Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

The UN has suspended all aid convoys in Syria after its lorries were attacked by warplanes near Aleppo on Monday.

The convoy had received proper permits, and all warring parties – including Russia and the US – had been notified, a UN spokesman said.

Eighteen of the 31 lorries, containing wheat, winter clothes and medical supplies, were destroyed. A senior local official of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was among about 20 civilians killed, aid officials said.

The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, has described the attack as a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.

The US has expressed “outrage” over the attack, which took place in the town of Urum al-Kubra hours after the Syrian army declared a US-Russian brokered truce over. Washington has said it will “reassess the future prospects for co-operation” with Russia – an ally of Syria’s government.

Read More

Four air strikes have hit rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo, activists say, the first raids there since a ceasefire began last Monday.

Several people were injured, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, but it did not say who carried out the strikes. Russia has said the future of the truce is in doubt after the US-led coalition struck the Syrian army in Deir al-Zour.
A Syrian political adviser said the US strike could not be a mistake.

The cessation of hostilities brokered jointly by the US and Russia does not exclude attacks on IS or other jihadist groups. An activist in Aleppo confirmed there had been strikes on the eastern neighbourhoods of Karam al-Jabal and al-Shaar. The Aleppo Media Centre reported three injuries in an air strike on al-Sakhour neighbourhood.

The US-led attack on Saturday caused tensions between the US and Russia, with both Russia and Syria accusing the US of co-ordinating the strikes and the Islamic State group. The US military said the coalition believed it was attacking IS positions, and has expressed regret for the “unintentional loss of life”. But President Bashar al-Assad’s media adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said she did not believe the attack was unintentional. “The United States, the superpower, the greatest country in the world, makes mistakes in targeting the army? I mean, this doesn’t make sense to ask,” she told BBC World television. “The other explanation is that there is one authority in the United States who wanted to conduct this, the other doesn’t want to. And that’s why they are finding it very difficult to implement what they agreed upon with the Russian,” she said.

The attack put “a very big question mark” over the truce’s future, said Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.

Read More

A suspicious device found near a New Jersey railway station exploded as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials say.

It was one of up to five devices found in backpack inside a rubbish bin near the station in Elizabeth, according to the city’s mayor. No-one was hurt. The discovery came after three attacks at the weekend – bombs in New York and New Jersey, and stabbings in Minnesota.

The explosion in New York’s Chelsea area injured 29 people.

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, police detonated a device on Monday following concerns it was a live bomb. “That was not a controlled explosion,” said Mayor Christian Bollwage, adding that the blast happened as a robot examining a device cut a wire. The bag containing a number of devices was picked out of a bin by two men who thought it could contain something of value. “They started to examine the backpack is when they found the wires and the pipes and they dropped the backpack, walked around the corner, went in to police headquarters and notified us right away,” he said.

In New York City, the FBI said it had stopped a “vehicle of interest” in Brooklyn on Sunday but made no arrests. Five people were taken into custody for questioning, officials told US media. But a spokeswoman said no-one had been charged and the investigation was continuing.

Both the bomb that detonated on Saturday in Chelsea, and a device found nearby, were shrapnel-filled pressure cookers – similar to the bombs used in the attack on the 2013 Boston marathon, US media report. They appeared to be “similar in design”, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Read More

A Canadian man arrested with his wife in China two years ago on espionage charges has returned home.

Kevin Garratt was held in August 2014 and accused of stealing state secrets. His wife, Julia Garratt, was freed on bail in February the following year.

The couple had been living on the North Korea border before their arrest, where they said they were helping refugees. His release follows Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent first official visit to China.

The Garratts’ eldest son called the espionage allegations at the time “absurd”. A statement from the family said Mr Garratt was deported on Thursday following a ruling in the case. “The Garratt family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers, and also thanks the many individuals who worked to secure Kevin’s release,” the statement said.

The Canadian prime minister said he was “delighted” by Mr Garratt’s homecoming. “We remain deeply impressed by the grace and resilience of the Garratt family,” Mr Trudeau added.
In an August press conference, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang assured the Canadian PM that Mr Garratt would be treated humanely.

Mr Li will meet Mr Trudeau next week when he makes an official visit to Canada.

The Vancouver couple had lived since 1984 in Dandong, China, where they ran a popular coffee shop and carried out Christian aid work.

The Chinese government had denied accusations the couple’s arrest was retaliation for the detention of a Chinese man in Canada who had been wanted in the US for allegedly stealing fighter jet documents.

Four UK soldiers who “forced” an Iraqi boy into a canal and let him drown have been condemned by a judge investigating civilian deaths in the Iraq War.

Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali, who was 15, died in Basra in May 2003 after he was detained on suspicion of looting. The British judge’s report said Ahmed should never have been detained or made to enter the canal, and should have been rescued when he was “floundering”.

The Ministry of Defence said it was “extremely sorry”.

UK forces entered Basra City on the night of 6 April 2003, as part of the invasion of Iraq, and rapidly took control of the area, although they encountered widespread looting. The incident took place after soldiers were called to a derelict industrial compound where they found 20 to 30 suspected looters. After a chase, Ahmed was one of four suspected looters who were first made to roll around in a pool of stagnant water. They were then taken in a Warrior armed vehicle to the Shatt-Al Basra canal and forced to enter the water there.

According to one of the others detained, Ayad Salim Hanoon, the four were forced to enter the canal “at gunpoint”. He also gave evidence that the soldiers threw stones to force them into deeper water, although the report was unable to establish whether or not this claim was true.

Read More