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A treaty with France came into operation by which perhaps 50 small-boat migrants a week could be sent back to France in exchange for asylum seekers in France with family connections to Britain. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, could not say when the returns would begin. The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 4 August was 1,047; the total for the year reached more than 25,000 at a faster rate than ever. The population of England and Wales rose by 706,881 in a year, the Office for National Statistics estimated, to 61.8 million by June 2024, of which only 29,982 was by natural increase, the rest being net migration. The Guardian reported that 2.99 million of the 6.23 million patients in England awaiting care have not had either their first appointment with a specialist or a diagnostic test since being referred by a GP.
The government would miss its borrowing target by £41.2 billion, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research; the answer was to raise taxes. The Supreme Court ruled that millions could not claim compensation for car dealers having received hidden commission from lenders when customers signed up for car finance before 2021. But the court upheld one type of claim, so the Financial Conduct Authority will consult on running a compensation scheme, to cost between £9 billion and £18 billion. The Charity Commission rebuked all parties to a dispute between the Duke of Sussex and the chairwoman of Sentebale, the charity he founded, but found no evidence of systematic ‘misogynoir’. Civil service internships will be offered in future only to students from ‘lower socio-economic backgrounds’, based on the occupations of their parents when the applicant was 14; butchers and dustmen would do, and even train-drivers. LNER warned passengers not to travel north of Newcastle on the day of Storm Floris. A failure at the Swanwick air traffic control centre cancelled hundreds of flights. Heathrow airport said it would spend £49 billion on improvements, including £21 billion on a third runway.
Two men appeared in court charged in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton; Warwickshire Police said: ‘Once someone is charged with an offence, we follow national guidance. This guidance does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status.’ Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, aged 20, was convicted of assault and actual bodily harm against two policewomen at Manchester airport last year. Tommy Robinson was arrested at Luton airport in connection with an alleged assault at St Pancras station last week. Dame Stella Rimington, the first woman director-general of MI5, died aged 90. Lord Desai, the economist, died aged 85. India won the fifth Test by six runs.
Abroad
President Donald Trump of the United States enjoyed another bout of throwing tariffs around: 39 per cent for Switzerland, 35 per cent for Canada, 50 per cent for Brazil. He then said he was sacking the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after estimates of job growth in May and June were revised. Mr Trump said two nuclear submarines would ‘be positioned in the appropriate regions’ in response to ‘highly provocative’ comments by the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Trump had said: ‘Russia, I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing,’ after more drones and missiles were launched against Ukraine than ever. After street protests, MPs in Ukraine overturned legislation passed a week earlier that had removed the independence of two anti-corruption agencies. A big oil depot fire near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi was blamed by Moscow on a Ukrainian drone attack. Eight countries of Opec+ (including Russia) agreed to produce more oil. BP announced its biggest discovery in 25 years: an oil and gas field off Brazil. Nasa hatched plans for a nuclear reactor on the moon.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, resolved to reoccupy the Gaza Strip fully. Hamas declared that it would not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state was established. Canada said it would recognise Palestine as a state in September. The International Committee of the Red Cross was ‘appalled’ by videos of two emaciated hostages in Gaza.
A boat with 157 migrants from the Horn of Africa sank off the coast of Yemen and only 12 were rescued. The Pope said mass for a million young people at Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome. Aalborg Zoo in Denmark appealed for guinea pigs and horses, to feed its lions and tigers. CSH
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