Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, visited Sudan, seeing some refugees in one of the better camps in Darfur, and meeting the Prime Minister and minister for foreign affairs; he confirmed that British troops would not be sent to Sudan. Sir Mark Thatcher Bt, the son of Lady Thatcher, was arrested by South African police investigating an attempted coup against Equatorial Guinea. Nearly 140,000 immigrants from outside the European Union were granted leave to settle permanently in Britain last year, 20 per cent up on the year before; the total in five years is about half a million. The proportion of 11-year-olds reaching the expected level in English at school rose to 77 per cent (up from 75) and in maths to 74 per cent (from 73). British Airways averted a bank-holiday strike by check-in staff, but dozens of flights at Heathrow were cancelled during the week through staff shortages. British Gas said household gas bills would rise by 12.4 per cent and electricity by 9.4 per cent from 20 September. UK Coal, which operates most British coalmines, complained that planning permission for open-cast mines has become virtually impossible to obtain even though the rising price of coal has made new sites economically possible. Old people were unable to draw their pensions when an electronic system imposed on post offices by the government broke down. It was said that Shanghai Automotive, China’s biggest car makers, wanted to take over MG Rover. It was said that Asda’s sale of clothing had outstripped that of Marks & Spencer, but the statement relied on estimates of items sold, not on value, which for Marks & Spencer stands at £4 billion a year, against Asda’s £1 billion. Kelly Holmes won an Olympic gold medal in the 800 metres in Athens, the first British woman to triumph on the Olympic track since Sally Gunnell in 1992.
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