remorse whatsoever for this appalling crime.”

Read More

Rebel factions who claim to have made gains in Syria’s city of Aleppo have come under intense air strikes from pro-government forces.

The Syrian government released video of its planes apparently bombing targets in the south-west of the city. The rebels earlier said they had broken a weeks-long government siege of Aleppo – a claim denied by Damascus.

Some 250,000 people reportedly live in the besieged areas.

An AFP news agency correspondent reported that air strikes had targeted rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

Opposition activists said Russian aircraft also took part in the air strikes on Sunday in Aleppo’s Ramouseh area. There was no immediate comment from the Russian military.

Meanwhile, the rebel coalition said it would double the number of fighters to launch a new offensive and retake the whole city. “We will not rest until we raise the flag of the conquest over Aleppo’s citadel,” the coalition was quoted as saying.

The Syrian government denies the rebels have made any significant breakthrough, and says the siege remains in place. However, government forces appear to be redeploying to avoid the rebels making any further gains.

Government forces cut Aleppo’s rebel-held areas off in July. Aleppo was once Syria’s commercial capital and also boasted a rich architectural and archaeological heritage. Much of it has been destroyed or looted during more than five years of war.

A bomb blast has killed 53 people at a hospital in the city of Quetta in south-west Pakistan, officials say.

Dozens of people were injured in the attack, which happened at the entrance to the emergency department where the body of a prominent lawyer shot dead earlier on Monday was being brought.

The casualties included lawyers and journalists accompanying the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi. Gunfire followed the explosion. It was not clear who the attackers were.

Pakistani police have said they suspect the bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker.

Mr Kasi, who was president of the Balochistan Bar Association, had been shot while on his way to the main court complex in Quetta, local news outlet Geo TV reported.

Read More