Author: admin@primenews

The Ministry of Defence is offering soldiers to support armed police in London after dozens of Met officers stood down from firearms duties. More than 100 officers have turned in permits allowing them to carry weapons, a source told the BBC. There are more than 2,500 armed officers in the Met. Police said the action was being taken after an officer was charged with the murder of unarmed Chris Kaba, 24. Met chief Sir Mark Rowley welcomed a Home Office review into armed policing. In an open letter to the home secretary, he said it was right his force was…

Italian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was one of the country’s most wanted men until his capture earlier this year, has died. The 61-year-old was thought to be a boss of the notorious Cosa Nostra Mafia and spent 30 years on the run before he was detained in January. He was being treated for cancer at the time of his arrest and was moved from prison to hospital last month. Denaro was thought to have been responsible for numerous murders. He was tried and sentenced to life in jail in absentia in 2002 for crimes including involvement in the…

New Brexit trade rules covering electric vehicles could cost European manufacturers £3.75bn over the next three years, an industry body has said. The rules are meant to ensure that EU-produced electric cars are largely made from locally sourced parts. But manufacturers on both sides of the Channel say they are not ready. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) also warned the measures could reduce output from EU factories by 480,000 vehicles. And they said customers would pay the price. The main problem lies in so-called “rules of origin” which come into force in January. They apply to shipments of cars…

The world’s richest oil states should pay a global windfall tax to help poorer nations combat climate change, ex-PM Gordon Brown has said. He said countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Norway benefited from a “lottery style bonanza” last year, as the price of oil soared. Mr Brown argues a $25bn (£20.4bn) levy would boost prospects of a deal on a climate fund for poorer countries. His intervention comes ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai in November. Speaking at last week’s Climate Ambition Summit at the United Nations in New York, Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned…

The state-owned British Business Bank (BBB) has swung to an annual pre-tax loss of more than £147m. The economic development lender says wider economic problems led to a drop in the valuation of businesses it has invested in. The bank says it made £1.6bn of funding agreements in the year “despite the challenging economic environment”. BBB was set up in 2014 to lend money to and buy stakes in smaller UK businesses to help them start up and expand. The bank said the value of its investments fell by £146m, or 5%, in the 12 months to the end of March.…

With the so-called “King of Crypto” about to go on trial for multiple fraud charges, one British man tells how the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s company lost him a fortune. Until the final collapse, Sunil Kavuri hoped that Sam Bankman-Fried could turn things around. The King of Crypto’s empire was faltering but while others panicked, Kavuri remained calm. Experience in trading for banks and investing his money in crypto made him hardened to market dramas. Plus Bankman-Fried – the self-appointed saviour of crypto – kept telling the world that everything would be fine. But then the message popped up on…

The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, Anthony Rota, has apologised for praising a Ukrainian man who served in a Nazi unit during World War Two. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, was sitting in the gallery and got a standing ovation in parliament after Mr Rota said he was a “hero” during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Canadian Jewish group CIJA said it was “deeply troubled” that a veteran of a Nazi division that participated in the genocide of Jews had been celebrated. It said this should never happen again. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was with Mr Zelensky in parliament…

Screenwriters in the US say they have reached a tentative deal with studio bosses that could see them end a strike that has lasted nearly five months. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it was “exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers”. WGA members must still have a final say. It is the longest strike to affect Hollywood in decades and has halted most film and TV production. A separate dispute involves actors, who are also on strike. The walkout which began on 2 May has cost the California economy billions of dollars. The WGA leadership and…

Given the dramatic developments in Canada, where PM Trudeau has said there is credible evidence to suggest India was involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh, it is unsurprising that rumours now swirl around the deaths of other Sikh activists around the world, including in the UK. Avtar Singh Khanda, 35, was well known for his support of the creation of a breakaway Sikh homeland, Khalistan. He died from a sudden illness in Birmingham in June, and some of those close to him insinuate there was foul play involved. West Midlands Police say they thoroughly reviewed the case and…

Dusty samples from the “most dangerous known rock in the Solar System” have been brought to Earth. The American space agency Nasa landed the materials in a capsule that came down in the West Desert of Utah state. The samples had been scooped up from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. Nasa wants to learn more about the mountainous object, not least because it has an outside chance of hitting our planet in the next 300 years. But more than this, the samples are likely to provide fresh insights into the formation of the Solar…