Armed gangsters repeatedly fired at police officers during a high-speed chase through the streets of London in the early hours of yesterday. A gunman clad in a bulletproof jacket leant out of a car and shot at officers during the incident, in which a police dog van was hit. The speeding car eventually crashed and one man was arrested, while two escaped on foot.The drama began at just after midnight when three men shot a 27-year-old man in the leg outside the Atlantis nightclub in Croydon, south London.Police were called to the scene and the armed gang jumped into their victim's gold-coloured Audi car, sped off and started firing at officers. A police dog van that joined the pursuit was hit with a bullet.A few minutes later the gunmen switched cars, driving off in a BMW, and again dozens of shots were fired at officers. Eventually the dark-coloured BMW crashed in Thornton Heath, south London, at about 12.50am, and two of the attackers escaped while one was trapped in the back and arrested.
Weapons were recovered from the car.Detective Superintendent Barry Phillips said officers risked their lives when they gave chase. He appealed for witnesses and praised the courage of the officers concerned. "This is an extremely rare thing to see, police coming under fire like this without any regard for life," he said. "They were clearly firing at the police cars and the officers inside; it is incredible no one was killed."The man captured by the police is being treated in hospital before being questioned. The victim shot in the car park was unarmed and is now in a stable condition in hospital.The shooting is thought to be part of a drug war between rival gangs, which has led to dozens of killings and woundings in London..
As a way of visiting the world's exotic destinations, it isn't everyone's idea of first-class travel, but for Vera Anderson cremation finally allowed her to go to the four corners of the Earth. As a way of visiting the world's exotic destinations, it isn't everyone's idea of first-class travel, but for Vera Anderson cremation finally allowed her to go to the four corners of the Earth. Mrs Anderson died in January at the age of 78 after a life plagued by heart problems and emphysema that often kept her confined to home.Since the age of 30 she had dreamt of travelling, but could never quite face the strains it put on her health. So, before her death, the grandmother asked her son, Ross, to send her ashes to more than 250 cities, in all 50 American states and 191 countries around the world.At her funeral her family loaded her coffin with letters of tribute, a teddy bear, pictures of her pets and a state lottery ticket from Oregon, where she had once lived. Half of the ashes were disposed of at a family ceremony, the other half was divided into small portions and placed in small sealed plastic bags, to be sent with a covering note to the main post offices of the US states and much farther afield.Within weeks, letters began arriving from people who had fulfilled Mrs Anderson's dying wishes. There were details of ceremonies at both the North Pole and South Pole, by the Chao Praya river in Thailand and in a stream next to the Royal Castle in Stockholm.Aymara Indians conducted a ceremony on Lake Titicaca in the Andes and the head postmaster in Kiev in the Ukraine sent his condolences.The response has touched the Anderson family greatly. Mr Anderson, 53, is so pleased that his mother's wishes have been carried out with such kindness and respect that he has asked his seven children to do the same for him when he, too, makes his final journey..
