GLASGOW

A taxi driver has admitted murdering a newsagent in a brutal stabbing outside his shop in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Mr Shah, 40, who ran a convenience store in the city's Shawlands area, died following an attack by 32-year-old Tanveer Ahmed on March 24.

He was stabbed 30 times with a kitchen knife and his head was stamped on in the vicious assault outside the shop, hours after wishing his Christian friends a 'Happy Easter' on Facebook.

Ahmed, from Bradford in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to murdering the respected businessman, who was described by his family as a 'brilliant' man. 

The court heard the attack was motivated because Mr Shah belonged to the Ahmadi sect of Islam, which believes that founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the messiah and a prophet, which 'offended Ahmed's faith'.

http://goo.gl/rpVA53

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INDIA

It’s three months into her driving course and Zahida is still getting used to her new uniform - navy blue trousers with a matching zip jacket. As the 19-year-old from a slum cluster in South Delhi watches her instructor demonstrate how to check tyre pressure to her class, Zahida, almost involuntarily, pulls at her clothing.
“I can’t help it,” she smiles. “In my community, girls are not allowed to wear boys’ clothes. I grew up wearing long and loose-fitting shalwar kameez. This is still new to me.”
Despite her mild discomfort, Zahida is aware she’s breaking several taboos. As a girl and a Dalit Muslim – considered the lowest level in India’s deeply entrenched caste hierarchy – she is training for a new life.
The high school graduate is enrolled in a government pilot scheme launched last year in New Delhi, training young women to drive with a view to becoming taxi drivers. The course is part of a wider national programme to improve the lives of children like Zahida, born into families of sanitation workers and manual scavengers.

The scheme is run by the NSKFDC, a national agency that provides training and financial support, and 450 young women from three marginalised neighbourhoods in the capital were selected for training. During the seven-month programme, they are given instruction in commercial driving as well as classes in English language and self-defence. They receive a stipend of 1,500 rupees (£15) a month.

https://goo.gl/9dkg9B

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WOLVERHAMTON

As a licensed minicab driver, Kulwant Cheema was authorised to take pre-booked passengers but prohibited from accepting anyone flagging him down from the side of the road.
But he admitted to magistrates he did pick up the pair from Cleveland Street, in Wolverhampton city centre, in November last year and agreed to take them to The Mount Hotel, Tettenhall.
Appearing at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Cheema, said: "I saw them waving frantically. It was a bitterly cold night.

"I did say to them they should have booked before we pulled off. I thought that is what they were doing because one of them was on their phone and you can do it through a text."
The enforcement officers from Wolverhampton council were in fact sending a text message to their colleagues who were at the roadside to greet Cheema when the taxi arrived at its destination.
An interview was arranged at which Cheema, an experienced taxi driver of eight years standing, said he picked up the pair because he 'felt sorry for them' as they looked cold and 'in desperate need' of a taxi.

He added: "During the journey I actually received a job on the system. I pressed it thinking it was the one the passengers had booked but the screen went blank.
"I thought once I was at the hotel I would check the screen."
At court Cheema admitted one count of plying for hire when the carriage was not licensed as a public hackney carriage and also to one count of driving without insurance.
He was fined a total of £460 for the two offences, told to pay £629 towards prosecution costs and a £35 victim surcharge. Six penalty points were also put on his driving licence.
The chair of the magistrate's bench, who refused to give his name to the Express & Star, told Cheema: "You know as well I do for passengers to use a private hire taxi they must have booked in advance. You cannot get into the cab and then book it.

http://goo.gl/KcAUUo

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MIDDLEBORO

An investigation into how a minibus taxi door flew off on a busy dual carriageway in Middlesbrough has begun.

On Friday afternoon a dashcam caught footage of a passenger door of a Royal Cars minibus coming loose and landing on the carriageway of the A19, near the Middlesbrough A66 sliproad.

Luckily no one was hurt in the incident.

Billingham coach driver Barry McQuillen, who was driving 50 Middlesbrough College students at the time of the incident, captured the video footage at 3.45pm on Friday.

The door landed on the road just past the Croft Coach on the outside lane of the A19.

Royal Cars confirmed no passengers were in the minibus at the time.

Imran Khan, a shareholder in the Thornaby-based taxi firm, said previously that the company has contacted Ford believing it was potentially due to a “manufacturing fault”.

He said the vehicle passed its six-monthly MOT on May 29 and was considered “fit for private hire use” by Stockton Council.

The council has confirmed an investigation into the incident is under way.

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for housing and community safety, said: “The safety of all our residents and visitors is absolutely paramount and that’s why we investigate fully incidents like this.”

Following the incident, Imran Khan said: “The most important thing is that nobody was hurt.

“The company is taking this very seriously.

“We consider the safety of our passengers, our staff and general members of the public to be paramount in operating our vehicles.

“We would like to apologise for inconvenience caused.”

http://goo.gl/mRuPAf