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Riots subsided after 7 August, a night when many were expected but only empty streets or demonstrations against riots eventuated. By 12 August there had been 975 arrests and 546 charges in 36 of the 43 police force areas in England and Wales. Rioters could be released from jail after serving 40 per cent of their sentence, as part of the early release scheme to ease prison overcrowding, Downing Street said. Ricky Jones, a councillor for Dartford, now suspended from the Labour party, was remanded in custody after being charged with encouraging violent disorder in Walthamstow. The judge told him: ‘It is alleged that using a microphone you addressed a crowd at an anti-fascist protest and, talking about others you described as “disgusting Nazi fascists”, you said, “We need to cut their throats and get rid of them”.’Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Tory councillor in Northamptonshire, appeared in court charged with publishing written material to stir up racial hatred. It was alleged that, on the day of the Southport knife killings, she posted a Twitter message saying: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the hotels full of the bastards for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.’ A 13-year-old girl and two 12-year-old boys pleaded guilty to violent disorder offences. In Liverpool, a 16-year-old boy admitted stealing £15,000 worth of vapes.
The train operator CrossCountry announced reduced timetables until 9 November because it had not trained enough drivers; Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, said the company’s passengers had been ‘suffering from a substandard service for too long’. Ioan Pintaru, 32, a Romanian national of no fixed address, appeared in court charged with attempted murder after an 11-year-old girl was stabbed in Leicester Square. Two migrants died off the French coast between Calais and Dunkirk attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat with 54 others, who were rescued. On the same day, 703 migrants arrived in England in 11 small boats.
Unemployment fell to 4.2 per cent for the three months to June, from 4.4 per cent over the previous quarter. But 9.41 million – 22.2 per cent of those of working age – were economically inactive. Inflation rose from 2 to 2.2 per cent. Wages grew at an annual rate of 5.4 per cent, the slowest for two years. Financially stretched universities competed to accept new students; David Maguire, the vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, told the Guardian: ‘I don’t think there are enough students to go around.’ Britain won 65 medals in the Olympics, one more than in Tokyo and the same number as in London in 2012.
Abroad
Ukraine sustained an incursion into Russia for more than a week, reaching a facility outside Sudzha involved in piping natural gas from Russia to the EU via Ukraine, which has continued despite the war. Russia said 180,000 people were being evacuated from the Kursk region, and others from the Belgorod region. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine acknowledged that the attack was taking the war into ‘the aggressor’s territory’. President Vladimir Putin of Russia said his ‘defence ministry’s main task is to push, to kick the enemy out of our territory’. Russia attacked Ukraine with drones.
Israel spent days expecting an attack by Iran and from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon. America sent an aircraft carrier and a guided missile submarine to the Middle East. Sir Keir Starmer told President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran over the telephone that now was ‘the time for calm and careful consideration’. Israel struck al-Taba’een school in Gaza, which it said served as a Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility; at least 70 were reported killed. US Vice President Kamala Harris said ‘far too many’ civilians had been killed ‘yet again’. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, made a state visit to Russia.
Athens smelt of burning under skies darkened by smoke from wildfires. A plane crashed in Brazil killing 62. Analysis of seismic data indicated reservoirs of water six to 12 miles below the surface of Mars. On Twitter, which he owns, Elon Musk, the eccentric businessman, held a discussion, notable for a technical hitch, with Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate. Starbucks got a new chief executive from Chipotle. An Australian who competed in the Olympic breakdancing under the name Raygun scored zero after a routine in which she hopped like a kangaroo. CSH
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