David Cameron claimed victory today in a French-led assault on Britain’s EU rebate, saying he always came to Brussels summits armed with a loaded gun. “In this town you have to be ready for an ambush at any minute and that means lock and load and have one up the spout when you’re ready for it,” Mr Cameron said. He voiced “immense frustration” with what he depicted as an attempt at one am to unravel a February agreement on Britain’s discount from its EU budget contributions. After a meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, the EU Council President, Mr Cameron headed of the effort by France to recalculate the rebate on British payments for east European farm spending. “The end result is that the rebated has been secured in an even more detailed way than what we had in the past,” he said. The attempted rewrite of the leaders’ February agreement would have led over seven years to to Britain losing 1.5 billion euros from its rebate, worth some three billion pounds a year, he said. The Prime Minister gave vent to his discontent with the EU summit machinery. “It is, and I won’t lie, it is immensely frustrating sometimes, the way this organisation works,” he said. “I think this is no way for an organisation to conduct itself.” Mr Cameron’s version of events were contested by French and some EU officials, who said that the Prime Ministe
Hunne''Ignoring ousted president Askar Akayev's refusal to resign, the former, pre-election, Kyrgyzstan parliament has scheduled a new presidential election for June 26. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said he would run in the election.

Meanwhile, former interior minister Keneshbek Dushebayev, who was ousted along with Akayev, announced today he was leading thousands of counterdemonstrators from Akayev's native area of Kemin toward the capital of Bishkek, to protest Thursday's coup, which also began with a group of a few thousand young demonstrators, who in a few hours broke through the lines of guards protecting the presidential headquarters and effectively unseated President Akayev, ending his 14 years in power.  It was unclear as night fell whether Dushebayev's march had succeeded in making its way to the capital, but the new leadership which seized power on Thursday following the protests said that it was maintaining control of the country, and that the march had fizzled out.

Bakiyev switched the venue of a news conference today, reportedly because of a rumoured assassination plot.  Bishkek was calm compared to the looting and chaos that followed on the heels of the Thursday protests and coup, but bands of looters still roamed the city and government officials were taking no chances.  According to an eyewitness AP report, residents of the capital are still "frightened and shocked." 

It is not clear where Akayev is right now; the Interfax News Agency, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier that he has arrived in Russia. Bakiyev has criticized Akayev for fleeing the country in its time of need, and maintains that he is surprised by the speed of recent events. 

"It didn’t enter my head that this could happen," Bakiyev said, according to a Reuters report.