Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

Former US President Barack Obama has turned up for jury duty at a Chicago courthouse, but was dismissed by the judge without being called on to serve.

Crowds thronged the Daley Center municipal building to catch a glimpse of the 44th US president. There was no official explanation for his dismissal, but it is not uncommon for people called to perform jury service not to be assigned a case.

Mr Obama arrived at court on Wednesday morning and left around midday. The former president, who was once a law professor, has a house in Chicago.

Each potential juror is paid about $17.20 (£13.11) from the county. News helicopters filmed Mr Obama’s motorcade as it moved from his home in the Kenwood neighbourhood to an indoor car park downtown.

Wearing a jacket but no tie, Mr Obama took a lift to the 17th floor, where he was met by other jurors as well as journalists, court staffers and lawyers. He was not there for long. Mr Obama was randomly selected for dismissal and was told his services were not required by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evan.

Read More

Thousands of children and teenagers were referred to the government’s anti-terror programme in England and Wales last year, Home Office figures show.

The Prevent programme aims to stop people being drawn into terrorism.

There were 7,631 referrals in 2015-16, a quarter of which were of under-15s, but only 381 required specialist help.

Labour’s Naz Shah said the figures reinforced her concerns about the scheme, but security minister Ben Wallace said it had got “real results”.

Chief Constable Simon Cole, the national policing lead for Prevent, said the number of referrals showed that “trust and support is growing” for the programme.

Read More

Priti Patel has arrived back from Africa, ordered by the prime minister following controversy over her meetings with Israeli officials.

Political editor Laura Kuenssberg said “some kind of development” was expected today and Ms Patel’s sacking seemed “almost inevitable now”. Ms Patel apologised on Monday to the PM about unauthorised meetings with Israeli politicians in August. But there are now questions about further meetings held in September.

Diplomatic correspondent James Landale said the international development secretary had cut short her official trip to Uganda and was flying back to the UK.

Ms Patel was formally reprimanded in Downing Street on Monday, where she was asked to give details about a dozen meetings she had with Israeli officials while on holiday, which were not sanctioned by the Foreign Office. It has also now emerged that Ms Patel conducted two further meetings in September without government officials present.
Read More

US President Donald Trump has landed in China for talks likely to be dominated by tensions over North Korea.

His arrival came after a speech to the South Korean parliament in which Mr Trump urged China to further isolate North Korea.

The White House sees China as pivotal in reining in the North’s nuclear aims but Beijing says it is doing enough.

Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a lavish welcome to Mr Trump in what has been called a “state visit-plus”. Before his visit, Mr Trump piled praise on Mr Xi, saying he was looking forward to meeting the Chinese president after “his great political victory”.

Mr Xi recently consolidated his power at a Chinese Communist Party congress, a move analysts say will make him less likely to reach compromise with Mr Trump.

A red carpet, military band and flag-waving children met Mr Trump and his wife Melania when they arrived in Beijing. By contrast, when Barack Obama visited China during the final weeks of his presidency there was no red carpet, in what was seen as a calculated snub.

Read More

Gunmen disguised as police officers have attacked a television station in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing at least two people, police say.

The attackers lobbed grenades before storming the Shamshad TV building.

Afghan security forces have ended the raid and the television station has resumed broadcasting.

So-called Islamic State (IS) said it had carried out the attack. Kabul has been targeted repeatedly in recent months by the Taliban and IS. A security guard has been confirmed killed and 20 people are being treated in hospital.

“This is an attack on freedom of media but they cannot silence us,” the station’s news director Abid Ehsas told another outlet, Tolo News. Special forces had to blast their way through a concrete wall protecting the station to enter the site.

Shamshad TV broadcasts a wide variety of programmes including news and current affairs in the Pashto language.

Read More