abhorrent

Police hunt ‘abhorrent individuals’ responsible for Glasgow shooting

Police are hunting the “abhorrent individuals” who shot a man in a targeted attack.

A 29-year-old man is being treated in hospital after shots were fired in the Springburn area of Glasgow on Saturday.

Medics have described his condition as “serious but stable”.

Police believe two men in a red Audi estate car approached the victim in Dykemuir Street at about 11.15am.

They then made off at speed down nearby Craigenbay Street.

The passenger in the Audi is described by Police Scotland as being a man in his late 30s, who was clean shaven and wearing a dark tammy hat and a dark hoody.

Read more: Man in hospital after reports of shooting in Glasgow

There is no description of the driver at this time.

Detective Inspector Jim Bradley from Greater Glasgow CID said: “This targeted attack was carried out in a residential street in broad daylight and the men responsible not only endangered the life of the victim, but other members of the public in the surrounding area.

“It is absolutely vital that we trace these abhorrent individuals and we would urge anyone with information that could assist our inquiries to come forward.”

He appealed for information, urging the public: “If you were in the vicinity of Dykemuir Street yesterday around 11.15am and noticed a red Audi estate, or anything at all suspicious, please get in touch.

“We also believe that the vehicle involved may have been in the area in the days prior to the shooting taking place. If you think you may have seen a red Audi estate earlier this week it is important that you let us know.”

Police Scotland will be carrying out additional patrols in the area “to provide reassurance to members of the public”, he added.

Read more: Silent protest as Orange Walk passes Glasgow church of attacked priest

Apple CEO Tim Cook promises to investigate the Saudi app branded 'abhorrent' for allowing men to track women

Apple CEO Tim Cook has pledged to get to the bottom of a Saudi government app hosted on the App Store that was labeled "abhorrent" by a US senator for helping men control where women travel.

While speaking with National Public Radio on Tuesday, Cook was asked about Absher, a benign-seeming government app that has been criticized for features meant to let Saudi men control where women travel.

"I haven't heard about it," Cook told NPR. "But obviously we'll take a look at it if that's the case."

Business Insider's sister site INSIDER has reported extensively on Absher, which pushes alerts to men when women use their passports.

It prompted Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon into writing to Cook and Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, on Monday. He said the app "flies in the face of the type of society you both claim to support and defend."

"American companies should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government's patriarchy," Wyden wrote, describing the Saudi system of control over women as "abhorrent."

Cook's comments to NPR are the first time Apple has addressed the app after it declined to respond to INSIDER's repeated requests for comment. Google has not acknowledged repeated requests for comment.

An Apple laptop on a lectern branded with the Google logo. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

Under Saudi Arabia's guardianship laws, women must have a male representative to decide whether they can travel abroad. Absher is the digital manifestation of the system, and it is where men manage much of women's lives.

Wyden wrote his letter in response to two reports by INSIDER on Absher.

The first explained how the app works and how some women in Saudi Arabia were managing to get around it to claim asylum in other countries. The second highlighted criticism of Apple and Google by human-rights campaigners for hosting the app.

Read more: Q&A: The hurdles and obstacles Saudi female runaways face

On this Absher form guardians can say where women can go, how long for, and which airports they can go to. Absher

"Apple and Google have rules against apps that facilitate threats and harassment," Human Rights Watch's Rothna Begum told INSIDER. "Apps like this one can facilitate human-rights abuses, including discrimination against women."

Yasmine Mohammed, an activist who is an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia, said the companies were "facilitating the most archaic misogyny" and helped the Saudi government enforce "gender apartheid."

Do you work at Apple or Google? Got a tip? Contact this reporter at wbostock@businessinsider.com, on Signal +447873371206, or Twitter DM at @willbostockUK. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

The app has been downloaded 4.2 million times on the App Store and 5 million times on Google Play since launching in mid-2015, according to Apptopia.

92% of installs happened in Saudi Arabia but nearly 430,000 (5.5% ) have come from within the US, app researchers Sensor Tower told INSIDER.

A 2017 estimate from the US Census Bureau lists 82,201 Saudi nationals as living in the US.

"An official source at Interior Ministry said, in a repose of what is being circulated about the application of services (Absher), that these allegations aim to disable the benefits of more than 160 different procedural services to all members of the society provided by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian to the citizens and residents, including women, the elderly, and people with special needs."

"The Ministry strongly condemns the systematic campaign aimed at questioning the purpose of (Abshar) services, which is provided on smart phones to facilitate the services to its beneficiaries."

"The Ministry of Interior at the same time confirms its rejection of the attempts to politicize the systematic use of technical instruments which represent legitimate rights to the users, and its keenness to protect the interests of the beneficiaries of its services."

The app raises awkward questions for Apple and Google, two of the biggest players in Silicon Valley, where tech firms have well-established links to Saudi Arabia.

Both firms hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year. The crown prince got a rare tour inside the $5 billion Apple Park campus, in California, which included face time with Cook and other top executives.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Google has not yet responded to requests for comment from INSIDER. AP Photo/Eric Risberg

Read more: A look inside the daily routine of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who wakes up before dawn and gets up to 800 emails a day

During the visit, Crown Prince Mohammed was on a charm offensive, according to The New York Times.

The aim of the visit was to change Western perspectives on Saudi Arabia as a backward and conservative country dependent on oil money where women are treated as second-class people.

Instead, the crown prince, who is the kingdom's de facto ruler, wants Americans to see Saudi Arabia as a modern country with extensive investments in growth markets like technology.

"Shocking and abhorrent act of hate": NYC mayor condemns synagogue attack in Brooklyn

The NYPD's Hate Crimes Division is investigating after a window was smashed at a Brooklyn synagogue, CBS New York reports. More than a dozen people were inside Chabad of Bushwick observing the Sabbath.

"My wife was here with the baby, a 10-month-old. Another child was sleeping on the couch. The other children were playing right here," Rabbi Menachem Heller told CBS New York.

About 15 people, including children, were inside the synagogue at the time of the incident.

"It's all young people, young families. Sometimes we sit here until 3, 4 in the morning," Heller said.

At around 2 a.m. Saturday, the front window of the synagogue was smashed by what the rabbi believes were two vandals. He said it sounded like an explosion. No one was injured.

"When we heard the boom, I ran and took some of the kids and we ran back there," Heller said. "When we saw them peek through the door and continuing on we felt safe to go to the door."

Twitter/@chabadbushwick via CBS New York

Because of the religious observance nobody had their cellphone so they had to go across the street to the Dunkin Donuts to get help, CBS New York points out.

Chain Duban is from a different congregation and stopped by to find out what happened. Caution tape still surrounded the window Sunday night, with glass scattered on the ground.

"We encourage love. This is the month of love and this is what's happening, which is really sad," Duban said.

"It was really scary. We didn't know what else was going to come after that," Heller added.

As of last week there were already 47 hate crimes this year, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, nearly doubling last year's numbers during the same time. Two-thirds of those incidents targeted the Jewish community.

"I hope it's not a hate crime," Heller said. "I wouldn't feel safe if it was. I'm hoping they find out who it was and it was some people who were acting foolish."

Shaken but not deterred, the congregation will continue meeting in East Williamsburg, but extra precautions will be put in place, according to CBS New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has condemned the incident as a "shocking and abhorrent act of hate." He's calling on the State Police Hate Crimes Unit to assist the NYPD in its investigation.

FBI finds increase in number of hate crimes reported

Editor's note: This story's headline has been updated to reflect Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemns the attack.

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