In the Lozells district of Birmingham, Isaiah Young Sam, a black man aged 23, was fatally stabbed as he returned from the cinema in an attack by ten or 11 men. The murder came amid fights and rioting by black Caribbeans and South Asian youths. The violence came after a rumour had gone round, and was retailed on a pirate radio station, that a 14-year-old black girl had been raped by 19 Asians after being caught shoplifting. Another man was shot dead nearby the next day. A White Paper on education set out plans to free schools from the control of local authorities and give them power to expand, change curriculum and set admission policies. Mr John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, was said not to like it. The Cabinet was also riven by plans to ban smoking in private clubs as well as public places; a Bill on the matter was delayed. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said before a meeting of European Union heads of government at Hampton Court Palace that it would prepare for a summit in December ‘to make a push for a finance deal that will allow the European budget issues to be resolved’. The BBC World Service is to start an Arabic television channel funded mainly by reducing broadcasts to Eastern Europe. Marks & Spencer’s name is to appear on the order of service for the enthronisation of Dr John Sentamu as the 97th Archbishop of York, for which the company would supply 3,500 packed lunches at a reduced price. A parrot imported from Surinam was found to be suffering from the avian influenza virus H5N1, apparently caught from another bird in quarantine; but then it emerged that test samples might have been mixed up. Mrs Lilian Blackmore, aged 75, was having lunch in a hospital ward at Barrow Gurney, north Somerset, where she was being treated after a nervous breakdown, when the ceiling fell on her, bruising her legs, ‘You go to hospital expecting to recover from your illness,’ she said, ‘You don’t expect the ceiling to come down on your head.’
A United Nations report named senior Syrian security officials as suspects in the huge bomb blast that killed the former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 20 others in Beirut in February. The chief investigator, Mr Detlev Mehlis, later gave a briefing to the UN Security Council. President George Bush of the United States said, ‘There must be serious pressure applied so that the [Syrian] leader understands that, one, they can’t house terrorist groups that will destroy the peace process with Israel and Palestine, for example; two, they should stop meddling in Lebanon; three, that they should stop allowing transit of bombers and killers into Iraq that are killing people that want there to be a democracy.’ Three big vehicle bombs next to the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad killed 20 people outside, all Iraqis. The number of American troops killed in Iraq since 2003 rose above 2,000. In the Iraqi referendum on the constitution, 78 per cent of voters were in favour and 21 per cent against; out of 18 provinces, two recorded more than two thirds of votes against it — one province short of a veto. An investigative committee of the United States Senate said that Mr George Galloway, the British MP, ‘through his wife was personally enriched’ by money derived from the United Nations Iraqi food-for-oil programme; Mr Galloway, who had given evidence in May, said, ‘If I have lied under oath in front of the Senate, that’s a criminal offence. Charge me and I will head for the airport right now and face them down in court.’ Mr Bush nominated Mr Ben Bernanke to follow Mr Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Poland elected as president Mr Lech Kaczynski, whose identical twin brother led the Law and Justice party to victory in last month’s parliamentary elections. A Boeing 737 from Lagos bound for Abuja crashed, killing all 117 aboard. The Hong Kong government issued advice on avoiding avian influenza: ‘Bird owners should not kiss their pets,’ it said.
CSH
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