Headline
Army Put On Standby As UK Police Hand In Weapons
Published
2 years agoon
By
Editor
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence is offering soldiers to support armed police in London after dozens of police officers stood down from firearms duties, BBC reports.
More than 100 officers have turned in permits allowing them to carry weapons, a source told the BBC, in support of a fellow officer who has been charged with murder over the fatal shooting of a young Black man, Chris Kaba.
The officer, named only as NX121, who appeared in court last week, has been charged over the death of Chris Kaba in September 2022.
Kaba died hours after he was struck by a single gunshot fired into the vehicle he was driving in the Streatham area of South London.
READ ALSO: Man Charged With Beating His Three Children To Death
It later emerged that the Audi Mr Kaba was driving, which did not belong to him, had been linked by police to a gun incident the day before.
His death prompted a number of protests and renewed allegations of racism within the force.
The Ministry of Defence said it received a request, known as Military Aid to the Civil Authorities, from the Home Office to “provide routine counter-terrorism contingency support to the Metropolitan Police, should it be needed”.
A MACA is offered to the police or the NHS in emergency situations. The military helped medical staff in the Covid pandemic and covered for striking border staff and paramedics last year.
READ ALSO: Concrete Roads: Cement Price To Hit N9,000, Say Manufacturers
The Met said it was a “contingency option” that would only be used “in specific circumstances and where an appropriate policing response was not available”.
Military staff would not be used “in a routine policing capacity”, it added.

Chris Kaba
On Saturday, the Met said its own officers still make up the vast majority of armed police in the capital but they were being supported by a limited number of firearms officers from neighbouring forces.
Announcing the review, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the public “depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us”.
“In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures.”
She said that officers have her “full backing”.
“I will do everything in my power to support them,” she added.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Russia Adds ICC President, Hofmanski, To Wanted List
In his letter to the home secretary, the Met Police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said that a system where officers are investigated for “safely pursuing suspects” should not have been allowed to develop.
Sir Mark said he would “make no comment” on any ongoing legal matters, but “the issues raised in this letter go back further”.
He said firearms officers are concerned that they will face years of legal proceedings, “even if they stick to the tactics and training they have been given”.
“Officers need sufficient legal protection to enable them to do their job and keep the public safe, and the confidence that it will be applied consistently and without fear or favour,” he wrote.
But in instances where officers act improperly, Sir Mark said the system “needs to move swiftly” rather than “tying itself in knots pursuing good officers through multiple legal processes”.
You may like
Headline
Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists
Published
6 hours agoon
September 2, 2025By
Editor
French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.
Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime.
British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.
READ ALSO:France’s Top Court Annuls Arrest Warrant Against Syria’s Ex-president al-Assad
Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed.
Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.
“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s parents.
READ ALSO:US Embassy Warns Americans In Nigeria Of Looming Visa Overstay Penalties
The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged city to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.
“The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).
Colvin was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Private War”.
AFP
Headline
Ghana’s President Sacks Chief Justice Over Corruption Allegations
Published
1 day agoon
September 1, 2025By
Editor
President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed the Chief Justice of Ghana following the outcome of a high-level investigation into allegations of falsifying judicial records and misusing public funds.
A five-member commission, chaired by a Supreme Court judge and set up by Mahama, concluded that the allegations against the country’s top judicial officer were substantiated and recommended her removal.
“After considering the petition and the evidence, the Committee found that the grounds of stated misbehaviour under Article 146(1) had been established and recommended her removal from office,” said the spokesperson to the President, Felix Ofosu, in a statement on Monday.
READ ALSO:Police Bust Lagos-Ghana Sex Trafficking Ring
“President John Dramani Mahama has accordingly removed the Chief Justice from office with immediate effect.”
The dismissal marks the first time a sitting Chief Justice in Ghana has been investigated and dismissed from office.
While Mahama, who took office in January, has repeatedly pledged to intensify the fight against corruption, it remains unclear whether the embattled Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkonoo, will face criminal prosecution.
Headline
Danish Court Sentences Ex-minister To Prison For Child Abuse Material
Published
1 day agoon
September 1, 2025By
Editor
A former Danish government minister was jailed for four months on Monday for possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse.
Henrik Sass Larsen, once a senior Social Democrat who served as industry minister, admitted to having more than 6,000 photographs and 2,000 videos on his computer depicting sexual abuse of children.
He had denied the charges, saying he had the material because he was trying to find out who had abused him as a child.
Prosecutor Maria Cingari said she was “satisfied” with the verdict but added that it was sad that someone “who managed to make the most out of their life despite a bad start finds himself in such a situation.”
READ ALSO:JUST IN: Finnish Court Jails Simon Ekpa Six Years For Terrorism Offences
“You should never be in possession of child pornography, no matter the reason,” Cingari added.
During his trial, the 59-year-old told the court he had received a link in 2018 to a 50-year-old video showing him being sexually abused when he was three years old.
He testified that he received another video clip in 2020, in which a three-year-old girl was raped in his presence when he was around the same age.
The two videos disappeared after he viewed them, he said.
READ ALSO:South African Court Affirms 18-year Jail Term For Nigerian Over Human Trafficking
He told the court he regretted not having contacted the police when he received the videos.
Sass Larsen was also accused of being in possession of a child sex doll, but the court did not find him guilty on that charge.
His lawyer, Berit Ernst, told reporters that “we’ll see if it is a definitive end or if we will appeal.”
The scandal came to light last March and led to his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party.
At the time, Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed her shock over the case.
AFP
- Vietnam Returnee Stabbed To Death In Abia
- 12 Saudi-bound Trafficking Victims Rescued In Kano
- Residents Loot Foodstuffs For Distribution By Lawmaker
- 60-year-old Man Arrested For Raping Lagos Lady
- Man Faces Trial For Killing Minor, Two Others
- Nigerian Singer Says P-Square Feud Spiritual
- 13 Super Eagles Players Arrive Camp For World Cup Qualifiers
- NDLEA Arrests Man With 8,000 Bottles Of Drug-laced Herbal Mixture, Cannabis
- Amotekun Arrests 28 For Robbery, Kidnapping In Ondo
- Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists
Trending
- News3 days ago
JUST IN: Oldest Missionary To Nigeria, Ruth Elton, Is Dead
- News3 days ago
BREAKING: Former Inspector-General Of Police, Solomon Arase, Is Dead
- Metro3 days ago
Drama At Benin Motor Park As Pastor Chase Away Colleague, Claims Exclusive Preaching Rights
- Metro1 day ago
JUST IN: Ex-AGF Malami’s Convoy Attacked In Kebbi [PHOTOS]
- News3 days ago
Shock As Adeleke Employs Roadside puff-puff Hawker As Govt House Chef
- News2 days ago
JUST IN: Doctors Issue 10-day Ultimatum, Threaten Strike
- News4 days ago
DANGER: Six Incurable Diseases You Should Know — And Their Causes
- Entertainment4 days ago
5 Records Michael Jackson Set That Remain Unbroken
- Politics4 days ago
APC Mocks Jonathan As ADC Woos Him For 2027 Race
- News5 days ago
INEC CVR: CSO Expresses Worry Over Poor Deployment Of Machines, Manpower To LGs In Edo