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David Cameron, the Prime Minister, flew to Sochi, on the Black Sea, to talk with President Vladimir Putin, principally about Syria. He then flew to Washington, to support the American tour by Prince Harry and hold talks with President Barack Obama. They said that Britain and America wanted to strengthen the moderate opposition in Syria somehow. In a joint press conference, Mr Obama also said: ‘The UK’s participation in the EU is an expression of its influence.’ Mr Cameron tried to placate Tory MPs by rushing out a draft EU referendum bill, in the face of an amendment in the Queen’s Speech debate expressing regret at the absence of such a bill in the government programme. EU officials investigating price-fixing raided the London offices of BP and Shell. Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition, bravely ran into the middle of the road to save a woman who had fallen off her bicycle.
Abu Qatada said he would go to Jordan for trial voluntarily if Britain ratified a new treaty to prevent evidence obtained through torture being used against him; Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said that Britain would press ahead with its own plans. Seven men — Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, Kamar Jamil, Assad Hussain, and Zeeshan Ahmed — were found guilty at the Old Bailey of rape and assaults against girls as young as 11, organised from Oxford. Seven other men had already been jailed for up to 18 years for rape and trafficking in underage girls around Telford in Shropshire; although all were of Pakistani ethnicity and all the girls were white, police said that the crimes were not racially motivated. Lord Ahmed resigned from the Labour party on the eve of a party hearing on reports of his having blamed Jews for his imprisonment in 2009 for dangerous driving. Chris Huhne, the former Cabinet minister, and Vicky Pryce, his former wife, were both released from prison after serving 62 days of an eight-month sentence.
The FTSE 100 index rose above 6,600, its highest since 2007. IAG, which owns Iberia and British Airways, made losses of £531 million in the first quarter, thanks to the performance of the Iberia side of things. Moody’s downgraded the Co-operative Bank to ‘junk’ status. Bryan Forbes, the film director, died, aged 86. Geza Vermes, the eccentric scholar of the Dead Sea scrolls, died, aged 88. Andrew Simpson, the Olympic sailor, died when his catamaran capsized, aged 36. A BAE pilotless aircraft designed for passengers flew from Preston to Inverness, controlled from the ground. Goldeneye ducks were found to be refusing to spend the winter in Britain because it has grown too warm.
Abroad
Nawaz Sharif claimed victory for his Pakistan Muslim League in the general election. Two car-bombs killed 46 people in the Turkish town of Reyhanli on the Syrian border. A video circulated seeming to show Abu Sakkar, the leader of the Syrian rebel Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade, cutting out the heart of a dead Syrian soldier and taking a bite; ‘I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,’ says the man in the video. President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria declared a state of emergency in three northern states in response to Islamist attacks. Boats evacuating Rohingya Muslims in the path of a cyclone in western Burma were overcome by the seas and perhaps 100 were feared dead. Pope Francis canonised 813 Christians who refused to adopt Islam and so were beheaded by Turks invading Otranto in 1480.
A woman was rescued after 17 days trapped under the ruins of a clothing factory complex in Dhaka where at least 1,127 are now known to have died. Police began a criminal investigation into the explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in Texas that killed 14 people in April. The Gerb party led by Boiko Borisov narrowly won the Bulgarian elections but with too few seats to form a credible coalition. In China hundreds were arrested for passing off rat meat as lamb.
France fell into its second recession in four years. The US Internal Revenue Service apologised for exerting extra scrutiny of tax-exempt groups that had the words ‘Tea Party’ or ‘patriot’ in their names before last year’s elections. Angelina Jolie announced that she had had a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer, to which she was genetically predisposed. Tata Steel wrote off a £1 billion loss from its European assets. The UN urged people to eat more insects.
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