January
Four young men were stabbed to death in London as the New Year began. The Crown Prosecution Service was to review rape cases, after several prosecutions collapsed when evidence was not disclosed to the defence. Carillion went into liquidation. London Zoo delayed its annual stock take after a fire killed an aardvark called Misha. Turkish forces shelled the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The supreme court of Iceland upheld an import tariff on potato chips of 76 per cent. The Grand Mufti of Egypt said that bitcoin was forbidden by Islam. California legalised recreational cannabis.
February
The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into Oxfam staff paying for prostitutes in Haiti in 2011. The number of child sexual abuse victims in Rotherham (1997-2013) was more than 1,500, the National Crime Agency said. Henry Bolton was removed as leader of Ukip. Britain sold HMS Ocean to Brazil. Toys R Us went into administration. The Syrian government continued to bombard Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.
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