Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

A US Navy fighter jet has crashed in the Philippine Sea, south of the Japanese island of Okinawa.

The F/A-18 Hornet was conducting routine operations when it “experienced a mechanical issue” that forced the two crew to eject, the US 7th Fleet said. The pair were rescued from the water in good condition and were being evaluated on board the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, it added.

Okinawa hosts US military bases and thousands of personnel.

Japan’s coastguard sent an aircraft to check if there was “any debris or floating oil” as a result of the crash, a spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

This is the second recent incident involving the USS Ronald Reagan. In mid-October a US Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter crashed on the flight deck of the carrier, injuring 12 people.

The US 7th Fleet, which stays deployed in the Asia-Pacific region, is made up of at least 50 ships and submarines at any given time, along with 140 aircraft and some 20,000 sailors.

A man who set a car on fire and stabbed three people – one fatally – in the Australian city of Melbourne has died in hospital after being shot by police.

Authorities now say they are treating the attack as a terror-related.

The attacker was shot after confronting officers on a busy city street, authorities said. He was taken into custody in a critical condition.

The two survivors are in hospital, one reportedly in a critical condition. The suspect has not been named.

Police said they were “not looking for anyone further at this early stage”. “We don’t believe there is an ongoing threat at this stage, but certainly we are treating it as a terrorism incident,” said Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.

He said the suspect was “someone that is known to us”. Police say the man was of Somali origin and had been travelling in a vehicle packed with gas cylinders which caught fire.

Read More

A man has been arrested in north-eastern Spain on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The suspect, known as a crack shot, had an arsenal of weapons at his home in Terrassa, Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra police force announced.

Local media said the man, 63, wanted to take revenge for Mr Sánchez’s plans to exhume the remains of Francisco Franco. The fascist leader’s mausoleum is revered by the Spanish far right.

Sixteen unlicensed firearms, including a pistol, were found in the suspect’s home.

Named only as Manuel M, the suspect is said to have told friends on Whatsapp he was going to kill Mr Sánchez, who became prime minister in June. He is said to be a far-right extremist with a history of mental problems.

At least 12 people have been killed, including a police officer, at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California.

The shooting began at 23:20 local time on Wednesday about 40 miles (65km) north-west of Los Angeles, police say.

At least 200 people were reportedly inside the Borderline Bar and Grill, which was hosting a university student night, at the time of the attack. Officials say the suspect, who has not been identified, was found dead inside. They have not yet confirmed any motive for the shooting.

A college country music night was under way when the suspect, apparently dressed in black, entered the bar and opened fire. Reports say the suspect may have used smoke grenades and at least one weapon, described as a semi-automatic handgun by witnesses.

A injured man told local television channel KTLA: “We just dropped to the ground, we heard a lot of screaming. My friend is the DJ so she cut off the music, we just heard a lot of mayhem.”

Read More

More than 200 mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been found in areas of Iraq that were once controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group, a UN investigation has found.

The graves were found in the north and western governorates of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar. They could contain as many as 12,000 victims, the UN report said.

IS seized parts of Iraq in 2014 and imposed brutal rule, commonly killing anyone of whom it disapproved. It was eventually vanquished by a US-led air campaign backed by Iraqi government forces and allied militias on the ground, although pockets of IS activity remain in some areas.

The sites, the report notes, contain critical evidence that will not only identify the victims but also help prosecutors build cases for war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide.

The report said 202 mass graves had been documented so far, including 95 in Ninevah, 37 in Kirkuk, 36 in Salah al-Din and 24 in Anbar.

Read More