- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
- Vatican recognises Medjugorje shrine, but not Virgin's messages
- Bank of England freezes rate after jumbo US cut
- Playing Nadal is 'kind of a nightmare', says Alcaraz
- Portugal tackles last of deadly northern forest fires
- Ton-up Ashwin lifts India to 339-6 against Bangladesh
- Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism'
- Coming winter 'sternest test yet' for Ukraine energy grid
- Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy
- Lebanon's Hezbollah reeling after second wave of deadly blasts
- Taiwan recognises same-sex marriages between Chinese, Taiwanese
- Stock markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Gabon's ousted leader Bongo says renouncing politics for good
- Lebanon device blasts: what we know about deadly attacks
- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
- Lebanon's Hezbollah in disarray after second wave of deadly blasts
- Meta and Spotify blast EU decisions on AI
- Hasan takes three as Bangladesh rattle India in first Test
- Two killed during police operation in New Caledonia
- Flood-hit region leaders to meet in Poland to discuss EU aid
- Sri Lanka to vote in first poll since economic collapse
- Hong Kong probe finds Cathay Airbus defect could cause 'extensive' damage
- AI development cannot be left to market whim, UN experts warn
- All Blacks primed for 'hell' of a Wallabies clash
- Zoom fatigue? Try some nature in your background: study
- Japan walkie-talkie maker says investigating after Lebanon blasts
- Slipper to become most-capped Wallaby in All Blacks clash
- Tokyo surges on weak yen as Asian traders cheer big US rate cut
- Vast France building project sunk by sea level rise fears
Police charge UK man over crossbow threat to Queen
Police on Tuesday charged a 20-year-old man with an offence under Britain's 1842 Treason Act after arresting him armed with a crossbow at Windsor Castle as Queen Elizabeth II spent Christmas Day there.
Jaswant Singh Chail, from Southampton in southern England, has also been charged with making threats to kill and possession of an offensive weapon following the incident at the castle, southwest of London, last year.
He is currently in custody and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court in the British capital on August 17, London's Metropolitan Police said.
"The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Jaswant Singh Chail with offences after he was arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on 25 December 2021 carrying a crossbow," Nick Price of the CPS, which oversees prosecutions in England and Wales, said.
"This decision has been made following an investigation carried out by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command," he added.
Chail has been charged under a section of the Treason Act, which makes it an offence to assault the Queen, or have a firearm or offensive weapon in her presence with intent to injure or alarm her, or to cause a breach of peace.
It is extremely rare for charges to be brought under this particular 180-year-old treason law.
In the last case, Briton Marcus Sarjeant was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 1981 after pleading guilty to firing blank shots at the monarch when she was on parade.
However, William Joyce -- also known as Lord Haw Haw, who collaborated with Germany during World War II -- was the last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious 1351 Treason Act.
Following the Windsor Castle incident, the Met said that security processes were triggered within moments of the breach and that the individual did not enter any buildings.
It happened as the Queen spent a low-key Christmas Day at the castle with her eldest son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.
The Queen usually celebrates Christmas at her Sandringham estate in eastern England, but she remained in Windsor last year as a precautionary measure amid resurgent Covid-19 cases.
Although the intruder was intercepted quickly, it recalled an earlier, more serious intrusion in 1982.
On that occasion, a man in his 30s entered Queen Elizabeth's private chambers at Buckingham Palace while she was in bed before police apprehended him.
Last summer, a man was arrested after scaling the gates of the Palace.
In 2020, a homeless man scaled its walls and bedded down for the night in its grounds before being caught.
A.P.Maia--PC