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Government finances were in surplus by £2 billion in July. Public sector net debt rose to £1,777.5 billion, equal to 84.3 per cent of GDP, £17.5 billion more than a year before, but less as a proportion of GDP than last year’s 86 per cent. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, flew to Washington and made a speech urging the European Union to take stronger sanctions against Russia. President Vladimir Putin of Russia danced with Karin Kneissl, the new foreign minister of Austria, at her wedding, and then met Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the Meseberg Palace near Berlin.
The government took over the management of Birmingham prison from G4S midway through its contract after Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, described it as the worst prison he had ever been to. Inspectors found blood, vomit and rat droppings on the floor, with cockroaches and an overpowering smell of drugs.
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